BUSINESS

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThe first trading days into 2012 look positive but unconvincing and some big call merchants still have a lot of us spooked.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaYour team at FNArena has returned from a well-deserved annual break, ready to take on whatever lies ahead for the next twelve months.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaFor reasons I will explain in the weeks ahead, my attention during the annual year-end break has turned towards the principle of mean reversion.

Apple Inc. suspended its sale of its new iPhone 4S in China Friday after irate shoppers pelted Apple's flagship Beijing store with eggs and fought with security guards in a desperate bid to get their hands on the new device.

Retailers from all over the country are looking through rose colored glass despite many online competitors threatening to lower sales this year. Sales expectations plummeted by 26 points (index of nine) as compared with the same time frame for the past year.

The iOS has obtained exclusivity of the virtual assistant SIRI and gained remarkable scores and comments from users and critics. It has made iOS smartphones unique against the Android devices by defining the meaning of intelligence. However, the virtual assistant is still in development for best usage in a lot of countries.

In 2012 the world of smartphones is expected to be excited anew with the release of Samsung Galaxy S3 on February. But two of its challengers, Sony and LG, have already given a sneak peek even as S3's release approaches fast. Both of their devices are high-end and Android-powered as well.

ANZ Bank made Australian banking history on Friday the 13th by making good its previous announcement to set its interest rates independent from the overnight cash rates made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Despite the continuous rise of aviation fuel prices, Australian airlines are not inclined to collect a surcharge on overweight air passengers.

Are consumers benefitting from their banks, or are they really ripped off by hidden bank charges?

Google has it. Microsoft, too, has it. Virgin, eBay and many other successful companies, they all have it. Corporate values, that is.

The plant unrest at a Foxconn Technology Group plant at Wuhan, China has been resolved and a majority of the workers have returned to work late Wednesday, according to Microsoft Corp.

While the mining boom has generally benefited Australia's economy in general, certain groups reaped more than others did. One of the groups that thrived on the boom more than others is that of immigrant workers.

Wall Street Journal reported that camera manufacturer Eastman Kodak Company was preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks.

Property confidence is down in Australia’s biggest states as investors look to resource-rich areas in 2012.

Although forecasts say global aluminium prices may go up for the first quarter of 2012, prospects are bleak for the aluminium sector in Australia.

Intel Corp. is entering the smartphone battle with new smartphones developed with partners Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Lenovo Group.

Neutron generator and laser Doppler vibrometry, sound familiar? These are the technology used to detect car bombs. The threat of car bombs is real, and whether a person is paranoid or just plain staying safe, how can people check if their automobiles have been rigged to blow up?

While slowdown and recession are the buzzwords in many parts of the world because of the threat of another global financial crisis over European debt, in Australia the key words are expansion and boom.

The US mortgage market index rose by 4.5pct last week with the purchase index spiking 8.1pct higher.

Several cases of underpayment among workers in the retail and services industries have been noticed and acted upon by Fair Work Australia (FWA).

It is not easy to penetrate a very discerning and astute Korean market. Korean consumer standards are quite high in all aspects especially for agriculture products.

Climate change is changing the financial landscape of Australian insurance companies. The Insurance Australia Group (IAG), whose profit margin is expected to be hit anew by natural catastrophes, warned that the changing and less-predictable climate has the potential to reduce insurers' capacity to calculate, price and spread the weather-related risk.

Stiffer competition is expected in Australia's stock market with the offer by the revitalised National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) to reduce broker application fees to zero. The new policy took effect on Jan 1, 2012, the same week that the NSX added 30 firms to its listing.

Facebook continues to change the world, this time by making its presence felt in vehicle dashboards. Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz announced on Tuesday the launch of a service called mbrace2 which includes online services such as Facebook, Yelp and Google.

U.S. stocks remain higher but are off session highs Tuesday afternoon after strong gains overseas and an upbeat start to the U.S. earnings reporting season pushed blue-chip stocks to levels not seen since late July.

US chain store sales rose by 3.3pct in the week to January 7 compared with a year ago according to the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales index.

Dell, a known PC maker announced that the company would be putting a stop in their Inspiron line of netbooks.

Sony Corp. denied reports that the company is going to announce the next generation PlayStation console at E3 this summer.