Latest Developments

Europe
BBC Business

Apple's new boss starts with big gamble on costly first folding iPhone

John Ternus has entered his second week as Apple's chief executive and the company has revealed the first major change to the iPhone since it was released almost 20 years ago. Ternus, who took on Apple's top job after Tim Cook stepped down, was onstage on Wednesday at the company's annual product release event in front of huge images of the first foldable iPhone. With a book-style format, the new iPhone, dubbed the Duo, is the largest ever size of the product. And with a US starting price of $1,999 (£1,475) going up to $3,200, it is also the most expensive. UK prices start at £1,999. Ternus said the Duo was "inspired by the iPad" but called the folding features "fluid and completely intuitive." When unfolded, the new Duo has the look of a small iPad. When folded in half, it has the look of a wider iPhone. Ternus said during the event that Apple wanted to avoid the look and feel of other foldable smart phones on the market, which he said "feel like two phones stuck together... making a larger screen feel much smaller." The Duo, he said, is the "result of a series of remarkable innovations that we think will redefine the experience of using a foldable phone." Ternus was directly involved in developing the foldable iPhone as he spent many years as a top executive inside Apple's hardware division before being tapped earlier this year as Cook's successor. Image source, Apple/courtesyImage caption, The new foldable iPhone can operate in two forms. Ben Wood, chief analyst at technology research firm FDM CCS Insight, said it was likely Ternus's promotion was timed specifically "to coincide with what will be arguably one of the biggest iPhone launches for many years". Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies who attended the Wednesday presentation, said the spotlight on Ternus made it feel "almost like he was a product himself." Altering the design of the iPhone may address some criticism that Apple has yet to land a major product hit or truly exciting innovation since the first iPhone came out in 2007.

Apple's new boss starts with big gamble on costly first folding iPhone
Europe
The Guardian

Apple’s new CEO introduces himself at annual showcase: ‘I continue to be inspired every single day’

Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, speaks during the company's latest product announcement, in Cupertino, California, on Wednesday. Photograph: Karl Mondon/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenApple’s new CEO, John Ternus, speaks during the company's latest product announcement, in Cupertino, California, on Wednesday. Photograph: Karl Mondon/AFP/Getty ImagesAppleApple’s new CEO introduces himself at annual showcase: ‘I continue to be inspired every single day’John Ternus helms his first major event as head of $4.5tn company, where he announces first foldable iPhone John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, helmed the company’s annual showcase of new iPhones and other products on Wednesday. It was the first time the public saw the warm and unpretentious demeanor of the executive, who is filling the shoes of Tim Cook and his predecessor, Steve Jobs, at the $4.5tn tech giant. The event kicked off with a video montage of characters describing the best way to start a movie, from a getaway scene to a closeup of woman revealing her true identity, before the well-known voice of Cook piped in. “Camera follows a mysterious figure before revealing our main character,” Cook said. “No. Not me. That’s your guy. That’s your opener.” “I want to take a moment to express what an extraordinary privilege it is to represent the remarkable teams here at Apple,” Ternus said. “I’ve spent much of my life at this company, and I continue to be inspired every single day by the curiosity, invention and relentless pursuit of excellence that define Apple.” Not much is publicly known about Ternus’s leadership style, even though he has worked at Apple for 25 years. He has kept a low profile and is known for a calm manner and attention to detail. Ternus started at the company in 2001 and in 2013 became the vice-president of hardware engineering. By 2021, he was heading the entire hardware department. In Apple tradition, Ternus, as the CEO, kicked off Wednesday’s keynote address and cued up the gadget reveals. Apple made big announcements at its “Surprise and Shine” event in Cupertino, California, including its first foldable phone, called iPhone Duo, as well as upgrades to standard iPhones, AirPods headphones and Apple Watch lines. Ternus hosted the event in a friendly style, presenting himself in everyman attire of a dark, crew-neck maroon sweater and black jeans. Nearly an hour after the event started, he began to tease the announcement of iPhone Duo, saying: “Actually, there is one more thing …” Then, taking the phone from the back pocket of his jeans and holding it up to the camera, he said with a coy smile, “this is iPhone Duo.” Ternus cast the Duo, with its wider displays and multidirectional cameras, as an upgrade to the iPhone experience, rather than the technological revolution Jobs described when he unveiled the original iPhone in 2007. Bob O’Donnell, the president and chief analyst of Technalysis Research, said: “While products like the expected foldable iPhone have been in the works for some time, the fact that, as the new CEO, John Ternus gets to introduce it to the world is hugely symbolic because it shows off how a new era of more interesting new products for the company is kicking off under his leadership.” Jobs, Apple’s greatest showman, was known for his commanding stage presence, donning his black turtleneck and blue jeans uniform. When he debuted the first iPhone, he paced back and forth on the stage, drumming up suspense, then said: “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” The crowd went wild.

Apple’s new CEO introduces himself at annual showcase: ‘I continue to be inspired every single day’
Europe
BBC Business

Air traffic failure was avoidable, says transport secretary

A technical failure of the UK's air traffic control system that has caused widespread flight chaos was avoidable, according to the Transport Secretary. Heidi Alexander told the Commons she had ordered an independent investigation by the aviation watchdog into the system operated by Nats, which went down for four hours on Tuesday. More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled as disruption continued for a second day with passengers stuggling to fly out of and into the UK. After meeting with the boss of Nats, Martin Rolfe, Alexander said a cyberattack could be ruled out, but she added: "I do not believe this issue was unavoidable." Alexander said she discussed with Rolfe how Nats, which is 49% owned by the government, "responded to resolve and minimise the disruption as quickly as possible". She said there had to be "tough questions about resilience of Nats systems", adding: "We also need to think about consumer redress issues." Earlier on Wednesday the government said it had confidence in Rolfe, who has led Nats for 11 years as airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair called for him to step down. Nats has been asked to investigate the incident and report back in one week. But Alexander said she has also asked the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct an independent review and present an update in six months' time. Airlines UK, which represents the country's carriers, said it had written to Alexander to "register serious concerns over yesterday's technical failure at Nats - the third major system failure in three years - which has caused major disruption across the UK's aviation network". Airlines UK's chief executive Tim Alderslade, said: "The result is a system where airlines pick up the bill for the mistakes of others, while the organisations responsible face little or no financial consequence. "Accountability should sit where responsibility lies and the Civil Aviation Bill offers the opportunity to address this." The UK Civil Aviation Authority said passengers are unlikely to be entitled to compensation - though it reminded airlines of their responsibilities to look after passengers who flights had been delayed or cancelled.

Air traffic failure was avoidable, says transport secretary
Europe
BBC Business

US slaps import ban on Canadian alcohol, motorbikes and other goods

Image source, Getty ImagesByOsmond ChiaBusiness reporterPublished9 September 2026, 00:42 BSTUpdated 53 minutes agoThe US is banning a slew of Canadian products, including alcoholic spirits, dairy goods and motorbikes, as its neighbour's retaliatory tariffs on American goods come into force. In a series of executive orders on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that Canada is "discriminating" against the US and outlined the import ban, which will begin 29 September. Earlier on Tuesday, Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address that his country's pivot away from the US as its largest trading partner "will come at a cost". Both US and Canadian officials have said they would like to strike a trade deal, but no new talks have been scheduled since negotiations collapsed in late August. The White House's new sanctions are the latest strike in a months-long trade war between the US and Canada. The sides have historically been close allies, with each a key business partner to the other. On the other hand, Canada is the second-largest trading partner of the US, after Mexico, although its exports are far more diversified. Business owners on both sides of the border have expressed fears over the trade war's fallout. Many expect prices of goods to rise and the number of customers to fall. Last month, the White House imposed 50% tariffs on around $20bn (£14.8bn) of Canadian goods after several rounds of talks had broken down. Those tariffs hit sectors including Canada's furniture and wine industries, as well as some sporting and fishing equipment businesses. Canada responded with dollar-for-dollar tariffs on US goods like steel, clothing and furniture. The counter-duties came into effect after midnight on Tuesday. Canada is "discriminating" against US businesses by restricting US goods while not doing the same to the same products from other countries, the White House said when announcing the new import restrictions on Tuesday. Some products, like whey and non-alcoholic beer, have been banned from import entirely, while tariffs have been further hiked for others, including cheeses and motorboats.

US slaps import ban on Canadian alcohol, motorbikes and other goods
Europe
BBC Business

More flight delays expected after hundreds cancelled by air traffic control glitch

Image source, ReutersByTheo Leggett, Business Correspondent and Katy Austin, Transport correspondentPublished8 September 2026Updated 59 minutes agoFlight delays are expected to continue on Wednesday after an air traffic control problem cancelled hundreds of flights across the UK. Tens of thousands of passengers were affected by the disruption and tracking website FlightRadar24 said up to 1,000 flights were cancelled after a glitch affecting air traffic control provider Nats. Its boss Martin Rolfe apologised, telling the BBC there would be a full investigation into what had gone wrong, after Nats said resolving the issue had taken "longer than hoped". The BBC understands Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has summoned Rolfe to a meeting on Wednesday to answer questions about the disruption and response. She is also expected to tell MPs that a cyber attack was "categorically" not the cause of the fault. With few aircraft able to take off, it is understood landings were restricted, leading to some flights being unable to depart overseas airports. The fault was widespread across the UK, and beyond, with airports in Scotland and Ireland also reporting disruption. EasyJet made 200 cancellations and British Airways more than 100. It is not the first time disruption has blighted Nats' control system. Ryanair and Wizz Air called for an overhaul of the organisation, with Wizz Air saying Nats was "not fit for purpose" in its current form. When asked whether he was considering his position, Rolfe said there would be "lots of time for that later" but his focus now was on making sure the problem was solved. Europe's busiest airline, Ryanair, reported on Tuesday that more than 65,000 passengers had been delayed by up to eight hours. At Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in Europe, departures were initially paused around lunchtime. Traffic then resumed, before facing further disruption in the afternoon. It is understood the airport ran out of space for incoming flights during the afternoon because planes had not been departing.

More flight delays expected after hundreds cancelled by air traffic control glitch
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

UPI MDR: Retailers, clothing manufacturers flag impact of 0.4% charge on MSMEs

The Retailers Association of India and Clothing Manufacturers Association of India have raised concerns over the reintroduction of a 0.4 per cent MDR on UPI person-to-merchant transactions above ₹2,000, particularly its impact on MSME retailers during the festive season. The Retailers Association of India and the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India expressed concerns over the government’s decision to reintroduce a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI just ahead of the festival season and its impact, especially on MSME players. The MDR of 0.4 per cent is being imposed on UPI person-to-merchant transactions above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300 for transactions of ₹75,000 and above. RAI said it will also take up the matter with the National Payments Corporation of India and the Ministry of Finance and said that it is urging for a graded structure that separates debit-linked from credit-linked UPI transactions and pairs any merchant charge with incentives that keep small retailers inside the formal payment system rather than pushing them out of it. Santosh Katariya, President, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) said, “Introducing MDR on UPI at the start of festival season could not have come at a more challenging time for the industry. This period is critical for merchants, retailers and consumer-facing businesses, many of whom are already working hard to revive demand and improve margins. Adding another cost to digital transactions at this juncture risks putting further pressure on an ecosystem that is still finding its footing. “ He added that UPI has been a powerful enabler of consumption and formalisation, and any move that increases the cost of acceptance needs to be carefully calibrated, particularly during the most important sales period of the year. The Retailers Association of India (RAI) warned that the charge could undo years of progress in digital payment adoption among India’s smallest retailers, just as the festive season gets underway. The framework keeps consumers outside its ambit, but the burden still lands on merchants, it noted The industry body said that for MSME retailers already running on thin margins, that burden creates a straightforward incentive to steer transactions back toward cash. “Small merchants will now think twice about whether to accept cash or UPI. During the festive season, a large share of transactions crosses the ₹2,000 mark, and the moment a fee attaches itself to digital payment, cash becomes the path of least resistance,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India. RAI also said every transaction that slips off the UPI rail and back into cash disappears from the formal trail that feeds GST reporting, the opposite of what a decade of digitisation policy has tried to build. “UPI acceptance should be incentivised, not taxed. We don’t see the case for charging a bank-to-bank UPI payment the way you’d charge for credit. Where UPI is linked to a credit line, a fee is easier to defend, because the cost structure genuinely resembles a credit product. We urge that the government should bear the cost of normal UPI transactions since it repays the government with GST and traceable transactions instead of cash transactions,” he added. “NPCI keeps UPI running for the entire country — RBI or the government should be underwriting that cost, not merchants. “The state gets a formal, traceable transaction it can tax out of every UPI payment. It should be paying for the enablement, not passing the bill down to the smallest retailer in the chain,” he added. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

UPI MDR: Retailers, clothing manufacturers flag impact of 0.4% charge on MSMEs
North America
CNBC Finance

GM vs. Ford: U.S. defense, energy sectors add to automakers' century-old rivalry

DETROIT — General Motors and Ford Motor have rivaled each other for more than a century in racing, vehicle sales and many other automobile-related activities. But their latest battlegrounds have moved to actual battlefields and the U.S. energy grid. Ford joined GM this year in seeking U.S. military contracts after the Trump administration approached U.S. companies about assisting the military with their expertise in mass manufacturing. The automakers' efforts so far are largely focused on military vehicles, but could grow with time. Simultaneously, both companies are entering the energy storage system, or ESS, market amid an expected growing need related to rising consumer energy costs and data centers. Energy storage systems use a lot of the same underlying technology as electric vehicle batteries to store power for homes, businesses and even utilities. Both markets are viewed by Wall Street analysts as new potential growth areas for the automakers. At one point, it was thought new opportunities might come from all-electric vehicles, but Ford and GM have since lost billions of dollars on those efforts. "They're looking for new verticals," Morningstar senior equity analyst David Whiston told CNBC. "Ford's following GM's lead into defense, and energy makes a lot of sense because you have all this EV capacity that now you don't need. So instead of selling those factories, it's a way to try and capitalize on the data center boom." The two markets are expected to be small portions of the companies' focus and revenue for the foreseeable future, but they could help the automakers diversify their operations and complement their core businesses as new vehicle sales slow in the U.S. "It'll be hard to move the needle here massively, given the auto business's top line, but it certainly can be helpful," Whiston said. The global ESS market is estimated to grow from $668.7 billion in 2024 to $5.12 trillion by 2034, according to research and consulting firm Global Market Insights. As part of that, the firm expects to see a significant expansion in the U.S. "We're seeing this huge projection of growth, and it's already started growing," Devon Wilson, vice president of sales and marketing at LG Energy Solution's U.S. energy storage division, said during a recent event. "There's a massive amount of just fundamental electricity need within the country." GM and Ford are attempting to capitalize on such expected growth to fill a void. The companies invested billions of dollars in plants to produce battery cells to meet EV demand that didn't materialize. GM's energy business does not currently offer its own ESS, but its military division does and its Ultium Cells joint venture in Tennessee produces cells for its partner LG Energy Solution for storage.

GM vs. Ford: U.S. defense, energy sectors add to automakers' century-old rivalry
North America
CNBC Economy

Private payrolls rose by 38,000 in August, less than expected, ADP reports

Private U.S. companies added jobs at a slightly slower-than-expected pace in August, with gains concentrated heavily in healthcare and a few other industries, ADP reported Wednesday. The payrolls processing firm said firms added 38,000 workers, fewer than the upwardly revised 46,000 in July and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 47,000. Though job creation held positive, August was the smallest gain since January and reflective of a broader slowdown in the labor market. Moreover, most of the jobs came from three sectors, with multiple others showing declines. Education and health services added 45,000 to lead all categories, with the latter group being at the forefront of employment growth. Leisure and hospitality added 16,000 positions and construction was up 12,000. Outside of that, though, there were few growth areas. Manufacturing lost 17,000 jobs, professional and business services was off 16,000, and both natural resources and mining as well as trade, transportation and utilities reported declines of 5,000. Almost all of the gains came from big business, with companies employing 500 or more workers adding 34,000 while those with fewer than 50 employees rose by 3,000. ADP's numbers also showed that pay gains held steady for the month. The firm added a feature in August in which it broke down growth between base and gross pay, the latter including tips, commissions, bonuses and other earnings. For those staying in their jobs, base pay rose 3% from a year ago while gross pay increased 4.4%, both unchanged from July. For all workers, the respective increases were 3.2% and 4.7%. The ADP report serves as a precursor to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' nonfarm payrolls release, due out Friday, which is expected to show an increase of 53,000, after the 23,000 decline in July. The unemployment rate is forecast to hold at 4.1%. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Private payrolls rose by 38,000 in August, less than expected, ADP reports
Europe
BBC Business

Should promotion depend on how workers use AI?

It's in Duncan Trevithick's interest to be good at using AI at work - if he can use it to get more tasks done, faster, he'll qualify for a bonus at the end of the year. On the surface, it's a great incentive. But he's questioning what's really in it for him. "The uncomfortable interpretation is that employees are being assessed on how effectively they can participate in their own redundancy," says Spain-based Trevithick, 34, who works in marketing for an AI training data company. But if he uses AI to take care of two days worth of work each week, he says the financial rewards don't add up. "I do not receive two days off or a 40% pay rise. The higher output simply becomes the new baseline. In the short term, that may help me get promoted. In the longer term, I have helped prove how much of my job no longer requires me," he says. "I'm just trying to view myself as a manager, and I'm managing some people, and I'm also managing AI agents, or AI loops, or whatever you want to call it." Using employees' AI abilities as a measure of whether they should get a bonus, promoted - or even sacked - is fast becoming more common. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet told the Rapid Response podcast in March: "Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work. So if you want to get promoted, you've got to do the things that we do in order to operate at Accenture." And big names like Disney, Meta, JP Morgan and KPMG have introduced "AI leaderboards" to track and rank employees' usage of the array of LLMs and platforms at their disposal, according to media reports, external. Crypto trading platform Coinbase has already fired engineers who didn't complete AI training, as requested by the chief executive, Brian Armstrong, external. It demonstrates how eager business leaders are to see a return from their AI investments, especially when 94% of companies have yet to see significant value from AI, according to a report, external by consultants McKinsey. Employees feel they have to get on board, thanks to the current state of the jobs market - in the UK, vacancies have hit a five-year low. Meanwhile, 75% of the 1,881 UK jobseekers polled in July by recruiter Gi Group say they would not be put off applying to an organisation that had introduced AI proficiency into individual performance reviews. Around 22% said it would be off-putting.

Should promotion depend on how workers use AI?