Consumer Technology World Brief
A web startup that has been gaining lot of momentum recently is Tinder – the so-called online dating app – technically defined as a location-based service dedicated to social discovery. It combines the natural desire to vet by appearance with tech-powered asynchronous two-way approvals to make rejections invisible and more acceptable. Another startup in the news and bringing in the money is the on-demand ride-hailing service Uber – they have confirmed today USD 1.2 billion has been raised in funding from a group of mutual fund managers and venture investors that value the company at USD 17 billion pre-funding. The company is expected to raise a total funding of about USD 1.4 billion once it completes a second close of strategic investors. 360cam by Giroptic is also kicking up a storm … but in a smaller scale. The 360cam designed by Girotropic captures HD video at 2048 x 1024 at 30 frames per second with a field of view of 360 x 300-degrees – it can take photos and video of the sky as well as your feet. The 360cam is currently one of the hottest Kickstarter projects, blasting past its modest USD 150,000 goal to rack up nearly USD 800,000 in crowd-based funding with 29 days to go.
North America Review
According to the Department of Labor’s latest jobs report released recently, the U.S. economy added 217,000 jobs in May. Based on this data it shows that the US lost about 8.7 million jobs over two years and it took them double the time to add these jobs back into the market. With that job growth, there are now more jobs in the country than ever before. The last time U.S was near this point of job creations was in January 2008, just before massive layoffs swept throughout the country, leading the unemployment rate to spike to 10%. The unemployment rate is unchanged at 6.3% for May, and much has improved since the worst of the crisis.
In a positive note on the U.S. economy, increased demand for dairy products around the world, particularly in China, has resulted in the industry being able to sell off all the milk their cows can produce at record-high prices. The good fortune of U.S. dairy farmers is partly due to exploding demand from an emerging global middle class and partly because of hindrances in other big milk producing markets. In China, domestic dairy has been hampered by production problems and lingering distrust among consumers about safety. In New Zealand, the global leader in dairy exports, a 2013 drought reduced the country’s ability to meet foreign customers’ needs. In the first quarter of 2014, the value of U.S. dairy exports grew 39 percent.
Asia Review
In the Asia region, the biggest democracy in the world, India, went to polls to elect the next government. There was a massive anti-incumbency wave partly due to the perceived policy paralysis induced by the last government. This has resulted in a massive and clear majority mandate given to the then opposition party, BJP, and its prime minister candidate Mr. Narendra Modi. The stock markets have been positive over the past few weeks and there has been positive foreign investment flows into the country indicating the confidence of the industry and investors over the new government. Over the next few months it has to be seen if the new government is able to meet the expectations of the citizens.
Meanwhile in Japan, the rise of the part-time economy inherent in Japan’s work environment can explain why Japan is the only developed country where the average pay has consistently fallen, dropping 15 percent since 1997. In the country’s rigid labor market, temp work is rarely a steppingstone to something better – it’s a permanent, low-wage existence. Another key characteristic of this temp workforce is its primarily female composition. The loop holes and challenges in this part-time economy were brought to light in 2009 by Miho Marui who together with a friend started Japan’s first union for temporary and part-time workers.
Europe Review
In the Europe region, analysts are taking a cautious approach to Germany’s near term economic outlook due to the heavy contribution of trade with Russia and the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine resulting in sanctions against Russia. Germany’s trade relationship with Russia — worth over €76 billion (USD 105 billion) in 2013 – could suffer if western nations impose further sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Germany is Russia’s largest trading partner in Europe with more than 6,000 German companies doing business with Russia.
Meanwhile the overall Eurozone outlook looks positive as data shows that they kept government borrowing under control in 2013, meeting its own limit for the first time since 2008. This provides one more layer of evidence that the region is emerging from a devastating debt crisis. Net borrowing by the 18 governments sharing the euro totaled almost €293 billion (USD 404 billion) in 2013, €59 billion less than the previous year. That was right in line with the limit of 3% of GDP set in European Union laws designed to underpin the currency.