What has your phone done for you, lately? The past year was a big year one for mobile technology, with advancements in facial recognition, augmented reality, and more. But what does your phone need to do for you in 2018?
Sean Aune, Editor-in-Chief of Technobuffalo tells us what the mobile industry has to do to keep business this year.
It was a big year for Apple with the iPhone X and 8, with the iPhone topping the list of the best-selling tech products of 2017. But the company has taken its knocks with shipping delays and the battery slowdown controversy. Aune says Apple needs to lower prices, and fix battery issues.
LG launched its G6 about a year ago, to mediocre reviews. The G7 is expected as early as next month, and Aune says the South Korean company needs to improve its cameras and spend money on ad campaigns, since hardly anyone knows when new phones are out.
Aune also tells us what Samsung and Google Pixel need to do to increase sales and brad recognition.
Ford CFO John Lawler joined Cheddar News to talk about the auto giant's Q1 earnings report that beat on revenue and EPS. Despite the good numbers, Lawler spoke to challenges Ford had to navigate. "We also see the continued disruption to the supply chain impacting our production, and that hit us in the first quarter as well. So it kept us from having an even stronger quarter," he said. Lawler noted that chip shortages leading to the supply constraints should ease up throughout the year.
Tech giant Microsoft won a military contract for the production of its IVAS (integrated visual augmentation system) combat goggles, based on its HoloLens ARG tech, worth up to $21.9 billion over 10 years. However, the Pentagon is now saying that the device "has not yet demonstrated the capability to serve as a fighting goggle," and that the Army made mistakes in the program's initial stages by not clearly describing minimum performance standards. While testing continues, concerns have grown outside of the Defense Department to Congress and even within Microsoft itself. Cheddar's Ken Buffa takes a deeper look at the possible boondoggle.
U.S. stocks fell sharply to close Tuesday's session, with the Nasdaq dropping 3.95% and hitting a new one-year low. Frances Newton Stacy, Director of Strategy for Optimal Capital, joins Cheddar News to discuss her reaction to how markets closed the session, and to break down Q3 2022 earnings from Microsoft. "Netflix was sort of the big warning, and I think Big Tech was down today in anticipation of these earnings," she says.
With Netflix losing 200,000 subscribers in one quarter, and CNN+ shutting down just weeks after launch, the streaming industry is in a place of uncertainty. Hundreds of people who once thought they had steady jobs now face potential unemployment as streamers figure out how to navigate the constantly changing landscape. Greg Martin, co-founder of Rainmaker Securities, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the state of streaming, its troubles, and how its impacting hundreds of workers.
