What an Apple payments service would mean for consumers, developers and merchants
Every owner of an iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch has an Apple ID, and the majority of those IDs are directly linked to a credit or debit card. If Apple(s aapl) were to use that Apple ID as a baseline credential for a mobile payments service, it would have a tremendous advantage in the world of financial services.
That’s exactly what Apple plans to do, according to a Wall Street Journal report, and the company reportedly assigned two of its prominent executives, iTunes and App Store chief Eddy Cue and online retail head Jennifer Bailey, to get that payments business off the ground.
The Journal didn’t get the details on what a payments service might look like, but I think Apple could head in one of three directions. It could follow in the footsteps of PayPal(s ebay) and become a payments processor on both the web and in the…
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Analyst predicts smartphone sales will slump in Q1, first time in two years
This might be the first quarter in two years to see a decline in worldwide smartphone shipments, according to TrendForce (and spotted by Re/code). That shouldn’t be cause for alarm for smartphone OEMs around the world, though. It just means the smartphone market might have matured enough to follow seasonal trends.
As you can see, smartphone shipments are expected to take a dip of 5.1 percent in Q1 of 2014, the first drop after a fairly steady rise over the last two years. That’s not terribly surprising. As smartphone penetration continues to increase worldwide, consumers are expected to buy less in the beginning of the year. This makes sense, given that many high-profile releases don’t often begin until the spring. And in many parts of the world, people tend to spend less after the holidays.
Once spring does kick into gear, however, it’s a steady climb back up, as…
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Life in a nutshell
It reaches a point in your life when you feel like all is falling apart. People that you thought cared never do that no more, where you thought love would come from turns out a dream farfetched. When you carefully look around, you feel like you’re in your grey zone you actually can’t see anything good. At this point in time, tears begin rolling down your cheeks and at the back of your ‘kiongos’ you’re probably thinking you got impaired vision over night and might need clean your tears duct to have a clear vision of what lies ahead.
In your little world of misery, you get mixed thoughts and feelings about everyone and everything around you. They all seem too good to be true, can’t separate wheat from chaff. When you think it’s over and you feel so alone, you take a pause to listen to the voice of truth which says a different story….that goes like ‘hey there! Don’t give a fuck about what you’re going through, you’ve got the whole life ahead of you. Focus!!’
You begin to take a U-Turn driving your minds on the first lane, u start humming to Kirk Franklin’s song ‘The storm is over’ ‘…I was in a tunnel and could not see the light and whenever I’d look up I could not see the sky…’
This is what we call reality check. Some of you are too busy passing time that they wouldn’t notice they already got there. Well, if you ain’t cautious with what you do with your life, it will be pathetic. All i’m saying is that, make the most outta what comes your way. Love people that love you back unconditionally, cherish people that are always there for you even when you don’t need them, appreciate those who make some effort in making your life fun (it’s the little things that count), don’t invest so much in people and things that don’t add value to your life (it’s not worth it), live every moment with enthusiasm and remember….life comes only once and so is death. You’re your life and your life is you, try as much as you can to treat each other with decency.
Kenya on currency upgrade….
46 years after Kenya started printing its own notes and coins, the Kenyan government through the Central Bank has decided to do a currency upgrade. One that will no longer bear individual portraits. This is a quite commendable decision since politicians won’t have to struggle to have their pictures on notes and coins to portray tribal dominance and all sorts of selfish interests.
As far as currency upgrade is concerned, there a number of things that have to be put under careful consideration. Kenya is big than any particular individual and the tax payers concerns have to be addressed before anything else. In my opinion, this decision has had a really bad timing. Reason being, we’re seeking to integrate the East African Community and one of the proposed ways to do so is having a common regional currency. . .(I smell ideological mismatch)
From a different perspective, the KSH is still rallying against the USD and it has not even rested from last year’s record low of 107. If am not wrong, the currency upgrade plans would mean that, we’ll have to import some sort of materials (only God knows what), and that will not do us any good as it will impose more pressure on our Current Account which is already in deficit.
We’re about four months away from June and you know what happens then. . .(hint: the budget). I bet we’ll have a huge budget for the FY 2012. That aside, we’re headed for elections and you all know what happens when the campaigns are on set. ‘Our’ politicians demand more money for publicity purposes which means more cash has to be printed at the end of the day. Its sickening thinking of the many things we’re yet to achieve in regards to the new constitution.
What’s your opinion?. .is currency upgrade a dream farfetched?
The MPC holds the CBR at 18%
For a 3rd time in a row the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to hold the Central Bank Rate (CBR) at 18% for reasons well know to them. A couple of my pals had mixed thoughts in regards to the decision that the MPC made on 06/03/2012. Most of them were of the opinion that the MPC should reduce the CBR by between 50 to 100 basis points. Their arguments were based on the fact that inflation pressures are easing up having recorded a low of 16.7% this month, and some went even further to use the strengthening shilling trend to back up their arguments.
A reduction of the CBR would have implied that the interest rates would have to be slightly reduced which in my view, could have been music to the ears of many Kenyans still struggling to repay their bank loans.
Nevertheless, i’m quite comfortable with the decision adopted by the MPC to hold the CBR as it were. The committee could not have been too quick to reduce the CBR just because everything else seems to be reducing. . .or working in our favour. As the saying goes. . . ‘dont count your chicks before they hatch’, the shilling is at threat of weakening if the international fuel prices are anything to go by. The inflation is not spared either since we don’t have favourable climate that would at least promise continuous food supply.
The best the MPC could have done is to hold on the 18% margin until such a time we are assured that inflation will gradually decrease and the shilling strengthen in the long run. Mmhh. . .that implies we’ll have to wait for a couple of months to ease the burden on our shoulders.
Endorse corporate governance or reap capital losses from your life time investments.
In the past couple of months, we seen lots and lots of companies collapsing others being placed under statutory management ..and some are still struggling to solve internal wrangles. All this issues have resulted to drastic reduction of investor confidence in such companies and in the entire industry which they operate in.
About four years ago, the Kenyan stock market experienced a devastating collapse of prominent stock brokers (Ngenye Kariuki, Nyaga stock brokers and the likes). According to some reliable sources, the collapse was attributed to poor management, fraud committed by some employees among others. But anyway, thanks to the Capital Markets Investor Compensation Fund that is trying by all means to restore investor confidence in the bourse.
Success and goodwill of renowned companies anywhere in the entire world, is rooted in its corporate governance. Corporate governance has been defined in the Capital Markets Act (Cap 485 A) as, the process and structure used to direct and manage business affairs of the company towards enhancing prosperity and corporate accounting with ultimate objective of realizing shareholder ultimate value while taking into account interest of other stakeholders.
In investing in companies, investors want to feel secure in all terms ranging from, a promised return on investments to risk minimization. It is the duty of the company’s board to exercise effectiveness in handling all business affairs and decisions since such carry a potential risk that could adversely affect the company. CMC Motors and East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC)will act as very good case studies in the Kenyan history of management wrangles. However, we cannot fail to acknowledge the massive efforts taken by the Nairobi Securities Exchange in regards to demutualization.
Simple Corporate Governance Principles:
a) Strike a balance between management roles and organization objectives.
b) Establish the level of integrity of those who can influence the company’s strategy and financial performance.
c) Meet information needs of a modern investment community i.e. Financial and non-financial info.
d) Recognize and uphold shareholders rights (Logic behind shareholder wealth maximization)
e) Make rational business decisions considering all risks associated with each.
f) Ensure that every board member is effective and well equipped to undertake tasks assigned to each.
Interest rates and Speculative demand for money
Information is power, although most if not all of us end up burning our fingers after realizing we closed a lemon deal. This is the very time you get your head spinning really fast. Before getting in trouble, take time to internalize all the information that’s within your reach. I’ve always been here for you breaking the market facts down for you..and we’re doing it once again. Sit back and enjoy the breakdown 😉
There are basically three main motives why people demand for money:
i.) Transactionary motive
ii.) Precautionary motive
iii.) Speculative motive
In this post, I’ll focus on the speculative motive. First though, to understand the logic behind ‘demand for money’ I will sort of start by giving a brief explanation of what transactionary and precautionary motives entail. Transactionary motive relates to the demand for money to satisfy daily basic human needs (food, shelter & clothing), while precautionary motive relates to demand for money to cover for unexpected future events e.g. sickness among others.
Speculative demand for money stems from uncertainty about the direction of changes in interest rates. If people feel the present level of interest rates is lower than it should be, they expect interest rates to rise in the near future. The rise in the interest rates leads to a fall in the bond prices since there is an inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates. This basically implies that anybody holding on bonds under such circumstances may suffer a potential capital loss due to the decline in the bond prices.
When people expect interest rates to increase, there will be a demand for money balances. By holding money, one can avoid the expected loss that is associated with holding bonds. Therefore, one will be in safe position to purchase bonds more cheaply since their prices have fallen.
On the other hand, if people regard the current interest rate as being too high relative to what might be considered normal, one would definitely expect the interest rates to fall. This will lead to speculation since people with such expectations will prefer holding greater amounts of their wealth in form of bonds. This will be advantageous as capital gains will accrue if interest rates do fall and bond prices rise.
This scenario relates 100 percent to the Kenyan economy as it is currently experiencing an interest rate hike of about 19 percent, all in the name of ‘controlling inflation’. Therefore holding money/cash would be the most appropriate option for those expecting the interest rates to fall. Similarly, anyone who expects interest rates to fall will hold bonds rather than cash in order to realize possible capital gains.
Stick around for more tips on how to navigate in the bond market 🙂
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