Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Jan 7, 2013

choi

My comment: No need to read the text of either reports, the rest of which are insubstantial.

(1) Bruce Einhorn, China's Smartphone Market Welcome Dumb Phones. (title in print)
http://www.businessweek.com/arti ... et-lenovo-gets-busy

Quote:

"Lenovo is the world’s biggest PC vendor, thanks largely to its dominant position in China, but it’s struggled to get local consumers to buy its phones.

"China became the world’s largest smartphone market in 2012 [by unit, not sales]. Domestic shipments increased 180 percent last year, to 186 million handsets, according to Kevin Wang, director of China research at IHS iSuppli; shipments in China are expected to reach 268 million this year and 377 million by 2016. The bulk of those phones will be Chinese brands such as Lenovo, Coolpad, TCL, and ZTE.

"History isn’t on Lenovo’s side. Chinese cell-phone makers have come on strong in the past but have lacked staying power. In the early 2000s, a company called Ningbo Bird was the leading Chinese phone manufacturer and positioned to challenge foreign brands, but quickly faded. More recently, a handful of Chinese phonemakers were churning out inexpensive 2G knockoffs but lost business when consumers shifted to 3G networks and smartphones. The same thing could happen to Lenovo and other Chinese brands when consumers shift to the next generation of mobile phones that run on LTE [ie, 4G] networks.

Note:
(a) The summary beneath the report title in print: Lenovo rolls out new handsets and a retail strategy to pick up market share
(b) The summary in Table of Contents in print: As mainland smartphone sales rise, Chinese makers such as Lenovo are challenging the iPhone
(c) Sure, the title implies Lenovo's smartphone (one now and many to be introduced) are dumb.


(2) Logan Hill, Only BFFs Need Apply; Companies are increasingly hiring employees who fit in with existing corporate culture, even if they're less qualified.

Excerpt in the window of print: Zappos offers workers $4,000 to quit after a week rather than training them if they don't fit in.

the corresponding sentence in the text: the online retailer Zappos offers new employees who are struggling workers $4,000 to quit after a week's work rather than wasting resources to train someone who doesn't gel with the group.