Tag: Consumer Products

Here’s why Apple’s charger switch is such a big deal | CNN Business

CNN
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Apple retired its Lightning charger on Tuesday exactly 11 years to the day it was first announced.

The effort marks a milestone moment for the company by finally adopting USB-C, a universal charging system. That’s noteworthy not only because Apple has been resistant to do so for years but because it’s about to make charging that much easier for its customers.

But, as with most things, there’s a catch: The switch to a universal standard means Apple is giving up control of its wired charging ecosystem, and identifying good chargers from bad ones won’t be obvious to many consumers.

At its iPhone 15 event, the company announced all of its next-generation smartphones will launch with USB-C charging, and so will the latest iteration of its AirPods Pro. Although Apple has previously switched its iPads and MacBooks to USB-C charging, it has been resistant to making the change on the iPhone until now.

The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

Now Apple customers can use the same USB-C chargers to power their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers — no more scrambling to find the right charger for each device. Charging can also occur between devices, such as connecting a low-battery iPhone to a fully-charged iPad, or similarly between different brands.

“This is arguably the biggest disruption to iPhone design for several years, but in reality, it is hardly a dramatic move,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight.

Last year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak, noted the value and ubiquity of the Lightning charger, which is designed for faster device charging, but noted “obviously we will have to comply” with the EU mandate.

“We have no choice, like we do around the world, to comply with local laws, but we think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government [have] that perspective,” Joswiak said at the time.

The EU’s decision is part of a greater effort to tackle e-waste overall, but could it generate more in the short term as people phase out their Lightning cables. Although Apple has voiced environmental concerns over what happens to old Lightning chargers, it has financial reasons for pushing back on the change, too.

Apple introduced the Lightning charger alongside the iPhone 5 in 2012, replacing its existing 30-pin dock connector with one that enabled faster charging and had a reversible design. It also ignited a related accessories business, requiring users to buy a $30 Lightning adapter to connect the device to older docks, alarm clocks and speaker systems.

“For Apple, it was all about being in control of its own ecosystem,” said David McQueen, a director at ABI Research. “Apple makes good money from selling Lightning cables and its many related accessories.”

It also takes a financial cut from the third-party accessories and cables that go through its Made For iPhone program. “Moving to USB Type C would take away this level of control as USB-C is a much more open ecosystem,” McQueen said.

Apple is now selling a new $29 USB-C to Lightning adapter to allow people to connect their existing Lightning accessories to a USB-C-enabled iPhone or iPad to charge or share data. Similarly, Apple introduced a $29 dongle back in 2012 to connect the iPhone 5 – the first phone with its Lightning charger – to old docks, alarm clock radios and speaker systems.

The move to USB-C won’t likely be an incentive for people to upgrade, but it could sway some consumers who have been resistant to the iPhone over its charging limitations, according to Thomas Husson, a vice president at Forrester Research.

Considering many mobile devices already use USB-C, including Apple’s own iPads and MacBooks, access to charging wires shouldn’t be too hard or costly.

But knockoffs abound, and some USB-C chargers are much safer than others. Some may provide too much power, and others not enough. Some can regulate the flow of electricity and data to your phone – and others can’t. Among CNN Underscored’s top recommendations for USB-C chargers are from big brands, including Anker, Belkin, Apple, Amazon and Google.

“Given how widely USB-C has been used in other devices, it’s hard to imagine that customers will be totally caught out by this switch, and in the long term, it’s likely to benefit them, with a universal charging system having some very obvious upsides,” Wood said.

Apple also said a dedicated USB-C controller will allow for transfer speeds of up to 20 times faster than with USB-2 technology for the iPhone 15 Pro.

Retiring the Lightning cable could even generate, in the short term, a surge of e-waste as iPhone users toss their useless Lightning cables in a drawer. But Apple told CNN it has an existing “robust” recycling program where you can bring in used chargers and cables. It’s also possible to look for a local e-waste recycling center or Best Buy store for environmentally friendly options.

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August 2, 2023
Netflix shutters its DVD rental business, marking the end of the red envelope era | CNN Business

CNN
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Netflix will send out its last red envelope on Friday, marking an end to 25 years of mailing DVDs to members.

The company announced earlier this year it is shutting down its DVD-by-mail service, 16 years after it gradually shifted its focus to streaming content online. Netflix will continue to accept returns of customers’ remaining DVDs until October 27.

Introduced in 1998 when Netflix first launched, the DVD service promised an easier rental experience than having to drive to the nearest Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. The red envelopes, which have long been synonymous with Netflix itself, littered homes and dorm rooms across the country.

Although the idea of receiving a DVD in the mail now may sound almost as outdated as dial-up internet, some longtime customers told CNN they continued to find value in the DVD option.

Colin McEvoy, a father of two from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and a self-described film fanatic, said he rushed through 40 movies in the last few weeks to get through the remainder of his queue before the service ends. McEvoy has remained faithful to Netflix’s DVD service so he can keep watching Bollywood and obscure independent films not often found on streaming services.

“I was basically watching them as soon as I got them, and then returning the discs as quickly as possible to get as many as I could,” said McEvoy, who has been using Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service since 2001, just three years after it launched.

“I remember I was in high school when I first signed up for it, and the concept was so novel I had to really convince my dad that it was a legit service and not some sort of Internet scam,” said McEvoy, who uses an old Xbox 360 to play his Netflix DVDs. “Now I have friends who’ve seen my red Netflix envelopes arrive in the mail, and either didn’t remember what they were or couldn’t believe that I still got the DVDs in the mail.”

Some other Netflix users stood by its DVD service not only for the selection but for added perks. Brandon Cordy, a 41-year-old graphic designer from Atlanta, previously told CNN he stuck with DVDs because many digital rentals don’t come with special features or audio commentaries.

There are other factors, too. Michael Inouye, an analyst at ABI Research, said some consumers may still not have access to reliable or fast enough broadband connections, or simply prefer physical media to digital, much in the way that some audio enthusiasts still purchase and collect CDs and records.

For Netflix, however, the offering has made less sense in recent years. “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the DVD business continues to shrink, that’s going to become increasingly difficult,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post in April.

Shutting down its DVD business could help Netflix better focus resources as it expands into new markets such as gaming as well as live and interactive content. Its DVD business has also declined significantly in recent years. In 2021, Netflix’s non-streaming revenue – mostly attributable to DVDs – amounted to 0.6% of its revenue, or just over $182 million.

The cost to operate its DVD business may also be a factor, especially as Netflix rethinks expenses broadly amid heightened streaming competition and broader economic uncertainty. “Moving plastic discs around costs far more money than streaming digital bits,” said Eric Schmitt, senior director analyst at Gartner Research. “Removing and replacing damaged and lost inventory are also cost considerations.”

Even before Netflix announced the news, some longtime subscribers said they could see the writing on the wall.

“The inventory of available titles, while still vast, had been contracting some over the years with some movies that were once available no longer being so,” Cordy said. “Turnaround times to get a new movie or movies also started to take longer, so I knew it was only a matter of time. But I didn’t want it to end if I could help it.”

Other DVD subscribers were hoping for a happy ending. Bill Rouhana, the CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment – which owns DVD rental service Redbox – told The Hollywood Reporter in April he hoped to purchase Netflix’s DVD business. “I’d like to buy it… I wish Netflix would sell me that business instead of shutting it down,” he said. Redbox remains popular despite the shift in streaming, but took a hit during the pandemic because of the lack of new movies and TV shows to fill the boxes.

A Netflix spokesperson told CNN it has no plans to sell the DVD business and will be recycling the majority of its DVDs through third-party companies that specialize in recycling digital and electronic media. It will also donate some of its inventory to organizations focused on film and media.

Netflix is also offering subscribers a “finale surprise” where they could opt-in to receive up to 10 DVDs selected at random from their queue.

McEvoy, who already subscribes to Disney+, Hulu, the Criterion channel and Mubi, said he’s now testing out other services such as Eros (Indian cinema) and Viki (Korean and Chinese films) for harder-to-find content. Still, he said, he’s “sad” to see Netflix’s DVD service depart.

“I absolutely would not have been able to find all of those movies [I’ve watched] if not for the Netflix DVD service,” he said.

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August 2, 2023
Sony’s PlayStation Access controller offers a new social lifeline for gamers with disabilities | CNN Business

CNN
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Grant Stoner said that he has loved playing video games his entire life, and that his earliest memory is of playing Super Nintendo in his parents’ bedroom at roughly 3 years old.

“Gaming, for me, has always been a social activity,” Stoner, a Pittsburgh native who has spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a neuromuscular disorder, told CNN. “Because I’ve never really, physically, been able to participate in schoolyard events or sporting events or what have you, so I would bond with family and classmates through gaming.”

For people with disabilities, Stoner said gaming has served as a lifeline for forming friendships and community. But for years, he adds, the technology underpinning the gaming sector has been notoriously not inclusive.

“Disabled people would have to be very innovative, and either design or create their own adaptive setups with like, different maybe 3D-printed objects or in my case, a Popsicle stick,” Stoner told CNN. He said his brother used to attach a Popsicle stick to the trigger of one of his gaming controllers to find a way for Stoner to keep playing even when he lost strength in his fingers.

Stoner’s struggles are all too familiar for Paul Amadeus Lane, who told CNN he learned how to play games using his chin, lips and cheeks to push buttons on a controller after an accident left him quadriplegic and without finger mobility some 30 years ago.

Lane also recalls how his social circle changed after his accident, and isolation crept in after he could no longer do things like play basketball or go for a drive.

“Gaming can help with those social barriers out there, especially with social isolation,” Lane told CNN. “And put us in an environment where we can have some enjoyment without being judged because of our disability.”

Lane said he remembers getting a call back in 2021 to help advise Sony with a “secret project,” and was overjoyed to find out the tech giant’s gaming arm was quietly working on creating a controller specifically for people with disabilities. Sony Interactive Entertainment is the maker of the wildly popular PlayStation consoles and a lineup of fan-favorite PlayStation games. Microsoft’s Xbox gaming unit released an Adaptive Controller for Xbox back in 2018 to much celebration from the disability community, but people with disabilities still found wide gaps trying to play games on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles.

“I was really, really happy, because I didn’t think Sony would ever tackle something like this,” Lane told CNN.

After years of tinkering and consulting with gamers who have disabilities like Lane, Sony Interactive Entertainment unveiled a first look at its Access controller for gamers with disabilities earlier this month. The Access controller is now available for pre-order and will be released on December 6, with a price tag of $89.99.

The controller can be endlessly customized to meet the diverse needs of players with disabilities and Sony has the goal of helping these gamers play more comfortably for longer. The circular device can be configured with swappable button and stick caps to suit a range of mobility needs.

In a Q&A posted on Sony’s PlayStation company blog, Alvin Daniel, the senior technical program manager for the Access controller, said the development team quickly learned that “no two people experience disability in exactly the same way.”

Daniel said his team tapped the help of players and accessibility experts to build a controller that could be as inclusive as possible. With the help of players and accessibility experts, Daniel wrote, “we did a really deep dive to try to understand what it was we wanted to help solve. And this came down to a very interesting insight: instead of looking at conditions, or impediments, instead, look at the controller.”

“Look at the standard controller as it exists today. And ask yourself the question, ‘What prevents someone from effectively interacting with a standard controller?’” he added.

The result is a Sony-designed device that gamers can tailor to meet their individual needs, that gamers don’t have to hold in order to use and features buttons that are much easier to press. Lane, who is among the group of gamers who has been able to try out the unreleased controller, said he was especially excited for how it gave him the ability to play racing games again for the first time since his accident.

“I wasn’t able to play racing games because of just the dexterity that you needed with your hands and just how fast things are moving,” Lane said. “And then when I was able to try out Gran Turismo, I was like, I can game and play racing games again!”

“I haven’t driven in over 30 years,” he added. “It takes me back to when I was driving.”

Stoner said he’s excited about the PlayStation Access controller, and especially encouraged that the price point is relatively low compared to other options on the market. And while he’s been heartened to see an industry-wide push toward inclusive innovation in gaming, he emphasized that there is still work to do.

“The industry needs to understand that the Xbox controller, the PlayStation controller, while they’re great and while they’re very beneficial, they cannot help everyone,” he said. “This is not a perfect solution.”

“We need to keep innovating around games – the software aspect and the hardware aspect – because nothing that we have currently is fully accessible to every disabled person,” he added. “I don’t know if it’ll ever happen, just because of how individualistic the disabled experience is, but currently, there’s always more work to be done and the industry needs to remember that.”

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August 2, 2023
China says it hasn’t issued any ban on Apple’s iPhone | CNN Business

Beijing/Washington
CNN
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China hasn’t issued any laws or rules to ban the use of iPhones or any other foreign phone brand, a Chinese government spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“We have always been open to foreign companies and welcome them to seize the opportunities and share the fruits of China’s economic development,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference in Beijing.

She added that China has noticed “many media reports on the security incidents of Apple’s iPhone,” and that the country “attaches great importance to information and cyber security.”

Mao did not elaborate. She also urged foreign cellphone companies in China to follow the country’s privacy laws and to prevent “any person or organization” stealing data stored in their customers’ phones.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that China had banned the use of iPhones by central government officials, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The report triggered a drop in Apple’s shares -— the stock suffered its largest daily loss in a month.

The White House said on Wednesday it was watching the developments with “concern.”

“It seems to be a piece of the kinds of aggressive and inappropriate retaliation to US companies that we’ve seen from the PRC in the past, that’s what this appears to be,” John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman, told reporters during a news conference, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“But the truth is, we don’t have perfect visibility on exactly what they’re doing and why, and we certainly would call on them to be more transparent about what they’re seeing and what they’re doing,” he said.

Over the past few months, a growing list of American and international consulting companies have been ensnared in Beijing’s widening crackdown on what it perceives as national security risks.

In March, Chinese authorities closed the Beijing office of Mintz Group, an American corporate due diligence firm, and detained five of its local staff. The company was later fined about $1.5 million for allegedly conducting unapproved statistical work in the country.

In April, police questioned staff at the Shanghai offices of global consulting giant Bain & Company. A few weeks later, state media released details of multiple raids on the offices of Capvision, an international expert network firm with headquarters in Shanghai and New York, by state security forces.

Apple is one of the highest profile and most established American brands in China. It is the largest foreign market for the company’s products, and Chinese sales represented about a fifth of the company’s total revenue last year. Apple hasn’t replied to a request for comment.

The company doesn’t disclose iPhone sales by country, but analysts at research firm TechInsights estimate that there were more iPhone sales in China than in the United States last quarter. Apple also produces the majority of its iPhones in Chinese factories.

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August 2, 2023
Atari 2600+ sees its future in retro gaming | CNN Business

CNN
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The Atari home video game system took the late1970s and early 1980s by storm, complete with faux wood paneling and a classic joystick with a big red button. Rival systems eventually surpassed the video-game pioneer but its iconic status, and fans, remained.

Atari has been working to rebuild a lot of goodwill among those fans and within the broader video game industry ever since its new CEO Wade Rosen came on board in 2021.

With Rosen at the helm, the company is taking a closer look at its own history to chart its future, releasing remastered or reimagined versions of its classics like “Missile Command” and “Centipede,” producing the critically acclaimed “Atari 50” interactive documentary, and introducing its soon-to-be released retro console the Atari 2600+.

“I think the 2600+ has legs because there’ll be new content, new games coming out but also additional ways to play these games and to make them accessible to larger communities,” Rosen told CNN. “Do I think these things are going to replace modern consoles? Absolutely not. There’s like no way that would happen, nor would they need to. They’re radically different things.”

The retro console arrives in November at a $130 price point and in a more compact version. While it comes packaged with 10 games in a single cartridge, the console will also play new titles and work with original Atari 2600 and 7800 game cartridges.

According to Rosen, retro games complement the times and reimagined Atari titles like “Haunted House,” arriving in October, or new, original games like “Days of Doom,” available now, reflect a speedy, pick-up-and-play style characteristic of the early days of the hobby.

For instance, the remastered “Haunted House” is an elaborate stealth game where players evade colorful ghosts and monsters – but it retains the exploration mechanics of its namesake that simply featured floating eyes roaming a dark, 2D maze.

What people want in video games has changed radically, Rosen noted, explaining that these experiences “are designed for an age of complexity,” he said. “Back when we had simplicity, I wanted 200-hour games with huge quests and branching narratives and all these things, and now I’m like: ‘I can do a couple of those a year, but life doesn’t allow for it very much.’ “

The company’s Atari Recharged line also takes classics like “Yar’s Revenge” and spruces them up for a modern audience. And its acquisition of Nightdive Studios earlier this year added new franchises to Atari’s stable of remasters like “Turok” and the upcoming “System Shock.”

The recent “Atari 50” release actually did something different while mining nostalgia — it established the genre of the interactive video game documentary. The company looked at decades of its history, and invited viewers of the doc to become players.

“As we come to view games as art, more and more, I think people want to understand all the pieces that went into that and all the history around it, but yet the medium is games so we probably should interact with it in a different way,” Rosen noted.

While not in the company’s plans as yet, the Atari CEO also showed enthusiasm for a hypothetical handheld system that can play its retro games on the go like a Nintendo Switch.

“I guess short answer, yeah, if there’d be an appetite for it. I’d worry the cartridges would be a little too big. That would be really fun,” he said.

As the successor to Atari’s home console crown, Nintendo, pushes forward with its Switch system, and newer players like Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation 5 traffic in blockbuster, Triple-A games this holiday season, the Atari 2600+ retro console (but not a handheld yet) will join the scrum. It’s set to launch November 17.

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August 2, 2023
Arm’s mega IPO could be just around the corner, a year after the biggest chip deal in history fell apart | CNN Business

New York
CNN
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A hotly anticipated IPO for a company that designs chips for 99% of the world’s smartphones is just around the corner, after it filed paperwork Monday to go public.

Arm is a British tech company that architects power-sipping microchips for phones and tablets and licenses them to CPU makers, including Apple and Samsung. The company was public until 2016, when Japan’s Softbank bought it for $32 billion.

Softbank tried to offload Arm to Nvidia for $40 billion, in what would have been the biggest chip deal of all time. But global antitrust regulators put a stop to it, and the deal fell apart in February 2022.

Arm had been a hot commodity for decades, when the smartphone business was booming. But sales of smartphones have subsided recently, as customers opt to keep their phones for longer and new tech features have become less enticing to consumers.

The company, in its regulatory filing, said sales slipped 1% to $2.7 billion in the year that ended March 31, 2023. In the following quarter, which ended in June, sales fell 2.5%.

Still, Arm has piqued the interest of tech investors who are looking to catch the AI wave. Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son has touted Arm as an AI company that could have “exponential growth.” He promised ChatGPT-like services would eventually be offered on Arm-designed machines.

In its IPO filing, Arm said the company “will be central” to the transition to AI.

“Arm CPUs already run AI and [machine learning] workloads in billions of devices, including smartphones, cameras, digital TVs, cars and cloud data centers,” the company said. “In the emerging area of large language models, generative AI and autonomous driving, there will be a heightened emphasis on the low power acceleration of these algorithms.”

But Son and Arm’s AI promises may overstate the company’s potential, at least somewhat. Arm-based chips have appeared in some gadgets beyond smartphones and tablets, such as servers that are less power-hungry. But Arm said it does not make AI chips and is not a direct competitor to Nvidia and others that make chips that are purpose-built for AI. Nvidia’s stock has exploded more than 200% this year.

Arm did not list the number of shares it planned to sell, so a valuation wasn’t determinable yet. But Reuters reported Softbank is looking to basically double its investment from seven years ago with a $60 billion to $70 billion valuation for Arm when it IPOs, likely next month.

Softbank also this week bought the 25% stake in Arm that it did not own directly but that had been held by the Saudi Vision Fund, which Softbank manages. That purchase valued Arm at $64 billion, according to the Financial Times.

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August 2, 2023
Apple just killed the iPhone Lightning connector. What to do with your old chargers | CNN Business

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.

New York
CNN
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At long last, Apple is killing its proprietary Lightning port in the iPhone 15 and embracing a charging cable that’s compatible with non-Apple products. That’s one less extra cord cluttering your nightstand. One less thing to forget when packing for a weekend getaway.

But the move, hastened by a European regulatory mandate passed last year, is a largely symbolic measure that comes years after most other gadgets switched to USB-C. And it won’t do much to shrink the mountains of e-waste piling up around the globe.

“I would classify the EU law and Apple as an evolution, not a revolution,” says Marian Chertow, a professor of industrial environmental management at the Yale School of the Environment.

When the European Commission passed the directive last year, it cited two motivations: First, everyone agrees that it’s super annoying to have so many cables lying around. Second, having a common charger across devices — whether they’re made by Apple or Samsung or Garmin or whoever — would “significantly reduce electronic waste.”

Apple initially pushed back, of course, partly because selling extra Lightning cables made it lots of money. But it also said the waste argument was misguided, and that the promise of wireless charging would make the cable issue moot. (Still, the company ultimately said it would comply with the common cable rules.)

Retiring the Lightning cable could even generate, in the short term, a surge of e-waste as iPhone users toss their useless Lightning cables in a drawer. (Which, to be clear, isn’t recommended. Apple says it has a “robust” recycling program where you can bring in used chargers and cables. You can also look for a local e-waste recycling center or Best Buy store for environmentally friendly options.)

Big-picture, though, the impact on the mountains of global e-waste will likely be minimal.

There are about 66 million tons of electronic waste generated each year, says Ruediger Kuehr, head of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research in Bonn, Germany. Charging cables, he said account for “a few hundred thousand tons.”

“When we look to the pure numbers, it’s close to nothing,” Kuehr said. “But we nevertheless think it’s a very important step in order to make people … aware of the issue we are facing.”

E-waste is a growing problem that has yet to enter the mainstream consciousness. Most of it ends up where it shouldn’t — in our closets and junk drawers — which means more materials such as copper, gold and platinum have to be mined to produce new products.

“You can make money out of it, but you have to really do a lot of steps,” Kuehr says. “This is not understandable for the consumer in comparison to all the other waste streams.”

Nearly 80% of all e-waste generated around the globe is not properly treated, he said.

Whether the EU rule actually reduces waste is beside the point if it can push Apple and other manufacturers to help close the loop by making it easier to refurbish and recycle old products.

And to Apple’s credit, the company has been “a leader in scraping off rare earth metals from its reuse pile to recover these expensive materials,” Chertow says, noting that last year Apple said it was reusing more than two-thirds of the aluminum it needed. “These days, waste experts find that “reuse” is most often a better path than recycling as more can be recovered.”

—CNN’s Samantha Murphy Kelly contributed to this article.

Enjoying Nightcap? Sign up and you’ll get all of this, plus some other funny stuff we liked on the internet, in your inbox every night. (OK, most nights — we believe in a four-day work week around here.)

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August 2, 2023
Apple confirms that a bug and some apps are causing iPhone 15 models to overheat | CNN Business

CNN
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Apple is working on a software fix following reports that some of its new iPhone 15 models are overheating.

The company told CNN the current overheating issues are not a safety risk and will not affect the long-term performance of impacted iPhone models. It also emphasized that iPhones have internal protections for components to help regulate the temperature if it gets too high.

Apple also told CNN there are several circumstances that are causing its next-generation lineup to heat up. User complaints started to circulate after the latest iPhones hit stores on September 22.

“We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhone to run warmer than expected,” Apple told CNN in a statement.

To start, overheating can occur with some recently updated third-party apps, causing them to “overload the system,” the company said. Those apps include Instagram, Uber and arcade racing game Asphalt 9.

“We’re working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out,” Apple said in a statement.

It also said it discovered a bug in iOS 17 impacting some users, and plans to roll out a software update to address the issue. It did not comment on when the fix will be made available.

In addition, Apple said the device may feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring the device because of “increased background activity.”

Apple’s support page warns users that a device can get hotter when restoring it from a backup, using graphic-intensive apps, streaming high-quality video, and charging it wirelessly.

“These conditions are normal, and your device will return to a regular temperature when the process is complete or when you finish your activity,” the company states on the website. “If your device doesn’t display a temperature warning, you can keep using your device.”

The news comes as demand for the iPhone 15 appears strong. Leading up to launch day, analysts at firms such as Wedbush Securities reported iPhone 15 pre-orders tracking better than originally expected, with a heavy demand on its premium iPhone 15 Pro offerings, especially the Pro Max. Delivery and shipment times have moved to late October through mid-November for various Pro models.

The new iPhones come as Apple reported in August that sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the third quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as users update their devices less often.

But according to Wedbush estimates, about 250 million iPhones have not been upgraded in more than four years. Advancements made to the processor, camera and charging system, along with discounts from mobile carriers, could be more than enough reason for users to finally upgrade this year.

The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $1,099, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,199. Apple’s entry-level iPhones, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, cost $799 and $899, respectively.

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August 2, 2023
6 takeaways from Apple’s iPhone 15 event | CNN Business

CNN
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Apple unveiled its iPhone 15 lineup along with other major updates during its September keynote event on Tuesday.

The company announced it will switch to USB-C charging from its proprietary Lightning charging cable with the iPhone 15, marking a milestone for the company by adopting universal charging. The change aims to ultimately streamline the charging process across various devices — and brands.

The company also showed off its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches, with new colors and features including gesture control, and a new iteration of its AirPods Pro wireless earbuds, also with USB-C charging.

The iPhone charger update, along with changes to its design and camera system, comes as Apple looks to give consumers more reasons to upgrade their iPhones. Last month, Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.

Apple on Tuesday said it will not raise prices for the iPhone 15 lineup, which could further incentivize users to upgrade.

Here are the main takeaways from Apple’s Tuesday event:

The latest iPhones are packed with subtle but significant design changes. To start, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max now feature a titanium casing, allowing the design to be slimmer and thinner than before.

Other design changes on the premium models include a more-advanced 48 megapixel main camera with a larger sensor and a new telephoto lens for 5x optical zoom camera, exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro Max. The new Pro models’ design also features contoured edges and a customizable Action button, which gives the ring/silence button additional controls, from starting a voice memo to writing a note.

Meanwhile, the basic iPhone 15 phones now include updated image stabilization for taking photos and videos, 2x optimization and updated portraits with richer color and better low-light performance. They will also come with the “Dynamic Island” tool – home to alerts, notifications and other controls, in place of the notch – which were previously only available on the iPhone 14 Pro.

The iPhone 15 lineup also includes an Ultra-Wideband chip to power a handful of new features, including one that makes it easier to find friends who share their location in crowded areas.

The iPhone 15 comes in 5 colors (white, black, pink, green and yellow) and in two sizes: A 6.1-inch screen for the iPhone 15 and 6.7 inches for iPhone 15 Pro.

The iPhone 15 will start at $799, and iPhone 15 Pro will start at $999. The iPhone 15 models will be available for pre-order on Friday and for sale in stores on Friday, September 22.

Perhaps the biggest change coming to the iPhone 15 models is that they will now use a USB-C charging cord, ending an 11-year run with Apple’s proprietary Lightning charging cable.

Now Apple customers can use the same USB-C chargers to power their iPhones, iPads and Mac computers — no more scrambling to find the right charger for each device. Apple said a dedicated USB-C controller will allow for transfer speeds of up to 20 times faster than with USB-2 technology for the iPhone 15 Pro.

The switch would come less than a year after the European Union voted to approve legislation to require smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, portable speakers and other small devices to support USB-C charging by 2024. The first-of-its-kind law aims to pare down the number of chargers and cables consumers must contend with when they purchase a new device, and to allow users to mix and match devices and chargers even if they were produced by different manufacturers.

Apple will also sell a $29 USB-C Lightning adapter to let people connect their existing Lightning accessories to a USB-C-enabled iPhone or iPad to charge or share data.

The company told CNN that iPhone users can recycle their old Lightning chargers via its in-store recycling program.

Apple kicked off Tuesday’s event by announcing the new Apple Watch Series 9, which features Apple’s in-house silicon chip and ultrawideband connectivity. The updated Apple Watch will let users log health data with their voice, use “name drop” to share contact information by touching another Apple Watch and raise their wrist to automatically brighten the display. The Series 9 will come in colors such as pink, navy, red, gold, silver and graphite.

Apple also showed off the second iteration of its rugged Ultra smartwatch line, featuring the updated S9 custom chip and a new UWB chip. It also features more information on the display for more intensive tracking.

The Apple Watch Series 9 will start at $399 and the Ultra is priced at $799. Customers can place orders today and they will be available on September 22.

Apple is introducing an innovative and unique way to control its new lineup of smartwatches. The Watch Series 9 and high-end Ultra 2 watch will include a new gesture control called Double Tap, allowing allow users to tap their index finger and thumb together twice, to answer or end phone calls, play and pause music, or snooze alarms. The hand gesture can also scroll through widgets, much like turning the digital crown.

The company said Double Tap is enabled by an enhanced neural engine that processes data from sensors and machine learning, and by monitoring the change in blood flow when two fingers are tapped together. It is available starting next month.

A similar hand tap will be used to control the Vision Pro mixed reality headset when it launches next year.

Apple’s next-generation software for the iPhone will be available to download starting on Monday, September 18. In June, the company showed off a slew of new tools coming to iOS 17, such as a more accurate autocorrect, a new feature called Live Voicemail that will transcribe a caller’s message in real time, and a NameDrop tool that lets users share their contact information by holding two iPhones close together. The iPhone’s phone app will also reposition the hang up button to the bottom right of the screen, next to other functions.

The update will also bring adaptive audio to the AirPods Pro, which will adjust the noise cancellation and volume based on a user’s surroundings, and introduce conversation mode, which customizes the sound of what you’re listening to and softens when you start speaking to someone nearby.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives, said that the company’s Watch Series 9 will be Apple’s “first-ever carbon-neutral product,” thanks to efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and to offset emissions with carbon buybacks. She said this has been certified by an independent third-party.

Doubling down on sustainability initiatives, Jackson also said the tech giant will no longer use leather in any new Apple product, including watch bands.

Instead of leather, Apple said it will begin using a new textile that it is calling “fine woven.”

Fine woven will be made of 68% post-consumer recycled content, giving it a significantly lower carbon footprint than leather, Apple said.

“Beyond expected improved performance and incremental innovation embedded into Apple’s new products, it is great to see Apple communicate on sustainability as a new competitive advantage — especially with Apple’s first carbon neutral products,” Forrester Principal Analyst Thomas Husson said in emailed commentary following the event.

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August 2, 2023
Tupperware stock skyrockets toward a record 450% gain in July

Tupperware Brands Corp.’s stock skyrocketed Monday, and has more than tripled amid a four-day win streak, as the shares of the beleaguered maker of iconic food-storage containers continued their meteoric rally.

The stock soared 44.5% in midday trading, to put it on track for the highest close since Feb. 3, 2023, and has rocketed 234.6% amid a four-day win streak.

Monday’s rally adds to the stock’s 242.2% rally last week, which was the biggest one-week gain since it went public in May 1996.

So far in July, it has blasted 456.4% higher, which would also be a monthly record. The previous record was the 224.8% gain seen in July 2020.

Related: How ‘left-for-dead’ Tupperware became a buzzy trading play

The stock’s historic rally kicked off after closing at a record low of 62 cents on July 18. The daily gains have been highlighted by the record 75.6% jump on July 24, despite no news being reported.

Since the record low close, the stock has soared more than 7-fold (up 617.7%).

Related: Tupperware’s market cap almost triples as stock continues to skyrocket

FactSet, MarketWatch

Amid its surging share price, the company’s market capitalization has reached $196.96 million. On July 7, when Tupperware said that it had entered a waiver agreement with some of its creditors, the company’s market cap hovered around $33 million.

Tupperware’s recent trading activity is reminiscent of spikes in other names also recently seen as “left for dead,” as Samantha LaDuc, founder of LaDucTrading.com, put it to MarketWatch last week.

The latest exchange data showed that short interest in Tupperware’s stock, or bearish bets made, had climbed to a three-year high of 9.69 million shares, which 27% of the public float, or shares readily available for the public to trade. Read more about short selling and how it works.

In comparison with a stock that some say has been subject to a rally induced by bearish investors covering their short bets, often referred to as a “short squeeze,” Sirius XM Holdings Inc.’s
SIRI,
-0.20%
short interest represented 30.8% of its public float.

FactSet, MarketWatch

In its preliminary full-year results reported in March, Tupperware sported an 18% sales decline compared with the prior year. Back then, Tupperware Chief Financial Officer Mariela Matute said in a statement that 2023 was expected to be a transition year for the company as it worked to stabilize its business and get on better financial footing.

Related: Tupperware’s stock craters after food-storage company warns it may go bust

The following month, Tupperware issued a going-concern warning, essentially cautioning that it could go bust. Tupperware also announced the hiring of financial advisers to help it navigate its near-term challenges.

The company is projected to release its next quarterly report later this week, according to FactSet.

Emily Bary, Claudia Assis and Tomi Kilgore contributed.

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July 31, 2023
Tempur Sealy says its IT system was hacked in July

Tempur Sealy International Inc.
TPX,
-0.15%
said it identified a cybersecurity event involving some of its IT systems on July 23. In a regulatory filing, the mattress company said it has activated its incident response team to contain the incident and is still working to determine whether the breach will have a material impact on its business or financial results. “If the company determines that any personal information was involved, it would endeavor to comply with any reporting obligations it may have with respect to such information under applicable law,” said the filing. The stock was down 0.6% premarket but has gained 34% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.99%
has gained 19%.

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July 31, 2023
Antarctica is missing an Argentina-sized amount of sea ice — and scientists are scrambling to figure out why | CNN

CNN
—

As the Northern Hemisphere swelters under a record-breaking summer heat wave, much further south, in the depths of winter, another terrifying climate record is being broken. Antarctic sea ice has fallen to unprecedented lows for this time of year.

Every year, Antarctic sea ice shrinks to its lowest levels towards the end of February, during the continent’s summer. The sea ice then builds back up over the winter.

But this year scientists have observed something different.

The sea ice has not returned to anywhere near expected levels. In fact it is at the lowest levels for this time of year since records began 45 years ago. The ice is around 1.6 million square kilometers (0.6 million square miles) below the previous winter record low set in 2022, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

In mid-July, Antarctica’s sea ice was 2.6 million square kilometers (1 million square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. That is an area nearly as large as Argentina or the combined areas of Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado

The phenomenon has been described by some scientists as off-the-charts exceptional – something that is so rare, the odds are that it only happens once in millions of years.

But Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that speaking in these terms may not be that helpful.

“The game has changed,” he told CNN. “There’s no sense talking about the odds of it happening the way the system used to be, it’s clearly telling us that the system has changed.”

Scientists are now scrambling to figure out why.

The Antarctic is a remote, complex continent. Unlike the Arctic, where sea ice has been on a consistently downwards trajectory as the climate crisis accelerates, sea ice in the Antarctic has swung from record highs to record lows in the last few decades, making it harder for scientists to understand how it is responding to global heating.

But since 2016, scientists have begun to observe a steep downwards trend. While natural climate variability affects the sea ice, many scientists say climate change may be a major driver for the disappearing ice.

“The Antarctic system has always been highly variable,” Scambos said. “This [current] level of variation, though, is so extreme that something radical has changed in the past two years, but especially this year, relative to all previous years going back at least 45 years.”

Several factors feed into sea ice loss, Scambos said, including the strength of the westerly winds around Antarctica, which have been linked to the increase of planet-heating pollution.

“Warmer ocean temperatures north of the Antarctic Ocean boundary mixing into the water that’s typically somewhat isolated from the rest of the world’s oceans is also part of this idea as to how to explain this,” Scambos said.

In late February of this year, Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent since records began, at 691,000 square miles.

This winter’s unprecedented occurrence may indicate a long-term change for the isolated continent, Scambos said. “It is more likely than not that we won’t see the Antarctic system recover the way it did, say, 15 years ago, for a very long period into the future, and possibly ‘ever.’”

Others are more cautious. “It’s a large departure from average but we know that Antarctic sea ice exhibits large year to year variability,” Julienne Stroeve, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center told CNN, adding “it’s too early to say if this is the new normal or not.”

Sea ice plays a vital role. While it doesn’t directly affect sea level rise, as it’s already floating in the ocean, it does have indirect effects. Its disappearance leaves coastal ice sheets and glaciers exposed to waves and warm ocean waters, making them more vulnerable to melting and breaking off.

A lack of sea ice could also have significant impacts on its wildlife, including krill on which many of the region’s whales feed, and penguins and seals that rely on sea ice for feeding and resting.

More broadly, Antarctica’s sea ice contributes to the regulation of the planet’s temperature, meaning its disappearance could have cascading effects far beyond the continent.

The sea ice reflects incoming solar energy back to space, when it melts, it exposes the darker ocean waters beneath which absorb the sun’s energy.

Parts of Antarctica have been seeing alarming changes for a while. The Antarctic Peninsula, a spindly chain of icy mountains which sticks off the west side of the continent, is one of the fastest warming places in the Southern Hemisphere.

Last year, scientists said West Antarctica’s vast Thwaites Glacier – also known as the “Doomsday Glacier” – was “hanging on by its fingernails” as the planet warms.

Scientists have estimated global sea level rise could increase by around 10 feet if Thwaites collapsed completely, devastating coastal communities around the world.

Scambos said that this winter’s record low level of sea ice is a very alarming signal.

“In 2016, [Antarctic sea ice] took the first big down-turn. Since 2016, it’s remained low, and now the bottom has fallen out. Something major in a huge part of the planet is suddenly behaving differently from what we saw for the past 45 years.”

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July 29, 2023
Consumer sentiment hits 22-month high on easing inflation

The numbers: A survey of consumer sentiment survey reached a 22-month high of 71.6 in July, helped by a slowdown in inflation and a robust jobs market.

The final reading of the sentiment survey slipped from a preliminary 72.6 in early July, but it was up sharply from 64.4 in June, the University of Michigan said Friday.

The consumer-sentiment survey reveals how consumers feel about their own finances as well as the broader economy.

Also read: U.S. inflation eases again, PCE shows. Prices rise at slowest pace in almost two years

The index has risen in fits and starts from an all-time low of 50 last year. The index rose to as high as 101 shortly before the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

Key details: A gauge that measures what consumers think about the current state of the economy registered 76.6 at the end of July vs. an initial 77.5.

A measure that asks about expectations for the next six months slipped to 68.3 from an initial 69.4 in early July.

Both indexes are up sharply from June, however.

Americans think inflation will average 3.4% in the next year.

Big picture: Americans are less worried about a recession. Unemployment is low, wages are rising and inflation has eased.

Yet the economy is likely to face more turbulence ahead because of higher interest rates orchestrated by the Federal Reserve to bring inflation down even further.

Higher borrowing costs usually depress business investment and consumer spending, increase layoffs and slow the economy.

Looking ahead: “Overall, the sharp rise in sentiment was largely attributable to the continued slowdown in inflation along with stability in labor markets,” said Joanne Hsu, director of the survey. “However, sentiment for lower-income consumers fell.”

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.50%
and S&P 500
SPX,
+0.99%
rose in Friday trades.

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July 28, 2023
U.S. inflation eases again, PCE shows. Prices rise at slowest pace in almost two years

The numbers: The cost of goods and services rose a mild 0.2% in June as inflation eased again, but another measure of prices favored by the Federal Reserve showed somewhat less progress.

Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.2% increase in the personal consumption expenditures index.

The increase in prices over the past year slowed to 3% from 3.8% and touched the lowest level since October 2021, the government said Friday.

The so-called core PCE rate of inflation, meanwhile, also rose 0.2% last month. The core rate omits volatile food and energy costs and is viewed by the Fed as a better predictor of future inflation trends.

The rate of core inflation over the past year slowed a bit less to 4.1% from 4.6% in the prior month, but that still puts it at a more than two-year low. It’s still far above the Fed’s 2% target, however.

Big picture: Inflation has slowed a lot this year due to falling energy and food prices, but the cost of living is still rising too fast to mollify the Fed or ease the financial pain of U.S. households.

The Fed is expected to keep interest rates high through next year to bring inflation down closer to its 2% target. The danger is that higher borrowing costs could also slow the economy enough to tip the U.S. into recession.

The latest PCE report is likely to give the Fed more reason for optimism, however.

Looking ahead: “Inflation cooled, but held well above 2%, meaning the Fed can’t declare mission accomplished,” said lead U.S. economist Oren Klatchkin of Oxford Economics.

Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.50%
and S&P 500
SPX,
+0.99%
rose in Friday trades. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.953%
slipped 3.96%.

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July 28, 2023
Kimberly-Clark profit drops by 77% but adjusted earnings and revenue beat estimates

Kimberly-Clark Corp.
KMB,
+0.01%
stock was up by 2.2% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the household products maker said its second-quarter profit fell by 77%, but its revenue and adjusted profit exceeded analyst estimates. The Dallas-based company said its net income for the three months ended June 30 dropped to $102 million, or 30 cents a share, from $437 million, or $1.29 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings for the latest quarter totaled $1.65 a share, well ahead of the analyst forecast of $1.48 a share, according to estimates compiled by FactSet. Kimberly-Clark’s revenue for the second quarter increased by 1% to $5.134 billion, just ahead of the analyst estimate of $5.126 billion. Looking ahead, Kimberly-Clark said it now expects 2023 organic sales to increase by 3% to 5%, compared to its earlier expectation for growth of 2% to 4%. The company’s 2023 operating margin is expected to increase by up to 1.5%, compared to its previous estimate of 1.3%.

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July 25, 2023
Dow scores 11th day of gains, books longest win streak in six years

U.S. stocks closed higher, with the Dow posting its longest win streak in over six years, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.52%
gained about 184 points, or 0.5%, ending near 35,411, according to preliminary FactSet data. With 11 straight sessions of gains, it was the blue-chip gauge’s longest streak of win since Feb. 27, 2017, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
+0.40%
advanced 0.4%, with the energy sector leading the way higher, and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+0.19%
ended up 0.2%. Stocks have been charging higher in 2023 despite the dramatic pace of rate hikes from the Federal Reserve since last year. Focus is on Wednesday’s Fed rate decision, with U.S. central bankers expected to raise rates by another 25 basis points to a 5.25%-5.5% range, potentially marking the last in this cycle as its inflation fight appears to be pay off. Energy prices rose Monday, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September
CL00,
+0.13%
delivery ending at $78.74 a barrel, the highest for a front-month contract in three months, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

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July 24, 2023
Recession? White House sees ‘momentum’ that will keep U.S. out of one.

Recent economic data indicates the U.S. isn’t in a recession, a top White House economist said Tuesday, as he cited what he called momentum to keep the country out of one.

Jared Bernstein, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, told a Washington Post event that indicators like employment and retail sales “are certainly not flashing anything close to recession.”

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July 18, 2023
Biden administration announces new labels for gadgets that are less vulnerable to cyberattacks | CNN Business

CNN
—

The next time you’re in the market for a smart TV, fitness tracker or other connected gadget, you could see a new US government-backed label identifying some products as being particularly hardened against hackers.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced it’s moving to implement a cybersecurity labeling program aimed at helping consumers pick out trustworthy tech products that are rated as more secure than the competition.

The program seeks to bolster the nation’s cybersecurity overall by guiding Americans who may be in the market for smart home tech or wearables toward products that meet a high standard for cybersecurity as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The label will appear as a “distinct shield logo,” according to the White House. Products that meet the criteria for the label could include tech that requires strong passwords and that provides regular software updates to guard against the latest threats, for example.

A wide range of products could be covered, the administration said, including smart refrigerators, microwave ovens, thermostats, home voice assistants and — eventually — WiFi routers, after NIST finishes designing cybersecurity standards for them later this year.

For years, cybersecurity has been an afterthought in a market for so-called “internet of things” (IoT) devices that prioritizes low costs over security, according to security experts. One of the more famous examples of IoT security failures came in 2016, when criminal hackers used an army of infected computers, known as the Mirai botnet, to disrupt access to the websites of Twitter, PayPal, and others.

Products certified under the new program may come with a QR code that links to a national database affirming its participation, the administration added in a release.

The launch of the program could still be as far as a year away. But the administration took its first steps toward implementation on Tuesday as the Federal Communications Commission applied for a trademark linked to the effort, known as the “US Cyber Trust Mark.”

The FCC, which regulates wireless devices, also issued a formal proposal that will be open for public feedback on how it should manage the program.

“This new labeling program would help provide Americans with greater assurances about the cybersecurity of the products they use and rely on in their everyday lives,” the administration said in a statement. “It would also be beneficial for businesses, as it would help differentiate trustworthy products in the marketplace.”

The government proposal comes two years after President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for an “‘energy star’ type of label” for tech products. At the time, the US government was still reeling from a crippling ransomware attack days earlier that had forced a temporary shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, one of the country’s largest fuel pipeline operators.

The executive order highlighted how the administration could use product labeling, combined with the federal government’s immense procurement power, to shape commercial markets and raise the bar for companies that sell technology to both US agencies and ordinary consumers.

Companies including Amazon, Best Buy, Cisco, Google, LG, Logitech, Samsung and others pledged to assist in the government’s labeling push by committing to increase the cybersecurity of their products, the White House said Tuesday.

Dave DeWalt, CEO of the cybersecurity-focused investment firm NightDragon, said the government’s move could help address a “perfect storm” of billions of insecure IoT devices.

“Market forces alone were never going to be sufficient to force manufacturers to step up and deliver more secure devices,” he said. “We’ve taken an essential step now in the right direction to put the power back in the hands of the consumers to choose better security.”

The Consumer Technology Association said Tuesday its next annual trade show, CES 2024, will feature “certification-ready products” once the FCC finalizes its rules.

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July 18, 2023
How Barbie made a surprising comeback | CNN Business

CNN
—

The name “Barbara Millicent Roberts” may not ring a bell, but say her nickname — Barbie — and people of all ages know her. Created by Mattel in 1959, Barbie doesn’t look a day over 19.

And now she is getting new life in “Barbie” the movie, distributed by CNN’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. The movie, out next Friday starring Margot Robbie, allows Barbie to question her own reality. Something consumers have been doing for decades.

“Back in 2014 and 2015, we hit a low and it was a moment to reflect in the context of, ‘Why did Barbie lose relevance?’” said Ricard Dickson, president and chief operating officer of Mattel. “She didn’t reflect the physicality, the look, if you will, of the world around us. And so we then set a course to truly transform the brand with a playbook around reigniting our purpose.”

Mattel was slow to diversify Barbie and friends. As a result, sales at Mattel started to slump in 2014. But during the pandemic Barbie saw a resurgence as parents looked for ways to keep kids busy at home. In the first quarter of this year, Mattel’s sales fell 22% from last year’s first quarter, primarily due to declines in Barbie and Enchantimals dolls and merchandise.

“There’s been a lot of decline in that differentiation and that relevance that keep a brand fresh and top of mind from a purchase perspective. And when that happens, brands go into a place of fatigue,” said Katie Mancini, general manager of Landor & Fitch — a branding, strategy and design agency.

Now Barbie and friends have many different skin tones and shapes. Mattel produces Barbies in wheelchairs and Ken dolls with the skin condition vitiligo.

Mattel hopes the new movie, which was 4 ½ years in the making, will give the brand and Barbie the boost they’re looking for.

That may already be happening. AMC Theatres reports they’ve sold more than 20,000 pre-sale tickets to Barbie and the new movie Oppenheimer. And at HomBom Toys in New York City, ‘movie Barbie’ is sold out.

“I think I had 24,” said Ilene Gayer, owner of HomBom Toys. “They were gone within 48 hours.”

But even a new movie may not be enough to draw up enough nostalgia for Barbie.

“I wouldn’t want my granddaughters to grow up and be like Barbie,” said Patty Steffen from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who played with Barbies as a child. “I don’t know how much she has evolved – does she have a college degree now?”

Carol Spencer is too old to have played with Barbie as a child, but she’s arguably spent more time with Barbie than anyone.

Spencer became a clothing designer for Barbie in 1963. She spent 53 years transforming Barbie’s looks throughout the years.

“I grew to think of her as my muse. I thought of every child who played with a Barbie doll as my child. So let me tell you, I have a big family. And I love it!,” said 90-year-old Spencer, surrounded by Barbies in her Los Angeles home.

Spencer says Barbie was more successful in some years than others and it was often hard to keep up with the times. But she says Barbie has always been a steady brand.

“Barbie really carried Mattel for great many years,” she said.

Spencer was so influential at Mattel the company made a Barbie in her honor. And she still has “Barbie #1” in her dining room. She says plans to see the new movie with her Barbie Club — wearing pink, of course. She’s thrilled to see Barbie break out of Barbie Land and out of her heels, a sign Barbie may be keeping up with the times.

“The new audience is Barbiecore pink. And that introduced a lot of fun and introduced I think people into the world of Barbie that hadn’t been there before,” she said.

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July 15, 2023
Dow scores best day in a month, stocks post back-to-back gains as investors await inflation update

Stocks scored back-to-back gains on Tuesday as investors waited on an inflation update due Wednesday from the June consumer-price index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a near 317-point gain, advancing 0.9%, to end near 34,260, according to preliminary FactSet data. That marks its biggest daily percentage gain since June 15, according to FactSet. The S&P 500 index closed up 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6%. Stocks have been on the upswing ahead of a key inflation reading for June, with consumer price index expect to show further progress in retreat from its peak above 9% last summer. The Federal Reserve has indicated it likely has a few more rate hikes on tap this year to help bring inflation down toward its 2% annual target. Investors also will be tuning into second-quarter earnings, which kick off in earnest later in the week with results from some of the nation’s biggest banks.

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July 11, 2023