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You’ll Never See The World The Same Way Again
Apple (AAPL -1.3%) has used a virtual launch party rather than the usual splashy event to unveil its newest iPhone, a midline entry that harks back to older designs.
The new iPhone SE lists for $399 – about 40% less than the regular iPhone – and updates the smaller-screen/home button design of years past with newer internals.
It comes about four years after another major Apple move into budget phones, the first iPhone SE (also $399 at the time). It’s set for availability on April 24.
The new version includes juicier specs but still lacks the line’s top-end features: Its main camera has a single lens (vs. the dual- and triple-lens systems in more expensive iPhones), and it’s got a home button that has been displace in newer phones that also feature face unlocking.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) is slowing hiring in nearly all areas for the rest of the year, CEO Sundar Pichai has told staffers.
“We’ll be slowing down the pace of hiring, while maintaining momentum in a small number of strategic areas, and on-boarding the many people who’ve been hired but haven’t started yet,” the company says.
So far, the company hasn’t announced any job cuts; it’s covering wages and benefits for contractors in its offices for a certain period.
“Just like the 2008 financial crisis, the entire global economy is hurting, and Google and Alphabet are not immune to the effects of this global pandemic,” Pichai said in a staff memo.
“By dialing back our plans in other areas, we can ensure Google emerges from this year at a more appropriate size and scale than we would otherwise. That means we need to carefully prioritize hiring employees who will address our greatest user and business needs.”
After-hours: GOOG -0.3%; GOOGL -0.2%.
Hoping to ease some coronavirus-related financial burdens, Micron (NASDAQ:MU) will make the one-time payments to roughly 25,000 workers around the world.
The amount will vary between countries with U.S. workers who earn less than $100K a year receiving $1,000.
The company also plans to provide masks and medical supplies to manufacturing facilities, including those in India, Taiwan, and Singapore.
Micron is making the payments as part of its $35M effort to support workers and local economies.
Following through with this morning’s warning, Amazon (AMZN +0.6%) will suspend operations at its six fulfillment centers in France after a court order banning the sale of non-essential goods.
A spokesperson confirmed the closures to Bloomberg.
The sales ban followed a labor union filing concerning worker safety during the coronavirus pandemic.
The French warehouses will remain closed until at least April 20, according to an internal document viewed by Reuters.
In other Amazon news, a report from the Defense Department’s inspector general found that the JEDI cloud contract award process wasn’t improperly influenced by President Trump, as AMZN argued.
The report says that DOD officials who awarded the contract to Microsoft (MSFT -1.0%) “were not pressured regarding their decision on the award of the contract by any DoD leaders more senior to them, who may have communicated with the White House.”
In February, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the JEDI project after the DOD asked for 120 days to review the reward process. Amazon asked for a more thorough reexamination.
The industrywide advertising pullback isn’t likely to spare the giants, Google (GOOG -0.7%, GOOGL -0.6%) and Facebook (FB -1.3%), The New York Times notes – though the takeaway is that they’ll unsurprisingly be far better off than smaller businesses.
Annual revenues are set to decline at both companies for the first time in their history. Facebook ad prices are at record lows and it’s hard to find travel and entertainment ads on Google’s search.
But what little ad spending remains is likely going to flow to the two giants, making spending even more concentrated, the report notes.
In lean times, advertisers are opting for those that gave the most direct translations into new business, making Google and Facebook safer.
Daily spending for digital ads fell more than 20% in late March for sports and entertainment businesses, Pathmatics says, while travel companies dropped digital ad spending to near zero.
Advertisers are also looking to avoid proximity to coronavirus content on publishers – a tactic that is easier on Google and Facebook due to tighter controls, the companies say.
