1. UPDATE 1-Moody’s to review France’s outlook over next 3 mths


    NEW YORK Oct 17 (Reuters) - Moody’s warned on Monday it may slap a negative outlook on France’s Aaa credit rating in the next three months if the country fails to make progress on crucial fiscal and economic reforms.Moody’s also will take into account any potential adverse developments in financial markets or in the economy in assessing the outlook, it said, noting that the government has now less room to stretch its finances than it did during the financial crisis of 2008.A negative outlook would be a sign that Moody’s could downgrade France in the next couple of years.”The deterioration in debt metrics and the potential for further contingent liabilities to emerge are exerting pressure on the stable outlook of the government’s Aaa debt rating,” Moody’s said in a statement.The warning comes as European Union leaders discuss measures to protect the region’s financial system from an expected Greek debt default. Those measures should include injection of capital into banks with exposure to Greek debt.France may face a number of challenges in the coming months, such as the need to provide additional support to other European countries or to its own banking system, Moody’s said.For France to maintain a stable outlook on its rating, it will need to prove its “continued commitment to implementing the necessary economic and fiscal reform measures,” the ratings agency said.The government will also have to show “visible progress in achieving the targeted sustainability improvements” in its debt ratios, Moody’s said.France’s debt metrics are now among the weakest of its Aaa peers, the agency said.

  2. McDonald’s Channel comes to California restaurants


    McDonald’s Corp will roll out a high-definition television channel to nearly 800 restaurants in southern and central California by March. The world’s biggest hamburger chain is doing this as part of a test, and one day hopes to take it across the United States.Businesses from gas stations and grocery stores to coffee maker Starbucks Corp are beaming more entertainment directly to customers, trying to address a captive audience in a world crawling with entertainment options.McDonald’s Channel content partners include Walt Disney Co’s ABC, BBC America and reality television producer Mark Burnett, who is known for such hits as “Survivor” and “The Apprentice.”Test markets have include Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Manhattan, Seattle and some communities in Oklahoma.As it evolves, the McDonald’s Channel will add more local programming such as high school sports news.”We think that’s a major part of the community that the channel can really bring to life,” said Leland Edmondson, founder of ChannelPort Communications, which is overseeing the project. “We’re talking to a number of sports properties.”The programming will include exclusive content and be made up of short spots ranging in length from 90 seconds to 20 minutes. Diners who want to see longer versions of some spots will have the option access them via mobile devices or home computers.”There’s no remote on the table, but there is Wi-Fi in the restaurant,” Edmondson said.Programs include “The McDonald’s Achievers,” profiles of local high school and college athletes; “Mighty Moms,” about local mothers balancing families and careers in sports; and “Vimby” (Video In My Backyard), which has partnered with Burnett to cover local lifestyle news including fashion, art, music, action sports and nightlife.The channel will show less than eight minutes of advertising per hour. McDonald’s will take a fraction of that time, which will be shared with other brands, he said.Eventually, every McDonald’s in southern California will carry the channel, which will be seen by about 18 million McDonald’s customers in the area each month, Edmondson said.

  3. The democratization of market research


    By George Terhanian The views expressed are his own. Nearly every product you interact with — from the car you drive, to the TV and movies you see, to the advertising to which you’re exposed — has benefited from market research, a $32-billion-and-growing global industry. Businesses value such research. They demand it. And why shouldn’t they? Good research is vital to innovation and competitive advantage, bringing to light new needs as well as clues on how to satisfy them. Market research has some downsides too. It can be complicated, slow, and expensive — available only to big spenders with plenty of time on their hands. But what if just about anyone could pose questions to a target population and receive unfiltered, immediate answers they could trust? The ability might just change the way a lot of us make decisions. It’s already begun to happen. When you post a picture on Facebook or ask a question on Twitter, you may get back a number of responses from your circle of friends and followers. Those responses lack the scale, coverage and diversity that high-quality market research promises, of course. And your friends’ knowledge of you will invariably color their replies. Let’s imagine you want more depth. You’ve got several questions in mind, and you need to know that your respondents will represent your target population of interest. My company’s QuickSurvey enables you to select the respondents yourself, write the questions yourself, pay a small fee with your credit card, and, in a matter of minutes, see a detailed report of what people think. You can even tweak the data to see how responses vary by geographic location, age, income, or gender. A number of market research buyers are embracing the new tools. Sony Music Entertainment, for instance, relies on Toluna QuickSurveys for a fast read on how consumers worldwide feel about various recording artists, and therefore which ones are likely to benefit from a marketing boost. Sony finds TQS a great way to stay ahead of the game without breaking the bank. The alternatives — phone interviewing or more traditional online research — take a week or two longer, and cost five to ten times more. Global PR agency GolinHarris uses Toluna QuickSurveys to spot emerging trends in multiple countries, test ideas on the fly, and deepen its understanding of people and issues. Ditto British Airways, whose research and insight manager finds the service “an extremely fast way of getting a snapshot of consumer views.” The DIY survey market is small at the moment — possibly $500 million in annual sales, a very small slice of the $32 billion pie. So how do companies in that market make money? SurveyMonkey, perhaps the best-known player in the DIY research game, sells subscription services to its DIY survey engine via online channels. SurveyMonkey’s first-mover advantage, low fixed costs and ability to sell the same useful service over and over again makes for a strong offering. Facebook market researcher Sheila Normile says SurveyMonkey makes it easy for her “to conduct, manage and analyze research that drives our business forward.” Polldaddy uses a similar subscription model; its plugin has come in handy for the New York Times, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft, among many others. Toluna takes a different approach, complementing its DIY survey engine with access to its community of four million prescreened responders in more than 30 countries. The business model is akin to selling a printer at low to no cost, and making money by selling the ink. So how large might the DIY market grow? Could it reach $3 billion in the next five years? It might. It depends in part on how long traditional market-research buyers will pay the labor markup for the workers on the market-research assembly lines. Such ‘factories’ will typically assign one group to do the scheduling, a second to select the survey sample, a third to write questionnaires, a fourth to process the data, and so on. Given the available technology, such an approach is no longer efficient. That’s why it’s not cheap, either. The growth of the market will also depend on the quality of the information DIY approaches are able to produce. If it proves to be credible, trustworthy and comparatively inexpensive, more and more buyers will make the switch. Finally, that growth will depend on whether or not people change, inasmuch as the teenagers of today will become the market-research buyers of tomorrow. Today’s teenagers will undoubtedly be far more comfortable with DIY approaches than are those they’ll replace. Moreover, the ability to ask questions and receive trustworthy responses in real time may prove to be as powerful for individuals as it is for companies like Sony Music Entertainment and GolinHarris. Who can predict the new courses of action that will open up now that everyone can get instant feedback? Are you wondering who to take in the fantasy baseball draft? Ask two thousand people if Derek Jeter still has it. Trying to decide what to eat tonight? Ask another two thousand. Deciding whether to marry, or whom? Ask a million people. Undoubtedly, someone will ask. That’s what happens when valid market research becomes streamlined, and open to all.

  4. The democratization of market research


    By George Terhanian The views expressed are his own. Nearly every product you interact with — from the car you drive, to the TV and movies you see, to the advertising to which you’re exposed — has benefited from market research, a $32-billion-and-growing global industry. Businesses value such research. They demand it. And why shouldn’t they? Good research is vital to innovation and competitive advantage, bringing to light new needs as well as clues on how to satisfy them. Market research has some downsides too. It can be complicated, slow, and expensive — available only to big spenders with plenty of time on their hands. But what if just about anyone could pose questions to a target population and receive unfiltered, immediate answers they could trust? The ability might just change the way a lot of us make decisions. It’s already begun to happen. When you post a picture on Facebook or ask a question on Twitter, you may get back a number of responses from your circle of friends and followers. Those responses lack the scale, coverage and diversity that high-quality market research promises, of course. And your friends’ knowledge of you will invariably color their replies. Let’s imagine you want more depth. You’ve got several questions in mind, and you need to know that your respondents will represent your target population of interest. My company’s QuickSurvey enables you to select the respondents yourself, write the questions yourself, pay a small fee with your credit card, and, in a matter of minutes, see a detailed report of what people think. You can even tweak the data to see how responses vary by geographic location, age, income, or gender. A number of market research buyers are embracing the new tools. Sony Music Entertainment, for instance, relies on Toluna QuickSurveys for a fast read on how consumers worldwide feel about various recording artists, and therefore which ones are likely to benefit from a marketing boost. Sony finds TQS a great way to stay ahead of the game without breaking the bank. The alternatives — phone interviewing or more traditional online research — take a week or two longer, and cost five to ten times more. Global PR agency GolinHarris uses Toluna QuickSurveys to spot emerging trends in multiple countries, test ideas on the fly, and deepen its understanding of people and issues. Ditto British Airways, whose research and insight manager finds the service “an extremely fast way of getting a snapshot of consumer views.” The DIY survey market is small at the moment — possibly $500 million in annual sales, a very small slice of the $32 billion pie. So how do companies in that market make money? SurveyMonkey, perhaps the best-known player in the DIY research game, sells subscription services to its DIY survey engine via online channels. SurveyMonkey’s first-mover advantage, low fixed costs and ability to sell the same useful service over and over again makes for a strong offering. Facebook market researcher Sheila Normile says SurveyMonkey makes it easy for her “to conduct, manage and analyze research that drives our business forward.” Polldaddy uses a similar subscription model; its plugin has come in handy for the New York Times, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft, among many others. Toluna takes a different approach, complementing its DIY survey engine with access to its community of four million prescreened responders in more than 30 countries. The business model is akin to selling a printer at low to no cost, and making money by selling the ink. So how large might the DIY market grow? Could it reach $3 billion in the next five years? It might. It depends in part on how long traditional market-research buyers will pay the labor markup for the workers on the market-research assembly lines. Such ‘factories’ will typically assign one group to do the scheduling, a second to select the survey sample, a third to write questionnaires, a fourth to process the data, and so on. Given the available technology, such an approach is no longer efficient. That’s why it’s not cheap, either. The growth of the market will also depend on the quality of the information DIY approaches are able to produce. If it proves to be credible, trustworthy and comparatively inexpensive, more and more buyers will make the switch. Finally, that growth will depend on whether or not people change, inasmuch as the teenagers of today will become the market-research buyers of tomorrow. Today’s teenagers will undoubtedly be far more comfortable with DIY approaches than are those they’ll replace. Moreover, the ability to ask questions and receive trustworthy responses in real time may prove to be as powerful for individuals as it is for companies like Sony Music Entertainment and GolinHarris. Who can predict the new courses of action that will open up now that everyone can get instant feedback? Are you wondering who to take in the fantasy baseball draft? Ask two thousand people if Derek Jeter still has it. Trying to decide what to eat tonight? Ask another two thousand. Deciding whether to marry, or whom? Ask a million people. Undoubtedly, someone will ask. That’s what happens when valid market research becomes streamlined, and open to all.

  5. U.S. judge says Samsung tablets infringe Apple patents


    The comments from U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh came on Thursday in a court hearing on Apple’s request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the United States.Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets.Earlier on Thursday, an Australian court slapped a temporary ban on the sale of Samsung’s latest computer tablet in that country.Apple sued Samsung in the United States in April, saying the South Korean company’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copies the iPhone and iPad.Apple then filed a request in July to bar some Samsung products from U.S. sale, including the Galaxy S 4G smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.Mobile providers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have opposed Apple’s request, arguing that a ban on Galaxy products would cut into holiday sales.Apple must show that Samsung infringed its patents and that its patents are valid under the law.Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued that in order to defeat an injunction bid, Samsung need only show that it has raised strong enough questions about the validity of Apple’s patents.”We think we’ve clearly raised substantial questions,” Sullivan said at the hearing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court.Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said Apple’s product design is far superior to previous tablets, so Apple’s patents should not be invalidated by designs that came before.”It was the design that made the difference,” McElhinny said.Koh frequently remarked on the similarity between each company’s tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which.”Not at this distance your honor,” said Sullivan, who stood at a podium roughly ten feet away.”Can any of Samsung’s lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?” Koh asked. A moment later, one of the lawyers supplied the right answer.”It took a long time to make that distinction,” Koh said.After the hearing, Samsung spokesman Kim Titus said Apple’s injunction request is “groundless.” An Apple representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Additionally, Koh said she would deny Apple’s request for an injunction based on one of Apple’s so-called “utility” patents.She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple “design” patents.Koh characterized her thoughts on the utility patent as “tentative” but said she would issue a formal order “fairly promptly.”The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846.

  6. German FinMin says may have to reduce Greek debt


    “This can’t be left to taxpayers alone,” he added. “I know that the participation of private creditors is not welcomed by the markets, but there is no way around having the private sector contribute … if it is to be a sustainable and democratic process.”Schaeuble added that the euro zone’s planned permanent rescue mechanism, the ESM, must be put in place as soon as possible.