Not sure if any of our readers carry a blackberry smartphone anymore, but I find myself aberrant carrying mine around. More than a year ago, almost everyone I know had a blackberry phone, but today the game seems to have changed as RIM failed to step up to competition and deliver. 2011 is a wakeup call for the once hot smartphone company as it saw its stock price plummet almost 71% year-to date as it missed on earnings, repeatedly lowered guidance and took a beating on its tablet. How bad is the tablet? Well to put it in numbers, during the last quarter RIM sold only 150,000 PlayBooks while Apple sold about 120,000 iPads every day. Moreover, RIM recently announced that it will take a one-time charge of $485 million to account for unsold inventory of its Playbook tablet and yet insisting that it still has a chance in tablets. In terms of smartphone sells, blackberry is still holding up but the real question is for how long? Its obvious its no longer a leading contender, but does it have a chance to come back and lead again?

Everybody anticipated Apple’s event yesterday. Much speculation arose about the first post-Steve Jobs event. Many believed that Apple was about to release a new iPhone. It wasn’t only the tech-savy consumers that were expecting the new iPhone, but also investors on Wall St. Before the event, Apple’s stock traded range bound, around the previous day’s closing price of $375. However, much to the disappointment of both the consumers and the investors, Apple announced an improved version of the iPhone 4 rather than a new model. The new iPhone 4S came to as a shock. Wall St didn’t react kindly, slicing $20 off the stock’s value, a decline of 6%, after the new announcement. The decline was later partially recouped, as the overall US market moved up by more than 4% in the last trading hour (S&P 500 went from -1.9% to 2.5%).

The demand for MBAs has fallen this year. The number of applicants to business schools has fallen by 10% marking a third year in a row that applications have fallen. A third of B Schools surveyed (total of 649 schools) reported a decline of more than 10%. Harvard Business School also wasn’t immune. Applications for its full-time M.B.A. class entering this fall slid 4% to 9,134 from a year earlier, helping to boost the school’s acceptance rate to 12% from 11%. One reason for the decline is the bad job market, as historically people are incentivised to get an MBA during a good job market. Also, some companies that sponsor employees’ education have cut spending. However, MIT did report a 3% increase in applicants for its Masters of Finance degree.

So if you are thinking of applying for an MBA, now might be a good time.

Apple announced yesterday the resignation of its CEO Steve Jobs, citing health issues as a reason for his departure. He will, however, remain the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Jobs will be replaced by Tim Cook, currently the COO of Apple, who has been widely considered as the leading candidate to succeed Mr. Jobs for some time now. Apple’s stock slid almost 5% yesterday after hours upon the news of Steve’s resignation. Steve Jobs has been accredited with the impressive turnaround Apple has seen ever since he retook control of the company back in 1997. Under his tenure, Apple released such reveloutionary products as the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Apple’s stock skyrocketed during that period, appreciating by more than 6,400%.

Below is Steve Jobs’ resignation letter:

“To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.”

Steve

Yesterday, Apple overtook oil-giant Exxon Mobil as the biggest company in the World by market size. Apple ended the day with a market cap of $337.17 billion, while Exxon’s market cap was at $330.77 bilion.

The graph of the market values of Apple and Exxon Mobil, with Apple overtaking Exxon yesterday:

The Top 20 companies globally by market cap:

It’s actually becoming a trend for Apple to keep on blowing away analyst estimates and setting new record sales and earnings. While typically giving out lowball earnings forecasts, with EPS outperforming guidance by 41% on average and revenue 16% higher than revenue guidance, its clearly setting a statement that it’s not your typical second largest company in world. This quarter is not any different than any of the 29 other straight quarters where it reported blowout earnings. Only difference is that it didn’t come out with any new blockbuster products, yet was served well by pushing sales overseas. With its latest preliminary victory in its patent war against HTC and other smartphone rivals, promising pipeline and overseas tailwinds Apple it will only get better. While Job’s health issue is a concern, the company has done a good job in transitioning authority to Tom Cook, Chief Operating Officer, who has been handling business smoothly.

Looking at the Apples revenue breakdown, one can clearly notice that the iPhone has been a major contributor, only concern is that it doesn’t come as a substitute for the iPods going forward.

Guest Contributor: Bader A.

The Greeks are gone, Persians, Romans and many other Empires have come and go throughout history. However, does this mean that history will repeat itself ? Or is the global economy too interrelated that the US’s fall will be the end to us all?

The US are facing yet again, another crisis with debt. The US mentality is that of a spender rather than a saver, which works great in economic booms, but one day you will forced to repay that debt and that’s when things turn ugly.  The US have a dilemma on its hands, they either raise the $14.3 Trillion debt ceiling or default on their debt. To me the answer is obvious! Increase the debt ceiling, issue treasuries (the Chinese with their excess cash have to buy some), work on your budget deficit, keep rates low (as there is no immediate inflation threat) and pray for a recovery. However, we are thinking economically and clearly we shouldn’t undermine the political issues at hand. Elections are coming up and it’s time for every party to start showing off the guns. The different sections of the US structure must agree on a solution before August 2^nd to save the US from a default. The good news is both parties are working towards a similar goal of tightening the budget deficit by $2 Trillion. The Republicans want the savings to come from spending decreases and the Democrats from Tax increases, so they have different means towards the same end.

It is evident that the market is worried about the US’s debt rating and it’s long term ability to pay debt. CDS for the US have spiked to levels that have surpassed that of Brazil, rating agencies have added the US to many watch lists. The main issue of raising the debt ceiling or not is irrelevant, but the matter of long term solvency and liquidity is the key question. Economically, unemployment numbers will be the trigger that will help shed some light on the US outlook, but given recent data it looks like we are in for a long bumpy ride. 

At least we can all agree that the US is better off than Europe! 

LivingSocial, a US-based coupon web site, bought the Middle East-focused coupon web site GoNabit. These websites are similar to Groupon, where they offer daily deals and discounts to their subscribers, but the deal must attract a certain number of subscribers for it to go through. These types of websites have been attracting many users, as well as prespective buyers. Google last year offered $6 billion for Groupon, which was refused by the Company opting for an IPO.

The GoNabit purchase illustrates the growing interest of global firms in the Middle Eastern internet market. The Middle East internet market is growing faster relative to other markets due to the late adoption of the technology. This acquisition is not the first time a global internet firm has shown interest in the Middle East market: in 2009, Yahoo bought Maktoob. The development of the internet market and the global interest is healthy for the region.