15/01/2013 World Business Report

of the seven Tour de France titles. Time for the latest financial news.

A very warm welcome to World Business Report. The headlines: A

mobile device, perhaps an operating system? The blogosphere is buzzing.

What will Facebook reveal today? The share prices of Apple's Asian

suppliers of screens and other components continue to decline,

amid reports that it is scaling back what -- orders of parts.

We look at how Japanese carmakers are trying to regain their market

position. Facebook has invited members of the

press to a special event at its corporate headquarters in

California. The sorts of invites are rare for the social media giant

and the blogosphere is buzzing with speculation about what the company

is going to stay. Facebook stock is still well down from where it was

in May when it listed. Investors are hoping for something big,

possibly around the mobile sector where the company is struggling to

make money. What do you think they will say?

think it will likely be software related, possibly a tie-up with a

telephone bender. Maybe the announcement of a Facebook fine. We

will see something that will encourage advertisers and investors

to believe that Facebook can make money. Let's talk about the issue.

That has been the main issue. There is no doubt that it has got uses,

but it is how those users spend their time on Facebook and weather

that generates profits for the company. In UK and America, $10 per

user per year revenue. In Asia, and in other developing countries, you

measure it incense. What Facebook has to do is to try to deliver more

money per user to its advertisers and ultimately to its investors.

How would that generate more profit, what it has to say today? It is

about amplifying brands, perhaps the one brand that has not been

leveraged enough is its own. If you go into a mobile phone shop and you

see a Facebook phone, and you are re young person who spends hours

and hours a day on Facebook, then this find may be the one that you

choose to buy. -- a mobile phone. Windows 8 and Anne Droid are

basically pieces of software. They do not mean anything emotionally.

But Facebook is driven by emotion. So and will find that could be the

answer. -- amplifying. What if it was to reveal an operating system

of its own? It would have to do that bit there wanted to become the

4th of the big 3. Apple, Microsoft and Google all have operating

systems. It is a basis on which to build applications. Facebook does

not have an operating system, but it has an environment, if it can

turn it into a challenger, then maybe it has got some revenue

streams to come. Shares in suppliers to Apple are

falling in Asia. What is going on? Apple shares have

been slipping as well. It is all about media reports that Apple has

slashed orders with suppliers of liquid crystal displays, LCD panels,

for its iPhone fight in this current quarter are due to weak

demand. -- iPhone 5. But we will see the full picture. They will

report their earnings on 23rd January. All of the talk is hurting

supply share prices. They are dipping as much as 7%. The company

that resembles the iPads and iPhones, down more than 3%. --

assembles. They have lost gradually to Samsung as well as smaller and

fast-growing rivals in China. Samsung has overtaken Apple in

market share. But Apple still has more than 70% of the profits in the

entire smartphone sector. Research shows that Samsung will sell 290

million smartphones D C, compared to iPhone sales of 180 million

units. This year. It is getting tougher in the smartphone space.

Let's look at the car industry. Japanese car giants are still

hurting from the politically driven backlash they suffered at the hands

of the Chinese consumers. Toyota and Nissan say their sales to shot

-- to China has shrunk due to the island is bit. But they and other

Asian car giants are hoping to come back. -- Island dispute. They are

showing their latest models at the Detroit Motor Show.

Toyota showed off its version of the next generation. It is perhaps

a reflection of the company's new found confidence, which is well

placed, because there are reports that it is once again the world's

top seller. It comes after a difficult years, in which has

suffered recalls in the US, where the related problems, and more

recently, a Chinese boycott of its cars, a bit -- because of a

political dispute. Back in de trot, things are looking up.

-- Detroit. We think that things are moving in a good direction. It

is driven by these new products. They are exciting with new

technology, great new styling from Toyota, that you probably have not

seen from us before. But nobody can afford to keep it easy. Young guy

has benefited from the boycott. -- Hyundai. It is not going to give up

any gains that it made easily. Now it is focusing on the luxury market

and this is its latest offering. It has not been a bad year for de

trot's home-grown car industry. -- Detroit. It is not the Ali reason

that General Motors has to celebrate. Last year they enjoyed

their best sales at up in China. -- sales ever.

The Federal Reserve chairman is saying that it is important that

Congress raised America's borrowing limit to avoid a potential default

on US debt. He said the approaching debt limit is one of the critical

fiscal watersheds for the Government in coming weeks. The

Treasury Secretary has told congressional leaders that the US

government will exhaust its borrowing limit as soon as mid-

February, earlier than expected. One of the biggest names on

Britain's high streets, HMV, has announced that it is calling in the

administrators. It has been trading for more than 90 years. It has been

struggling in the face of online competition. It has got 240 stores

in the UK and employs more than 4,000 people. Its shares will be

suspended when trading starts in London this morning.

The photo showing website Instagram has seen a massive drop off in

users, according to data. It has fallen by almost half. The fall was

triggered by new copyright laws announced just before Christmas.

Users feared that Instagram would be able to profit from their photos

and the company was forced to backtrack.

Japanese markets are open for the first time this week. There was a

public holiday yesterday. We are seeing games. It is at its

strongest since August of 2011. A lot of this has to do with the

weakness of the Japanese yen. It is not as weak as yesterday. $1 buying

almost 89 yen. This is boosting the likes of Sony, Toyota, Nissan, many