:00:02. > :00:07.the border into Nigeria. Those are the latest headlines from BBC World
:00:07. > :00:17.News. Now time for the latest financial news with Sally and World
:00:17. > :00:26.
:00:26. > :00:29.Playing for keeps. Sony's gamble to capture hearts and homes. The new
:00:30. > :00:39.PlayStation 4 launches today. And profits tumble at the world's
:00:39. > :00:44.biggest miner, BHP Billiton. We Wellcome, you're with World
:00:44. > :00:47.Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock. Also we focus on the plight of the
:00:47. > :00:51.young and unemployed in Italy in the lead-up to this weekend's
:00:51. > :00:56.elections. So Sony is launching what it hopes will be the market
:00:56. > :01:00.leader among its video games consoles today. It's a $9 billion
:01:00. > :01:05.global market and Sony's PlayStation 3 is currently trailing
:01:05. > :01:10.behind Microsoft's Xbox. Console makers as a whole are losing out
:01:10. > :01:14.because of the popularity of gaming on mobiles. So how can the new
:01:14. > :01:17.style PlayStation recapture enthusiasm for the good old-
:01:17. > :01:23.fashioned games console? At a moment I will be speaking to Chris
:01:23. > :01:28.Green. But first this report from Jeremy Howe.
:01:28. > :01:32.For a year now Sony's PlayStation 3 has been losing the sales race to
:01:32. > :01:36.the Xbox. So it's trying to regain the lead with a new model which
:01:36. > :01:41.could go on sale as early as next Christmas. The gaming community has
:01:41. > :01:45.been rife with rumours about it, but all their excitement masks the
:01:45. > :01:50.fact that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are fighting over a
:01:50. > :01:54.diminishing market. Global sales of consoles fell last year by one-
:01:54. > :01:59.fifth. So did global sales of video games. More and more people now
:01:59. > :02:03.choose to play on smartphones and tablets, which can be taken
:02:03. > :02:07.anywhere. And they are favouring the Friis simple to play games
:02:07. > :02:12.produce for mobiles, rather than the complex pricey ones produced
:02:12. > :02:16.for consoles. Sony may try to counter this trend with new
:02:16. > :02:20.technology which allows users to transfer the game their playing on
:02:20. > :02:27.their console to mobile devices. It must do something to be captured
:02:27. > :02:32.the imagination of gamers. The PS Vita, launched last Christmas, has
:02:32. > :02:37.had poor sales. The Sony group made a net loss last quarter of $128
:02:37. > :02:40.million. Chris Green is an independent
:02:40. > :02:44.technology analyst. Thank you for joining us. We have to wait until
:02:44. > :02:51.later today to find out what it's all about and the costs and all
:02:51. > :02:55.that kind of thing. What are you expecting? There will be faster
:02:55. > :03:02.processing power, Crayton graphics, more games, new controller
:03:02. > :03:06.technologies as well -- curator graphics. These are all givens --
:03:06. > :03:15.greater graphics. We could have 3D gaming. We could have more focus on
:03:15. > :03:20.streaming content. To say for Sony this is made of -- make-or-break,
:03:20. > :03:25.is that an exaggeration? It really is. The PlayStation is a massive
:03:25. > :03:30.cash cow for the company. It is one of their highest margin products as
:03:30. > :03:35.well. The PS 4 will be a huge contributor to the overall business
:03:35. > :03:39.plan to rehabilitate their balance sheet. Compared to the Xbox,
:03:39. > :03:49.compared to the Nintendo Wii 'The Week That Was', where will this
:03:49. > :03:50.
:03:50. > :03:55.place Sony? -- Nintendo Wii Wii U. It is a challenging market. They
:03:55. > :03:59.are coming to the market's second after Nintendo's sap lacklustre
:03:59. > :04:04.launch with the Wii U. We don't know yet what might a sock is going
:04:04. > :04:10.to do with its next-generation console -- what Microsoft. It has
:04:10. > :04:14.an opportunity to factor in some last-minute changes to react. All
:04:14. > :04:24.of the console manufactures have got to try to get on board and try
:04:24. > :04:27.
:04:27. > :04:33.to tackle the challenge from mobile gaming. What evidence is there that
:04:33. > :04:38.we use the gaming devices for other tasks in the home? The PlayStation
:04:38. > :04:42.3 is used extensively as a Blu-ray movie player as well as for
:04:42. > :04:48.streaming content. We see revenues from streaming services going up
:04:49. > :04:51.and up, as are the demand for services from third content --
:04:51. > :04:57.third party content providers. Thank you for joining us. Coming
:04:57. > :05:01.out later today, the PlayStation 4. To Italy next, where Italians will
:05:01. > :05:05.be taking a decision on who will be their next leader in four days. One
:05:06. > :05:09.of the biggest issues facing the country is the growing number of
:05:09. > :05:13.unemployed. No surprise that all candidates have made this central
:05:13. > :05:16.to their campaigns. Many politicians have been calling for
:05:16. > :05:20.the protection of existing stake jobs and employment rights, but
:05:20. > :05:26.finding work for the rising number of young jobseeker's is proving
:05:26. > :05:32.more difficult. -- state jobs. Nigel Cassidy has been meeting some
:05:32. > :05:36.of those affected. -- job-seekers. 31 year-old Antonia is not giving
:05:36. > :05:41.up hope yet three months into her search. She has a Masters and US
:05:41. > :05:45.experience. But the region's mainly family companies in her field of
:05:45. > :05:50.food and drink aren't selling enough to expand. I think young
:05:50. > :05:56.people are kind of upset with the politicians at the moment. A kind
:05:56. > :05:59.of see them and the government as the reason why there aren't many
:05:59. > :06:03.jobs for the young people. The politicians and the government
:06:03. > :06:07.invest a lot in the older generations of Italy and they tend
:06:07. > :06:13.to forget about the young people, the ones in their twenties and
:06:13. > :06:16.thirties. Really the generation that's going to make Italy grow.
:06:16. > :06:21.There are success stories. This recruitment organisation says there
:06:21. > :06:26.could be more if the labour market was freer and companies could
:06:26. > :06:30.harness the ability of more flexible younger knowledge workers.
:06:30. > :06:35.This new company in Bologna really is a kind of poster child for the
:06:35. > :06:39.short technocratic government of Mario Monti, who got rid of some of
:06:39. > :06:44.the notorious restrictions for start ups. The concern here is that
:06:44. > :06:48.reforms under the new government may not be as speedy. The co-
:06:48. > :06:53.founder of this business says Italy must invest in its infrastructure
:06:53. > :07:01.to reach new markets. In comparison with other countries, consider that
:07:01. > :07:07.in Italy we have regions that have connectivity of the Nineties. This
:07:07. > :07:15.is not good in business. Especially because we want to change our way
:07:15. > :07:21.of thinking in business. We must think globally. Meanwhile what's
:07:21. > :07:24.fast becoming a lost generation of talented workers has set to leave
:07:24. > :07:29.Italy if the country can't turn the corner under its new leadership --
:07:29. > :07:34.is set to. One of the world's biggest miners,
:07:34. > :07:40.BHP Billiton, has reported a sharp slide in profits. We can go to
:07:40. > :07:46.Singapore for more on that. She was there and I'm sure she can hear me.
:07:46. > :07:51.There you go, nice to see you. What has BHP Billiton said today? That's
:07:51. > :07:58.right. A sharp expected drop in profits for BHP, they said their
:07:58. > :08:02.net profit for the first half fell 58% to $4.2 billion. It is due to
:08:02. > :08:12.weaker metals prices. They made almost $10 billion last year at the
:08:12. > :08:15.same time. The firm also said its CEO would retire in May. He will be
:08:15. > :08:21.replaced by Andrew MacKenzie, currently the head of the company's
:08:21. > :08:26.base metals business. Last August the CEO said he would forgo his
:08:26. > :08:36.bonus for 20 Krul after the company announced right downs in its share
:08:36. > :08:40.of gas and Nicole assets business. -- 2012. Face a this does not
:08:40. > :08:50.indicate any change in strategy. Analysts say the change in CEO
:08:50. > :08:54.should not be compared to Rio Tinto. -- they say this. I should say as
:08:54. > :08:59.well that Australian listed shares of BHP have been trading lower on
:08:59. > :09:02.all of this news. All right, Sharon, thank you for joining us. BHP
:09:02. > :09:08.Billiton very much in the news today. Let's have a look at what's
:09:08. > :09:12.going on in the financial markets. The Nikkei's up by 0.6 % today. A
:09:12. > :09:19.very interesting story out of Japan, which is good and bad news I have
:09:19. > :09:22.to say. Japan's trade deficit swelled to a record $17.4 billion.
:09:22. > :09:27.That's mainly on the higher energy imports that it's having to bring
:09:27. > :09:31.in as its nuclear reactors continue to stand idle following the
:09:31. > :09:35.Fukushima disaster. Also the weaker yen, that means the cost of
:09:35. > :09:39.importing energy is going out as the currency weakens. Of course
:09:39. > :09:45.it's a benefit for Japanese exporters. Incidentally Sony shares