Nokia to axe 4,000 jobs at smartphone plants

New Delhi/Helsinki, Feb 8 - In a major headcount reduction exercise, Nokia today announced 4,000 job cuts in Europe and Mexico, as the Finland-based global mobile phone would be moving its device assembly units to Asia. The job cuts in Finland, Hungary and Mexico are said to be driven by the world's largest mobile phone maker's plans to move its device assembly units closer to the component suppliers in Asia. In a statement issued from Helsinki, Nokia said that the job cuts would be at its factories in Komarom (Hungary), Reynosa (Mexico) and Salo (Finland). ÒThe changes are anticipated to impact approximately 4,000 employees in total...Personnel reductions are planned to be phased through the end of 2012,Ó the company said. The measures follow a review of smartphone manufacturing operations that the company announced last September and are aimed at increasing Nokia's competitiveness in the diverse global mobile device market. The three factories affected by the job cuts are planned to focus on smartphone product customisation, serving customers mainly in Europe and the Americas. The company said that device assembly is expected to be transferred to Nokia factories in Asia, where the majority of component suppliers are based. The company did not disclose the specific identity of the Asian locations where these factories are based. ÒShifting device assembly to Asia is targeted at improving our time to market. By working more closely with our suppliers, we believe that we will be able to introduce innovations into the market more quickly and ultimately be more competitive,Ó Nokia Executive Vice President (Markets) Niklas Savander said. In September last year, Nokia announced it would cut another 3,500 jobs worldwide as part of drastic restructuring efforts that includes shuttering manufacturing facility in Romania. Battling tough business conditions, Nokia's latest move would be in addition to restructuring plans unveiled in April, that would affect as many as 7,000 jobs globally.

EU green tax: Global airlines warn of 'retaliatory action'

New Delhi, Feb 8 - With European Union facing global flak over imposition of a green tax on all aircraft flying in its skies, world airlines' body IATA has warned European airlines of Òretaliatory actionÓ by non-EU nations if a global solution was not arrived at soon. Time is not on our side. Airlines from Europe may face some retaliatory action. And some non-European airlines may have to choose whether to obey the law of their land or that of Europe - two more unintended consequences which should convince all states that the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) is the way forward, IATA chief Tony Tyler said. He called for a global solution through the ICAO, a UN-body, to break the impasse on Europe's plans to ÓunilaterallyÓ include global aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EUETS). India, Russia, the US, China and several other countries would meet in Moscow later this month to decide on whether to take retaliatory measures against the EU on its ÒunilateralÓ decision to impose carbon tax on air travel. The EU imposed the tax from January, but about 30 countries, including India, Russia, China and the US, opposed the move, saying it was Òinconsistent with the international legal regimesÓ. In a speech to the European Aviation Club in Brussels yesterday, Tyler said the consequences of the Òunilateral and extra-territorial approach go beyond market distortions to states seeing this as an attack on their sovereignty.Ó ÒI am sensing a growing recognition that a global scheme developed through the ICAO would provide a superior solution both for managing aviation's emissions and to resolving the political problems caused by extending the scheme beyond Europe's borders,Ó the IATA Director General and CEO said, adding, ÒWe will do all that we can to promote a pragmatic solution.

No change in US visa policy with regard to Modi: Blake

Washington, Nov 15 - The US today said there is no change in its policy of denying visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

 ÒNo, there are no new developments on that,Ó Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters here when asked if there is any review of denial of visa to Modi.

 The US had denied visa to Modi in March 2005 for his alleged complicity in the in the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. Modi had applied for a visa to go to the US for participating in the annual convention Asian American Hotel Owners Blake, however, said Gujarat itself remains a very important place for American investment.

 ÒI think it has shown itself to be a very welcoming environment for American business to flourish. We will continue to promote investment, encourage investment into that State,Ó he said yesterday.
 Blake said the US is now trying to build up its relationship with Indian States.

 ÒWe recently have begun an effort to try to enhance state-to-state ties between our two countries -Special Representative Rita Jo Lewis recently made a trip to India with that in mind -because we believe there are quite significant opportunities for individual American states to do more with their Indian counterparts,Ó Blake said.

 ÒIndeed, there's quite a lot of dynamism at the state level in India, so we want to just try to capture that, and again, encourage those state-to-state and city-to-city links.

So I think you ll see more of that in our relations over the next several years, said the US official.

Inspan Announces Attractive Scheme for Resellers from Genius

CHENNAI, India - November 15, 2011   - Inspan Infotech, one of the largest IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components, announced attractive scheme resellers on sales of Genius products for the OND 2011 quarter.

Resellers will be eligible for the following rewards on sales of Genius products

1. Invoice value worth Rs 50,000, will be eligible for Adidas gift vouchers worth Rs 1,500/-
2. Invoice value worth Rs 1, 00,000, will be eligible for Ray-Ban sunglasses
3. Invoice value worth Rs 2, 00,000, will be eligible for a AGAMA RC 520A Robotic vacuum cleaner
4. Invoice value worth Rs 3, 00, 000, will be eligible for a Pico projector GPP1000, Genius media player 200 and 8GB SD card

This scheme is valid from 1^st October 2011 to 30^th December 2011and is valid for the purchases billed out from Inspan Infotech. However above scheme cannot be merged or clubbed with any other scheme that may be running at that time. Genius reserves the rights of execution, alternation and will entertain all the scheme claims directly from distributors.

"Attractive schemes from Genius have always been well appreciated by the channel partners. With every inch of growth Genius has always rewarded its channel partners fairly to motivate them. The targets of Genius scheme have always been designed to be achievable by channel partners."said Sudhir S, Managing Director of Inspan Infotech.

Price, Warranty and Availability

Standard pricing and warranty clauses are applicable on the products as announced from Genius. These products are available ex-Stock across all offices of Inspan in the country.

World's First High-Performance Quad Channel

Banglore, (India), Nov.15 - Corsair®, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced the world's first high-performance quad channel Dominator 32GB DDR3 memory kit.

The Dominator 32GB Quad Channel kit (part number CMT32GX3M4X1866C9) consists of four rigorously-screened 8GB DDR3 DRAM modules with Corsair's patented DHX+ heatsinks. It operates at 1.5V and is designed to run at 1866MHz, with 9-10-9-27 C9 timing. Corsair has compatibility tested the new 32GB Quad Channel kit with upcoming quad channel platforms as well as current dual channel platforms.

"The new Dominator 32GB Quad Channel memory kit is designed for high-performance PC enthusiasts using the latest motherboards, whether they're overclockers, gamers, or simply want a large amount of state-of-the-art memory," said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "Corsair is a market leader in high-performance memory, and we're pleased to be first to market with a high-performance 32GB quad channel kit."