COLDPLAY ANNOUNCE AUSTRALIAN VISIT

Sydney, 1 February, 2012: Coldplay announce a two day Australian promotional visit to Sydney on Thursday 16th February and Friday 17th February. Direct from performing live at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday 12th February, Coldplay will play two intimate performances in Sydney.

Fans will have the opportunity to see Coldplay like never before at these two exclusive, “money-can’t-buy” events.

The first is a 2Day FM & Huawei Mobile Live Set With Coldplay on Thursday 16th February, where an audience of 30 competition winners will get up close and personal with the band while they play live on 2Day FM.

Selected winners will also receive a Huawei mobile to record their experience and share with their friends via social networking on the day.

For those who miss out, Huawei Mobile will be live streaming the performance on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/huaweimobile, or you can head to 2Day FM's website at www.2dayfm.com.au to watch.

Fans have a second chance to catch the band while they're in town at Sunrise & Huawei Mobile Present Coldplay Live on Friday 17th February. As well as being broadcast on Channel Seven, this event will stream from Huawei's Facebook page.

For a chance to win tickets to see Coldplay at one of these special events, head to www.facebook.com/huaweimobile, tune into Sydney’s 2Day FM, and watch Seven’s Sunrise.

7 time Grammy winning Coldplay have sold over 50 million albums in their career. They last visited Australia in 2011 for a triumphant set at Splendour In The Grass before releasing their fifth album Mylo Xyloto which topped the charts in 34 countries worldwide, including Australia.

As Mylo Xyloto officially hits double platinum sales in Australia this week, the band’s current single Paradise has surpassed triple platinum status and is currently the No.1 most played song on Australia radio. Paradise is now Coldplay’s most successful song to date in Australia!

Paradise is currently No.5 on the national ARIA singles chart, with Mylo Xyloto sitting at No.7 on the ARIA album chart.

Coldplay head straight to London from Sydney to perform at the Brit Awards ceremony on Tuesday 21st February where they are nominated in two categories - British Group and British Album Of The Year.

Officially released to Australian radio this week, the new single Charlie Brown was a clear live highlight from recent festival performances. Before the official video drops, check out this live festival clip directed by Mat Whitecross and Mark Rowbotham:

De' Longhi to acquire Nokia facility in Romania

Espoo, Finland and Treviso, Italy - Nokia Corporation, a global leader in mobile communications, and De' Longhi SpA, a global leader in household appliances, today announced that they have agreed terms for De' Longhi to acquire Nokia's production facility in Cluj, Romania, subject to approvals by the relevant authorities.

The transaction is expected to be finalized during the first quarter of 2012 and the parties have agreed to keep the terms confidential.

De' Longhi plans to make the facility a key part of its development strategy, aimed at supporting its fast-growing international presence. The facility will also enable De' Longhi to adapt and diversify its production network so as to partly rebalance its manufacturing structure from the Far East to Europe, where De' Longhi already operates a plant in Italy.

After announcing its plans in September 2011 to end manufacturing in Cluj and focus feature phone production in locations closest to suppliers and key markets, Nokia has been active in seeking potential buyers for the facility in close consultation with the relevant authorities in Romania.

Robert Andersson, senior vice president at Nokia, who led the discussions, said: "As we assessed the interest in our facility, Nokia was determined to find a major investor with clear plans for growth and committed to creating jobs here in the immediate future. De' Longhi was the ideal candidate in both respects and we are really pleased to have been able to secure the future of the facility so quickly."

Since ending production in Cluj in November 2011, Nokia has continued to support impacted employees with a number of proactive measures, including financial support and assistance with retraining and job search.

Huawei also unveils new MediaPad color series, operating on Android 3.2

Las Vegas, USA, January 10, 2012: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today announced that the Huawei MediaPad is now one of the world's first tablets to come pre-loaded with the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system.

First launched in June 2011, the original MediaPad was the world’s first 7-inch Android 3.2 tablet. This latest version of the MediaPad once again provides users with the very latest Android experience, along with access to the newest and hottest services and apps available in the Android marketplace.

Huawei also unveiled its new MediaPad color series – fashionable MediaPads in three new colors: shadow black, classic brown, and passion pink and running on Android 3.2. Both MediaPad versions have a high-quality display, with screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels at 217 PPI and supporting 1080P Full HD video playback. Additionally, they come with a Qualcomm dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and have a battery capacity of six hours or more.

                                                        

“In a tablet market defined by staid black and white tablets, the new colorful MediaPad offers a personalized look without the need for an external case,” said Richard Yu, Chairman, Huawei Device. 

“With a hardware package that includes a high-quality screen, a powerful dual-core processor, and long battery life, these colorful MediaPad embodies a rare combination of style and performance.”

Huawei’s new MediaPad color series and the MediaPad with Android 4.0 will be available in selected markets in the first quarter of 2012. Existing MediaPad owners will receive an OTA Android 4.0 upgrade to their tablets by the first quarter of 2012.

Commerce Commission dealing with daily deal sites at the source

The Commerce Commission has stemmed a growing tide of complaints about daily deal and group buying websites with a proactive approach to educating the websites about consumer law.


Greg Allan, Manager Competition Branch, says the Commission was on the case as soon as it started to see concerning trends emerging in the daily deal and group buying market place.


“Earlier last year, our intelligence unit identified this as an area where we were increasingly likely to see complaints. We then started to see numbers of complaints reported to the Commission begin to climb. As a result, we’ve been targeting the websites, talking to them about their compliance programmes, checking how they vet advertising, and how they deal with complaints,” said Mr Allan.


Under the Fair Trading Act, it is illegal for any business whether they are operating in the real or virtual world, to mislead consumers, give false information, or use unfair trading practices.


While issues continue to emerge, Mr Allan said the levels of complaints to the Commission have been steadily dropping since it we began talking to the websites about these issues.


“We have been particularly heartened to see a number of these websites taking responsibility, including by issuing refunds to customers whose deals haven’t gone according to plan,” said Mr Allan.


Mr Allan said it was particularly important as the market evolved that the Commission’s focus remained on the websites rather than the individual traders as the websites are in a better position to obtain compliance before offers are published.


“These deals are now targeting consumers in real time. You could be walking down the street and want a meal, and look to your smart phone to find out which deals are nearby. You can buy on the spot, download the barcode, walk into a restaurant and get the deal.”


“The fast-changing nature of these deals means we have to be ahead of the game, rather than picking up the pieces at the end, which is why we’ve taken a proactive approach,” Mr Allan said.


“Consumers also need to know their rights and do their homework. Anyone looking to take up a deal should carefully check the offer, including the terms and conditions, and if unsure of any part of the offer, contact the supplier making the offer to confirm details ” said Mr Allan.