Airbus heads towards 500-jet IndiGo order - sources - https://bit.ly/43jjXWY
ISTANBUL, June 4 (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) is closing towards a potentially record deal to sell 500 narrow-body A320-family jets to India's largest carrier IndiGo (INGL.NS), industry sources said on Sunday.
The European planemaker has emerged as front-runner for an order eclipsing Air India's historic provisional purchase of 470 jets in February, the sources said on the sidelines of an airline industry meeting in Istanbul.
Such a deal would be worth some $50 billion at the most recently published Airbus list prices, but would typically be worth less than half this after widespread airline industry discounts for bulk deals, according to aircraft analysts.
Airbus and Boeing (BA.N) are also competing in separate talks to sell 25 A330neo or Boeing 787 wide-body jets to the same airline, they said.
IndiGo Chief Executive Pieter Elbers, attending the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Istanbul, declined to comment on commercial matters.
Airbus and Boeing also declined to comment.
Reuters first reported in March that IndiGo, which has a 56% share of the domestic Indian market, was in talks with both Airbus and Boeing for the order, which if confirmed would be the largest by a single airline ranked by units.
IndiGo's potential new order comes as it is yet to take delivery of nearly 500 jets out of a total order of 830 Airbus A320-family planes, making it one of the largest customers of the European group.
Airbus and Boeing have been racking up billions of dollars of new orders stretching beyond 2030 as airlines lock in supplies well ahead amid looming shortages.
Will Apple’s New Headset Be the Metaverse’s iPhone Moment?
Apple’s expected announcement of its mixed-reality headset on June 5 will undoubtedly shape expectations about the metaverse. Many in the fashion industry will be keeping close watch. That, plus what else to watch for in the coming week.
On June 5, Apple will introduce what might become its most important product in more than a decade: a mixed-reality headset that could, in theory, lay the groundwork for a successor to the smartphone — at least that’s if all the rumours swirling prove true. What began as whispers about a product announcement has solidified into confident reports from Apple watchers that the reveal, after years of anticipation and delays, will come at the company’s annual developer conference next week.
The arrival of the new device would undoubtedly shape expectations about the so-called metaverse, a murky term generally referring to a 3D extension of the internet that encompasses virtual and augmented reality, which overlays a digital element on the physical world. Fashion has been standing by to see if this speculative vision of the future materialises to become the primary way consumers go online, rather than remaining the clunky, niche experience VR and AR provide today. It could impact fashion’s fortunes by transforming how consumers shop as much as mobile devices before it and opening up new markets for digital goods, like AR clothing that can exist beyond an app or social media.
Proponents of a mixed-reality technology believe smart glasses or some form of easy-to-wear face computer will be key to taking it mainstream. Apple’s track record with consumer blockbusters such as the iPod and iPhone suggests it could be the company to build it. It faces high hurdles, however. Technological leaps are still needed to make the components for such a device fit into something as small as a pair of glasses. Apple’s headset is said to resemble something more like a pair of ski goggles, powered by a separate battery pack a user could carry in their pocket, than a pair of lightweight frames. It’s also expected to cost about $3,000 — multiple times the price tag of devices like the iPod and iPhone at launch. Investors so far seem unimpressed as analysts predict only modest sales.
If the rumours are just that and Apple delays again, that would say plenty in itself about the challenges of making this vision a reality. Companies have been working for years to produce a commercial hit in the category, with tech giants such as Microsoft (HoloLens) and Google (Glass) as well as start-ups such as Magic Leap all trying and failing. Meta’s Oculus may be the best attempt so far and is still far from being what the iPhone was to smartphones — the version that convinced everyone they need one. Humane, founded by a pair of former Apple employees, aims to dispense with a screen of any sort but still has yet to debut a viable product.
“As we observe the state of [extended reality] in 2023, it’s fair to say the technology has proved harder than many of the best-informed and most financially endowed companies expected,” wrote Matthew Ball, author of “The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything,” in a January blog post.
Hardware is only part of the equation. Smartphones combined functions that were already part of daily lives — making calls, taking photos, listening to music and accessing the internet — into a single, convenient package while adding other apps that have become indispensable, like maps. It’s unclear how a headset would replicate the formula. Apple will reportedly make many of its popular apps available for its headset while developing others for fitness, gaming and entertainment, but consumers still need to find the whole package compelling enough to opt for putting a device on their heads instead of just picking up a phone.
How they respond to Apple’s rumoured headset is likely to reveal a great deal about the potential for mixed reality in the near future, or at least until the technology catches up with the ambitions for it. Fashion businesses will be waiting to see if it’s the next iPhone or the next Apple Watch — a fine moneymaker for Apple, but far from transformative.
Erdoğan signals economic shift for Turkey as he revamps cabinet
President brings back well-regarded finance minister a week after winning second-round of presidential poll
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled a move to more orthodox economic policies as he unveiled sweeping changes to his cabinet, revamping his financial team and replacing an interior minister known for his hardline rhetoric.
Erdoğan shook up several top departments, announcing new finance, foreign and interior ministers in a speech late Saturday.
The appointments come less than a week after Erdoğan clinched a victory in one of the most hotly contested elections since he became Turkey’s leader two decades ago. The presidential election, which went to a runoff after Erdoğan failed to clinch half the vote in the first round, showed that while the president retains robust support among his base, his popularity has taken a hit because of Turkey’s deepening economic woes.
The broad changes announced on Saturday, in which only two ministers from Erdogan’s previous cabinet remained, come ahead of next year’s municipal elections in which the president’s Justice and Development party will seek to wrest back control of Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey’s two biggest cities.
“The century of Türkiye has begun, and the doors of our country’s growth have been opened,” Erdoğan said in an inauguration speech hours before he announced his new cabinet, an allusion to how the Turkish republic will soon celebrate its first centenary.
Erdoğan’s decision to bring back Mehmet Şimşek, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister who is well regarded by investors, as finance and treasury chief is one of the clearest signs yet that Erdoğan may change course on the unorthodox economic policies that many blame for sending the lira to record lows and igniting an acute inflation crisis.
The choice of Cevdet Yilmaz, who has previously held senior economic roles in the Turkish government and parliament, for vice-president was also seen by analysts as a sign of a potential shift in policy.
The appointment of Yilmaz shows “Erdoğan’s priority is the economy and there will be a shift from the economy policies, which is positive for Turkey, but cabinet changes [alone] will not be enough,” said one economist who asked not to be named.
Şimşek’s predecessor Nureddin Nebati pursued a “lira-isation” strategy in which the government has undertaken an ever-widening number of measures to push businesses and consumers not to hold foreign currency. The policies, combined with a sharp fall this year in Turkey’s foreign currency reserves, have deepened the concerns of foreign investors who fled the country’s markets in recent years.
Another significant change was replacing Süleyman Soylu, who is known for his tough talk against the west and called May’s elections an attempted western “political coup”, as interior minister. He will be succeeded by Ali Yerlikaya, governor of the Istanbul province.
“Soylu was problematic and toxic,” said Wolfango Piccoli at consultancy Teneo, noting that he took a strongly anti-western and particularly anti-American stance that “antagonised a lot of people”.
On the foreign policy front, Erdoğan switched out his long time foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who is well-known in western capitals. Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s national security chief, will assume the role.
Fidan will enter the role with Turkey under strong pressure from its Nato counterparts to allow Sweden to join the alliance. The country has so far resisted, insisting Stockholm takes further actions to fight terrorism first.
Piccoli said the cabinet changes appeared to be a sign Erdoğan was adopting a slightly “more moderate” stance, with a more “technocratic flare” than the previous leadership.
Japan inflation will drive savers back to the stock market, says exchange chief
JPX president suggests cash was king in deflationary times but households now need better returns
Inflation is pushing Japan into a new era that could lift equities by spurring more households to move savings out of low-yielding bank deposits, the head of the country’s stock exchange operator has said.
Hiromi Yamaji, president of the JPX group that controls the Tokyo and Osaka exchanges, said he expected many Japanese to stop sitting on so much cash — the country’s households have amassed ¥1 quadrillion ($7tn) in bank savings — and look to stock markets for better returns in response to rising living costs.
“They can feel inflation coming . . . cash was king when there was deflation. But if inflation is coming, they have to be prepared,” said Yamaji in an interview.
Exchange traded funds would probably be an initial way into equities for many, said Yamaji, who became head of JPX this year and is trying to make the stock market more attractive to individual investors who have long viewed it as too risky.
Many Japanese have been deeply sceptical of holding equities since the bursting of the country’s economic bubble more than three decades ago, while years of stagnant prices meant households could overlook the fact that bank deposits were earning almost no returns.
“They did not care about it, even if it did not generate any returns,” Yamaji said. “But once inflation starts . . . they have to be prepared to hedge against inflation and it’s very obvious that deposits do not give you a good enough return to hedge.”
Japan’s core measure of consumer inflation, excluding fresh food and energy, rose more than 4 per cent in April for the first time in nearly 42 years.
With prices rising more broadly, market expectations are also building up that Kazuo Ueda, the Bank of Japan’s new governor, will gradually shift towards unwinding decades of ultra-loose monetary policy.
At the same time Japan’s stock markets have returned to levels not seen in 33 years. The broad Topix index has risen 14.5 per cent this year, which investors say is partly due to efforts by JPX under Yamaji to push companies harder on improving their capital efficiency and raising their corporate value.
However, the increase has been driven mainly by foreign funds, while domestic Japanese investors — particularly retail — have been far more cautious.
Yamaji suggested Japan’s attitudes to investing in the stock market would also change as the generation that lost money in the 1980s bubble reached old age.
“There was a generation with the very bad experience of the bursting of the bubble, but it was 35 years ago, but the number of people who had that bad experience is shrinking,” he said, while a younger generation of investors is less cautious about diverting more savings into risk assets.
Since 2014 about 17mn Japanese have opened a tax-protected investment product known as Nisa. The stock market has gained roughly 50 per cent since then, leaving a younger generation of investors sitting on significant unrealised gains, Yamaji said.
From next year, the government will significantly broaden the investment scheme, allowing investors to buy stocks of up to ¥3.6mn a year using the Nisa account and spurring expectations of an acceleration in the shift from cash savings to equity investments.
Orlen: is Poland’s energy giant a tool of the government?
The oil and gas company and its chief executive are at the centre of a debate over political influence on the economy
Until a few years ago, Daniel Obajtek was the mayor of Pcim, a village whose name gets used derogatorily by other Poles to refer to a place in the middle of nowhere.
Now, Obajtek stands at the main crossroads of Polish business and politics, as chief executive of the state-controlled oil and gas group PKN Orlen, which is also the largest listed company in central Europe.
His lightning-fast rise from local politics to national prominence at the helm of Poland’s biggest company has been facilitated by a rightwing government that has sought to tighten its grip on Poland’s economy as well as other institutions, notably the judiciary.
And Orlen, with its white-and-red eagle logo that resembles Poland’s coat of arms, has become the country’s emblematic state company. Since taking charge in 2018, Obajtek has masterminded a takeover spree during which Orlen acquired several other domestic energy companies.
In 2021, Orlen also completed its purchase of Poland’s largest owner of regional newspapers, on the back of a government pledge to “repolonise” the media and reduce the influence of foreign media groups.
Obajtek’s appetite for deals seems far from satiated. The European energy crisis sparked by Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine helped double Orlen’s revenues last year, so the company has a war chest of $80bn, and plans to spend $9bn on investments this year alone.
The rise of Orlen reflects Poland’s new status as a European bulwark against Russian influence and aggression. “Building a national and regional multi-energy champion is absolutely reasonable and matches perfectly the timing of Poland gaining critical importance in global geopolitics,” says Michał Piekarski, the partner responsible for energy and infrastructure in the Polish office of law firm Baker McKenzie, which has worked for Orlen.
But as Poles prepare to vote in a fiercely contested national election scheduled to take place this autumn, Obajtek and the company he runs have become central to a roiling political debate in Poland over the state’s influence on the energy market and the rest of the economy.
His tentacular reach and personal ties to Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, or PiS, have drawn unflattering comparisons between Orlen and the chaebol model of family-controlled conglomerates that long dominated South Korea’s economy.
In particular, the company’s expansion into media has drawn it into the broader debate over whether Poland’s government has been respecting the rule of law, freedom of expression and individual rights including those of the LGBTQ community.
Opposition politicians have also been asking why Orlen was able to enrich itself thanks to higher fuel prices while Polish citizens struggled with soaring energy bills and 25-year high inflation. Opposition leader Donald Tusk accused Obajtek of being one of “Putin’s oligarchs”.
Obajtek, 47, insists that Poland’s ruling politicians do not dictate his strategy. Instead, he argued during an interview with the Financial Times that Orlen needed to gain clout in a fast-transforming energy sector that is also forcing the company to diversify away from fossil fuels.
If anything, Obajtek portrays Orlen as playing catch-up to European rivals such as France’s TotalEnergies, Italy’s Eni and Spain’s Repsol, which transformed earlier from state-owned oil refiners into diversified and global energy companies with the blessing of their governments.
“None of the mergers we have completed is a political one, that’s only what irresponsible [opposition] politicians say,” Obajtek says. “We do not build a chaebol. If that’s the case, then all European [oil] companies should be called chaebols. They went exactly the same path, they merged as Orlen is doing now, but these companies did it 10 to 20 years ago.”
Still, Obajtek’s critics see his activities as evidence that the state is seeking to leverage corporate interests to fulfil political ambitions. The government has pushed hard to return Poland to “full state control of the economy, month by month and sector by sector”, says Janusz Wiśniewski, a former chief operating officer of Orlen. “This seems very wrong.”
From mayor to magnate
Little in Obajtek’s past seems to have made him predestined to lead Poland’s corporate champion. He initially trained to become a vet, but then completed agricultural studies before turning to local politics.
In 2011 a violent storm hit the pepper farms around Obajtek’s village of Pcim. The mayor’s emergency response caught the attention of Kaczyński, who visited the area to show his support for rural Poland, a cornerstone of his party’s electorate.
In 2015 Kaczyński’s PiS won Poland’s election and returned to office, from where the new government appointed party-friendly managers in state-owned enterprises and other key areas, notably the judiciary.
Its replacement of judges sparked a continuing confrontation with the European Commission, which has withheld billions of EU funds to force Warsaw to guarantee the rule of law.
For Obajtek, PiS’s victory was the chance to leave second-tier politics and manage instead the state economy. In 2017 the government put him in charge of one of its electricity companies, Energa.
Only one year later Obajtek was fast-tracked to the top of Poland’s business ladder and appointed to run Orlen. Energa has since been one of his many acquisitions.
Over the five years he has been in charge, Obajtek has won plaudits from energy experts for the speed with which he executed deals, some of which had been considered under previous governments but never carried out. He also gets credit for prioritising investments in renewable energies such as offshore wind and nuclear power, which Poland needs to meet its EU commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and abandon its historic reliance on coal.
The company’s headquarters are in Płock, a city on the banks of the Vistula river where Poland’s then communist regime built the country’s flagship refinery. Orlen provides jobs for about 10 per cent of its residents and also contributes in taxes 10 per cent of the city budget, according to deputy mayor Artur Zielínski, a former Orlen engineer and third-generation employee of the company. He says Orlen’s boss is “of course a political man”, but with “more vision for Orlen” than predecessors.
Still, Obajtek’s Orlen appointment was unexpected even by the standards of a region of Europe where “politicians normally want influence over the economy”, says Wiśniewski.
“At a company like Orlen, the CEO was always friendly to the politicians, but his background came from oil and gas or international management,” he recalls. “Appointing Obajtek is like in the old communist times when you have somebody with no special skills who suddenly becomes CEO because of the decision of one person.”
Obajtek has faced various accusations of fraud and conflicts of interest, some of which underwent legal reviews but without producing any charge against him. One case dug into his political past and whether he had secretly managed a private company while mayor. Prosecutors closed an investigation without incriminating Obajtek.
The oil and gas executive has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and also requested in 2021 an audit of his assets by Poland’s anti-corruption office to counter claims that he had bought real estate assets with undeclared earnings.
“Do you know who gave me the greatest recognition? The so-called opposition media,” he says. “Sometimes I have been presented as a monster biting to death anyone who stands in its way. But in fact I am a very sensitive person who loves art, nature, landscapes, and has a very positive attitude towards other people.”
Delicate deals
But Orlen’s breakneck expansion has led it into highly politicised environments.
Last year Orlen significantly extended its domestic footprint by taking over oil and gas producer PGNiG as well as Lotos, another state oil company based in Gdánsk, the political fiefdom of the opposition Civic Platform party. The deals gave Orlen near-control over wholesale prices for oil in Poland: it now has more than 60 per cent of the market for diesel and 70 per cent for gasoline.
To overcome EU antitrust concerns, Orlen sold a stake in Lotos’s Gdánsk oil refinery to Saudi Aramco, Riyadh’s state oil company. It also sold 417 Lotos petrol stations to the Hungarian company MOL.
Both deals were controversial. The Aramco tie-in brought a country with an OPEC+ oil alliance with Russia into Europe’s refining sector. MOL’s expansion also raised eyebrows amid EU tensions over Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s pro-Russia stance.
Obajtek portrays Aramco as a politically neutral partner to guarantee Poland’s energy security and replace Russia’s crude oil. The deal includes a long-term contract to dramatically increase crude oil supplies from the Saudi company.
“I am playing a very clean business game with the Saudis and I do not intend to throw the Saudi side into the politics in this region and the Saudi side does not want to do it either,” he says. “They are neutral: this is an additional security benefit for us and our region.”
But Paweł Olechnowicz, who was removed as chief executive of Lotos after Pis won office in 2015, questions Obajtek’s claims about the neutrality of companies from countries whose geopolitical objectives have not always been aligned with Poland’s.
“If we’re thinking about energy security, I don’t see how the Saudis or MOL help Poland,” he says. “The idea that Saudi Aramco is good for Poland because we can buy its crude oil is nonsense because you can buy crude oil from the Saudis without having to sell assets to them.”
Orlen’s most debated investment is its takeover of the newspaper and magazine publisher Polska Press from the German company Verlagsgruppe Passau.
Since then, rival media bosses complain in private that Orlen has been starving them of advertising, even as the oil company has expanded its sponsorship across most aspects of Polish life, from the national football team to business conferences and cultural events.
Obajtek defends Orlen’s media ownership. “Why couldn’t we have our media?” he asks. “If it’s said to be an error, than why is one of the richest people in the world, Elon Musk, investing in mass media as well, [buying] Twitter, or Jeff Bezos in the Washington Post? I know many companies that through funds or other forms of shareholding own media outlets.”
Although the Polish state is Orlen’s largest and controlling shareholder, Obajtek says the government has not intervened in the editorial management of Polska Press.
Still, Obajtek personally withdrew in March a magazine issue whose cover was deemed to offend Catholics because it showed the late Polish Pope John Paul II holding a cross with a crucified doll, to illustrate an article about paedophilia among Polish priests.
Obajtek describes his magazine censorship as a one-off, but something that he would repeat if needed: “I will not allow Orlen to contribute to hurting religious feelings.”
For Orlen to own a media group is “not healthy because Orlen is clearly controlled by the government and an oil company has nothing to do with media,” says Zoltán Varga, a Hungarian entrepreneur who has publishing businesses in both countries — though he adds the situation in Hungary is far worse.
Some of the strongest criticism has come from outside Poland, notably from the Norwegian oil fund that is the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and has a 1 per cent stake in Orlen.
In February, the ethics council of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund put Orlen under observation for “human rights concerns”, to monitor the Polska Press purchase and “its implications for freedom of the press and therefore freedom of expression in Poland”.
Norwegian criticism is also significant because Orlen has gasfields in Norway that are integral to Obajtek’s diversification goals.
While Norway allowed Orlen access to its gas, Oslo’s ambassador to Warsaw says Poland must now guarantee “a level playing field” in its own energy market, particularly in the award of new licences to build offshore wind farms.
Orlen is anchoring its green transition on this kind of renewable power, after signing a partnership with Northland Power of Canada in 2021. Last month Orlen won five out of the six licenses sold in the latest Polish auction, with state-owned utility PGE picking up the last one.
“We see tendencies that with the new licences, the Polish companies take them all,” says ambassador Anders Eide. For Warsaw to develop a national champion like Orlen is “completely fair and adequate, but it’s important that all companies are treated equally”.
European energy experts agree. “It seems natural for Poland to want its national utilities to lead the buildout of offshore in Poland but . . . this needs to be done by keeping foreign partnerships in place,” says Giles Dickson, chief executive of WindEurope, the industry’s European association.
‘A political man’
Obajtek might not even be involved in the next auction if Tusk, the opposition leader, wins this year’s election and ousts him from Orlen, which seems likely given their personal acrimony.
During a recent campaign rally, Tusk accused Obajtek of being “one of Putin’s greatest oligarchs”, claiming that he had kept Poland’s petrol prices exceptionally high while delaying a decision to end Orlen’s imports of cheap Russian oil.
But during the interview, Obajtek rejected this accusation and read out a list of past statements from Tusk to argue that he helped Russia, including when Tusk could allegedly have used his leadership of the European Council to oppose Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines.
“I have given you facts that show [that in terms of] who can be called Putin’s oligarch, the answer is only one: it is Donald Tusk,” Obajtek says.
Such an accusation could have serious repercussions after Poland’s parliament voted last month to create a special commission tasked with investigating people for pro-Russia activities.
The Polish opposition has denounced the commission as the start of a political witch hunt that could also directly threaten Tusk and ban him from office. On Sunday, opposition forces are planning a street protest in Warsaw to defend democracy against a law they call the government’s “Lex Tusk”.
But should the government win re-election, Obajtek would be a contender for a high-profile job inside it. He has been mentioned in Poland’s media as a possible replacement for Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, particularly last year when an inflation-fuelled downturn lowered the government’s approval ratings.
Obajtek says his only ambition is to remain one of Europe’s most active dealmakers. “I have no ambition to be a prime minister, it was just to put me at odds with the [current] prime minister,” he says of the media reports. “My element is business: I am too dynamic for politics.”
Best of the Balearics – new hotels to book now
Chic openings on the Spanish archipelago
iOS 17 Is Coming. Here’s What iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches Are Missing.
What we hope Apple will announce on Monday at WWDC
New devices are fun, but among Apple’s AAPL 0.48%increase; green up pointing triangle glitzy product launches, its software-focused June event is my favorite. We get a glimpse of the new features coming to existing iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices—at no additional charge!
Ahead of the news, I’ve got a long list of things I’d like for the company to announce.
There are Android features I am jealous of, like separation of work and personal apps and the ability to snooze notifications. I also want more advanced Apple Watch fitness options. And iPad owners have been clamoring for some basics for years. Seriously, where is that calculator app?
I’ll be at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters on Monday to cover the Worldwide Developers Conference (aka WWDC). As usual, we expect to learn details of coming versions of its iOS, iPadOS, WatchOS and MacOS software. They will make their way to devices in the fall, the same time Apple typically introduces its newest crop of gadgets.
The biggest WWDC news is likely to be Apple’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset, which will combine virtual reality and augmented reality into one device. We’re expecting a demo of the new headset, Apple’s first major hardware project since the Apple Watch. But it probably won’t ship until the fall.
On the software-update front, my Wall Street Journal colleagues have reported on an iPhone journaling app and the ability to download alternative app stores. Here is my wishlist—some of which could come true soon, while others remain pipedreams.
iPhone wishes
Work and personal profiles: I use an iPhone, and my husband is on Android. One of the Android features I’m constantly jealous of? He has dedicated profiles to keep work data out of personal apps. Basically, you can have two copies of an app—Gmail, for instance—that don’t share any information. Company IT admins can only access your work-related activity. Best of all, work notifications can stop at the end of the day. It’s great for privacy and work-life balance.
Notification snoozing: I snooze emails in Gmail at night so they resurface in the morning, when I’m most productive. Android users can snooze all notifications—silence them so they resurface after a specific time. I wish I could do the same on my iPhone. In iOS, you can “mute” apps temporarily, but it doesn’t clear the notification. I would like the option to make a push alert disappear, then reappear 15 or 30 minutes later.
Simpler call screen: If you get a call while you’re already on the phone, prepare to be confused. There’s a big Decline button, which makes sense. But what about “End & accept” and “Hold & accept”? I want to see options in iOS 17 that make it easier to avoid hanging up on people.
Friendlier green-bubble texting: There’s a new text-messaging standard called Rich Communication Services, or RCS, that brings some iMessage-like features to regular texts. With RCS, you can send texts over Wi-Fi, share high-resolution media, and see when someone is typing or has read your message.
Google already has RCS on Android and publicly campaigned for Apple to adopt it, too. In a perfect world, Apple would comply, though there’s little incentive for the iPhone maker. Its messaging platform—which shows blue bubbles when everyone is on iOS, green bubbles when someone isn’t—is one way it holds on to users. That said, a strong argument for RCS is that it supports end-to-end encryption, which makes messages more secure, and Apple has long touted privacy as one of its core values.
Account security changes: My colleague Joanna Stern and I earlier this year reported on a rash of iPhone thefts that resulted in people losing thousands of dollars and getting locked out of their Apple accounts. The thieves exploit the iPhone’s passcode—the four- or six-digit code to unlock the device—to access money and data. Apple could make several changes to beef up its security.
Thieves with the device passcode can change the iPhone owner’s Apple ID password and boot them from logged-in devices immediately. Implementing a delay, such as 24 hours before the password change goes into effect, could give victims time to react defensively.
Apple could also provide the option of a separate passcode to protect the Apple ID, as it does for Screen Time. The iCloud Keychain, Apple’s built-in password manager, would also be safer if it had an independent password or passcode. (Until Apple makes changes, follow our advice on protecting your digital life.)
Passkeys everywhere: Passkeys are an easy way to sign into apps and websites, using a face or fingerprint scan instead of passwords and pesky two-factor authentication codes.
More service providers, such as Google, are offering passkey logins and they’re meant to be easier and safer to use than passwords. Apple supports passkeys in the iCloud Keychain password manager, but it’s a technical challenge for third-party password managers such as 1Password and Dashlane to use them on iPhones. Google announced support for this in Android 14 due this fall. Hopefully, Apple will follow suit.
iPad wishes
Multiuser switching: This is something iPad owners, especially those who share devices with their kids, have been wanting for a while now. Businesses and schools have access to a Shared iPad feature, but regular users don’t. A way to quickly switch user profiles, similar to what’s available on a Mac, would be helpful for families that split custody of the tablet.
Tablet TV: With AirPlay, you can send videos or music from a nearby Apple mobile device to a Mac—but not to an iPad. That would be the perfect screen for sharing memes, presentations and other media on-the-go with a larger group.
A calculator app: The iPhone, Mac and even Apple Watch have one. We need an iPad-sized calculator app!
Apple Watch wishes
Route finding: Apple added several mapping features to the watch last year to retrace your steps if you get lost. But hikers, runners and cyclists are often trying to find their way forward. I would like to see the ability to import mapping files and display them on the Apple Watch. For now, when navigating unfamiliar trails, I’ll stick with a Garmin.
More training metrics: Many wearables, including Fitbit watches, Oura rings and Garmin trackers, can tell you how intensely you should train based on your heart-rate variability and other factors. The Apple Watch already captures this data. A way to interpret it—a high score indicating you’re ready for exercise, low meaning you need to rest—would be helpful.
Bluetooth broadcasting: Peloton’s Bike, Tread and other gym equipment can display your heart rate from a Bluetooth-capable device, such as a chest strap or a Garmin watch. Apple Watches can only send metrics to Apple-compatible machines, and I want to see support for the more universal Bluetooth standard.
Saudi Arabia, Some OPEC Members Clash Over Oil-Production Quotas
OPEC and its allies meet Sunday in Vienna to decide on an output plan
VIENNA—Saudi Arabia and some OPEC members clashed over who would produce how much oil ahead of a contentious group meeting on Sunday, people familiar with the matter said, in a sign of growing tensions within the cartel amid concerns over weakening global energy demand.
Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, demanded smaller African producers cut their quotas, according to the people. At the same time, the kingdom was in talks with the United Arab Emirates, another powerful member of the group, to allow it to produce more, they added.
Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman called some of the African delegates to his hotel suite in Vienna on Saturday and told them that their production quotas within the group would be reduced, the people said. They walked out of the meeting without a deal, the people added. African countries such as Nigeria and Angola have often struggled to even meet their current production targets for various reasons, including pandemic shutdowns that proved hard to reverse and years of underinvestment.
Representatives for the energy ministries of Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
A production cut of up to 1 million barrels a day is on the table as OPEC and its Russia-led allies, known as OPEC+, meet this weekend in Vienna to decide on a production plan, delegates said. The broader 23-member group accounts for more than half the world’s oil production. The delegates said a cut in production is expected to prop up crude prices amid concerns that a slowing global economy would crimp energy demand. Still, most members don’t want to give up their allotted production quotas as that affects their overall revenues.
If approved, Sunday’s output cut would be the third by members of OPEC+ since October, when they slashed output by 2 million barrels a day. In April, some of the group’s largest members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, cut a further 1.6 million barrels a day. The decision to cut had drawn rebuke from the U.S., which at the time had requested Saudi Arabia and OPEC to increase production to help tame inflation. It led to U.S. accusations that Riyadh was siding with Moscow in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, is down more than 20% since OPEC and its allies first jolted the market with output cuts in October. Another output cut on Sunday isn’t expected to evoke any major reaction from Washington as most analysts expect that oil prices will continue to trend low.
This weekend’s OPEC+ meeting also comes amid growing tensions between two of the world’s biggest oil producers over previously agreed production cuts. Russia keeps pumping huge volumes of cheaper crude into the market that is undermining Saudi Arabia’s efforts to bolster energy prices, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The latest available data indicates that Russia continues to pump large volumes of oil into the market, which has helped maximize income for its beleaguered economy but added to a global surplus, industry officials and traders say.
It remains unclear if Saudi Arabia will take any immediate action that would affect the energy alliance with Russia. Frictions between Riyadh and Moscow aren’t new to OPEC+. In March 2020, oil prices collapsed after Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on an emergency plan to address a supply glut. After the disagreement, Saudi Arabia embarked on a price war in an attempt to grab market share from Russia. Beyond oil, Riyadh and Moscow’s partnership has yielded little so far when it comes to security cooperation, trade or investment.
OPEC delegates said that the cartel’s big production decisions are increasingly made by Abdulaziz often without consulting with other group members.
In recent months, Abdulaziz has been fixated on Wall Street short sellers, lashing out repeatedly this year against traders whose bets can cause prices to fall. Last week, he warned them to “watch out,” which some analysts saw as an indication that OPEC+ may reduce output at their June 4 meeting.
The focus on financial markets underscores the pressure facing the first Saudi prince to run the oil ministry. As his half-brother, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pursues his ambitious plans to reshape the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy, Abdulaziz must keep crude prices at a level that will make those efforts economically feasible.
“The prospects of seeing Brent below $70 per barrel is much more frightening than the prospect of a less balanced market,” said Viktor Katona, a senior analyst at data-commodities agency Kpler.
Saudi officials and other people familiar with Saudi oil policy say Riyadh is under pressure to maintain higher oil prices with its budget requiring an estimated $81 a barrel to break even. In recent months, Saudi economic advisers have privately warned senior policy makers that the kingdom needs elevated oil prices for the next five years to keep spending billions of dollars on ambitious projects that have so far attracted meager investment from abroad.