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Huawei shows a strong first half 2015 for smartphone sales. Smartphones priced over $300 sales for Huawei were up 70% in the first half of 2015. Huawei plans to launch a Nexus phone with Google Inc. in 2015. Smarphone shipments were 48.2 million units for the first half 2015. By comparison Xiaomi sold 34.7 million smartphones in the first half of 2015. Huawei has gained brand name recognition and passed Xiaomi in sales. Of the 48.2 million smartphones sales of Huawei 20 million were in markets outside China, increasing competition for Apple and Samsung. Huawei now has 7.9% market share worldwide for the 2nd quarter 2015, according to TrendForce, in 3rd place after Samsung and Apple. In revenue terms Huawei has nearly doubled sales revenue in smartphones because of more phones in the higher price range, going from the $3.87 billion in first half 2014 to $7.23 billion in first half 2015. This strategy is evident in Europe where Huawei has invested in brand recognition by sponsoring soccer teams. In just one quarter from the 1st quarter 2015 to the second quarter Huawei has doubled market share in Western Europe from 3% to 6% in smartphones, according to research firm Canalys. ...

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Jenkins sees risks to Apple's closed ecosystem and decline in margins of $300 on devices priced at $600.

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Nokia shifts its headquaters from White Plains, New York., to Sunnyvale, California, to be close to developers and competitors. From U.S. sales at 20% of global sales in 2003, U.S. sales have dropped to 2% of global sales even after the introduction of the Lumia smartphone. The efforts to change the mindset of the company in its new location.

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The pressures on Apple to reduce prices and margins in 2016 with the slowdown in sales. Apple also has to deal with the impact of a stronger dollar with a large part of sales coming from overseas.

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Apple's deal with IBM in 2014 to jointly develop apps and mobile services for business customers.

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The Journal's Jeff Bennett talks with Rodney O'Neal, the CEO of Delphi Automotive. O'Neal says Delphi's success depends on focussing on advanced technologies where emerging market producers are less able to compete. He has focussed on 33 product lines which are 'green,' safe' and connected.' If it doen't create value then revenue and cost numbers are wrong, is O'Neal's lesson from the bankruptcy filing. He likes the chaotic discussion coming form strong debate, where views are expressed with passion and counterpoints made, and he takes this debate seriously, because as he sees it choosing the right course is a significant task in itself, which takes much time to correct if wrong. There are major improvements in emission and fuel economy ahead and a high tech future for the automobile industry. He see America's future in high-tech where America can do better than emerging market producers, and ensuring that the steady flow of exceptional American talent continues to be channelled properly....

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Dana Goldstein of the NYT looks at the big problem in education today- the failure to teach reading and writing skills to students in American schools. Goldstein cites two alarming statistics. About 40% of students who took the ACT writing exam in the high school class of 2016 lack the reading and writing skills to pass a college level composition class in English. 8th and 12th grade classes in the U.S. have 75% of the students lacking writing skills proficiency, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Of the 1204 comments to this article in the NYT, many of the 17 selected by NYT say the problem is that students lack reading skills. Other problems shown here are the handicaps created by technology, yes technology. Mobile phone use is common and this is done quickly with the least attention to write good sentences, little attention to punctuation, spelling or grammar. Half or incomplete sentences are easier to type on mobile, so a new generation grows up thinking that this is normal. As a result a whole generation of kids have not learned to read or write well, constructing sentences with limited vocabulary. Steve Jobs and Apple may say that iPads and iPhones, smartphones and other tech devices have advanced reading with the beautiful display technology screens, but this is not what is really happening. Google may say that its search helps people access good reading materials, and this too is not what is really happening.  Equally alarming is that there is no clear agreement on how to tackle this problem. The No Child Left Behind 2002 law set a program emphasizing reading and use of multiple choice questions to test reading skills. This was followed by the Common Core standards now implemented in schools for 6 years that shift the focus to writing. Yet the results are still the same, showing little progress. Goodman cites as examples of disagreement, the Writing Revolution project which focusses on grammar and other writing skills, and the Long Island Writing Project that focusses on students finding their own voice by freewriting. A student in the freewriting class which encourages finding your own voice, expresses her frustration by saying she doesn't hear a voice- what voice, she asks.  One of the problems is that teachers themselves lack writing skills. A look at 2400 teacher preparation programs shows little attention paid to teaching writing. The head of the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University's Teachers College, says Common Core failed in implementation of massive teacher training, which is required to address the problem. As a result remediation programs are needed badly in colleges to fix literacy skills, when better teaching would have prevented the problem in the first place. Little understood or debated is that every generation has to learn about the country's democratic institutions, every generation has to make its own effort to gain civic literacy- it is not something that can be taken for granted or handed down from one generation to the next. Without reading and learning about how these institutions function, young people lack the skills for participating in our democracy and in the global economy. ...

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Acer faces large inventories and a competitive market with declining prices in the PC market. Acer's CEO J.T. Wang expects a loss in 2011, as a result of inventory adjustments, lower demand for notebook PC's, and a slower economy. Second quarter revenues were down 32%, and Acer shows a loss of 6.8 billion New Taiwan dollars ($US 234 million) for the second quarter. Acer has lost sales and market share to competitors. It now comes in fourth after H-P, Dell, Lenovo. The inventory reductions by competitors has created turmoil in PC markets. Another problem Acer faces is on its Ultrabook, a new ultrathin notebook. The Ultrabook to be introduced in September 2011 is to be priced at US$799 to US$1,199. HSBC analyst Jenny Lai is skeptical about the price, and sees a price closer to $700 for the product to make a dent in the market. This will put more pressure on Acer's margins. The Apple iPad and iPhone have reduced the demand for notebooks and created a new dynamic in the market. H-P CEO Apotheker made the decision for H-P to exit the PC and tablet business this week because of the required investment for a continuous stream of new products and low margins....

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Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai is moving quickly to address higher costs for workers at its manufacturing sites in coastal regions of China. After extensive media coverage of conditions at Foxconn factories, a number of suicides, and Chinese government policy that encouraged higher wages for workers in foriegn owned plants, Foxconn has moved to sharply increase wages at its plants. By the end of 2011 production in cities in the interior of China- Chengdu, Chongqing, and Wuhan, where costs are one third less- will be 25% of production, up from 10% in 2010. By 2012, this will be up to 50% of Foxconn's production, according to Yuanta Securities of Taipei. Hon Hai is lowering dividends to finance the shift. Fourth quarter 2010 earnings of Hon Hai were $742 million, down 26% over the prior year, even though revenues went up by 56% to $33.1 billon- reflecting the higher costs. Hon Hai's stock is down 20% in the past year on the Taipei stock exchange. Other locations being considered by Hon Hai are Brazil, Turkey and Slovakia. Brazil's President Dilma Roussef, said that Foxconn is considering a $12 billion plan for Brazil. Hon Hai is the only manufacturer of Apple iPads and one of two manufacturers of the iPhone....