The European aerospace group said it had made the “painful” decision to stop making A380 after Emirates, the biggest customer, reduced an outstanding order for 53 planes to only 14. [The Guardian]
A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner, a wide-body aircraft manufactured by Airbus. The project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747.
Source: The Guardian
Boeing’s 747 project had its origin in a US Air Force requirement for a large heavy-lift transport carrying up to 750 troops over long distances. Losing that contract, however, made Boeing to pursue it in high-capacity commercial jet transportation. [Air Force One, the presidential aircraft version of the 747 will be modified based on 747-8; Boeing received the contract in July 2018 – a $3.9 billion contract to build two, due to be delivered by December 2024]
Boeing’s board of directors decided to launch the 747 in March 1966, making its decision public in April, along with an announcement that Pan Am had placed its first order for 25 at $20 million each. First flown commercially in 1970 with Pan American Airways, the 747 held the passenger capacity record for 37 years.
Conceived as a response to the Boeing 747, the Airbus A380 development program was officially launched in June 1994. It is the largest jet airliner ever built and is the world’s first double-deck passenger aircraft. First flight took place from Toulouse, France on 27 April 2005, A380 completed its first commercial with Singapore Airlines on October 25th 2007 with 471 passengers on board (breaking 747’s record).
Commercial Success?
A380 took the realm and record in terms of manufacturing and engineering, but is often considered an unsuccessful commercial product. As of January, Airbus had received 313 firm orders for the passenger version of the plane, of which 234 had been delivered.
high fuel prices, high operating cost and environmental concerns
airlines looking at Boeing’s new family of 777s
Now, the world’s largest passenger airliner will not be produced after 2021.
The Economics
The rising global demand in the 21st century is the underlying theme, especially the rapidly rising number of air travelers in the Asia and Middle East market.
The center of Airbus’ pitch for the A380 in the early 2000s was the notion that the core of the long haul business model would be so-called hub-to-hub flights. [AirwaysMag]
On the other hand, Boeing is pursing the point-to-point (more accurately hub-to-spoke) thesis.
Boeing’s 777X, specifically the larger 777-9X variant, offers similar performance (the A380 can fly slightly further) to the A380. And pretty much every other carrier with a hub network large enough to support an A380 has ordered either the Boeing 777X or the Airbus A350. [AirwaysMag]
The airline industry is planned and started as fragmented. Then comes bankruptcy and consolidation.
And airlines are also sharing world hubs or exploring second/third tier cities. (it’s not common for a single airline to secure the majority share of an international traffic hub – which would make A380 a wise choice/investment)
Airbus may have bet that countries like China and India will have large demand centered around one or two cities. But the reality is the opposite. They have planned ahead to spread out and made several international hubs.
First tier airports/cities in terms of size will add new members to its list. That’s how the predicted increase in demand mostly absorbed.
Cross-border payments. The cryptocurrency will enable Chase to settle international payments between clients in real-time, and at any time of day (which does not happen today).
Securities transactions. Rather than relying on wires to buy a debt issuance–which would create a time gap between when a transaction settles and when investors get paid–institutional investors can use the token to generate instant settlements.
Transaction consolidation. Clients of J.P Morgan’s treasury services business will be able to replace the dollars they hold in subsidiaries across the world, enabling them to move money to subsidiaries around the world with greater fluidity.
“The JPM Coin will be issued on Quorum Blockchain and subsequently extended to other platforms. JPM Coin will be operable on all standard Blockchain networks.” — JPM
Here is what others are saying/reporting…
“In trials set to start in a few months, a tiny fraction of that will happen over something called “JPM Coin,” the digital token created by engineers at the New York-based bank to instantly settle payments between clients.” — CNBC
“For years, Chase–by itself and with the other big banks–has invested in reducing its reliance on legacy payments networks. Coin, like previous endeavors such as clearXchange, appears to be another example of that strategy to directly control the manner and method by which payments activities flow. If successful, Coin and the Chase Quorum blockchain could find many other uses.” — Charles Potts, Managing Director, First Performance
“It’s a competitive approach by Jamie Dimon to compete directly with Western Union in the $600 billion remittance market where Chase holds the #2 spot and Bank of America is on their heels. Ripple has done all the hard work by paving the way for a blockchain coin network. Our US payment systems are proprietary and not interoperable–the only way to seriously compete is a syndicate like Early Warning with Zelle and The Clearinghouse.” — Travis Dulaney, CEO, PayFi
“It’s an ecosystem play pure and simple. It’s about reducing costs and securing market share.” — Bradley Leimer, Co-Founder, Unconventional Ventures
“It really isn’t an ‘end run’–it’s more like creating a whole new playing field. It’s an acceleration of the continuing erosion of money fiefdoms. Due to margin pressures, money movement will eventually become a free utility. What the JPM Coin starts to enable is the elimination of the payment rails–which is really just a connection of ledgers–because with blockchain, there’s just one ledger. Once you have that shared ledger, the applications go beyond institutional payments to any payment type like remittances.” — James Wester, Research Director, Worldwide Blockchain Strategies, IDC
“The bank is also running a blockchain payments trial launched in conjunction with Australia’s ANZ and the Royal Bank of Canada. As reported, the three banks set up the project in October 2017, aiming to slash both the time and costs required for interbank payments using traditional methods. Called the Interbank Information Network (IIN), the platform is also built on Quorum – which itself may eventually be spun off into its own enterprise.” — CoinDesk
A data/IT system named with “coin”
Think about Gold and US Dollar in the history – Congress acted on Hamilton’s recommendations in the Coinage Act of 1792, which established the dollar as the basic unit of account for the United States; 1900, with the passage of the Gold Standard Act, US government guaranteed the dollar as convertible to gold
To start with, Siemens made 2 acquisitions in 2018 – Enlightened Inc. and J2 Innovations – before acquiring Comfy, mentioned in the previous post.
Enlightened – Iot: lightening sensors and more
Three main applications: lightening, HVAC system (heating, a ventilation, and air-conditioning), space utilization.
For example the lightening system, built on IoT architecture, consists of a network of LED lights and their patented sensors connected together to form a sensor and analytics platform. Data is collected 65 times/second to detect environmental and occupancy changes and take action on lighting needs in real-time.
Created FIN (Fluid INtegration) Framework, an open framework for building automation and IoT applications. It is used as an integration layer and itself doesn’t design/manufacture IoT devices.
According to its website, it employs an applications server technology with tagging and data modeling. FIN is a HTML5 browser based unified toolset optimized for efficient workflows.
Before Amazon’s move, in Oct 2017, Assa Abloy, the $23 billion Swedish lock giant that owns Yale and many other brands — announced that it is buying US-based smart lock maker August Home to double down on new technology. (TechCrunch)
Sigfox – IoT: Platform
Based in Europe, Sigfox is designing a Low Power Wide Area network (Ultra Narrow Band radio operating in the unlicensed bands) for IoT connectivity.
And of course the products to centralize data from big tech companies with Amazon and Google the most aggressive ones.
Smart building is a hot topic and will be at the center of future real estate, a $217 trillion giant industry.
So what is the core segments of smart building? This blog will provide a roundup of startups in the data + management space.
Comfy (developed by Building Robotics)
Probably most famous for its collaboration with WeWork in 2016, Comfy is an app that lets users to adjust the temperature, lights etc. in the office from smartphones.
Comfy app | Source: comfyapp.com
Plus a data analysis and insights tool for office managers.
Comfy app | Source: comfyapp.com
The company was founded in 2012, raised Seed & Series A from Claremont Creek Ventures and other investors including the Westly Group. In 2016, shortly before the WeWork collaboration, a Series B of $12 million was raised. Then in 2018, Building Robotics was acquired by Siemens (in a series of acquisitions) for an undisclosed amount.
Euclid
Euclid is a leading spatial-analytics platform based in San Francisco. With fundings from NEA, Benchmark and other investors, It has built a proprietary analytic offering that uses WiFi signals to understand how space is used without the installation of any additional hardware. It can track the identity and behavior of people in the physical world.
A retailer application of Eculid’s technology | Source: marketingland.com
A maker of office management software, Teem was acquired by WeWork in Sep 2018 for around $100 million. Teem has grown from a conference room management tool to include office space management, (office) room display, visitor management, etc.
Back in 2013, it raised $9 million from Aster Capital (backed by Schneider
Electric, Alstom and Solvay), the Venture Capital unit of Siemens Financial Services (SFS VC) and Paladin Capital.
BuildingIQ Mobile App | Source: buildingiq.com/app
Formerly known as SCIenergy, Flywheel is a maintenance (task) & energy management startup based in Dallas. Invested by DFJ, Flywheel raised its latest round in 2014 by a group of energy focused funds, led by Braemar Energy Ventures and joined by the Westly Group and others.
Source: flywheelbi.comSource: flywheelbi.com
Consolidation is coming faster than most could imagine…
In 2015, 2.3 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines.
At least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.
Since 1990, the number of people gaining access to improved sanitation has risen from 54% to 68% but some 2.3 billion people still do not have toilets or improved latrines.
—
And… fixed phone subscription percentage is declining along the way
Something unusual happened to me yesterday. Actually, for me it wasn’t just unusual — it was a first. I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Or at least that’s what the top people at the National Enquirer thought. I’m glad they thought that, because it emboldened them to put it all in writing. Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten.
AMI, the owner of the National Enquirer, led by David Pecker, recently entered into an immunity deal with the Department of Justice related to their role in the so-called “Catch and Kill” process on behalf of President Trump and his election campaign. Mr. Pecker and his company have also been investigated for various actions they’ve taken on behalf of the Saudi Government.
And sometimes Mr. Pecker mixes it all together:
“After Mr. Trump became president, he rewarded Mr. Pecker’s loyalty with a White House dinner to which the media executive brought a guest with important ties to the royals in Saudi Arabia. At the time, Mr. Pecker was pursuing business there while also hunting for financing for acquisitions…”
Federal investigators and legitimate media have of course suspected and proved that Mr. Pecker has used the Enquirer and AMI for political reasons. And yet AMI keeps claiming otherwise:
“American Media emphatically rejects any assertion that its reporting was instigated, dictated or influenced in any manner by external forces, political or otherwise.”
Of course, legitimate media have been challenging that assertion for a long time:
Mystery Grows Over Pro-Saudi Tabloid: Embassy Got Sneak Peek
I didn’t know much about most of that a few weeks ago when intimate texts messages from me were published in the National Enquirer. I engaged investigators to learn how those texts were obtained, and to determine the motives for the many unusual actions taken by the Enquirer. As it turns out, there are now several independent investigations looking into this matter.
To lead my investigation, I retained Gavin de Becker. I’ve known Mr. de Becker for twenty years, his expertise in this arena is excellent, and he’s one of the smartest and most capable leaders I know. I asked him to prioritize protecting my time since I have other things I prefer to work on and to proceed with whatever budget he needed to pursue the facts in this matter.
Here’s a piece of context: My ownership of the Washington Post is a complexifier for me. It’s unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy.
President Trump is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. Also, The Post’s essential and unrelenting coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles.
(Even though The Post is a complexifier for me, I do not at all regret my investment. The Post is a critical institution with a critical mission. My stewardship of The Post and my support of its mission, which will remain unswerving, is something I will be most proud of when I’m 90 and reviewing my life, if I’m lucky enough to live that long, regardless of any complexities it creates for me.)
Back to the story: Several days ago, an AMI leader advised us that Mr. Pecker is “apoplectic” about our investigation. For reasons still to be better understood, the Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve.
A few days after hearing about Mr. Pecker’s apoplexy, we were approached, verbally at first, with an offer. They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.
My lawyers argued that AMI has no right to publish photos since any person holds the copyright to their own photos, and since the photos in themselves don’t add anything newsworthy.
AMI’s claim of newsworthiness is that the photos are necessary to show Amazon shareholders that my business judgment is terrible. I founded Amazon in my garage 24 years ago, and drove all the packages to the post office myself. Today, Amazon employs more than 600,000 people, just finished its most profitable year ever, even while investing heavily in new initiatives, and it’s usually somewhere between the #1 and #5 most valuable company in the world. I will let those results speak for themselves.
OK, back to their threat to publish intimate photos of me. I guess we (me, my lawyers, and Gavinde Becker) didn’t react to the generalized threat with enough fear, so they sent this:
From: Howard, Dylan [dhoward@amilink.com] (Chief Content Officer, AMI) Sent: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 3:33 PM To: Martin Singer (litigation counsel for Mr. de Becker) Subject:. Jeff Bezos & Ms. Lauren Sanchez Photos
CONFIDENTIAL & NOT FOR DISTRIBIUTION
Marty:
I am leaving the office for the night. I will be available on my cell — 917 XXX-XXXX.
However, in the interests of expediating this situation, and with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated rumors of The National Enquirer’s initial report, I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering.
In addition to the “below the belt selfie — otherwise colloquially known as a ‘d*ck pick’” — The Enquirer obtained a further nine images. These include:
· Mr. Bezos face selfie at what appears to be a business meeting.
· Ms. Sanchez response — a photograph of her smoking a cigar in what appears to be a simulated oral sex scene.
· A shirtless Mr. Bezos holding his phone in his left hand — while wearing his wedding ring. He’s wearing either tight black cargo pants or shorts — and his semi-erect manhood is penetrating the zipper of said garment.
· A full-length body selfie of Mr. Bezos wearing just a pair of tight black boxer-briefs or trunks, with his phone in his left hand — while wearing his wedding ring.
· A selfie of Mr. Bezos fully clothed.
· A full-length scantily-clad body shot with short trunks.
· A naked selfie in a bathroom — while wearing his wedding ring. Mr. Bezos is wearing nothing but a white towel — and the top of his pubic region can be seen.
· Ms. Sanchez wearing a plunging red neckline dress revealing her cleavage and a glimpse of her nether region.
· Ms. Sanchez wearing a two-piece red bikini with gold detail dress revealing her cleavage.
It would give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail — and quickly.
Dylan.
Well, that got my attention. But not in the way they likely hoped. Any personal embarrassment AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important matter involved here. If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can? (On that point, numerous people have contacted our investigation team about their similar experiences with AMI, and how they needed to capitulate because, for example, their livelihoods were at stake.)
In the AMI letters I’m making public, you will see the precise details of their extortionate proposal: They will publish the personal photos unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement to the press that we “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.”
If we do not agree to affirmatively publicize that specific lie, they say they’ll publish the photos, and quickly. And there’s an associated threat: They’ll keep the photos on hand and publish them in the future if we ever deviate from that lie.
Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything like what is happening here: I will not report embarrassing information about you if you do X for me. And if you don’t do X quickly, I will report the embarrassing information.
Nothing I might write here could tell the National Enquirer story as eloquently as their own words below.
These communications cement AMI’s long-earned reputation for weaponizing journalistic privileges, hiding behind important protections, and ignoring the tenets and purpose of true journalism. Of course I don’t want personal photos published, but I also won’t participate in their well-known practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption. I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out.
Sincerely,
Jeff Bezos
From: Fine, Jon [jfine@amilink.com] (Deputy General Counsel, AMI) Sent: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 5:57 PM To: Martin Singer (Mr de Becker’s attorney) Subject: Re: EXTERNAL* RE: Bezos et al / American Media et al
Marty –
Here are our proposed terms:
1. A full and complete mutual release of all claims that American Media, on the one hand, and Jeff Bezos and Gavin de Becker (the “Bezos Parties”), on the other, may have against each other.
2. A public, mutually-agreed upon acknowledgment from the Bezos Parties, released through a mutually-agreeable news outlet, affirming that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces, and an agreement that they will cease referring to such a possibility.
3. AM agrees not to publish, distribute, share, or describe unpublished texts and photos (the “Unpublished Materials”).
4. AM affirms that it undertook no electronic eavesdropping in connection with its reporting and has no knowledge of such conduct.
5. The agreement is completely confidential.
6. In the case of a breach of the agreement by one or more of the Bezos Parties, AM is released from its obligations under the agreement, and may publish the Unpublished Materials.
7. Any other disputes arising out of this agreement shall first be submitted to JAMS mediation in California
Thank you,
Jon
Deputy General Counsel, Media
American Media, LLC
Jon P. Fine
Deputy General Counsel, Media
O: (212) 743–6513 C: (347) 920–6541
jfine@amilink.com
February 5, 2019
Via email:
mdsinger@lavelysinger.com
Martin D. Singer
Laveley & Singer
Re: Jeff Bezos / American Media, LLC, et al.
Dear Mr. Singer:
I write in response to your February 4, 2019, letter to Dylan Howard, and to address serious concerns we have regarding the continuing defamatory activities of your client and his representatives regarding American Media’s motivations in its recent reporting about your client.
As a primary matter, please be advised that our newsgathering and reporting on matters involving your client, including any use of your client’s “private photographs,” has been, and will continue to be, consistent with applicable laws. As you know, “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies . . . for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting . . . is not an infringement of copyright.” 17 USC Sec. 107. With millions of Americans having a vested interest in the success of Amazon, of which your client remains founder, chairman, CEO, and president, an exploration of Mr. Bezos’ judgment as reflected by his texts and photos is indeed newsworthy and in the public interest.
Beyond the copyright issues you raise, we also find it necessary to address various unsubstantiated defamatory statements and scurrilous rumors attributed to your client’s representatives in the press suggesting that “strong leads point to political motives”1 in the publication of The National Enquirer story. Indeed, you yourself declared the “politically motivated underpinnings” of our reporting to be “self-evident” in your correspondence on Mr. de Becker’s behalf to Mr. Howard dated January 31, 2019.
Once again, as I advised you in my February 1 response to your January 31 correspondence, American Media emphatically rejects any assertion that its reporting was instigated, dictated or influenced in any manner by external forces, political or otherwise. Simply put, this was and is a news story.
Yet, it is our understanding that your client’s representatives, including the Washington Post, continue to pursue and to disseminate these false and spurious allegations in a manner that is injurious to American Media and its executives.
Accordingly, we hereby demand that you cease and desist such defamatory conduct immediately. Any further dissemination of these false, vicious, speculative and unsubstantiated statements is done at your client’s peril.Absent the immediate cessation of the defamatory conduct, we will have no choice but to pursue all remedies available under applicable law.
As I advised previously, we stand by the legality of our newsgathering and reporting on this matter of public interest and concern. Moreover, American Media is undeterred from continuing its reporting on a story that is unambiguously in the public interest — a position Mr. Bezos clearly appreciates as reflected in Boies Schiller January 9 letter to American Media stating that your client “does not intend to discourage reporting about him” and “supports journalistic efforts.”
That said, if your client agrees to cease and desist such defamatory behavior, we are willing to engage in constructive conversations regarding the texts and photos which we have in our possession. Dylan Howard stands ready to discuss the matter at your convenience.
All other rights, claims, counterclaims and defenses are specifically reserved and not waived.
