The first set of data are in,the iPhone 6 seems to be off to a strong start in China.

The Chinese news site from Tencent says Apple has received four million reservations for the iPhone 6.

As Benjamin Mayo at 9to5Mac notes, if all these reservations convert to orders, and Apple gets more orders on the first day it's on sale, Apple's China launch could meet or exceed the 10 million that Apple sold during its opening weekend launch for the iPhone 6 in the US and around the globe.

The Tencent report also looks at interest surrounding the iPhone 6 versus the iPhone 6 Plus. It says Chinese seller Jingdong reports iPhone 6 reservations are 1,106,379, while iPhone 6 Plus reservations are 1,189,083.

That's basically even. Elsewhere in the world, most reports show the iPhone 6 outselling the iPhone 6 Plus.

For what it's worth, DigiTimes reports that the iPhone 6 Plus is doing better than expected. Citing sources, it says the Plus could be 60% of iPhone 6 sales.

If that's the case, it's good for Apple's top and bottom line. Apple charges $100 more for the iPhone 6 Plus than the 6. But, according to a teardown of the two phones, the 6 Plus only costs $15.50 more to make.

Yesterday, Chinese iPhone 6 reservations were stated as 2 million in six hours, a rather stunning statistic. Today, an update from the Chinese media press Tencent now says that reservations have topped 4 million. If all these reservations convert into orders, China alone may beat out the iPhone 6’s launch numbers, which — at the time — were considered to be impressive.

I have checked JD.com three more times (Beijing time) with the following total Apple iPhone pre-orders:

3:30 am Saturday: 2.91 million
7:30 am Saturday: 2.93 million
2:00 pm Saturday: 4.85 million

As you can see from the third and fourth dataset for the 6 and a half hours Saturday morning to early afternoon there were almost 2 million more Apple iPhones ordered in China. While it is not a direct comparison to the 4 million pre-orders that Apple announced in the first 24 hours for the first 10 countries that received iPhone 6s, it is an indication how strong demand there is for the company’s new iPhones.

Source: JD.com

From what the website is showing in a lot of ways Apple could be fortunate that it did not include China in the initial wave of countries that received the iPhone 6s. By delaying the availability until October 17, four weeks after the first 10 countries is will help Apple’s manufacturing partners ramp production to at least make a dent in what could be unprecedented demand.

Pretty much 50/50 split between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

Forget what you have seen on various websites that a lot more iPhone 6’s are in use vs. 6 Plus’s. I believe this is due to supply constraints for the 6 Pluses and not representative of true demand as can be seen in the longer lead-times for the 6 Plus. At least for China the iPhone 6 Pluses have a slight 1% or 2% edge over 6s orders which is a better indication on which iPhones people really want.

Apple’s track record of disruption is solid. While iPod crushed competitors in the MP3-player space, the iPhone was an even bigger game-changer for the smartphone industry, and the iPad has had significant adverse impact on the PC market.
Apple has already disrupted big consumer electronics markets

In the early years of Apple, Steve Jobs openly admired Sony and wanted Apple to be as dominant and successful in the consumer-electronics market as Sony in its heyday. In hindsight, that admiration and aspiration makes perfect sense as Apple has come to dominate the music, smartphone, and tablet markets. Now, personal computing is just one aspect of Apple’s products: They are also our music player and camera of choice.

Could anyone have predicted that the iPod would not just dominate digital music but music, period? In less than half a decade, the iPod went from being the preferred way to consume music to eliminating the need for physical media and the devices on which they ran (rest in peace, optical drives). Similarly, the iPhone crushed both the phone and digital camera markets by offering a quality networked camera product, and the most popular camera on Flickr, in fact.
Apple will disrupt the digital watch industry

The digital-watch industry is prime for disruption. It’s a device with which we already have a relationship whose function has been temporarily replaced by our phones. When the watch comes back en vogue as a networked device, it will also redefine how we think of and use it.

Here are the key factors that will make the Apple Watch disruptive:

The next step in connectivity: The Internet on PCs transformed the desktop computer to a daily-use device. Smartphones put the internet in our pocket and changed our on-the-go lifestyle. With the Internet on our wrists, the implications are huge for the Internet of things.
Enabling new services: The Apple Watch comes with big features for enabling health monitoring and frictionless payments with Apple Pay. The health and mobile payments industries have yet to embrace mobile internet; the Apple Watch will significantly impact both.
Massive user base: Apple already has a massive install base of iPhones, iPads, and iPods. During last WWDC, Apple boasted a total of 800 million shipments of iOS devices, which provide Apple with an amazing customer base to upsell new products to.
iPhone as the hub: Sure, we’ve seen watches that check your pulse, play MP3s, and check email — but those watches were not functional extensions of the most powerful smartphone in history. The iPhone 5s has more speed, memory, and performance than PCs of a few years ago and is the hub of our digital lives. Because Apple Watch will use the iPhone for Internet and connecting to other iOS apps, this creates a great moat for Apple.
Third-party apps boom: Developers are already waiting in the wings to build third-party Apple Watch apps, offering a robust ecosystem of existing functionality right out of the gate. Messaging, social networking, and real-time information apps will be exceptionally popular with consumers.
Innovation that fits in an existing product category: Unlike Google Glass, the Apple Watch is an innovative product that’s also socially acceptable to use. It fits into an existing product category that consumers understand.

With an unbroken string of successes in mobile devices, the dominance of the App Store, and the thriving iOS developer community, Apple is again poised to reinvent and dramatically upend an existing consumer-electronics category, in this case with digital watches and potentially health care and mobile payments as well. Watch out, Switzerland.

http://tapsense.com/blog/2014/09/10/apple-watch-completely-disrupt-digital-watch-business/?utm_source=Content%20Syndication&utm_medium=Apple%20Watch%20Disrupt%20Digital%20Watch%20Business&utm_campaign=Taboola

The bigger-screen iPhones take off at a record-setting pace. Apparently consumers are happy that Apple decided to live large.

Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have broken yet another record.

The company said Monday that its first weekend sales topped 10 million devices. It didn't break out sales between the two models, though the iPhone 6 Plus seemed to be a much harder device to find over the last three days.

"Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

This year's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are most notable for their scaled-up screen sizes of 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, respectively, giving Apple fans the option of larger handsets already commonplace among Android phones. The devices went on sale Friday in 10 countries, starting at $199 for the iPhone 6 with 16GB of storage space and going up to $499 for the 6 Plus with 128GB of memory. The smartphones will go on sale in 20 more countries starting Sept. 26.

Apple last week said customers preordered more than 4 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 devices in the first 24 hours after advance sales began. By comparison, Apple two years ago received over 2 million preorders for the iPhone 5 within 24 hours, and first weekend sales totaled more than 5 million. Last year, the first time Apple offered two iPhone models, the company said it sold 9 million units of the iPhone 5S and 5C devices in the first weekend after they hit stores.

Sprint chimed in later Monday, noting that the debut of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus marked the most successful iPhone launch in the carrier's history.

The iPhone 6 has the potential to be the biggest launch in Apple's 38-year history, with the latest design providing two larger-screen models, slimmer and lighter bodies, and a new mobile-payment system. Apple reportedly has asked manufacturing partners to produce about 70 million to 80 million units of its larger-screen iPhones by December 30, which is about 30 percent to 40 percent more iPhones than it ordered for its initial run of last year's iPhone 5S and 5C.

Demand for the new smartphones has outpaced initial supplies,(as usual) Apple has said. As of Sunday, the iPhone 6 models were slated to ship in seven to 10 business days, while the 6 Plus devices would ship in three to four weeks.

Demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus was so high when preorders began Sept. 12 that Apple's online store and various carriers couldn't keep up. Outages plagued the Apple Store site for more than two hours after the iPhones became available for presale at midnight PT. Despite the outages, customers scooped up the devices at a rapid clip. And thousands of people lined up at Apple and carrier stores to buy the device on Friday.

The iPhone is Apple's most important device and its biggest moneymaker, accounting for more than half of sales. Millions of customers continue to purchase its older devices, but Apple has been challenged by a trend toward bigger-screen smartphones from Samsung, HTC and others. Introducing larger screens with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will help it please current customers and possibly tempt some buyers away from its competitors.

As well as making existing Apple fans very happy, the new, bigger phones appear to be attracting the attention of Android smartphone owners too.

According to US smartphone trade-in website, Gazelle, Samsung handset trade-ins jumped threefold following the announcement of the latest iPhones. It also claimed in an email to BGR that one in three people who traded in an Android handset said that they were planning to upgrade to an iPhone 6. The iPhone 6 will be rolling out to consumers in Switzerland, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Luxembourg, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Finland, Taiwan, Belgium and Portugal on September 26 and, according to the company, by the end of 2014 will be on sale in 115 countries.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has put the total number of confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria at 18. The 18th patient, according to the Federal Government, is the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor who died of the EVD recently.

A statement issued on Wednesday night by his Special Assistant (Media and Communication), Mr. Dan Nwomeh, said the number of cases successfully managed and discharged was eight while the number of deaths from EVD was seven.

Chukwu also debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt, adding that, “regarding the rumoured case in Zaria, the blood sample has been sent for Ebola testing.”
He said, “The total number of confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria is now 18. The 18th confirmed case is the sister of the late Port Harcourt doctor. The total number of cases successfully managed and discharged is now eight.

“The last case to be discharged, the first secondary contact to be diagnosed and a spouse of a primary contact of the index case, went home from the isolation ward in Lagos yesterday (Tuesday). The 9th survivor is the ECOWAS Commission official, who jumped surveillance in Lagos and travelled to Port Harcourt, where he infected the doctor who attended to him.

“The total number of deaths from Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria is now seven. One, the index case occurred in a private hospital in Lagos four in the Lagos isolation ward; one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward (the female patient who was on admission in the same hospital where the late Port Harcourt doctor was also admitted), while another one was the doctor who was infected by the ECOWAS Commission official in Port Harcourt and who did not come under the care and management of the Incident Management Committee.

“The total number of EVD patients currently under treatment is two, one in the Lagos isolation ward and another one in the Port Harcourt isolation ward.

“The total number of contacts currently under surveillance in Lagos is 41, while Port Harcourt is 255. The total number of contacts discharged in Lagos after they were observed for 21 days is 320.”

The minister also debunked rumours of EVD cases outside Lagos and Port Harcourt.

These include the three reported cases in the Federal Capital Territory and one case in Calabar.

He also debunked the story that the body of the late Port Harcourt doctor was transported to Edo or Delta, saying the body had been decontaminated and would be interred in Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government on Wednesday said contrary to media report that the result of the suspected Ebola patient at the Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital, Zaria, confirmed to be negative, was not true.

The state said it had yet to receive any result regarding the suspected Ebola patient as reported.

The State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Thot Dogo, who spoke to newsmen shortly after attending the State Executive Council meeting at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna on Wednesday, said the Lagos laboratory, where the blood sample of the patient was taken to, had not released the test result.

The commissioner stated this just as the Chief Medical Director of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Khalid Lawal, denied receiving any Ebola patient in the hospital.

He said there was no iota of truth in the reports that a 19-year-old student of the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, was admitted because he was suffering from the dreaded disease.

The CMD said, “I can’t confirm it because we don’t have any test result. We are not taking chances but it is unlikely.”

The commissioner assured the people of the state not to panic as the government was on top of the situation.

http://www.punchng.com/news/late-pharcourt-doctors-sister-tests-positive-for-ebola/

Beyoncé's fifth studio album, Beyoncé, which was released exclusively on iTunes on Friday without any promotional marketing, has sold 828,773 copies in three days, Apple announced Monday.

The unconventional release, featuring 14 songs and an unprecedented 17 videos, sparked an impressive 1.2 million tweets about the album in 24 hours after premiering. And now, it has become iTunes' fast-selling album. Domestically, the iTunes Store has already sold 617,213 copies, breaking the store's first-week album sales record.

See also: Grammys 2014: Jay Z Leads With 9 Nominations as Rap Dominates

The previous record holders were Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience, which sold 580,000 worldwide on iTunes (U.S. number aren't available) and Taylor Swift's Red (465,000, U.S.).

Apple also reports that the album topped iTunes album charts in 104 countries (out of 119 countries where iTunes is available). For now, iTunes users can only buy the full album ($15.99) — not individual songs — which helped the album reach No. 1 across the world. The album's songs can be purchased separately starting Dec. 20.

Despite only being sold on iTunes, the sales total for Beyoncé is the artist's biggest sales week ever.

Beyoncé bypassed traditional distribution methods, including not making the album available on streaming services and not releasing a lead music video on Vevo or YouTube.

Meanwhile, Columbia Records started producing physical copies for retail stores on the day the album was released on iTunes, meaning it will be in stores in time for the holidays.

Beyoncé managed to keep the album release a secret (read: no online leaks surfaced), in a year when music somehow kept repeatedly leaking before artists' official release dates. The 32-year-old and her legion of well-known directors shot music videos for each song during her world tour in New York City, Paris, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro, among other places.

"I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it. I am bored with that," Beyoncé said. "I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans."

The approach resonated around the globe. On Facebook, mentions of “Beyoncé” spiked more than 1,300% in the hours after the album dropped, a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. And the reception on Twitter was just as furious; Twitter detailed how buzz about the album spread in an animated map, released Monday.

http://mashable.com/2013/12/16/beyonce-album-breaks-itunes-record/

BlackBerry has abandoned a plan to sell itself to its biggest shareholder.

Instead of buying the struggling smartphone maker and taking it private, Fairfax Financial Holdings and other investors will inject 1 billion dollars into the company.

Chief executive Thorsten Heins is also stepping down after less than 2 years at the helm and will be replaced by John Chen who will serve as interim CEO, and Fairfax head Prem Watsa will be appointed to the board.

BlackBerry shares fell 13 per cent on the news.

Ontario based BlackBerry announced in September that Fairfax was planning to lead a consortium of firms in a takeover valued at $4.7 billion (£3bn).

Fairfax said then it wouldn’t increase its 10 percent stake and the company went about trying to attract other investors.

But that plan has now fallen through.

Both Watsa and Chen say they will now search for a CEO with a technology background. “I think Thorsten did a terrific job given the hand he was dealt with,’ Watsa said.

Two months ago BlackBerry announced it would cut around 4,500 jobs – around 40 per cent of the workforce – to help get on top of huge losses.

But Mr Chen said the company faced a big challenge to get back on track. He said: Blackberry is an iconic brand with enormous potential, but it’s going to take time, discipline and huge decisions to reclaim out success.’

BGC analyst Colin Gillis said the failure of the sale was not an unexpected outcome because the stock was trading well below the possible bid price.
‘They never had any money beyond the Fairfax money,’ Gillis said.

BlackBerry has been hammered by competition from the Apple iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/11/04/blackberry-calls-off-its-sell-off-plan-and-replaces-its-ceo-4173440/

IT’S OFFICIAL. BlackBerry, once the giant of the smartphone world and the nemesis of every holidaying chief executive, is now little more than an app developer – albeit a very successful one.

As its updated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app for Android and iPhone finally went live (a month after leaked software botched the original launch), some 10m owners of rival handsets rushed to download the messaging service.

BlackBerry was quick to herald the launch as “one of the best single-day openings for a mobile app to date” – and with some impatient users complaining of long delays downloading the service, chances are that the number could go even higher.

But the Canadian firm, which saw sales slump by almost 50 per cent in its second quarter compared to last year, has some way to go before it scales the true heights of app success. Apple’s all-time best sellers include the Angry Birds series, which has sold around 2bn apps, and Tiny Wings. Sensing a theme – and having checked out the new, simple BBM interface – the Capitalist has a suggestion for BlackBerry that could just turn things around.

Ditch the fruit, and get a bird on board – sharpish.

- See more at: http://www.cityam.com/article/1382575916/birds-eat-berries-blackberry-app-takes-flight?utm_source=website&utm_medium=TD_article_grids_homepage&utm_campaign=TD_article_grids_homepage#sthash.868N62Bt.dpuf

It seems BlackBerry has finally admitted defeat and given up on the race by selling their shares to Fairfax Financial Holding. A shock to some, and a predictable outcome for others, it was obvious that BlackBerry was heading on a one way road to economic hell. But what truly brought about this eventual decay that forced BlackBerry to forfeit and sell off to Fairfax Financial Holding for $4.7 billion? Various small aspects and some fatal miscalculations, to be precise. Let's have a look!
Disheartening Operating System

Before we kick anything off, let's make one thing clear; as much as we depend on the hardware for a smartphone to work efficiently, it is far more necessary to have an operating system in place that acts as a central nervous centre, allowing every hardware component to communicate with each other and give us a satisfied user experience. Nokia with its ever-faithful Symbian OS ran their fleet of mobile phones for years without any hassle. Apple's iOS did the same for its iPhone and Google's Android too mastered it after few upgrades.

While every biggie out there was busy polishing their creation, BlackBerry were leisurely blinding their operating system from any technical advancement and innovation, citing it wasn't necessary to fix something that wasn't broken. They had no idea how horribly mistaken they were. Android and iOS finally exploded in the market and soon gobbled BlackBerry's market share which soon dropped down to a measly 3%. A major upgrade was needed and BlackBerry introduced the BB 10 to the masses. Unfortunately, they were a little too late for the party as Android and iOS had the cake, and ate it too.

Equally Disheartening Hardware

While Samsung and Apple were locking horns to one-up each other in terms of their technical prowess, launching one heavy-weight (actually quite thin on the contrary) device after another to show how much of 'technology' they could cram on your palm, BlackBerry was being the Paris Hilton for press and randomly popping out at every social outing and giving a glimpse of hopeful talent before getting drunk and passing out in public. Yes, that clunky soapbox you held in the name of a mobile phone is what BlackBerry was known to produce. Barely capable of withstanding it's surrounding and having an affinity to conk off at the worst of times; BlackBerry's handsets were known to spread irrational fears among its users. This too, was followed by a rectification when BlackBerry finally launched a noteworthy smartphone in the form of BlackBerry Z10. It was smart in all the right sense and complimented the all new operating system, the BlackBerry 10 perfectly well. It also showed BlackBerry in new light, when they finally shed the typical QWERTY keypad design for a full-touch interface. We thought BlackBerry had finally arrived. We were horribly wrong, again.

The Downright Mortifying Pricing

BlackBerry were always known to flaunt a hefty price tag for their handsets. For the outdated hardware and software that came bundled, the prices were outrageous, and yet people stuck back, all for the sake of having a secure communication line for mailing and instant messaging. Even with dwindling sales figures and migrating clientele, BlackBerry stuck to their pricing, and did the same for their torchbearer, the BlackBerry Z10. A phone that had all the potential to take things forward for BlackBerry, the Z10 was priced at an absurdly high rate of Rs. 42,000/-! Taking the hardware and price into consideration, a customer could get the all-powerful Samsung Galaxy S4 in the same price that was equipped with more firepower and housed Android as an OS.

Poor pricing proved to be one of the vital elements that lead to their eventual downfall. The Z10 was the perfect example, and rather than rectifying it, BlackBerry found itself launching two more smartphones, the Q5 and the Q10. Both handsets based on its signature QWERTY layout, the phones were meant to be BlackBerry's second grace, and yet again, the poor pricing led it another wave of failure sweeping them off.

The Last Straw

There was still hope for Blackberry to make amends and cash in on its final card, its prized possession, the BlackBerry Messenger, or the BBM. A secured means to contact anyone in the world after acquiring their PIN number, BBM soon became a rage internationally with teenagers purchasing BlackBerry for the sole reason of using the instant messaging service. BlackBerry's safest bet, the BBM finally found its worthy match in the form of instant messaging apps like WhatsApp, etc. that could be hosted for free on any operating system, and connected via the internet seamlessly. BlackBerry should have had an intuition of the Instant messaging enigma, and should have launched BBM for Android and iOS few years ago and cemented their feet in the market, and yet they failed at doing so. This proved to be the final straw in the fight and finally BlackBerry backed down and admitted defeat.

There could have been various saving graces for BlackBerry; the right upgrade at the right time, lower pricing, introduction of BBM for Android and iPhone among various other things. BlackBerry failed, and so did its legacy for being one of the top contenders in the smartphone market.

http://www.mensxp.com/technology/smart-phones/20502-blackberry-the-final-fall.html

Apple announced it sold 9 million of the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C models since they went on sale Friday -- a record opening weekend for the iPhone.

That's nearly double the 5 million iPhones that Apple sold during the first three days that the iPhone 5 was on sale last year, and sales were well above Wall Street analysts' expectations. Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) rose 6% Monday morning.

But this year's stellar opening weekend for Apple comes with two sizable caveats: Apple included China in the iPhone 5S and 5C launches. Last year, China didn't get the new iPhone 5 until December. Apple also launched two new iPhones this year, heavily marketing the colorful iPhone 5C. In 2012, Apple only unveiled one new kind of iPhone.

The iPhone 5S, which comes in gold, silver or space gray, is available in the United States for a suggested retail price of between $199 to $399. The iPhone 5C, which comes in blue, green, pink, yellow and white, is available for between $99 to $199.

Still, the news was very good for a company that has been living under a microscope lately, scrutinized for launching new devices with only incremental updates. Apple said this weekend's heavy demand caused it to exhaust its initial supply of the iPhone 5S.

As a result, Apple said it expects its quarterly sales to come in at the high end of its estimated range of $34 billion to $37 billion. The company also said it expects gross profit margins will be on the higher end of its guidance.

The new flagship iPhone 5S is similar in appearance to last year's iPhone 5, but it's twice as fast thanks to Apple's new A7 chip. It also has a beefed-up camera that includes slow-motion video and a camera "burst mode" that shoots 10 frames per second. The 5C features a polycarbonate shell, instead of the glass-and-aluminum body of the previous iPhone 5S.

The company also said more than 200 million Apple devices are now running the completely redesigned iOS 7 operating system which comes preloaded on the new iPhone, making it the fastest software upgrade in the company's history.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/23/technology/mobile/apple-iphone-sales/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

What Wenger said, signings completed and team that could have been

By Jasper Taylor (@jasper_taylor) | Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Earlier in the transfer window Arsenal made noise about splashing the cash, after years of parsimony and a lack of trophies, but so far have signed just one player this summer on a free transfer.

Below, you will find a timeline of Arsene Wenger’s comments during the transfer window, as well as keys signings made in that time by other clubs.

But before, take a look at this team Arsenal potentially could have fielded had they been decisive with spending their cash reserves this summer…

Transfer timeline: who’s been signed and what Wenger’s said

July 1 Transfer window officially opens, Liverpool have signed four players, Man City have spent £45 million on two players and Chelsea have bought Schurrle for £18 milion.

Arsenal also start their business early, as Wenger comments on his free transfer: “Sanogo is a good young signing for us.”

July 7 Tottenham spend £17 million on Paulinho

July 8 Arsenal target David Villa signs for Atletico Madrid for £4.5m

July 11 Southampton buy reported Arsenal target Victor Wanyama for £12.5 million

July 12 Wenger says: “We will see what we can do until the end of the transfer period and certainly before the new season starts. That’s what we are working on at the moment. For years we were out of the race for the top-level transfers but we are coming back now because we are in a better financial situation and also because of Financial Fair Play.”

July 18 Wenger says: “Rooney is under contract and has two years to go so it’s United who make the decision. But we would not have a problem with the wages of Rooney.”

July 19 Arsenal targets Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo both sign for Manchester City

July 26 Spurs buy winger Nacer Chadli for an undisclosed fee (rumoured to be in the region of £7m)

July 27 Napoli sign Arsenal target Gonzalo Higuain for £34.5m

Wenger says: “We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us. But we are prepared to wait. We are not close to signing Suarez or anybody else.”

“In midfield you have plenty of candidates– there’s a big fight in midfield. Sagna has settled in well as a centre-back. We have a strong squad. We are there on the market trying to strengthen our team.”

August 3 Wenger says: “I wouldn’t like to talk openly about negotiations. There is one month in front of us and we’ll work very hard to strengthen our squad.

August 5 Tottenham sign Roberto Soldado for £26 million

Wenger says: “Let’s count on what is here first of all and if we can add something, we will do.”

August 11 Wenger says: “I am an optimist. This is the first time for many years that we have kept all our important players at the club.”

August 12 Wenger says: “We are in the transfer market and we try still to strengthen our squad.”

August 15 Spurs buy rumoured Arsenal target Etienne Capoue for £9 million

August 16 Wenger says: “We are active – we are in a situation like Manchester United, like Chelsea, where everybody expects signings and at the moment not a lot has happened. There are 18 days to go, so that is a long time in the transfer market and we will be active. I cannot certify what the number [of players coming in will be], but we will be active until the end, that is for sure.”

August 17 Wenger says: “That’s what I just want to convince you of, that we are in the market, everybody knows that we are ready to buy players.”

August 18 Wenger says: “We are there to spend money. People say: ‘Buy players, buy players, buy players’. But who? We analyse every single player in the world and work 24 hours a day for that.”

“Even if you go on the Eiffel Tower and you throw the money away, you have to play with the players you have.”

August 20 Willian reportedly arrives in London for a medical at Tottenham

End of Transfer window: "we have made 2 new signings - cabaye and sanogo, one is experienced and is a big name, and the other is young and shows promise. the window has ended now, and you need to get behind the team. we tried our best. we worked 28 hours in a day. we focus on what we have because i believe this team can still challenge in the title. we wanted to buy a player, but we want to add real top qwoleetee (like Sanogo then??) and there is a lack of top qwoleetee today. We will add only if it improves our squad. we live in a crazy world where people spend 100million for one player. we must use resources we make. look at manu, look at chelsea look at spu...ooops sorry i made a mistake can we do the interview again?"

June - "i know we are out of all competitions but trophy is not everything. We have built a fantastic stadium and have the foundations to compete. We have got to champions league 17 times in a row. We have new players and im optimistic that none of the team has left. Look at Manu - they havent won anything this season"

After Manu win the FA Cup "Sorry I dont want to talk about other teams. I want to focus on our team and on this squad. We will try and strengthen in the summer but I believe this squad can win the title with or without transfers. You all want a big name but who big name? It is more important we buy qwoleetee and we will buy players if they improve the qwoleetee of this squad"

Arsenal fans all over the world Kill themselves "I cant control other peoples actions. I try to spend but who to buy? We have a new signing this summer - diaby, he has returned from injury"

3 Seasons later after Jack, Ox, and Kos leave " We try to build a squad. I give to player. Player no give back to squad. But that is football nowadays. We have young team coming through and I believe in them. Miyachi is ready for first team, so is Zelalem. And we have a new signing, Diaby"

texaco1:
haba ademola , FEAR GOD OOOO
u fit buy this kind song ?

but d thing wey dey there b say im no need u or any bad belle sufferman wey dey hia to buy im sumthing , once the people wey matter for where we dey like am , everything done dey settled , as tha im senior brotha sing sotay adenuga call am come giv am $500k make e dey hold phone abi how them even do am sef ,money wey yr bad belle no go gree u see even if dem gree giv u work for bank make u dey there for hundred years , as the razz goat dey yarn for d beginning, kanipe u get even small sense u go just shut up your mouth

I remember Yakubu Aiyebgeni joined Everton at age 24 , and left to play for Leicester City as a 23 year old

Make u no fear , Samsung go soon copy am begin dey call am galaxy xyz

Can we please have the list of those who were onboard that flight !

binhozie: Lool. . dbanj should flex now that they are dancing to oliver twist, definitely not singing it tho cos its lyric is crap
But i know one thing, when everyone eventually tires of the song and it falls from the charts, i hope he will be able to come up with something else
cos everyone is watching

shame you know only `one thing` , one other thing anyone with an average I.Q should know is that you will be watching when after `everyone eventually tires of the song and it falls from the charts` he buys a car probably worth $500k and drives by you while you`re dragging with one okada man because he cannot `come up` with your 40 Naira change fast enough.I`m sure everyone will be watching that one .

A teenage girl who plotted the killing of a schoolboy on Facebook before kicking him in the head as he bled to death was facing jail yesterday.

Victoria Osoteku was 18 when she armed a 20-strong mob who ‘hunted down’ and hacked to death the 15-year-old boy at a railway and Underground station in front of horrified rush-hour commuters.

Sofyen Belamouadden was punched, kicked and stabbed to death in a ‘brutal and merciless murder’ planned on Facebook after a feud between pupils from two rival schools erupted into violence.

A-level pupil Osoteku, who loved ‘beef’ – slang for a fight – had rushed out of school during the lunch hour that day to buy a set of knives for £3.99 from Argos which were later used to stab the defenceless boy at least nine times.

The schoolgirl, who had never even met the victim, handed out knives to a pack of teenagers aged between 15 and 18 who went to Victoria Station in London after school armed with a terrifying arsenal of weapons.

These included a Samurai sword, flick knives, metal bars and extendable batons, which were used to batter the GCSE pupil with ‘indescribable aggression’.

The victim was chased into the station and surrounded in the ticket hall by the gang screaming: ‘We are going to **** you up.’

He collapsed after being stabbed nine times in the lungs and chest in a ten-second attack in front of hundreds of passengers on March 25, 2010.

As he lay on the ground, Osoteku was captured on CCTV moving in to launch a final kick to the head before running off, leaving him to bleed to death.

Sofyen, a pupil at Henry Compton School in Fulham, West London, was taken to hospital but doctors were unable to save him.

Yesterday Osoteku, now 19, wept as she was convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm after a five-month trial at the Old Bailey.

But the jury was unable to reach a verdict on a charge of murder after a week of deliberation.

To the fury of the victim’s family, prosecutors said they would not pursue a re-trial because of the extraordinary length of time the trial had taken in which the defendant gave evidence for a staggering 21 days.

Sofyen’s father Abdeslam said: ‘I am very disappointed that the Crown decided not to pursue the murder charge considering the central role that she played from beginning to end.

‘With everything that we have been through, we are very unhappy with the decision.’

It can now be revealed that Osoteku, who was studying drama and sociology at A-level, loved fighting and violence.

Besides listing ‘beef’ among her interests, on a social networking site she posted pictures of herself in her school uniform with the words ‘Missy Maffia’ and ‘Bang Bang’ written underneath.

Born to Nigerian parents in Peckham, South-East London, Osoteku’s upbringing was deeply troubled.

At the age of two, her father Abiodun took her and her three-year-old sister away from their drug addict mother Ebunoluwa, who has serious mental health issues and has been sectioned a number of times.

For a number of years, she was shunted between her aunt and a hostel before her father, a painter and decorator, remarried when she was five.

Osoteku told the jury that she suffered daily beatings at the hands of her stepmother.

At the age of eight she was taken into care and placed with foster parents.

Classmates described her as a bully who was always egging others on.

One said: ‘Victoria was at the forefront – she was a bit of a bully.’

But the schoolgirl claimed to be a kind person. On her internet profile, she wrote in poorly spelt English: ‘Im a black inderpendent women who cares for all my bedrins and all fam. but every 1 is ke fam to me. Im a joka thats loves a joka .and im rely kind and fast to kick wid.’

During her trial, Osoteku attempted to pin the blame on others, sobbing as she claimed she had tried to stop them.

She said she was frozen in shock as the attack unfolded and ‘nudged’ the victim with her foot ‘to see if he was OK’.

But Mark Heywood, QC, prosecuting, said she was ‘at the heart’ of planning on Facebook and through BlackBerry and text messages for the attack.

He said: ‘Victoria Osoteku was one of those who set up and organised the confrontation that led to the death.

‘Her responsibility for the death is very great indeed, even though it was others that delivered the final fatal blows that led to Sofyen Belamouadden’s death.’

The killing was provoked by ‘simmering tensions’ between pupils at a sixth-form college in Ladbroke Grove, West London, and teenagers from the victim’s school over the Underground station, which was regarded by both as ‘home territory’.

A day earlier there was a fight between the two groups over a girl in the station, which left one youth with a bloody nose.

That night Osoteku became the ‘focal point’ of discussions about recruiting ‘troops and weapons’ as the pupils plotted their revenge.

Police believe she ‘got a kick out of stirring everyone up’.

The day after the murder Osoteku went on a school trip to the Victoria and Albert Museum where she boasted about her role in the killing.

It was said she was ‘gloating she was with the boys, she kicked him, they used a samurai sword and cut his neck and back’.

Osoteku, of Deptford, South London, will be sentenced at a later date with others convicted of the killing.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2108185/The-killer-schoolgirl-Facing-jail-weeping-dock-teenager-bought-knives-used-Facebook-plot-fatal-mob-attack-boy.html

the minumin grades required by the UKBA for TOEFL are

1) Listening - 13/30
2) Reading - 8/30
3) Writing - 17/30
4) Speaking - 18/30

Dear Wife, Partner, Girlfriend, aunt, niece, mothers, grandmothers, maids, all women: YOU WERE WARNED

1. From 11 June to 11 July 2010, you should read the sports section of the newspaper so that you are aware of what is going on regarding the World Cup, and that way you will be able to join in the conversations. If you fail to do this, then you will be looked at in a bad way, or you will be totally ignored. DO NOT complain about not receiving any attention.

2. During the World Cup, the television is mine, at all times, without any exceptions. If you even take a glimpse of the remote control, you will lose it (your eye).

3. If you have to pass by in front of the TV during a game, I don't mind, as long as you do it crawling on the floor and without distracting me. If you decide to stand nude in front of the TV, make sure you put clothes on right after because if you catch a cold, I wont have time to take you to the doctor or look after you during the World Cup month.

4. During the games I will be blind, deaf and mute, unless I require a refill of my drink or something to eat. You are out of your mind if you expect me to listen to you, open the door, answer the telephone, or pick up the baby that just fell on the floor, It won't happen.

5. It would be a good idea for you to keep at least 2 six packs in the fridge at all times, as well as plenty of things to nibble on, and please do not make any funny faces to my friends when they come over to watch the games.

6. Please, please, please!! If you see me upset because one of my teams is losing, DO NOT say "get over it, its only a game", or "don't worry, they'll win next time". If you say these things, you will only make me angrier and I will love you less. Remember, you will never ever know more about football than me and your so called "words of encouragement" will only lead to a break up or divorce.

7. You are welcome to sit with me to watch one game and you can talk to me during halftime but only when the commercials are on, and only if the halftime score is pleasing me. In addition, please note I am saying "one" game; hence do not use the World Cup as a nice cheesy excuse to "spend time together".

8. The replays of the goals are very important. I don't care if I have seen them or I haven't seen them, I want to see them again. Many times.

9. Tell your friends NOT to have any babies, or any other child related parties or gatherings that requires my attendance because:
a) I will not go,
b) I will not go, and
c) I will not go.

10. But, if a friend of mine invites us to his house on a Sunday to watch a game, we will be there in a flash.

11. The daily World Cup highlights shown on TV every night is just as important as the games themselves. Do not even think about saying "but you have already seen this, why don't you change the channel to something we can all watch?" because, the reply will be, "Refer to Rule #2 of this list".

12. And finally, please save your expressions such as "Thank God the World Cup is only every 4 years". I am immune to these words, because after this comes the Champions League, Italian League, Spanish League, Premier League, FA Cup, etc.

Thank you for your cooperation.