Samsung Plans To Develop Robots

Samsung is not leaving innovation behind and now has announced its plans to build robot for educational and industrial usage.

Samsung Electronics Corp. never stays behind when it comes to giving its customers with the most advanced technology. It is now another step forward toward innovation by building robots for educational and industrial purposes.  The South Korean tech giant made an announcement on Monday regarding its plans of developing robots.

The Galaxy maker has already hired people who will play a part in the construction of these robots; these employees are form the telecommunications departments of the company who will help make this new plan turn into reality. Samsung does not hesitate to give its customers with smart technology; it recently showcased smart shoes build for athletes and coaches. The tech giant also opened a platform for Internet of Things and it believes that drones and robots are considered as the top two products that make up IoT.

Samsung is already known for the mobile phones it builds, and is known for building the best display screen and semiconductors.  The tech company faces tough competition in terms of its products from many Chinese organizations, hence is has made a decision to start another business where the competition is not as tough for now. The chairman of the company, Oh-Hyun Kwon informed the shareholders that the business is seeking to switch to another platform and build something new and reach the market of B2B and content service to generate more profit.

Samsung is switching from business to consumers to business to business now, as an effort to generate more profit and avoid competition. No details regarding what kind of robots will be built and witnessed have been revealed by the tech organization. One thing is known that the company has plans to develop smart things tech for the introduction of IoT. The robots that will be built might be used in the industry, health treatment, educational purposes and many other uses.

The South Korean organization announced on October 15th that the government will work in with the company to help in the construction of robots and grow the business. $16.75 billion of investments is going to be used for the development of parts for the robot in South Korea. The local partners of the company are going to benefit immensely form this and the stock can be expected to rise in the future. The electronics business is pushing all boundaries and is not scared to take risks and build new products and make new additions to its portfolio. Robots will be seen in the future having the name of Samsung on them, in universities and even hospitals. 

Apple Builds Own Data Centers To Avoid Dependence On AWS

Apple is likely to transit away from rival Amazon's AWS cloud computing services.

According to AppleInsider, Brian Nowak, an analyst from Morgan Stanley, claimed that Apple might soon move away from Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud computing offerings. Last month, in its quarterly earnings conference call, the tech company hinted that it might decrease dependence on AWS Cloud. The complete transition may take over two years.

Standing ahead of Microsoft and Alphabet, AWS parent – Amazon – is the top provider of infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). It lets customers rent data storage and computer servers via the Internet cloud. The proposed strategy will help Apple to reduce some expenditure, as last year, it has spent nearly $1 billion for AWS cloud services, fellow analyst ‘Katy Huberty’ estimates. For 2016 and 2017, the company is likely to pay the fees of $1.05 billion and $1.18 billion respectively to AWS.

Apple’s fees make up almost 6% of AWS revenue and if the Cupertino, Calif. firm moves away, then AWS profitability will be highly affected. The shift is not astonishing considering the competition between Apple and Amazon for consumer products.

Nowak stated in his report that the tech business is about to open three new datacenters. The datacenters expansion plan will take around two years and the company is reportedly spending $2 billion for its “global command center” in Mesa, Arizona. A sum of around $1.86 billion (1.7 euros) is likely to be spent on two data centers in Denmark and Ireland.

Apart from this, the $535 billion tech organization announced that in 2016, it would raise its capital expenditure by 30%. The budget is likely to be assigned to build datacenters for services like iCloud, iTunes, and App Stores. Allegedly, the datacenters will be built on approximate space of 2.5 million square feet. AWS datacenter facility is sprawled over the area of 6.7 million square feet – almost 40% more than Apple’s proposed plan.

Both Apple and Amazon were unavailable to comment. In fact, the Silicon Valley business has never announced officially that it has been availing AWS cloud services. A report, forwarded in 2011, indicated that it had been using both, Microsoft’s Azure and AWS, as its iCloud data storage support.

Stanley analyst, Nowak, has not given a definite figure of how much AWS would lose its data traffic and business. He expressed that AWS, due to its strong growth, has the ability to absorb losses. In 2015, Amazon’s cloud services division has reported commendable 69% revenue in its fourth quarter. Moreover, it has an annual run-rate of almost $10 billion. By the looks of it, the Apple’s shift from AWS may not be too harsh on Amazon’s subsidiary.

Apple has put immense importance on self-reliance. By detaching itself from public services, it can balance its superior operational ecosystem. Through its cloud services, it will be able to create greater efficiencies.

At the market close on Tuesday, Apple stock price stood at $94.48.

Gilead Sciences Threatened By State To Lower Its HCV Drug Prices

The pharmaceutical giant is all set to provide justification of its high priced drugs.

Over the high price of its ground-breaking drug for Hepatitis C treatment; Sovaldi and Harvoni, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey threatens to sue the American biggest pharmaceutical company, Gilead Sciences Inc., claimed in a letter made public on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. Ms. Hailey puts forward her argument by stating that the company has violated the state Consumer Protection Act on unfair trade practices. However, the onus of proving that the high price is unfair or how high is too high rests with the attorney.

The attorney further carried on by stating that due to its high cost not everybody could get access to the drug which is essential in treating chronic Hepatitis C. She further stated that the cost of the drug is heavy burden on prison program and state Medicaid which care for large number of patients suffering from such disease.

According to Journal, in the letter forwarded to the company the attorney wrote: “At a minimum, Gilead Sciences should consider innovative approaches to pricing and payment that would expand access to Sovaldi and Harvoni in the United States, as it has done in other countries.”

The Harvoni drug has a list price of $1,125 per pill while a full course treatment using the drug costs about $94,500 whereas course of treatment with Sovaldi has accumulated cost of $84,000 around $1,000 per pill. In the year 2015’s first nine months, the company scored a sale of $10.1 billion in sales in the U.S. of the two drugs.

According to Journal, around 200,000 people in Massachusetts suffer from Hepatitis C. The HCV can cause serious infections which can cause death of a person. Ever since the Californian based company introduced its hallmark in the medicine industry Sovaldi in 2013, it has credited a lot of criticism to its account. A year later, the company introduced Harvoni, a pill which combines with the former in a lot of treatments. Likewise, due to their high costs, medical insurances don’t cover their costs.

Earlier in 2015, the company has encountered a similar situation when it had a lawsuit lodged against it in Pennsylvania federal court. The court ruled out that the state law couldn’t be used to force the company to dismiss its profit from the sale of its patented drug by lowering the price.

An associate professor at Boston College Law School, Dean Hashimoto said that a lawsuit which requires the company to lower its price in compliance with state’s consumer protection law would be odd. He said that usually in Massachusetts companies are sued over deceptive advertisings. Moreover, Mr. Hashimoto has also expressed that a lawsuit can prompt the company to say lowering the price for the prisons of the state.

The company has contacted with the attorney to have a detailed discussion on the topic so that company could provide justifications of the pricing. Attorney general spokeswoman has said that she was confident that the matter will be solved without having the company to go to court.

In 2015, the company projected that it would negotiate discounts of around 46% for Medicaid. Under the federal law, the companies are required to sell to the federal programs for poor like Medicaid at a price less than 25% of the retail price. One of the spokeswomen from Gilead has said that the Department of Veteran Affairs and Medicaid receive 50% or more discounts on Harvoni. .

However, in the complaint lodged by the state, the officials have argued that they couldn’t treat many patients just because of the high prices. According to the letter, Ms. Healey demands increased access to the new treatments.