Archive

-------------------

2011 news

2010 news

2009 news

2008 news

2007 news

 

 

2012

-------------------

03 May 2012

No need to break the bank this holiday!
Asda sell 16MP Canon Powershot for just £49

 

02 May 2012

"The age of the near-zero-employee $1 billion business is here"

 

30 April 2012

Britain's booming £8 Billion back garden economy gives a whole new meaning to "Home Economics"

 

13 April 2012

Asda puts the Galaxy on sale for £135

 

05 April 2012

Asda re-writes the rules with the Kobo
Wireless e-Reader at just £49

 

04 April 2012

Magister Advisors: "Facebook IPO is about the worst thing that could happen to network operators"

 

02 April 2012

The revolutionary "FM"P3 portable audio device from
Asda for only £2

 

26 March 2012

Super-juice offers a double dose of good health

 

14 March 2012

"Over the Top Technologies" Victor Basta, director, Magister Advisors

 

8 March 2012

Fruit Passion launches the first ever nationally available British fruit juice range

 

5 March 2012

Headphones crank up the volume as speaker sales decline

 

2 March 2012

Asda offers a digital camera with movie mode for £8.98!

 

23 February 2012

Britain has the Passion for Fairtrade Fortnight

 

22 February 2012

Goll-e! At £2.93 Asda offers Britain's lowest cost webcam

 

13 February 2012

Welcome to the United Grimdom!

 

03 February 2012

Mega pixels but not for mega bucks

 

27 January 2012

Asda offers Britain's lowest cost 40 inch Full HD TV

 

04 January 2012

Exposed!
Asda offers Britain's lowest-priced digital camera

 

 

Magister Advisors: Reaction to the Facebook IPO

Magister Advisors - 17 May 2012

 

Magister Advisors is a leading M&A advisor to international technology companies.  The following is a summary of Magister Advisors’ views on the imminent Facebook flotation, the strategic challenges ahead and the impact on the technology industry.

 

Victor Basta, managing director of Magister Advisors, is available for interview.  Any of the comments below can be attributed to Victor.  If you would like to speak to Victor about any aspect of the IPO or the comments below, please call Hamish Thompson on +44 (0) 7702 684290 or email hamish.thompson@1238kmh.com.

 

Justifying the IPO valuation

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “Facebook will need to generate annual revenue of $30-$40 billion in order to justify the likely IPO valuation of the business.  This is a ten-fold increase over the revenues that it currently generates.  The question is “where from?”  Advertising is fundamental currently, and Facebook will have to channel ad dollars away from other players and onto its platform to achieve this. Enhanced services to companies would also be a logical step.”

 

Where next for Facebook strategically?

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “Facebook to date is a consumer-facing business – and is in effect the biggest and most successful vanity publishing project of all time.  It has a user base with the population of a continent – the first digital continent.  The question for management is “where next?”  One logical direction would be the enterprise market – looking at ways in which Facebook can be at the heart of employee-to-employee communication and collaboration.  A business like Yammer, which operates a private social network service for businesses, is a good model for what Facebook For Companies could evolve into.”

 

The importance of the Facebook ecosystem for valuations of tech businesses

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “Businesses that leverage the Facebook platform are already attracting much higher valuations  - in some cases 3 times what they were worth only last year.  This includes European companies as diverse as Spotify, Unruly Media and Engage Sciences. We expect many companies that work with Facebook to be preparing for an exit or fundraising in the next 12 months to take advantage of this.  Investor sentiment can change in a very short period of time and many will be focused on avoiding any potential downstream risk.”

 

How revenue per employee has changed in a generation

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “Facebook is a business that can succeed with far fewer employees than the technology behemoths of old.  Facebook’s IPO filing implies a value per employee for its own business of $33 million.  Microsoft, by contrast, has a value per employee of $3 million, reflecting the fundamental structural differences between the businesses.”

 

How the speed of revenue generation has increased

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “The internet has unleashed unprecedented potential for a new breed of super-efficient companies, untrammeled by costly infrastructure, to accelerate revenue generation.  Microsoft went from zero to $1 million revenues in 3 years ($3.6 million in today's terms).  Facebook, by comparison, went from zero to $150 million revenues in 3 years, representing a 40-fold acceleration in real terms.  This will only get faster for the right idea.”

 

The impact on mobile networks as Facebook goes increasingly mobile

Victor Basta, managing director, Magister Advisors: “Facebook is a classic example of an over-the-top technology – a business that exists on top of a preexisting infrastructure.  Microsoft went over the top of IBM and Skype went over the top of traditional telcos.  Facebook is exerting similar authority and much of the downward pressure that it will inflict will be on mobile networks.  Nokia’s announcement of low-cost smartphones aimed at the developing world will increase the impact that Facebook’s traffic will have on network capacity.  Network operators are rapidly becoming the digital drug mules of our age.”

 

- Ends –

 

back to top

 

New study into the effects of pomegranate juice reveals significant increase in salivary testosterone

PomeGreat - 04 May 2012

 

A new pilot study of the effects of pomegranate juice consumption by Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh has found that it significantly increases salivary testosterone.

 

Testosterone is known to play an important and diverse role in the body including maintenance of mood and memory, and depression is one of the major symptoms associated with low testosterone levels.

 

A research team, led by Dr Emad Al-Dujaili conducted a small pilot study in a group of volunteers (n-58) that consumed pure pomegranate juice for 2 weeks and found that testosterone levels in their saliva samples increased. This obviously has to be confirmed by a much larger study testing urine and plasma samples.

 

 

The study was a cross-sectional, repeated measure controlled intervention trial in healthy subjects  aimed to assess whether consumption of pomegranate fruit juice (Pomegreat Pure:100% fruit juice, 500mL/day) affects blood pressure, work-related stress levels as measured by a stress and mood questionnaire (simplified PANAS-X) and salivary testosterone levels (by highly sensitive and specific  ELISA method).

 

Participants consuming their normal diet were asked to provide three saliva samples (morning, noon and evening) on one random day during the run in-phase before the intervention and following one week and two weeks of Pomegreat pure juice intake. The age of subjects ranged from 21 to 64 years. At each visit during the trial, three readings of blood pressure were taken after participants had been at rest for approximately 10 minutes.

 

All participants were also asked to complete the PANAS-X questionnaire which measures two higher order scales (PA - Positive Affect and NA - Negative Affect), and 11 specific effects: Fear, Sadness, Guilt, Hostility, Shyness, Fatigue, Surprise, Joviality, Self-Assurance, Attentiveness, and Serenity. Positive score increased from 29 to 31 and negative score decreased from 16 to14 compared to baseline.

 

Following Pomegreat pure juice consumption, systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced from 123.7 to 119.6mmHg and diastolic blood pressure from 74.9 to 72.4mmHg. Salivary testosterone levels increased moderately but significantly at the 3 time points tested. There was a 16.3-30.4% increase in salivary testosterone after 2 weeks. Salivary testosterone levels increased in both males and females during the trial.

 

The reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and increase in salivary testosterone following pomegreat pure juice intake might explain the improvement in stress score, mood and wellbeing. This does not mean that pomegranate juice intake might be beneficial to people suffering from all cause depression.

 

Naturally, a much larger study is required to further investigate whether pomegranate juice does indeed produce higher levels of testosterone in saliva and blood and whether this in fact could ultimately affect people’s mood and well-being.

 

 

- Ends –

 

back to top

 

No need to break the bank this holiday! Asda sell 16MP Canon Powershot for just £49

Asda - 03 May 2012

 

A powerful 16 Megapixel camera goes on sale today at Asda for an unbelievable £49, less than half the price of the same model at Tesco*.  The widely acclaimed Canon Powershot is the perfect choice for those who plan on getting out over the bank holiday.  Regardless of British weather, the camera has advanced settings to make the best of any situation.

 

The Powershot A3300 has a 16 MP high resolution sensor, a 28mm wide-angle lens and a 5x optical zoom function for capturing detail.  The camera also comes with a generous 3” LCD screen and is able to record high definition movies.

 

 

Matt Collinge, camera expert for Asda, said: “With the bank holiday coming up and an exciting year ahead, now is the perfect time to pick up this camera.  For the price of a few professional photos, you can create thousands of your own.”

 

He added: “This is probably our best ever deal on what is an incredibly powerful camera.  In fact, we believe this is the first time UK consumers have been able to get such a great product for under £50.”

 

Additional features include an optical image stabilizer, face detection, auto red-eye correction and Live View Control which allows for the adjustment of various picture settings whilst framing the shot.

 

This unique deal is available exclusively online at http://direct.asda.com.  The Canon Powershot A3300 comes in a range of colours - silver, blue, red and pink.

 

- Ends –

 

 

• Tesco – (blue, red, silver & pink) £109.00
  Amazon (red model) - £99.99 / eBuyer (pink model) - £109.23
  (Prices correct at time of publication)

 

About Asda

Founded in the 1960s, Asda today is one of Britain’s leading retailers. It has over 180,000 dedicated Asda colleagues serving customers from 542 stores, including 32 Supercentres, 309 Superstores, 27 Asda Living stores, 174 Supermarkets, 25 depots and seven recycling centres across the UK.

It has its main home office in Leeds, Yorkshire and its George clothing division based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

 

Asda serves over 18 million shoppers a week in store and its growing home shopping business at www.asda.com serves 98 per cent of UK homes. 

 

Its Asda Price Guarantee, launched in 2011, gives customers the reassurance that a basket of groceries will always be 10 per cent better value than competitors.  Powered by MySupermarket.co.uk, the APG is the only independent, transparent online grocery price-checker in the world.

 

Asda joined Walmart, the world’s number one retailer, in 1999.

 

back to top

 

Asda puts the Galaxy on
sale for £135

Asda - 13 April 2012

 

Samsung Galaxy Ace PAYG smartphone reduced to just £135

 

Asda has slashed the cost of the popular Samsung Galaxy Ace to just £135.  This brings it down to less than half the cost of its sister mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S, which retails at around £300.

 

The Galaxy Ace has large 3.5” HVGA Touchscreen and is packed full of features including a 5MP camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a high speed USB 2.0 port.  It’s also got an impressive battery life with a talk time of 6.5 hours or 420 hours when on standby.

 

Users of the phone have access to approximately 100,000 apps which are available on the Android Market.  These include games, utilities, news, health and finance applications with more being added on a daily basis.

 

Chris Jones, Mobile expert at Asda said: “The Galaxy Ace is one of the most affordable phones of its kind.  It’s practical and lightweight yet delivers a multitude of advanced features.  We want to offer our customers smartphones with prices to match.”

 

Asda is also selling the Blackberry 9300 for £119 on the Orange network with £10 of free airtime.  Both products are available in Asda stores and online at www.asda.co.uk.

 

- ENDS –

 

 

Notes to Editors

Samsung Galaxy Ace - UK price comparison
(correct at time of issue):

Currys/PC World - £263.63 http://bit.ly/IwpIRZ

Argos - £164.99 http://bit.ly/ofZVIS

Amazon - £159.99 http://amzn.to/Io962q

Tesco - £149.97 http://bit.ly/HE6XMX

Asda - £135.00 http://bit.ly/so6usX

 

 

About Asda

Founded in the 1960s, Asda today is one of Britain’s leading retailers. It has over 180,000 dedicated Asda colleagues serving customers from 542 stores, including 32 Supercentres, 309 Superstores, 27 Asda Living stores, 174 Supermarkets, 25 depots and seven recycling centres across the UK.

 

It has its main home office in Leeds, Yorkshire and its George clothing division based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Asda serves over 18 million shoppers a week in store and its growing home shopping business at www.asda.com serves 98 per cent of UK homes.

Its Asda Price Guarantee, launched in 2011, gives customers the reassurance that a basket of groceries will always be 10 per cent better value than competitors.  Powered by MySupermarket.co.uk, the APG is the only independent, transparent online grocery price-checker in the world.

Asda joined Walmart, the world’s number one retailer, in 1999.

 

 

back to top

 

UK's first sub-£50 high
quality e-Reader

Asda - 05 April 2012

 

ASDA REWRITES THE RULES WITH THE KOBO
WIRELESS E-READER AT JUST £49

 

Asda has slashed the cost of the widely acclaimed Kobo Wireless e-Reader to just £49.  This compares favourably with Amazon’s Kindle, the cheapest of which is almost double the price at £89.

 

The Kobo e-Reader is only 10mm thick and weighs less than most paperbacks.  It also features a glare-free screen, using eInk to display an image as close as possible to the experience of reading a printed page.

Duncan Tate, technology expert at Asda said: “The Kobo e-Reader has been an incredibly popular product and we’re delighted to be offering it at this fantastic price.  It’s a high quality alternative to some of the budget e-Readers on the market.”

 

He added: “This e-Reader actually costs less than many text books with the added benefit that it can hold many hundreds of books.  Plus, it’s a fair bit lighter.”

 

The Kobo comes with 100 free classics pre-loaded but owners also have access to
1 million up-to-date titles from Kobo’s online store.  This can be done wirelessly whilst on the move thanks to the device’s Wi-Fi technology.

 

Asda is also selling a touch-screen version of the Kobo eReader for £79 in blue, silver and lilac.  Both products are available in Asda stores and online at www.asda.co.uk.

 

- ENDS -

 

 

 

About Asda

Founded in the 1960s, Asda today is one of Britain’s leading retailers. It has over 180,000 dedicated Asda colleagues serving customers from 542 stores, including 32 Supercentres, 309 Superstores, 27 Asda Living stores, 174 Supermarkets, 25 depots and seven recycling centres across the UK.

 

It has its main home office in Leeds, Yorkshire and its George clothing division based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Asda serves over 18 million shoppers a week in store and its growing home shopping business at www.asda.com serves 98 per cent of UK homes.

Its Asda Price Guarantee, launched in 2011, gives customers the reassurance that a basket of groceries will always be 10 per cent better value than competitors.  Powered by MySupermarket.co.uk, the APG is the only independent, transparent online grocery price-checker in the world.

Asda joined Walmart, the world’s number one retailer, in 1999.

 

 

back to top

 

Magister Advisors: "Facebook IPO is about the worst thing that could happen to network operators"

Asda - 04 April 2012

 

Rapid rise in social networking on the move is turning network operators into “digital drug mules”, supporting a burgeoning global habit with little financial upside

 

Facebook’s “over-the-top” business model creates significant strategic and revenue risks for mobile operators

 

According to its pre-IPO filing, Facebook now has more than 400 million users accessing the service on mobile devices, up from 70 million three years ago. 

 

The figures confirm that Facebook is now the dominant social networking ecosystem on the move as well as on the desktop.

 

Despite the growing commercial importance and subscriber utility of mobile social networking, mobile operators are missing out on significant revenue opportunities because they sit outside the Facebook ecosystem.  

 

Worse, Facebook services such as messaging are eating into operators’ valuable SMS traffic.

 

“Facebook’s IPO is about the worst thing that could happen to network operators,” said Victor Basta, managing director at M&A advisory firm Magister Advisors.  “They’re supporting the end users’ social networking habits, but they see very little, if any, commercial benefit and the downside risks are significant.” 

 

He added: “Facebook is a textbook example of an over-the-top technology and is effectively turning mobile network operators into digital drug mules.”

 

 

He added: “The fundamental challenge for network operators will be finding a way of becoming part of the Facebook ecosystem rather than simply external enablers.”

 

Facebook has made recent noises about sharing some revenue with operators, such as payments income from users playing games on Facebook. However, Facebook will be under intense pressure after its IPO to justify its likely $100 billion valuation.  With revenues below $4 billion, Facebook will have to make rapid progress to achieve the $30 billion in revenues that will support that valuation.   

 

In Magister Advisors’ view, much of the required additional revenue has to come from its increasingly important mobile channel, making it more difficult to share significant revenue with operators.  So while Facebook wants to position itself as more ‘operator-friendly’ than Google or Apple, the harsh reality of Wall Street’s quarterly expectations will drive them to maximize revenue from mobile, at the operators’ expense.

 

Mobile operators will play a crucial role in enabling Facebook to monetize users on the move.  The challenge will be leveraging the power of that position by finding a way to work within the ecosystem rather than ‘giving it away for free’ while helping Facebook grow in value.

 

- Ends –

 

back to top

 

The revolutionary "FM"P3 portable audio device from Asda for only £2

Asda - 02 April 2012

 

Asda is offering shoppers the opportunity to buy a tiny portable audio device that provides access to thousands of hours of music and speech-based content for only £2.

The Smart Price KS-18 Portable FM scan radio is operated by two AAA batteries and features auto-scan and a headphone socket for convenient listening on the move.  There are currently nearly 300 FM stations broadcasting in the UK, offering a wealth of music, news, sports and other content for listening pleasure.

 

Lisa Hey, Asda’s technology expert said: “Some might say that this is a slightly low tech alternative to the MP3 player, but it is a very affordable and useful alternative.”

 

Customers have been bowled over by the convenience of this product with one saying: “I listen to this little radio while walking the dog.  It's light and easy to use with a handy clip.  Very good value.”

 

Another said: “I borrowed one of these radios from my husband and unfortunately wore it whilst working with secateurs and cut through the headphone wire!  I was so thrilled with the easy to use little radio that I purchased 3 more, one to replace my Husband's one I had inadvertently sabotaged, one for myself and one for my son.”

 

- ENDS -

 

About Asda

Founded in the 1960s, Asda today is one of Britain’s leading retailers. It has over 180,000 dedicated Asda colleagues serving customers from 542 stores, including 32 Supercentres, 309 Superstores, 27 Asda Living stores, 174 Supermarkets, 25 depots and seven recycling centres across the UK.

It has its main home office in Leeds, Yorkshire and its George clothing division based in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Asda serves over 18 million shoppers a week in store and its growing home shopping business at www.asda.com serves 98 per cent of UK homes.

Its Asda Price Guarantee, launched in 2011, gives customers the reassurance that a basket of groceries will always be 10 per cent better value than competitors.  Powered by MySupermarket.co.uk, the APG is the only independent, transparent online grocery price-checker in the world.

Asda joined Walmart, the world’s number one retailer, in 1999.

 

back to top

 

Super-juice offers a double dose of good health

PomeGreat - 26 March 2012

 

Unique pomegranate and beetroot blend offers the combined benefits of super fruit and super vegetable

 

People who suffer from high blood pressure could gain a double health boost by drinking a unique blend of pomegranate and beetroot juice. The drink is the only one on the market to combine the superfruit and super-vegetable, both of which have been shown to reduce blood pressure in clinical trials.

 

The very latest research by scientists at the University of Reading found that 100g of beetroot juice caused a significant lowering of blood pressure in both the short-term and long-term.

 

This follows earlier studies at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, showing that pomegranate juice also reduces both systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels.

 

The pomegranate and beetroot juice is made by UK firm PomeGreat, and is surprisingly sweet despite its 13 per cent beetroot content. So it may prove more palatable to those who don’t like the vegetable’s earthy taste.

 

Each 1 litre carton is enriched with PurePlus, a unique 100% natural organic pomegranate extract.

 

Adam Pritchard, PomeGreat CEO, said: “Pomegranate and beetroot really are the wonder fruit and the wonder vegetable.  We are delighted to be able to bring them together in one delicious juice.”

 

PomeGreat PurePlus pomegranate and beetroot blend is now available in Tesco, Waitrose and Booths, rrp £1.49 a litre.

 

- Ends -

 

About PomeGreat

We are a small private company, and one of our founders, Adam Pritchard, continues to run the business which he helped to create in 2001.

It’s a straightforward story of a couple of friends who tasted pomegranate juice from a street vendor in Peshawar in 1999, and who were amazed by the unique flavour. There then followed several years of painstaking research before the idea of bringing it home and selling it to supermarkets and health stores could become a reality — PomeGreat first made an appearance on the shelves in 2003, and since then has expanded rapidly.

Foremost in the minds of its creators was the obsession with creating a great tasting drink, which sounds obvious now, but so many others have made the mistake of assuming people will drink anything if they believe it’s doing them good!

In order to get the taste we wanted, we had to become experts in pomegranates, where to find and harvest them at their best, how to press them to preserve all the goodness in the juice, and how to blend them to create the PomeGreat drinks that so many buy today!

Being able to include PurePlus across our range is just another step in bringing the very finest products to you.

www.pomegreat.com

 

back to top

 

"Over the Top Technologies"

Magister Advisors - 14 March 2012

 

Legendary accounts of breakthroughs in technology tend to focus on operating systems, displays and new devices. But one of the most significant yet under-reported trends is for technology companies to try to ‘leapfrog’ each other with ‘over the top technologies.’   This trend often defines the battle for supremacy in the technology industry.

 

A technology goes ‘over the top’ when it is deployed on top of existing hardware and software, coming a key step closer to the end user. Because this new technology then controls the user experience, and grabs mind-share, it renders the technologies below it far less valuable, and in time, turns them into mere commodities.

Modern technological development has largely been driven by this desire, and has made certain investors and entrepreneurs into billionaires in the process.

 

 

It all started with IBM and Microsoft.

 

When IBM shipped Microsoft’s early operating system with each of its PCs, it effectively paid Microsoft to go over the top of IBM’s huge investment in computers.  Over a brief period of time, Microsoft gained so much control over users that it turned IBM’s core technology into a near commodity.  We are still seeing the remnants of this today, with sub-$300 PCs and PC makers having near-zero profit margins.

 

After trying and failing to kill Windows with OS/2 (remember OS/2?) IBM realised its mistake, and tried to go over the top of Microsoft itself.  It spent over $4 billion buying Lotus because it wanted a small but crucial part of the business: Lotus Notes, with a revenue stream then of only $100-200m. What was IBM’s reasoning?  Lotus Notes would become the main user interface, sitting on top of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, and turning Windows into a commodity, just as Microsoft had done to IBM before.  It did not quite work out as planned, but for the potential of going over the top IBM was prepared to pay billions.  It illustrated dramatically how valuable over the top technology can become.

 

The same trend has played out in recent years.  Even the prospect of successfully going over the top is enough to drive huge prices for nascent companies, and massive investment by tech majors. 

 

Apple bought Siri – then a tiny development company – for a reported $200m, intending the mobile assistant app to rival search engines (meaning Google). Users can find what they want on the Internet  via Siri’s speech recognition software instead of using the Google box.  In Apple’s ideal world, users access the web via Siri, not Google, which by definition sinks slowly in value.  Even partial success would mean billions in value to Apple, and billions lost by Google.

 

Facebook, in recent years, has emerged as a surprising potential over the top technology.  Because it consumes so much of web users’ time, it is the main screen through which consumers interact with each other, companies, and in time buy products on the web.  Facebook did not start out as an over the top technology, but by emerging as one it is slowly rendering other web companies (Yahoo!, AOL for example) far less valuable.   To justify a $100 billion valuation Facebook will have to cement its position as an over the top technology, and claim tens of billions of dollars of revenue now going to other web companies.

 

Amongst European companies, Skype’s move into Wi-Fi is another case of going over the top, this time of mobile operators.  When users click the Skype app to access Wi-Fi, they engage with Skype, not T-Mobile or BT. Skype’s value rises, and the value of billions invested in wireless capacity slowly reduces.  Skype, incidentally, is now owned by Microsoft.

 

The battle has by no means finished. In fact, Facebook shows how rapidly things can shift. One future potential over the top technology is eye tracking.  A Swedish company, Tobii Technology, is already commercialising sensors and software that enable users to control screens and applications by simply moving their eyes.  If we can guide electronics through eye movement, maybe we won’t need Siri as much.

 

Where does this lead? Another potential over the top technology – and already the subject of R&D - is the use of brain waves to directly control software. Is this the ultimate over the top technology? If history is any sort of guide to the future, almost certainly not.

 

- Ends –

 

back to top

 

Drink in the fruit flavours of Britain this year

Fruit Passion - 8 March 2012

Fruit Passion launches the first ever nationally available British fruit juice range

 

With the Jubilee celebrations and the Olympics, 2012 is going to be a patriotic year for the UK and to celebrate Fruit Passion is launching the first ever truly British juice range.

 

The initial range, which champions British produce, features three products: Apple and raspberry, apple and blackcurrant and apple and blackberry.  They are made from home-grown fruits and blended in Somerset. 

 

Fruit Passion British uses apples solely from Aspall in Debenham, Suffolk; blackcurrants from Pixley Berries in Hertfordshire and blackberries and raspberries from Place UK in Norfolk.  Specialist tasters review the crops and the juice blends to create the optimum flavour.

 

Taste testers have remarked that the range recreates the flavours of a homemade apple and blackberry crumble or a raspberry sorbet.   

 

The juices are available from Tesco and Sainsbury’s at RSP £2.49 from March.  They are expected to roll out to other supermarkets at a later date.

 

Marnie Millard, Commercial Director for Gerber Juice Company, which produces Fruit Passion British said, “We created this new range using fruit from growers we have known for a long time.  We chose them because they grow Britain’s finest fruit.  The flavours stimulate the senses and evoke memories and will be perfect for the year ahead as we celebrate the best of Britain.”

 

-Ends-

 

back to top

 

Headphones crank up the volume as speaker sales decline

Asda - 5 March 2012

 

“Trivial” 1910 invention is now the way we mostly listen to music

Market data reveals that headphone sales now outstrip speaker sales by nearly 2 to 1 by value and 24 times by volume

The age of family listening is over.   Music is now a much more personal experience, study finds.

 

The headphone is now firmly established as the default choice of music listeners, according to joint analysis by Asda and GfK. 

 

Analysis of eight years of sales data reveals that UK headphone sales outstripped speaker sales at the end of 2011 by value by a factor of nearly 2:1.

 

By volume, headphones now sell at 24 times the pace of speakers, underlining the dominance of choose-your-own listening.  In 2004, headphones were outpacing speakers in unit sales by 5:1, but as recently as the late 1990s unit sales were on a par.  The gap in sales is rapidly diverging, aided by more efficient manufacturing processes.  Earphones now cost as little as £1 a pair at Asda.

 

A poll for Asda, asking when and where people listened to music together, yielded interesting responses.  The poll reveals that most communal listening to music takes place out of the house, in places like cathedrals, synagogues, concert venues and festivals.  Fewer than one in 20 respondents referenced listening to music with friends or family at home as their first choice, reflecting the sea change in communal listening patterns.

 

The launch of the iPhone, just over a decade ago, changed everything.

 

Asda’s audio expert Ryan Longstaff said: “Not so long ago, listening to music through headphones was the exception rather than the rule.  Since the iPod has launched things have completely changed and it’s far more common for people to listen to music on their own – at home, on the train, out and about or even in the office.”

 

Headphones were invented by Nathaniel Baldwin, an electrician and air compressor operator, while he was experimenting with sound amplification using compressed air. He used this to invent more sensitive receivers, which he made into the first modern headphones in 1910 and sold to the U.S. Navy. His first ones were made by hand in his kitchen and, despite the Navy's suggestion, never patented because he considered their invention "trivial."

 

Headphones can provide a level of sound fidelity greater than loudspeakers of similar cost. Part of their ability to do so comes from the lack of any need to perform room correction treatments with headphones. High quality headphones can have an extremely flat low-frequency response down to 20 Hz within 3dB.

 

- Ends -

 

back to top

 

The ideal gadget for "Ridley Tot"

Asda - 2 March 2012

 

- Asda offers a digital camcorder/camera for kids for an amazing £8.98

- Device at near pocket money prices could inspire future Oscar winner

 

With the Oscar season out the way, Asda is offering a leg up to aspiring Ridley Scotts, Steven Speilbergs, Martin Scorseses and Peter Jacksons, some of whom might still be in nappies.

 

Asda’s £8.98 digital camera with built in movie making facilities, games and a USB cable for loading movies and pictures onto a PC, is a perfect starter kit for kids who are capitivated by the magic of film and photography.

 

At £8.98, the camera is the lowest cost digital device with a movie mode on sale in the UK today.

 

The camera comes with a lead and all drivers needed to get started.

 

Hayley Whittaker, Asda kids camera expert, said: “At under nine pounds, this gadget costs less than a new release DVD.  The amazing price is all part of our commitment to making technology affordable – and who knows? Perhaps it will inspire a future Oscar winner.”

 

Movies on the camera are silent, Asda points out, but as multiple award-winning film The Artist shows us, silence is no barrier to commercial and critical success.

 

- Ends -

 

 

back to top

 

Goll-e!
At £2.93, Asda offers Britain's lowest cost webcam

Asda - 22 February 2012

 

Wall-E lookalike set to connect thousands of families and friends via the Internet

 

A webcam that bears an uncanny similarity to Pixar robot favourite Wall-E goes on sale at Asda this week for an astonishing £2.93.

 

Britain’s cheapest webcam boasts a 300k pixel camera with built-in drivers and will attach to any PC or Mac via its USB cable.

Asda’s internet expert Gabbie Wise said: “This is an incredible deal for our connected customers and will help to put thousands of distant friends and family face to face.  Obviously at this price the picture resolution won’t be amazing, but one customer’s lack of resolution is another’s ‘cosmetic filter’”.

 

At £2.93, the Asda webcam is a fraction of the price of other webcams on the market, which can routinely sell for £50 or more.  Some professional webcams can sell for as much as £2,000, nearly 1,000 times the price of the Asda model.

 

The Asda webcam goes on sale this week in-store and online.

 

- Ends –

 

back to top

 

Welcome to the United Grimdom!

PomeGreat - 13 February 2012

 

Over a third of the British population get up on the wrong side of bed at least one morning a week

Monday is the grumpiest morning of the week with more than one in four people waking up in a bad mood

Those aged 55 and above are the least likely to wake up in a bad mood with almost three-quarters not tending to wake up in a bad mood on any day of the week

 

According to Omnibus polling for PomeGreat over a third of the British adult population gets out of bed in a bad mood at least one day a week (36%).  The juice brand commissioned YouGov to research whether Britain was a nation populated with ‘morning people’. 

 

The poll reveals that daytime occupation has a great deal to do with how people feel when they open their eyes at the start of the day.  Students are the least likely to feel jovial with over half of those questioned (56%) claiming to wake in a bad mood one or more days a week, followed by almost a half (46%) of those in full-time employment.

 

 

Experts believe that bad moods are linked to the anticipation of stress in the day ahead.  The retired, in contrast, appear to ‘jump out of bed’ in the morning with the vast majority of those polled saying they don’t tend to wake in a bad mood on any day of the week (80%).

 

Research indicates that diet can play a significant role in mood improvement and stress reduction. Drinking pomegranate juice causes a measurable drop in stress hormone levels.  According to a study of 60 volunteers by Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, daily consumption of 500 ml of pomegranate juice caused a significant reduction in the level of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva.  It also led to a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in all volunteers.

 

“There are plenty of things that we can do to lift our spirits in the morning,” said cardiovascular expert Dr Dorian Dugmore.  “A good shower and a balanced breakfast, including a glass of juice, have been clinically proven to improve our mood.  Furthermore, simple activities like singing in the shower can release endorphins which reduce stress and lower our heart rate, assuming the song is a happy one.”

 

Music has recently been found to release a mood-enhancing chemical in the brain.*  A separate online poll for Pomegreat** has revealed the nation’s top ten ‘Splash hits’, the songs most likely to lift the mood during the morning shower:

 

• Oh What a Beautiful Morning
• Love is All Around
• Walking on Sunshine
• Something’s Coming (from West Side Story)
• Hello Dolly
• New York, New York
• Waterloo
• Somebody to Love
• Lovin’ You
• Somewhere over the Rainbow

 

Women (29%) are more likely to be miserable than men (26%) on Monday mornings.  The Welsh have the highest Monday misery quotient (34%), followed by London (30%), East of England (29%), the North (28%) and the South (27%).  Scots are the least likely to be miserable on a Monday morning with only 21% saying that they tend to wake up in a bad mood on this day.

 

PomeGreat is launching a communications programme this week with showering and juice consumption in the morning at its heart.  PomeGreat is also introducing a powerful wholefruit pomegranate extract to its juice range to improve the mood-enhancing properties of the juice.

 

-Ends -

 

 Notes to editors:

 

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 2032 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 25th - 27th January 2012.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

 

*Research from McGill University in Montreal

**Pomgreat Facebook poll January 2012

 

About Pomegreat

At Pomegreat we are passionate about pomegranates.  Pomegranate juice is all we produce so we make it our priority to do it very well.  In fact we spent well over a year perfecting Pomegreat Original but we believe the result was well worth the wait. Our passion for the pomegranate and obsession with quality is reflected in every delicious drink we produce.

Adam Pritchard, founder, CEO and pomegranate expert, ensures only the best quality pomegranates are squeezed into each carton of Pomegreat, so that you can enjoy the healthy goodness of this ruby red and refreshing fruit drink.  For more information, visit our website, www.pomegreat.com, or follow us on Twitter @pomegreat.

 

back to top

 

Mega pixels but not for mega bucks

Asda - 3 February 2012

 

Asda slashes price of ultra-compact Kodak camera

 

Asda is reducing the price of one of the best 10 Megapixel digital cameras on the market to a record low.  From this weekend Asda will be selling the Kodak M200 for just £25. 

The camera has a 10 Megapixel sensor, 3x wide angled zoom lens (29-87mm) and 2.5 inch bright LCD screen.  The resolution is similar to the quality found on some semi-professional cameras that cost 20 times the price.  It also has an ‘easyshare’ feature which allows preselected pictures to be simultaneously uploaded to YouTube, Twitter and Facebook when connected to a computer.

 

As well as being amazing value for money, it is Kodak’s smallest ever camera, the size of ten credit cards and it easily fits into any handbag or pocket. 

 

An added feature is the ingenious mirror on the front which helps in composing self-portraits and time shots.  It is also available in black, white and red.

 

Hayley Nancolas, Asda’s photography expert said: “This small but perfectly formed camera makes the ideal Valentine’s Day gift; shoppers should hurry if they want to snap one up.”

 

Available online at http://www.asda.com or by calling 0800 952 3003.  If ordered online the camera can be collected in store for free.

 

back to top

 

Asda offers Britain's lowest cost 40 inch Full HD TV

Asda - 27 January 2012

 

Luxor 40” Full HD 1080p LCD TV now on sale for an amazing £249

 

Asda has knocked £50 off the price of one of its largest HDTVs.  The Luxor 40” TV, exclusive to Asda, is now available for just £249.  It features a crystal clear 1080p full HD screen and is perfect for watching high definition TV, Blu-ray movies and for playing games.

 

This LCD TV, with its integrated digital Freeview technology does not require a set-top box and is ready to receive up to 50 channels and 24 radio stations, offering outstanding choice for the whole family.

The versatile TV features 2 HDMI sockets and 2 Scart sockets enabling simple and convenient connection to an array of other digital devices.

 

 

Asda technology expert, Michael Arnott said: “We’re delighted to be offering our customers this product at such a fantastic price.  This high definition TV can turn any living room into a quality home cinema.  With the lowest cost on the market, this TV offers unbeatable value to our customers.”

 

The Luxor is manufactured exclusively for Asda at factories that also make some of the world’s leading television brands.  The television has an uncompromising specification, delivering outstanding quality at an exceptional price.

 

 

- ENDS -

 

 

back to top

 

Exposed!
Asda offers Britain's lowest-priced digital camera

Asda - 4 January 2012

 

Perfect deal for ‘whippersnappers’        

UK’s cheapest digital camera is on sale for only £14

 

Asda has pulled up the shutters on the New Year by reducing the cost of a children’s digital camera to an amazing £14.

 

The colourful cameras, which sport graphics from the Disney film Cars 2 or Disney Princesses are now on sale at the retailer for the cheapest price to be found anyway in the UK.

 

The cameras feature a 300 K pixel, VGA 640x480 resolution and storage for up to 319 photos on the inbuilt 8 MB memory.   The cameras can be used as web-cams and connect through the PC interface using USB 1.1. The USB cable, user CD and strap are also included. The software is compatible with Windows 2000, NT, XP, Vista and Windows 7.

 

Hayley Whittaker, camera accessories buyer, said: “This is the perfect starter camera for any future David Bailey.  At this amazing value parents can relax and allow children to practice photography without having to look over their shoulder.  Our advice is to hurry to your nearest Asda.  At this price they’re sure to get snapped up quickly.”

 

 

All products are available online at http://www.asda.com or by calling 0800 952 3003

 

- ENDS -

 

 

back to top