TARGET TO OPEN MINI APPLE SHOPS INSIDE STORES APPLE ARE YOU IN OR OUT OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY? Spotlight on Innovation Head lines
TWITTER SHARES SOAR AFTER COMPANY ANNOUNCES PLAN TO DOUBLE REVENUE For some consumers, a stop at Target’s stores has taken the place of hours-long shopping trips to multiple retailers during the pandemic. The big-box retailer has seen significant sales growth because it stayed open as an essential retailer in the early part of the global health crisis and then capitalized on convenience with its wide range of merchandise, curbside pickup and third-party delivery service Shipt. T arget wants to give shoppers another reason to skip trips to the mall: So the retailer is adding mini Apple stores to some locations, with more space devoted to iPhones and other popular gadgets. The retailer said recently that the shops will open in 17 Target stores this month, and it plans to expand to more locations in the fall. Target already sells Apple merchandise, but the shops will double the tech com- pany’s footprint inside of each store, include more accessories and have staff with specialized training from Apple. The brand’s products have a new look on Target’s website, too. I n an SEC filing, Twitter announced it aims to have 315 million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) by the end of 2023 and to at least double its annual revenue in that year. This is the first time Twitter has set long-term goals for revenue and daily users. Twitter said in its last earnings report it had 192 million mDAUs in Q4 2020. Doubling its annual revenue would mean going from $3.7 billion in 2020 to at least $7.5 billion in 2023, Twitter said. The company also set a goal of doubling its development velocity by the end of that same year, which would require it to double the number of features each employee ships that directly drives mDAUs or revenue.
TESLA REPORTEDLY TEMPORARILY HALTS PRODUCTION What we do know is that Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, and it could become massively more valuable if it can make an impact in the global auto and mobility market which is estimated to be worth about $10 trillion in sales, which is more than ten times the size of the $715 billion smartphone market that Apple currently resides in. T his is the longest buzz has ever had about a possible project as for more than six years this has been spec- ulation around the so-called “Apple Car.” First Apple was reportedly building a car themselves. Then the company wasn’t building a car, just the guts of a vehicle. Most recently, it was reported that Apple was in talks to manufacture an autonomous car with Hyundai and Kia in Georgia. Now that seems to be just a past headline now in this cat and mouse game. I t has been reported that Tesla has told workers it will tempo- rarily halt some production at its car assembly plant in Califor- nia. Workers on a Model 3 production line in Fremont were told their line would be down from Feb. 22 until March 7, accord- ing to the report. The report did not clarify the reason for the halt at the Tesla plant and it is also unclear how much volume or revenue Tesla would lose due to the stop in production. The Fremont plant has an annual production capacity of 500,000 Model 3s and Model Ys combined. Tesla said last month that it might face a temporary impact from a global semiconductor shortage. Several automakers, including General Motors Co, Volkswagen AG, and Ford Motor Co, are hit by the shortage of chips, forcing them to scale down production.
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FEBRUARY 2021 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2021
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