Adidas gets big boost in buzz from soccer's Euro 2012.

Aereo stays operating while TV networks sue, judge rules.

Airbus nabs $17 billion in orders at big air show.

Amazon weighs cutthroat market in smartphone decision.

Apple finds China jumping the gun on iPhone 5 orders.

Barclays former CEO could face US Congress.

Burberry finds sales momentum slowing.

Cartier sees slowdown in China.Continue reading...

It's been at least three years since there's been such an intense global focus on the health of the U.S. auto industry. In 2009, of course, the question was whether General Motors and Chrysler would survive. Today, the question is: Can U.S. auto sales stay robust enough to ride on top of gathering economic gloom domestically and, in the process, actually help keep the global economy from swooning?

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne believes in the prospects of the U.S. auto market enough that he is considering producing more vehicles in Italy for export to the United States. That could help Fiat ease its excess domestic production as the European market slumps while helping U.S. Fiat dealers who are struggling with too few models amid the brand's rocky return to the American market.

June U.S. auto sales data released today underscored why auto executives still exude confidence about the market even as other indicators on the American economy, such as the unemployment rate and overall manufacturing growth, prove increasingly troubling. June auto sales overall were the best in five years and ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of more than 14 million units, a pace in line with most forecasts of the full-year sales total, which would be more than 10 percent above last year's total.Continue reading...

It only makes sense that auto brands should figure heavily in the new Interbrand Best Global Green Brands ranking, with eight of the top 21 brands. Car makers and their petrol partners arguably contribute more to environmental stresses around the globe than any other industry — but they're also working about as assiduously as any business to offset some of that decidedly un-green footprint.

Toyota ranked No. 1 in Interbrand's new list not only among auto companies but among all companies. That's impressive but hardly surprising for a company that essentially invented the hybrid for the mass market and has taken its biggest steps over the last year, of any in the last decade, to extend the Prius franchise and make it more available and more attractive (with some creative marketing moves) to more consumers around the world.

By introducing a less expensive and smaller alternative to its regular hybrid, Prius c, and almost simultaneously a more capacious one, Prius v, Toyota has opened the possibilities of hybrid ownership to millions more people who are attracted by the sterling Prius brand.Continue reading...

Microsoft will announce Monday a plan to sell tablets under its own brand, in a challenge to Apple's iPad, while Amazon reportedly plans to launch cloud music service in July to rival iTunes.

Kirin Holdings agreed to pay $200.9 million Australian dollars (US$203.4 million) for the shares it doesn't already own in Australian boutique brewer Little World Beverages, as Japanese companies expand offshore to combat flagging domestic demand.

Dr Martens owners seeks up to £200m from potential buyers.

AirAsia plans to follow Virgin model with brand extensions.

Android relaunches user interface.Continue reading...

Turns out that maybe American drivers are more sensible than either the U.S. government or automakers give them credit for. New research shows that when it comes to "infotainment" and "telematics" in cars, auto owners are much more interested in Point-A-to-Point-B applications such as navigation than they are in making sure they can feed their Twitter account from the driver's seat.

Mobile applications are encroaching in the vehicle — look at Ford's Sync voice-activated technology, Hyundai's Blue Link, GM's OnStar, the Mercedes-Benz "iPhone on wheels" concept and Apple's iOS 6 announcement that it's integrating Siri voice recognition as an "eyes-free" (from the device, not the road) digital sherpa. Look for Siri voice command buttons on the steering wheels of upcoming vehicles from nine automakers: Land Rover/Jaguar, BMW, GM, Mercedes, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda. (Update: the news took at least one of the auto brands by surprise — Fast Company reports that Chrysler wasn't aware of being included in Apple's announcement.)

But for all the push of technology and connectivity into the passenger seat, consumers don't want Facebook and Twitter integrated into the driving experience, nor are they looking for a Zooey Deschanel-style chat about adding reminders or what to listen to (sorry, Siri).Continue reading...

‘It’s all about you!’ is the rallying cry for the new UEFA.com website, giving fans one-stop shopping for all things UEFA EURO 2012, delivering coverage of the upcoming Union of European Football Associations tournament in 12 languages and confirming the official 23-player squad lists.

Content for all UEFA digital/mobile platforms and publications for more than 160 journalists, correspondents, editors, photographers, coordinators, web producers, translators and interpreters working from eight host cities, combines with innovative features for the final tournament, kicking off June 8, including:

• Customisable MatchCentre - expert commentary, live photos and tweets, videos, polls, statistics, lineups and heat maps and a Tournament Map as an interactive guide to EURO.
• Player Browser - users can compare and contrast the 16 squads and browse the editorial and data profiles of all 368 players
• Facebook, Foursquare, Google+, YouTube and Twitter links, and fans can tweet questions in the continuing #Ask feature that has featured Xavi Hernández, Steve McManaman and Pierluigi Collina.

The International Broadcast Centre in Warsaw is the editorial, coordination and production hub, coordinating with UEFA HB and with ICT for hosting and live applications. The French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish sites are managed from the IBC and produced and monitored at respective agencies in Lyon, Munich, Milan, Lisbon, Riga and Madrid. The Chinese, Japanese and Korean sites will be taking the finals to Asian markets.Continue reading...

Brand-backed campaigns against texting while driving are starting to resemble the endless campaign against obesity: Most Americans know what's best for their health and safety, but they can't seem to help doing what they shouldn't be doing. It amounts to two huge strikes against the national willpower, and a race of sorts to see which — distracted driving or eating junk food — regulators will be quicker to clamp down on more thoroughly.

In a new AT&T survey, for instance, 97 percent of teens knew texting while driving is dangerous, but 43 percent of them admitted to sending a text while driving — and 75 percent say the practice is common among their friends. Among the reasons, AT&T (which won a Cannes Lion award for its "Last Text" campaign) found, is that teens feel pressure to respond quickly to text messages. Also, adults are doing the same thing and they mimic their behavior. Partly as a result, according to data provided by Ford, the under-20 age group also has the highest proportion of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes.Continue reading...

If you were a betting person, do you think more automakers would follow General Motors' exit from Facebook advertising — or from Super Bowl advertising?

The consensus of several car-brand marketers and outside experts contacted by brandchannel is that, if either outlet faces any more defections from the auto industry, it's more likely to be Facebook — which GM's CMO Joel Ewanick isn't bailing on as a messaging and engagement platform, just as a paid platform.Continue reading...