this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and ben thompson. virtual—reality check. it's the "next big thing" that never quite took off. so can facebook‘s new gadget finally bring vr to the masses? live from london, that's our top story on thursday 12th october. can facebook really get a billion people using virtual reality? tell us what you think. we will be getting an expert view as well. we will be getting an expert view as well. also in the programme, the heir to the samsung fortune is appealing against his prison sentence for corruption. we'll be live in singapore. markets in europe have opened the day mixed, but the bull run carries on in the united states. we will

talk you through the winners and losers. hotel booking websites are nothing new, but how do you stand out in a flooded market? the man behind the secret escapes site is here to tell us how he's filling rooms with cheap deals on posh hotels. and we want your thoughts on that facebook vr headset. you can wear it anywhere and without plugging it into a computer, but is it a fad or the future? let us know, use #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. get in touch. vr, ar, bad pr, do not hold back, we want to hearfrom get in touch. vr, ar, bad pr, do not hold back, we want to hear from you. vr, ar, bad pr, do not hold back, we want to hear from you. we start in sanjose california, where facebook boss mark zuckerberg's announced plans for this, a virtual—reality headset that you can wear anywhere and doesn't need to be plugged into a computer.

the oculus go will cost $199 and be on sale early next year. facebook is hoping the gadget will finally kick—start mass interest in virtual reality and get a billion people using the technology. so will it? fans of vr think it can be used for anything from gaming to social media, communication or business. the reality is, though, the technology has been around for a while — it's been very slow to catch on. facebook bought vr equipment maker oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. the deal probably ended up costing them closer to $3 billion. 18 months later, and it still hasn't released sales figures for the headsets. some researchers thinkjust a few hundred thousand have been sold, still very much a niche toy for enthusiasts.

the only company giving solid numbers is sony. this summer it said it had sold just over a million of its playstation vr headsets since they were launched in october. that's a lot less than many were expecting. but not everyone in the tech world is convinced by vr. apple's boss tim cook has been speaking at an event in oxford here in the uk. instead, he talked about the huge potential of augmented reality, or ar, superimposing computer information on the real world, using holograms or the system used here in pokemon go. that was tim cook who was speaking in oxford. we might hearfrom him later in the show, but for now i will hand you back to ben. hussein kanji, the founding partner of hoxton ventures, is with me. nice to see you. sally running

through the details. there are two things. the very notion of a headset to me already sounds dated. but let's talk about that ambitious sales target. it is pretty ambitious. it is ambitious and there is an ambitious purchase price as well. i do not think the reality matches up. they have only sold about 230,000 of these units even with price cuts. who do they want to sell them too? i think everybody. the traditional market is gamers. but it is a niche market. in order to make this mainstream, everybody has to buy them like they buy iphones. facebook is not the only player in this field. sally ran through some of the other contenders. they are all doing slightly different things with different price points, all selling

to the same market. it is hard to know who will come out on top. it is not a case of the first mover. you need a compelling reason to put a headset on your head. that has not been articulated. facebook is launching facebook vr where you can launching facebook vr where you can launch into an facebook system and shop with your friends. but i am not sure this is a massive appeal case. i touched on the idea of the headset at the start. it strikes me as one of those things we will look back on in ten years per time and we will be thinking, what we doing? it will look dated and nasa. whenever we look dated and nasa. whenever we look into the future, sometimes we get it wrong. it is wonderful for people who want to use it, but might not be widespread. it is more than just something and it might look a

bit silly. snapchat tried glasses that could take photos and they only sold about 40,000. to put this into perspective when facebook bought instagram those 40 million users turned out to be 100 million users. that is their scale. we are talking about selling 5 million headset, the samsung vr headset and they are predicting 20 million in 2020, 20 million compared to 80 million, 800 million, these are small numbers. and vr versus ar, augmented reality, some suggest we might skip vr altogether because ar is more usual. that could be more useful. and you do not have to wear this silly looking headset! even for ar there

are not that many compelling use cases. everyone in industry comes up with these new models every once in awhile and hopes that the market timing is there and they will get people to use this technology.” wa nt to people to use this technology.” want to see these pictures in 20 yea rs' want to see these pictures in 20 years' from now. want to see these pictures in 20 yea rs' from now. thank want to see these pictures in 20 years' from now. thank you very much. have you tried one on? yes, i have. and? there are all these videos of people online using headsets and getting into it and falling over. it is really immersive. did you fall over? no, i did not, but it is good, but you need a reason to use it. no, i did not, but it is good, but you need a reason to use it. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the uk government will publish a draft law later to cap energy prices for millions of customers. it would affect those on standard variable tariffs, the more expensive default rates that consumers revert to once a fixed—term deal has expired.

ministers estimate some 18 million uk households could benefit. the initial announcement by the prime minister theresa may last week wiped more than $1 billion off the shares of top uk energy providers centrica and sse. president trump will give a speech outlining a new strategy on iran. he's expected to de—certify the existing nuclear deal with the country, but the white house is also expected to provide an alternative agreement. mr trump claims that iran has been working with north korea to help pyongyang develop nuclear weapons. the luxury fashion brand gucci will go furfree from next the luxury fashion brand gucci will go fur free from next year. the luxury fashion brand gucci will go furfree from next year. the italian fashion house will make the changes in its spring — summer collection in 2008 in an auction of all its remaining fur items. campaigners have hailed the move is a huge game changer in the fashion world. a significant move. the latest chapter in the samsung saga took place today.

in the south korean capital, seoul samsung's vice chairman and heir to the samsung empire began his appeal against a five—year prison sentence for corruption. it is itisj it is] wile e. our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is following this for us. what happened today? absolutely. no end in sight for the heir to the throne of the samsung fortune, at least in terms of the troubles he has had with regard to the trial. today he appeared in a packed seoul court room wearing a typical black suit. he was very solemn at the beginning of the appeal case. he had to announce his birth date as well as his name. in the hearing this afternoon it has been ongoing through the entire day. it was an

opportunity for the defence and the prosecution to lay out their arguments. remember lee was convicted in august of bribery, millions of dollars‘ worth of bribery in exchange for political favours. these are charges he denies. it is likely we will get some kind of a verdict early next year. for now, thank you very much indeed. we will keep an eye on that story. in the markets we have had another really good run. this is the dow, closing at a record high, the bull run continuing. the nick a closed up by o.4%. run continuing. the nick a closed up by 0.4%. butjust to say it is also having a really strong run, the highest it has been since 1996. we will explain all the reasons why. the federal reserve minutes did bring in some odd doubt about what might happen in december would

regards to us interest rates. it could be another uneventful day for markets in europe. they are keeping an eye on spain, brexit talks which are in discussion today in brussels. it is an interesting day for europe. let‘s look ahead to wall street with michelle fleury. big banks are in the spotlight this thursday with the biggest of them all, jp morgan chase, kicking things off. so what can we expect from its third—quarter profits? many analysts are predicting only a modest improvement, a sluggish economy along with geopolitical uncertainty are making life difficult for the banks. case in point, citigroup, america‘s fourth largest lender, is likely to report a slight dip in income for the third quarter. the slow recovery has not dented americans‘ love for pizza, though. domino‘s is expected to report a higher third—quarter profit, but the strong dollar could eat into revenue from its overseas branches. also on the menu in washington, dc, the head of the imf, christine lagarde, is expected

to urge for more support for global trade. that is going on even as across town a new round of talks is under way to renegotiate nafta, the trade deal between the us, canada and mexico. last but not least, on the economic front watch out for producer prices from september. some interesting news coming in from the afp news agency, telling us that germany is airline is to buy luftha nsa germany is airline is to buy lufthansa is going to buy more than half of the aircraft from air berlin. it went into bankruptcy protection earlier this year. they are going to buy 81 planes. 81 planes and 3000 staff. trevor greetham, head of multi—asset at royal london asset management, joins us. nice to see you, deals are being

done. your take on what has been going on in the last 24 hours. a lot going on in the last 24 hours. a lot going on in the last 24 hours. a lot going on in the states and the market is going up and up. we have got a strong world economy and strong stock markets and not very much inflation and that is what people are grappling with in terms of setting interest rates. we have the minutes from the last interest rate setting committee in america. nobody wants to see them going up. the markets are 80% convinced that they will go up again in december. you are interested injapan which has been under the radar. but again the markets are creeping higher.m has been a strong performer. japan‘s stock market can do well when interest rates rise elsewhere in the world. they have got a very loose policy on interest rates and the economy is strong. when others raise interest rates their currency

wea ke ns interest rates their currency weakens and that helps their exporters. we are talking about a 21 year high in japanese exporters. we are talking about a 21 year high injapanese share prices. but we are still talking about climbing out of a hole from 1990. closely linked to interest rates is the housing market. what is it showing? it is not looking great. a survey showed that buyer enquiries have taken a dive this month and it is the weakest reading since last year and london in particular is seeing a big drop off in house prices and new buyer enquiries. it is not surprising when we hear that brexit talks are in deadlock and people are preparing for no deal. that will be damaging for london and for finance in particular. it is ha rd to for finance in particular. it is hard to imagine the back of england raising rates a lot if the economy is weakening. absolutely, we will talk about that later.

absolutely, we will talk about that later. still to come, how do you stand out in a very crowded market? well, when it‘s a "secret escape". the man behind the booking site is here to tell us how he‘s filling rooms with cheap deals on posh hotels. you‘re with business live from bbc news. it has been a busy day for corporate news. wh smith‘s airport and railway station shops have overtaken its high—street business. the chain says travel is now the largest part of the group in both revenue and profit, with the division‘s full—year profit up 10% to £96 million representing over 60% of the group‘s trading profit. on the high street, it‘s a far less rosy picture with revenue down 5% for the year, but the division managed to cut costs by a further £12 million. richard perks, director of retail research at mintel,

are you surprised by this growth in the travel business? ido i do not think so, but it shows that the underlying strategy of the business, to use the high street as a cash cow to fund the development of its international travel retail business, it is actually working. of its international travel retail business, it is actually workingm there still room for whsmith and the high street, or should just call it a day and concentrate on the train stations, the airports and service nations? i do not think there are any signs it will do that, it is working to make the high street better when it can, e—books are now in decline, so there is more demand for books on the high street. stationery has hit the bottom, and now the specialist rangers are doing better. news, ithink, is always going to be a problem. i think we

have got to the stage where they can justify the high street chain, they are getting post offices in to improve are getting post offices in to im prove footfall are getting post offices in to improve footfall as well. the estate isa improve footfall as well. the estate is a problem, they would have serious problems if they wanted to get out, so they need to make the most of it and put the money into the growing area, which makes a lot of sense. all right, richard, thank you very much. what is the hashtag about their carpets it is a whole twitter account, they have come in for a lot of criticism about their into the decor, twitter account is dedicated to the poor state in some of their stores. we cover every angle on business live! you‘re watching business live, our top story.

facebook is hoping that a billion people will be using virtual reality after announcing a new headset that doesn‘t need to be plugged into a computer. it is called oculus go, you can use it on the move. just imagine using it on the move. just imagine using it on the move, you willjust bump into things, surely! is that a good idea?! iam thinking idea?! i am thinking that your grasp of technology is not good. iam sure technology is not good. i am sure i am not their target market. this is the european financial markets, don‘t get concerned about that red, just 18 year bashed just a teeny weenie bit. everyone likes a posh hotel, but maybe not the price tag. but our next guest says he‘s got that sorted. he‘s the boss of the secret escapes website. it‘s part of the luxury travel market, a market that‘s expected to generate over $1 billion by 2022.

in 2015, north america and europe together accounted for nearly two—thirds of overall revenues. and the market is expected to grow by 6.4% annually during 2016—2022. and one company that‘s set to cash in on that is secret escapes. it‘s a members—only sale website that, they say, offers luxury getaways for a fraction of the price. more than 50 million people now use the service. alex saint is co—founder and chief executive of secret escapes. morning, alex. let‘s start with that 50 million figure, that sounds like a lot of people, are they the people in the club? it is easy to sign up, it is just an in the club? it is easy to sign up, it isjust an e—mail in the club? it is easy to sign up, it is just an e—mail address, in the club? it is easy to sign up, it isjust an e—mail address, so anybody who comes to the website can sign up, it simply means that we can enrol them into our e—mail programme and send them loads of great holiday ideas. or not a very exclusive club!

i think that is very fair, but what is exclusive of the deals we offer, when a hotel is on sale with us, you cannot find it at that price anywhere else. how much of the 50 million follows the mood to bookings? admit, iam million follows the mood to bookings? admit, i am one of those who signed up to get your e—mail, and itjust gives me holiday envy. now ijust and itjust gives me holiday envy. now i just delete and itjust gives me holiday envy. now ijust delete the e—mails, because i cannot go on any of the holidays, partly because i have got three kids and these posh hotels don‘t want my boys running around, andi don‘t want my boys running around, and i am not flexible, i cannotjust jump and i am not flexible, i cannotjust jump ona and i am not flexible, i cannotjust jump on a plane and go. anybody can ta ke jump on a plane and go. anybody can take advantage of a secret escape... even me, with three little boys who might trash the hotel? even a short weekend break perhaps, not a long holiday, perhaps with your husband without the kids. but it is fair to say that our target market imagines couples with a lot of flexibility...

and money. no, what we're doing is making five—star hotel is affordable for everybody, that is the key point by secret escapes, taking the best hotels and making them affordable. so how does it work? they come to you, you go to them, empty rooms, we need to sell them off more cheaply to get them fall? how do negotiations work? we will approach what we consider to be the best hotels in the category, we will discuss with them featuring on the site, but we also get a lot of interest from hotels wanting to feature, and not all of those meet the standard that we require. but typically we say we will bring new incremental bookings, so because nine out of ten people book with us say they would not have booked without the offer from us, the hotel can be confident that we are bringing new customers, and that means they are happy to give us prices they don‘t give to anybody else. so how do you stand out in a crowded market? you cannot move in

london without adverts for one of your rivals, voyage. and also voyage prive, with its discounts. so competitive, what makes you different? we really heavily curated the hotel selection, so it is very carefully selected. secondly, the pricing is totally exclusive to us, so lots of people claim percentage discounts, but very often they are off notional rack rates. if you look under the surface of this, most people are offering a similar price. we offer a price significantly below that. can i ask you about dynamic packaging? this is where you offer flights, car hire, a package holiday? yes, importantly, it is a package holiday, because it falls under the protection that you get under the protection that you get under atol. the difference about

dynamic packaging is, with modern technology, you can offer the consumer the flexibility to choose flight consumer the flexibility to choose flight options as they go through the booking process, they can change departure airport, airline, even class of travel, so a much more flexible, personalised experience. but it is a package holiday that comes with that protection that package holidays are. wonderful, and nice to see you, you have got me thinking about my holidays now. this is how to be in touch with us. the business live page is where you can stay ahead of all the day‘s breaking business news. we‘ll keep you up to date with all the latest details with insight and analysis from the bbc‘s team of editors right around the world. and we want to hear from you, too. get involved on the bbc business live webpage — bbc.com/business. on twitter, @bbcbusiness, and you can find us on facebook at bbc business news. business live on tv and online, whenever you need to know. undo have done that today, you have

not held back when it comes to virtual reality and facebook. glenn says, iam virtual reality and facebook. glenn says, i am interested, cost will be the deciding factor, very good point, also weather you can connect it to other devices. ryan says it is just bad, i view it in the same way as 3d television, that is another discussion, isn‘t it? many of you suggesting it is just a discussion, isn‘t it? many of you suggesting it isjust a niche. trevor is here to talk us through the paper stories, would you be convinced by virtual reality?” don‘t think so, you see them in the phone shops, there is not exactly a crowd of people around them. are your children showing any interest? they show every interest in everything electronic, and the more expensive the better! we will never see them again. it would become a baby—sitter, see them again. it would become a

ba by—sitter, wouldn‘t it? see them again. it would become a baby—sitter, wouldn‘t it? let‘s talk about somewhere that people do want to be, london, retaining the crown for top spot for attracting business, according to a new study. it isa business, according to a new study. it is a bit like one of those t—shirts, the ranking is london, new york, tokyo, paris. 70 factors, including economic output, ease of commuting, which not everybody in london would necessarily recognise as being easy! who has done the research on this, i wonder? it is a japanese university, but they have got lots of academics around the world. it is an academic study? yes, tokyo doesn‘t come out top, it comes out third, even though it is by the japanese, but they say it does matter how brexit turns out in london. trevor, thank you. that is all from us for another day, we will see you soon, bye—bye. hello there. it was a thoroughly wet

day yesterday, up to about 200 millimetres in parts of the lake district, and some localised flooding, but thankfully today much drier, good sunny spells from any of us, a few showers affecting scotland, which will continue into the afternoon in northern areas, but for most of us, after a chilly, bright start to the day, fine into the afternoon. this is four o‘clock this afternoon, showers still affecting the far north of scotland, turning windy across western areas, but still good spells of sunshine, 30-14d. but still good spells of sunshine, 30—14d. northern ireland, cloud thickening up, rain later this afternoon moving into the west, but elsewhere across england and wales, looking dry and fine with bright and sunny spells, feeling quite warm, pleasa nt sunny spells, feeling quite warm, pleasant in the sunshine, maximum temperatures up to 15—18dc. through

this evening and overnight, the cloud thickening, and outbreaks of rain moving its way in, pushing into north—west england, west wales as well. not quite as cold as it was last night, temperatures up in double figures. during friday, we have got a weather front which will bring outbreaks of rain to the west of the country, quite slow moving, so not moving fast through the day, high rainfall totals across the west of scotland, around cumbria again on friday. quite a strong wind to go with that, gales in northern and western areas. further south and east, drier and brighter, western areas. further south and east, drierand brighter, up to 20 degrees in the south—east. that warm weather is going to continue into the weekend, spreading further northward. by sunday, temperatures of 23 degrees. further north, in the mid teens, and that is because we have got this weather front which will bring more cloud and outbreaks of rain towards northern ireland and

scotland. during saturday, foremost, a dry day, some spells of sunshine across southern areas, temperatures into the low 20s, mid—teens further north and west. and by sunday, still quite wet across the north and west, but for many of us a dry day with sunshine on sunday, and it will feel warmer, those temperatures up by one or2 warmer, those temperatures up by one or 2 degrees. not bad into the weekend, more details on the website, but that is it from me, bye— bye. hello, it‘s thursday, it‘s 9 o‘clock, i‘m victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. today we get to see exactly how your energy bills will be capped and how many people it will affect and when it will kick in. the idea about the best deal is will it be the best deal tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? you cannot spend your whole life looking for the best

deals every day because you have got to live your life. we will be asking mps whether the new measures will work. british actress and model cara delevigne is the latest woman to accuse harvey weinstein of inappropriate behaviour. we will bring you the details of the growing scandal.