as well -- >> we will hear as lawmakers talk about approving conceals. sales a japanese media. sent to is ready for the big day. -- santa is ready for the big day. the top five gadgets. that and more in the busy dishing of "asia edge." >> the u.s. story. taiwan and hong kong and philippines and china having seen a decline. totally recovered. that a bad run of nine days of declines. up 0.5%. you -- the u.s. gdp better than expected. u.s.bullish on the

takensee the fed having some very well communicated action concerning the tapering of the program. those are good signs. in addition to which, we have seen the numbers and growth is picking up and unemployment is going down. all of that gives us a much stronger outlook for 2014 which brings us to raise our forecast. >> the imf seeing growth next year compared to this year and the u.s. economy. a lot of green activity. volumes up. you to see australia and malaysia. company we mentioned in china mobile. shares gaining. they signed a long-awaited deal with apple to sell iphones. stephen engle is with us from beijing.

walk us through the whole thing. it is been a protracted affair. waiting.e been for those of the watching apple market said the client and china, they wanted to get it to china mobile but not to give up other concessions. china mobile demands that the falls work on their network -- of telephones work of their network. fruitiont is coming to with a multi-year deal. no financial figures are given up by either company. it will give apple access to customers. in addition, those using iphone on the competitors. china unicom, that they offer the iphone on its network since november of 2009. a four year head start. telecom has been offering since 2012. the big block has been the homegrown technology offered by

china mobile. 3g and 4g is just been rolling out. for china mobile, it was a big prize for apple. it has 700 60 million plus wireless subscribers. million plus wireless hear and china, apple shares have dwindled. domesticvo and competitors outselling the more expensive iphones here in china. i think china is number six in the smartphone market here. that is what you have seen. the other players have caught up and far surpassed apple apple has not done the china mobile network.

for china mobile, this a big move. theasically removes competitive disadvantage it had to the competitors like you to, and telecom. unicom and, -- china telecom. this is a higher-margin product. bernstein analyst noted earlier if itor this apple deal comes through, it could be potentially negative for china unicom and positive for china could and some commerce migrate to some customers could migrate from telecom or china unicom -- some customers could migrate from telecom or china unicom. they said they are moving beyond trials. they will roll it out in 16 cities. that will coincide with the unveiling of the iphone on their networks by january 17.

that is a target date. by christmas, people can register online to get their iphones. >> quite a mouthful. thank you. john, you'd have a look at the stocks related to apple. has foxconn. these three stocks are seeing gains. up.tron mobile upom or china by one .5%. is deal with apple -- in this deal with apple after six years of talk, the stocks are up. they could reach 1.2 billion

wireless subscribers. for two thirds. a fantastic deal for apple and china mobile. >> thank you. other stories making headlines. the hyundai group is planning to million worth$3 of cars. that was the loft three hyundai groupets said it will focus on shipping and logistics and machinery for further growth. .et's take a look hyundai merchant at security both the rallying. opec what i see too much crude next year. expectisters do not because growing demand will offset demand. prices have been on the rise since the economic recovery and in the u.s..

japan has announced a record budget for next year. for thepted a proposal year starting april 1. it will be submitted to parliament in the new year. prime minister shinzo abe was to boost spending on social security and public works. another plan that will be of the agenda with parliament will be a bill to legalize casinos. the biggest names and the gaming industry are jostling to get into what the be a $10 billion market. they do not come much bigger than sheldon. we sat down with the richest man to discuss asians the next casino frontier. >> it is up -- it is a supply driven industry. build 4, 5, 10 resorts and one complex, that would attract a wider audience. japanhe governments of are thinking about to begin with

and japan said in the next 10 years if it goes ok, and they meet the expectations, then there will probably have 10. what theyt really should have. if they want to make it a major attraction like they may the tokyo disneyland, they would have to allow a strength like las vegas or atlantic city. like i was going to do in europe . a, europe and vegas. has all of the components. -- i was going to college europe as.-- called it europe veg

increasing tourism by 41%. a city that already had 9 million tourists. which up to 12 or 13 million in the first 12 months. >> if you were a betting man, do have a good chance of winning the right in japan? >> and do i think i will win in the right? we are in the pole position. we are most likely to get it. >> you can get more on that and the rest of today's news at bloomberg.com and you can watch some of the interviews you may have missed a bloomberg today. the chinese benchmark is on his way up. a very volatile start to the weekend. against the backdrop of a dividend cash shortage. david is here with the latest. here to explain what is happening.

it is liquidity. that is the issue. >> is a gauge there's not enough liquidity. they will need to be higher rates to get the amount of cash. it is the same thing we saw on friday. it is now at a first six-month high. that is right. bloomberg tracked the first five concessions. 5.5% to 10%.e of a weighted average of what you see on your screen. we are closer to nine percent for this seven-day money market. three things. friday.gher compared to we are near the mud and an year and and quarter end. it is tight. the month of's -- month's end in the year end and

quarter end. enough'sou there's money in the system. the problem there is companies that need the cash have to pay higher rates will not get to the cash at all. short look at the market, jumpbets will rise, that to a seven-year high on friday. you are looking at whether or increase given the swap market. play out in 2040 as well stop thank you. wants to boost exports of cars and electronics stuff it was to the animation industry. a special report on the way. on the news apple has

done a deal with china mobile. yang will be with us. ♪

>> time for roundup of corporate stores. boughtk box spring -- sprint it may be buying another u.s. company. they are talking about t-mobile. they may pay $20 billion. has beeniffany's ordered to pay some watch him $500million -- swatch million. they said they honor their obligations to the deal that saw the two companies develop hassell watches under the label. china mobile is going to sell apples iphones. it will give them a chance to claw back in the largest

markets. china mobile will begin offering iphone january 17. >> to get more of the deal, we have kirk yang. great to see you. this is big going on and on. is it a good deal? >> in the longer-term. china mobile is the largest global operator in china. >> i think the world? >> biggest in the world. it is good for both companies. before the deal, china mobile already have 40 million users. apple has been selling very well. with more competition. china will get some of the result. good for the longer-term.

>> here's a question about apple. another way in china. they want to be number one in china. >> it is not a number one or two. >> it is number five. how do they get to number one with mark -- one? >> they do not what the apple one. at a high -- apple any high price they want margin and profitability. probably not a likely. chinese like to buy low end, low priced. in china you can get a good smartphone for wonder dollars or u.s..s. -- $100 or $20 $200 u.s. >> who is the loser?

>> is good for the whole market. competition might be tougher. some believe it is good for the supply and asia. we do not believe so. price gook, the share up. 4s, people take profit. you saw. pricing did not move very much. not too much. edidtion is time to take a profit. -- it is time to take a profit. i have been on the road and people said we like apple. [indiscernible] is this part of the oversaturation story? country, this is one that is picking up phones but to the smartphone in terms of

luxury market is falling? >> that is why we are very cautious. if you look at tech gadgets including iphone, every thing looks the same from two years ago. your smart phone, tablet, pc -- everything the same. after steve jobs passed away. it is not really new. >> less to do. >> exact. people do not buy anything. >> where is the product to disrupt or -- disruptor? we do not have that right now. >> we are looking the next killer product. the only thing we see, the iphone 6 should be interested. they announced to products. double larger sized iphone. several .5 inch. we did it will be very exciting.

-- 7.5-ish. probably not too much for the share price. storyy are not the only in the mobile space stop blackberry. what does that mean? it's a changing it in its entirety? >> italy's a low-cost provider. -- it needs a low-cost provider. good news for both companies. [indiscernible] blackberry is looking for new solutions. a low-cost provider is one of the good things to do. >> stick around. we have the rest of the group to attack you in about 20 minutes from now. >> we have your top five picks for christmas. that will be on somebody's list. more pressure.

protests latest on the . ♪

>> you are back with "asia edge ." antigovernment testers have stepped up. they vowed to continue their campaign to drive the prime minister yingluck from all caps.

-- from office. it does seem as if these people are not backing down. >> and you're right. and they are not backing down. they are putting additional pressure. the boycott. the government is expecting up to 70,000 protesters in bangkok. 200,000 keyth ministries disrupted and the government was forced to dissolve parliament on december 9. some reaction from yingluck. she said it is regretful the democratic decide not to take part in the democrats aim at political reform that cannot be achieved without support. -- he agreed led to use live ammunition in 2010. they are closely aligned with a

byement that is spearheaded a man who could be tried for treason if the government decides to. he asked pledged -- he has pledged to stop the vote from going ahead. democratically elected. that democrats have lost every single national election over the past decade that struggle to win support from rural areas. >> what happens if the democrats do go ahead with the threat to boycotted the election, canada go-ahead still -- can it go- ahead still? >> they could go-ahead still. there was a speech in which she said the vote will go on as planned and must be held within 60 days. she cannot delay it. parliament resolves after

democrats resign to join the demonstrations. thank you very much. >> checking other stories. bangladesh has chart 13 people with a federal fire in november -- has charged 13 people with a fatal fire in november of last year. emergency exits were locked. said it many of the accused executives may have fled the country. -- former oil tycoon abe khodorovsky has about two -- -- he said he has friends that are still in prison break losing -- including his

business partner. astronauts have removed faulty cooling pump well ahead of schedule. on the two walks may be needed rather than three plant. it broke down 10 days ago forcing the crew to turn off all 90 situation equipment and hold scientific research. to open and will buy shortly. the futures up by 0.25%. we are seeing gains. the imf looking at what is going on in the u.s. at upgrading the forecast for economic growth through 2014 for the united states. ♪ . .

>> finally, some gains. stocks in shanghai might snap their longest losing streak in 19 years. and apple's breakthrough in china. we will look at barclays top gadgets this christmas. first, let's get the latest on the markets. >> as you can see from this, the china composition -- composite actually fell, the longest losing streak since 1991.

since and it is up .4%. what is driving those games? i can tell you, it is the banks. you have insurance falling by 1.5%. best.nsurers are the lifeic insurance and china . let's get back to the other area, if i can. in china, 13 gaining and one declining. ,itibank, construction bank bank of communications. you have the bank of beijing and as well.ag bank

the shanghai exchange, there were a few declines on friday. caused by foreign institutional investors adjusting their positions for the end of the year. and say they could rebound these stocks are among the best- performing banks. equity storya top today. also the top performers in australia. any particular reason there? -- lookalia is fighting at the top performers in australia. there are other ones that are clearly mentioned. we go from that to the pie chart. look at australia's benchmark. that to the australian benchmark, which is this. financials up by .25%. six banks are rising. not one is declining.

west bank, commonwealth bank. australia has set a higher capital buffer. they need to carry an next trip ofof capital from january 1 2016. intact ande more stronger to deal with any concerns of the financial markets. you can see those other three banks. all are up, all six seeing gains. banks in china and banks in australia seeing gains. blackberry.ered relief a little bit of to deal with taiwan. foxconn can help turn things around, the telecom phone maker.

what is the deal all about? day gain inest one- four years, a nice move for blackberry stock. company hasthat the engaged foxconn and a five-year deal to manufacture blackberry hardware going forward, smartphones. this is important because blackberry suffered from continuous inventory write-downs over the years. this takes the inventory off its books and places it on the books of foxconn. this has been a key pledge of the new ceo to try to restructure this company, tear itn the inventory, and move to higher-margin businesses. this fundamental transformation refocuses blackberry to be a services and software business, not necessarily one that is plagued by outdated hardware that customers do not want to buy. >> let's talk about the other big announcement. apple isile and apple,

involved very much in the supply chain. >> absolutely. big news in these. -- indeed. 1.2 billion customers to apple. this deal with china mobile, it will begin selling the apple market5s and 5c in that january 17. we do not have the financial terms of this deal. you do the math, a number of potential customers. chinais now in the network and it could be a big payday. of course, its products are at the higher end of the price range and not everyone in china can afford it. we will see if phone, the lesser priced sells well in the chinese network. of course, there are many people in china who can afford it. >> thank you very much indeed. all of the activity in the

mobile space. it means a lot to both companies. it will give the iphone a presence in the world's biggest country. we are asking, how big is china mobile? there are some astonishing numbers here. ♪

>> we are going to get more on that and all of the other top stories of the day on the bloomberg at. -- app. it is also available on android. >> we have been talking to guests all morning about the prospects. seizemarkets opportunities during pullbacks. >> the picture for asia does not look terribly exciting. nexte medium term, the three or four years, because valuations have come down quite a bit, if you have holding power , a further pullback in the markets. you really have to wait it out.

>> record low rates in australia. economist says they will be here for a while. >> you have the labor market that is soft and will continue to soften next year. we know there will be a big hole for growth from government spending. we saw that in the update last week read we think this will come off. we have been talking about these sectors for quite some time. think the rates will move anywhere through at least 2000 14. >> we also discussed the prospects or ipos next year. ernst & young is optimistic. asia, there will be a very good near -- a very good year next year. come intotry could

the range of the index. you can see that the starting price will not be too expensive. the buyer will think, ok. , for the world, you can see the u.s. and europe can pick up and it should be a very good year next year. asia.t was the word from >> as we race toward the new year, we look back at the year that is nearly over. it was a busy time when it came to manufacturers, especially designers around the world. attempt concepts in an to push luxury to new heights. a look at some of the weird and wonderful creations. ♪ >> is it a car or is it a tv? machine takesstic the prize of 2013. honorable mention goes to the

micro max. the car owners who ever will -- who only ever wanted a tiny bus. and the latest automaker to unveil a hydrogen car. >> this is a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle and an electric vehicle, the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle generate electricity on board. >> an idea still somehow absent from the roads. as for something you can unveiledbuy, bugati this in dubai. only three are available for sale and they are $2.8 million each. >> one of the largest markets in the world. it is always a pleasure to be here in dubai. >> rolls-royce also chose to buy to show off its phantom, encrusted with 400 diamonds. emerging markets got some of the action.

some inadvisable parking techniques along the way. manufacturers of bulletproof pakistan'snding southern city of karachi. on the subject of safety, fort showcased its collision avoidance technology in belgium. the car will take over steering and braking it it does not detect the driver doing the job. ford expects less resistance to this idea than driverless cars. perhaps they are saving that for next year. sells 2xt, the xbox million console before christmas day. we will see where it ranks on the top gadgets of the year. this is one of them. and find out what our reporters have written about when "asia edge" returns. ♪

>> welcome back. joining me is david zeb and our guest. we all have our toys. >> there are five that we have got. list, asbottom of the usual. is your number five, the iphone 5s. >> that is right. the iphone was our number three pick last year. the reason that it is number five is screen size. it is still the same size. phone, but we believe that the screen is too small. the good news is that apple has the iphone 6 at this time next year, 4.7.

>> do you know that for sure? >> we are pretty sure. >> why not go for a galaxy, which is over five? itfrom asia's perspective, is clear that they want a larger sized screen. with the iphone 6, we are seeing apple take a lot of market share. that is why the iphone 5 is number 5. great phone, people love the screenjust a smaller size. >> i am waiting for the iphone 6, whenever that is coming out. what is number four? >> it is a wearable. i have one myself also. it counts your calories, counts your steps. >> so it is like it did him and are on steroids. >> almost. >> but it is so light.

i can wear this everyday. how does it feel? >> it is good. it is very light. when we came on set, i had to ask him, how do you turn this thing on? $150. >> what does it do? >> how does it count calories? how does it tell you anything? it looks like just a wristband. >> it is quite smart. it can measure your activity. when you move, it will know if you are walking or running. countes -- it can different points. >> canna tell that i am watching tv and eating chips? >> kind of. a little bit. the beauty with the iphone, it goes to facebook so all of your friends can know your activity. >> a bit too much to know. >> they might be really upset.

my wife checks every day and make sure i exercise. i have not taken 697 steps since coming on set. >> it counts every day. the battery lasts 10 days, which is also a beauty. >> the thing about the iphone 5s, the big problem is the battery life. >> exactly. that is a very good point. >> everybody is walking around with these massive packs. it makes the phone huge. it is because it does not last more than a day. >> which makes your number three toy -- >> let's go to your third choice. lenovo yoga tablet. there are two versions. this is the smaller one. why do you like this? isseven or eight inches

quite possibly -- quite popular. the beauty of this one is the battery life. lenovo is quite creative. they make a tablet almost like a notebook. for 16 hours.asts -- 60 hours. >> you can fly all the way to new york without recharging. >> perhaps other people would get a notebook. >> or this with a keyboard. six hours.book lasts a tablet usually lasts eight hours. the beauty of this, you can use it as a spare battery to charge your iphone. this is your separate battery with a tablet. >> how much does this go for? >> about $240. >> this thing is all very well, but it seems like the only thing

you're talking about is the battery life. how does it compare? >> for a tablet or any product, ipad, thisigh-end, is half the price. , the kindle, ice about7, all of those are $200. there is not that much different. is amakeslenovo different long battery life, and it is still cheap. >> if you are buying it for the family, i would get the ipad, you would get the lenovo, i -- i -- you could borrow could borrow yours to charge mine. >> i would get you a nokia. xbox one. >> it is a game console.

last year, we had the nintendo wii u, which was a disaster. this year, we have two new consoles. they have done very well. why ps4 and not xbox one? you to do.ows connectivity is. you can play games with the function on your controller. you can dance with michael jackson. do aerobics and play games with the kids. it is much more fun. ps4 is for serious gamers. xbox is for the whole family, multiple users. it is much more fun with facial recognition, internet, more interactions with people in the real world. >> this brings us to another with phone. this time next year, will we be talking about nintendo at all? >> i have a family computer from the 1980s.

>> commodore 64? >> i think my television is not up to standards or one of those games. i should not say this on television, but i need an upgrade in that department. kong, how much space? we only have about six feet of the television. i think xbox is due the next level. you do not need a controller. your whole body can act as the controller. there are so many things you can do with the kinect. facial recognition uses a password. >> can i introduce your 1 pick? >> i was going to ask for a drumroll please. >> it is like an ipad, but -- >> it is smaller. ipad -- i have got to

turn it on, right. do not look. ok. here we go. this is the ipad retina many. -- mini. >> it was my number one pick last year also and it is once again my number one pick. retina gives you much better resolution. it means your eyes cannot detect the pictures, almost perfect imaging. you can watch a movie, play games and it is sharper and chris. >> even from this distance, it looks sharp read >> it is very sharp. tablets are used for data simple e-mail. it is harder to work anyway. the most important thing is lightweight. i love the nine or eight inches. >> i do have the ipad mini, not the newest one, but i love it

because it is the size of a hard book cover. wife do better than this, not better than wife, but it is a great device. people love this. the thing that makes it great this year is the storage. 128 gigabytes of storage, the biggest ever for apple. with more storage, you can do so much more. product, it apple is always faster. the first thing is larger storage. you can have your whole life there, basically. have the wristband -- >> you are just taking a random order. mbere have the iphone 5s, nu lenovo i'm holding the yoga tablet, and then we go to

angie. >> this is what we are talking about. it is all social media, had its designed to make your life more fun, more effective. i am going to borrow that lenovo yoga and zap up my ipad. i'm also going to download list becausel song apparently i have the memory for it now. good. >> have a great christmas. >> thank you so much. >> no trading in japan today, but market action is at the forefront of what we are doing. >> more to come after this short break. ♪

>> breaking news coming out of

north korea. signs of instability there at the moment. a south korean news agency saying that north korea may conduct a fourth nuclear test at any time. this comes just days after the execution of kim jong-un's uncle as well, where he was described as being worse than a dog. suspects,ve the usual no reaction from this report. be jailed political concerns ratcheting up in time for 2014. on kim keep a close eye jong-un as he seizes power and tells the world that perhaps he is in charge. let's take a look at the markets in this region as well. and -- g >> we are seeing positivity generally. before we go, angie -- >> what are we going to do? we are going to take a look at "anchorman 2." it failed to topple bilbo

at the north american box office. just under $27 million in its opening weekend.

>> the following is a paid presentation for focus t-25, brought to you by beach body. >> it is about time. the number one reason people have for not working out is they do not have time. >> i have four kids. >> i do not want to work out for an hour. i do not have the time. >> no problem.