THE NEWS WRAP: Apple executive signals US spring for Watch launch

The Apple Watch launch is scheduled to arrive later than originally anticipated, according to Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores, Angela Ahrendts.

Ahrendts told retail employees in a video message the launch is scheduled for the US spring, according to 9to5mac.

“We’re going into the holidays, we’ll go into Chinese New Year, and then we’ve got a new watch launch coming in the spring,” she says in the video.

Spring begins on March 20 in the US and lasts until June. Apple has consistently said the Apple Watch will ship in early 2015.

Publicis buys Sapient for $3.7 billion

Publicis Groupe SA has agreed to purchase Sapient Corp for $US3.7 billion ($A4.26 billion), pushing the world’s third-largest advertising company deeper into digital offerings and the United States, Bloomberg reports.

The French company is moving on from a failed $35 billion merger with Omnicom, which was abandoned after executives clashed about how to run the combined entity.

Google updates Calendar app

Google has updated Google Calendar app, features include automatic event creation from emails, and a new Schedule View that includes photos and maps of the places its users are going.

The new Google Calendar works on all Android 4.1+ devices.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 24.28 to 17,366.24. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US87 cents.