Economy Briefs: Apple: iPhone 5 in stores Sept. 21

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Wednesday revealed that the new iPhone 5 will be in stores in the U.S. and several other countries on Sept. 21.

The other launch countries are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the U.K..

A week later, the phone will be available in 22 more countries, including Italy, Poland and Spain.

In the U.S., pre-orders will start on Friday, Sept. 14.

The phone is thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4S, yet has a taller screen, as expected. That means another row of icons will fit on the screen, but the phone isn’t wider or taller than its predecessors.

The phone will cost the same as the iPhone 4S did when it debuted, starting at $199 with a two-year contract in the U.S. Meanwhile, the price for the iPhone 4S will drop to $99 for new contract signers, and the iPhone 4 will be free.

SURVEY

FDIC: 8.2% of households don’t have bank accounts

A government survey shows about 821,000 U.S. households lost access to basic banking services between January 2009 and June 2011.

Roughly 10 million U.S. households, or 8.2 percent, have no access to bank accounts, according to a survey conducted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That’s up from 7.7 percent in the FDIC’s 2009 survey.

And an even larger percentage of Americans are relying on high-interest alternatives, even those with traditional bank accounts. The survey found 28.3 percent either lacked bank accounts or used payday loans, check-cashing services and other alternatives as of June 2011. That’s up from 25.6 percent in the previous survey.

The survey found 21.4 percent of black families and 20.1 percent of Hispanic families had no banking services.

RETAIL

Toys R Us to offer ‘hot toy’ reservation program

NEW YORK — The holidays are already heating up at Toys R Us.

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