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Dell Names Chief As Sales Tank
Dell has snagged a former Hewlett-Packard executive to head up its server, networking and storage division, a critical area for Dell as it tries to expand its data center business and reduce its dependence on PCs.
Marius Haas was head of HP’s networking business before leaving two years ago to join an investment firm. On Tuesday he was named president of Dell’s enterprise solutions business, where he’ll oversee the engineering, development and marketing of Dell’s enterprise products.
Haas replaces Brad Anderson, who ran Dell’s enterprise division since 2005 and is now leaving the company.
Dell announced the news on the same day it reported financial results for its second quarter, which closed Aug. 3. Its profit for the period declined 18 percent from a year earlier, to US$732 million, while revenue fell 8 percent to $14.48 billion, Dell said.
Its server and networking sales were among the highlights for the quarter, up 14 percent from last year, while sales of storage products were down 13 percent. Together, the three product categories account for about one-fifth of Dell’s overall business.
Toshiba Cancels Windows Tablet
Toshiba on Tuesday officially confirmed what Microsoft recently hinted at: It won’t be delivering a Windows RT-based tablet anytime soon.
“Toshiba has decided not to introduce Windows RT models due to delayed components that would make a timely launch impossible,” the Japanese electronics company said in a statement to Bloomberg earlier today. “For the time being, Toshiba will focus on bringing Windows 8 products to market. We will continue to look into the possibility of Windows RT products in the future while monitoring market conditions.”
Last June, Toshiba showed two Windows RT-based concepts — a tablet with a docking station and a “clamshell” design that resembled a keyboard-equipped ultralight notebook — at Computex. The devices were not operational, however.
Based on those concept devices, most had included Toshiba in the slowly-growing list of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) that were believed to be preparing Windows RT hardware for launch this year or early next.
PC Sales Takes Toll On Seagate
Seagate Technology Plc’s shares tumbled as much as 8 percent on Tuesday, after the hard disk drive (HDD) maker projected first-quarter revenue below estimates on slowing sales of personal computers.
The company has been hit by sluggish economic growth and shaky sales of PCs as consumers shift toward tablets and smartphones.
FBN Securities cut its price target on Seagate’s stock to $32, saying selling prices had started to decline from their peak levels after theThailand floods last year and inventory had started rising.
Seagate’s weak outlook follows an upbeat fiscal 2013 forecast from rival Western Digital Corp, which is banking on strong sales to big businesses.
The company forecast first-quarter sales of about $4 billion, below analysts’ estimates of $4.62 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Lenovo Launches The IdeaPad
Although it was introduced six months ago at CES, Lenovo’s new IdeaTab has finally showed up at Lenovo’s site with a pretty decent price around $343.20. The IdeaPad comes with a 10.1-inch screen, Qualcomm’s dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, Android 4.0 ICS and optional keyboard dock, it certainly sounds like a good deal.
The specification list for the Ideatab S2110 kicks off with a 10.1-inch IPS 1280×800 display, Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 CPU, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.0 ICS OS. The rest of the specs include back 5MP and front 1.3MP cameras, 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a battery capable of up to 9-10 hours of WiFi web browsing, according to Lenovo.
Same as the Asus Transformer line of tablets, Lenovo’s Ideatab S2110 also features an optional keyboard dock that gives you an extra ten hours of battery life and adds two USB ports and a card reader.
Sharp To Pay Fine In Price Fixing Settlement
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Sharp said on Monday it has agreed to pay Dell and two other firms $198.5 million to settle a lawsuit for fixing LCD panel prices in Europe and North America.
The company agreed to settle the civil lawsuit, which was first filed in November of 2009 against a group of companies including Sharp, Epson, Hitachi and Toshiba for collusion on prices of LCD panels sold to Dell. A Sharp spokeswoman said the company made the decision independent of the other firms involved in the lawsuit, and the payment would settle the suit with Dell. Sharp did not name the two other companies besides Dell.
“After broadly considering factors such as the U.S. civil lawsuit system and the facts of this case, Sharp has determined that agreeing to a settlement is the best policy,” the company said in a statement.
Dell sought damages to recover funds it paid for LCD panels purchased at inflated prices. The lawsuit involved TFT (thin film transistor) panels, widely used in TVs, laptops and handheld gadgets.
Is GM Reconsidering Facebook
July 12, 2012 by admin
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General Motors Co and Facebook Inc are in talks about the return of the U.S. automaker as a paid advertiser almost two months after GM said it would stop running ads on the social networking website, sources close to the situation said on Tuesday.
Although the two companies remain far from reaching an agreement, Facebook executives have actively courted the world’s largest carmaker. One source said Facebook was not pushing for GM’s immediate return, but offered to provide data showing the effectiveness of the website’s paid ads.
Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg sent GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson an e-mail urging the company to reconsider its decision shortly after the third-largest U.S. advertiser pulled its ads in May, a move that undermined confidence in Facebook on the eve of its highly-anticipated initial public offering, according to sources who were not permitted to speak publicly because the talks are ongoing.
Is Internet Explorer Making A Comeback?
May 8, 2012 by admin
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Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) in April again managed to grab more user share, the third time in the year’s first four months, to stay well above the 50% mark and remain the world’s top browser, a Web analytics company said on Tuesday.
Google’s Chrome’s share also climbed in April, said Net Applications, ending that browser’s three-month decline.
IE boosted its share by about three-tenths of a percentage point last month to average 54.1% in April. That returns IE to a mark comparable to its September 2011 share.
Since Jan.1, IE has increased its usage share by 2.2 percentage points for a 4% gain since the end of 2011. The turnaround has been IE’s largest and longest since the browser began shedding share years ago to Firefox, then later, Chrome.
Microsoft has pinned its hopes almost entirely on IE9, the 2011 edition that runs only on Windows Vista and Windows 7.
On Tuesday, Microsoft again stayed on message, highlighting the gains made by IE9 on Windows 7 — the pairing the firm has said is the only metric it cares about — but ignoring the overall IE increases this year.
Europe Investigating Google’s Privacy Policy
March 6, 2012 by admin
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France’s data protection watchdog is questioning the legality and fairness of Google’s new privacy policy, which it said breached European laws.
The CNIL regulator told Google in a letter dated February 27 it would lead a European-wide investigation of the web search giant’s latest policy and would send it questions by mid-March.
Google said in January it was simplifying its privacy policy, consolidating 60 guidelines into a single one that will apply for all its services, including YouTube, Gmail and its social network Google+.
The U.S. Internet company also said it will pool data it collects on individual users across its services, allowing it to better tailor search results and improve service.
Users cannot opt out of the new policy if they want to continue using Google’s services.
“The CNIL and EU data authorities are deeply concerned about the combination of personal data across services: they have strong doubts about the lawfulness and fairness of such processing, and its compliance with European data protection legislation,” the French regulator wrote to Google.
Google plans to put the changes into effect March 1 and has rebuffed two requests from European regulators for a delay.
The tussle over data privacy comes at a delicate time for Google, whose business model is based on giving away free search, email, and other services while making money by selling user-targeted advertising.
It is already being investigated by the EU’s competition authority and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over how it ranks search results and whether it favors its own products over rival services.
Nokia To Unveil Cheaper Windows Phone
February 27, 2012 by admin
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Nokia debuted a new, cheaper and more budget-friendly smartphone using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, targeting a wider market for its new range of smartphones.
Cheaper phones are the key for Nokia and Microsoft in their battle to win a larger share of the market, analysts say.
In addition to the new Lumia 610 Nokia will also unveil at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona a global version of its high-end Lumia 900 phone, which AT&T is scheduled to roll out in the United States, the sources said.
Nokia is set to unveil the phones at a news conference next Monday, on February 27.
Nokia last year dumped its own smartphone software platforms in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone, which has so far had a limited impact due to the high prices of phones using it.
Android Catching iOS
January 31, 2012 by admin
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Tablet computers loaded with Google’s Android operating system narrowed the lead of Apple’s iPad on the global market in the fourth quarter, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.
Global tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in the fourth quarter, growing 2-1/2 fold from 10.7 million a year earlier, the research firm stated.
“Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes,” analyst Neil Mawston said in a statement.
Android’s market share rose to 39 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, while Apple’s share slipped to 58 percent from 68 percent a year before.
The tablet computer market grew 260 percent last year to 66.9 million units as consumers are increasingly buying tablets in preference to netbooks and even entry-level notebooks or desktops.