Intel’s criticism of the European Commission’s legal acumen clearly has not gone over well in Brussels. The EC today responded to Intel’s claims that the Commission’s antitrust ruling against the company was meted out in error by releasing the full text of its decision and a selection of email correspondence and internal memos that make it clear that Intel probably should have kept its big mouth shut.
The global PC market will suffer a rare decline this year with shipments expected to slip four percent to 287.3 million units in 2009, from 299.2 million in 2008. Not since the dot-com bust of 2001 have PC sales been so slow or their outlook so grim, says iSuppli, the research outfit charting the market’s collapse.
Consumers may have trouble distinguishing netbooks from notebooks, but that’s clearly not preventing people from buying them. DisplaySearch, an NPD Group subsidiary, estimates that netbooks will claim a 20 percent share of the world-wide market in 2009.
What’s the difference between a netbook and a notebook? If you know the answer, you’re in the minority…of netbook owners. According to a survey by market research outfit The NPD Group,
60 percent of consumers who purchased netbooks assumed they would function just like regular laptops. Consequently, only 58 percent were satisfied with their purchases.
Intel’s year of sequential gains in the semiconductor market came to an abrupt end in the first quarter of 2009. According to market research outfit iSuppli, the chip giant’s share of the market fell 2.5 percent to 79.1 percent in Q1. Meanwhile, AMD’s rose about 2.3 percent to 12.8 percent.
10:01, and lights dim to reveal a movie screen. Onscreen: John Hodgman, as PC, welcoming attendees to WWDC and encouraging developers to slow down iPhone App development. Increasingly frustrated Hodgman finally fires off a raspberry. Replaced by Mac guy, who welcomes everyone to WWDC. Phil Schiller takes the stage now. “Can’t you feel the love in this room.” 25 million active OS X users in the past two years, he says, talking up Leopard. Installed base has tripled in the past two years.
Apple and Research in Motion may disagree on many things, but they’re of the same mind when it comes to the the netbook phenomenon: It will be short-lived. Asked about Apple’s interest in the category during a late-April earnings call, COO Tim Cook said the company has none. Turns out, Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie feels pretty much the same way.
As rumored, the DVD slot has been moved to the left side. A rumor not true, however: Blu-ray. There’s no Blu-ray capability in the new Apple notebooks.
Ports on left side include a new mini-display port. The left side also features a battery indicator.
Other points : A solid-state drive option. The unit is less than 1-inch thick, .95 inches to be exact.
Apple this morning announced an invitation-only event at the company’s Town Hall in Cupertino. As you can see from the invitation at right, the focus is clearly notebooks. It appears those alleged photos of the Apple next-generation MacBook Pro casing that have been floating around recently may be the real deal. Same goes for rumors of a new $800 MacBook.
The malaise in the financial markets may have taken its toll on Apple’s share price, but it has done little to hamper sales of the company’s hardware. Despite a down market, Apple’s share of the laptop sector is increasing. In the U.S., it grew by 60 percent year over year, rising from 6.6 percent to 10.6 percent in the second quarter of this year.
It’s looking more and more like Apple’s next-generation Macbooks will arrive at market in October. In a research note to clients today, Citigroup’s Richard Gardner said channel checks have confirmed that the notebooks are in production.
Apple’s oft-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008 apparently doesn’t mean that it hopes to sell 10 million phones within this calendar year. Apparently, it means that it hopes to sell 15 million or more. Because according to FBR Capital Market’s latest Apple supply-chain checks, the company has substantially increased 2008 build volumes for the device.
So apparently Dell’s laptops are “the world’s most secure” in the same way that SNL’s Tommy Flanagan is the world’s most eligible bachelor.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
D is unlike any other executive conference. Since its debut in 2003, D has brought to life the energy and excitement of the digital revolution in an unscripted, upfront and unparalleled way. Read more »
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