market

New figures suggest that sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets have effectively flat-lined at a statistically insignificant level. It's led one research firm to suggest Microsoft will have to find a completely different way to make money from the mobile ... market. There have been several indications that sales of handsets running the new system, launched in Europe in October and North America last month, have been disappointing. Statistics from the Windows Phone 7 launch include an estimate that just 40,000 people bought a Windows Phone 7 device on its launch day (the respective figure for iPhones ... (view more)

As the number of tablet computers on the market steadily increases, consumers are being faced with tough decisions -- do they buy a traditional laptop, a netbook, or one of the new slate options from Apple or a slew of PC makers? According to a new ... study, it's expected more consumers will opt for tablets rather than netbooks or laptops in the coming year. The study, which was completed by analysts at Goldman Sachs, finds that tablet computer sales will steer consumers away from traditional PC laptops at a rate of 33 to 35 per cent. Thus, it's not expected the PC market will grow much in 2011 ... (view more)

There was good news and bad news this week for Microsoft. First, the good news: the Redmond-based firm saw the beta version of its Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser reach the 15 million download plateau. Next, the bad: usage of Google's Chrome ... browser jumped almost a percentage point in one month alone, eating up market share lost as users move away from Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). When the Internet Explorer 9 beta was first made available back in September, approximately 2 million users jumped on board in less than two days. Since then, an additional 13 million users have downloaded the ... (view more)

Thus far, hardware makers have been a little slow in bringing out Windows 7-based tablet computers to rival Apple's very popular iPad. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that's about to change, and that several new devices should be on the market ... in time for the holiday season. "You'll see new slates with Windows on them," Ballmer told an audience at the London School of Economics on Tuesday. "You'll see them this Christmas." (Source: informationweek.com ) Big Box Retailer 'Target' to Carry iPad The iPad hit stores way back in April, and within two months Apple had sold approximately three ... (view more)

Symantec Message Labs has uncovered some interesting information in light of a new research project. Apparently, Linux computers are sending a disproportionate amount of spam in comparison to other operating systems. The news comes as a surprise, ... since Linux retains only a small market share. The research project consisted of Symantec taking a "snapshot" of spam rates from November 2009 through March 2010. This is done through a method called "passive fingerprinting" which involves analyzing the network traffic of a remote host, in turn revealing the operating system of that host. Linux's ... (view more)

While Windows 7 might be eating the competition for dinner, as of late Microsoft has not been so lucky in the smartphone market. In fact, the Redmond-based company's share of the pie has dipped considerably as rivals Google, Apple and Research in ... Motion (RIM) sap the popularity of Windows Mobile. According to a recent report from industry analysts ComScore, Windows Mobile's share of the American market dropped an astounding 4 points during the period October 2009 to January 2010. It's a huge dip, with Microsoft's mobile operating system plummeting from 19.7 per cent of the smartphone market ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently filed a lawsuit against Intel Corporation, alleging that the computer chip manufacturer waged a systematic campaign to shut out its rivals by cutting off their access to the marketplace. In doing so, ... the FTC believes that Intel deprived consumers of choice and innovation, and that Intel's anti-competitive tactics were designed to stop competitive products that threatened its monopoly in the CPU (Central Processing Unit) microchip market. (Source: ftc.gov ) Success at the Expense of Consumers According to the FTC complaint, Intel's strategy ... (view more)

Microsoft's new search engine Bing continues to take small but steady steps towards chipping away at Google. Since its release in June, Bing has inch by inch racked up increasing market percentages each month, with August being no exception. Last ... month it was reported that Microsoft's short but impressive gains for July moved to 8.9 per cent of the total market, according to research firm ComScore. That was up nearly an entire percentage point from the days of Live Search, the name bequeathed to Microsoft's search engine before the arrival of the more cutting-edge Bing mid-summer. Bing ... (view more)

Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, is poised to release a netbook running a stripped-down version of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system. But, is a netbook a wise decision for Nokia? Nokia's profit margins have dropped over the ... last few quarters and some analysts are worried that entering the PC industry could hurt Nokia's profits even further. Fresh Perspective Offering Continuous Connectivity Nokia views their entry into the PC industry as an opportunity to bring fresh perspective to the PC world. The company, known best for its work in the cellphone universe, has ... (view more)

The main challenger to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser just keeps getting stronger. Just a few days ago, Mozilla revealed that its Firefox browser had surpassed the 1 billion downloads mark, with no intention of slowing down. Mozilla announced ... the impressive marker on July 31 with a celebratory Twitter feed. Mozilla has used the event to emphasize the viability of Firefox's challenge to market leader Internet Explorer (IE), which Microsoft has neatly packaged with each version of its ubiquitous Windows operating system software. Windows 7 Could Have Impact But time may be running out on ... (view more)