Netputing » Business/Finance

Techaisle Small Business Survey Finds 50 Percent of Netbook Owners Use Push Email

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:51:21 +0000

Techaisle‘s study on ownership and use of Netbooks among businesses shows that current and potential Netbook buyers are more technologically sophisticated than non-Netbook owners and support mobility products within their businesses. These small businesses not only support and use mobile applications such as direct push email they have a defined policy for the use and support of Smartphones. Surveys were conducted across several countries in both developed and emerging markets

The study conducted by Techaisle, a market research and consulting organization focused on Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies and Interactive Entertainment also found that 46 percent of small businesses that are “Likely to Buy” Netbooks currently use push email. These small businesses are tech savvy using databases, SaaS and collaboration technologies.

As per the study, ASUS brand with 52 percent penetration is strong among small business primarily due to early entry into the market and availability through online retailers and local VARs/Resellers. Dell and HP are stronger players with higher penetration within Mid-market and Large Businesses.

Survey also finds ASUS brand is strong among small business with 52 percent penetration while Dell and HP have higher penetration within Mid-market and Large Businesses

Next Generation Netbook Platform Delayed to Next Year – Portable Monkey

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:45:15 +0000

According to Digitimes, the next generation Pine Trail platform, including the newer Atom N450 processor, will be delayed from a launch Q4 2009 to anywhere in the first half of next year, 2010.

The reason being is to allow the existing netbook market to settle. Current netbooks are selling hot. It’s estimated that sales will peak in Q3 this year and then drop off in Q4.

Next Generation Netbook Platform Delayed to Next Year – Portable Monkey.

Japanese mobile porn consumption strains wireless data networks

admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:43:18 +0000

The demand for mobile porn over 3G data networks has become so extreme that Japan’s top two wireless carriers, DoCoMo and KDDI, are looking to limit heavy data users in a bid to manage the load on their 3G networks.

It’s fitting that porn is forcing carriers to deal with data traffic surges. Porn was the deciding factor in the VHS vs. BetaMax format wars. Porn recently helped decide the Bluray vs HD DVD format war. Now, it seems porn is going to be the driving force behind wireless carriers’ management of unlimited data plans. “Pornography will eventually open a debate about how carriers should modify their business model as data traffic swells,” said Yusuke Tsunoda, telecommunications analyst for Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. “It may prompt even tighter access restrictions.”

As handsets become more advanced and wireless data networks get faster speeds, the mobile porn problem is only going to get worse. As it stands, some wireless subscribers have complained of slow or dropped data connections around midnight (hmm, why would that be?) on KDDI’s network. The surge in data traffic is simply too much for the Japanese carrier’s network to handle, despite the fact that Japanese wireless operators spent approximately $74 billion in infrastructure build-out costs since 2000.
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Apple To Launch $800 Netbook or Tablet In October – SoftSailor

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:58:41 +0000

Apple repeatedly said that they’re not working on a netbook because they don’t know how to make something priced below $500 that’s not crap. Well, that’s partly true as the company can make a lot of stuff price higher than $500 that’s crap. Now the rumors surface again as China Times is reporting that Apple will release a netbook price at $799 in October.

The company previously said that they’re not making a netbook, but we think that they like to call it a tablet. An Apple tablet might be true as previously we’ve seen reports about a media tablet or media pad, and now it seems like Apple has ordered Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack to provide what they need for their tablet.

Wintek said several weeks ago that Apple ordered a lot of touchscreen panels that will be used in a tablet that should have been unveiled at the WWDC, however, the conference is now over, and there is no Apple tablet.

Report: Price Hikes Killing SSD Sales for Laptops – PC World

admin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:50:01 +0000

Surging prices for NAND flash memory have hurt what was a promising market for solid-state disk (SSD) drives in laptops this year, according to market research by iSupply Corp.

In a report on whether rising flash component prices are curbing SSD adoption, iSuppli said the price of a 16Gbit multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chip rose to $4.10 in the second quarter of this year, representing a $1.80 (or 127%) price increase from the final quarter of 2008.

About this time last year, MLC flash memory — the type used in consumer SSD drives — was at the bottom of a pricing trough and chips were selling for about $2.60. According to In-Stat, up until the beginning of this year, SSD prices had been dropping 60% year over year. The price plummet, however, hurt chip manufacturers’ profits.

According to Michael Yang, senior analyst for mobile and emerging memories at iSuppli, in order to return to profitability, NAND flash suppliers in 2008 cut capacity to reflect weak market demand. This caused prices to rise even as sales continued to be weak.

13-inch Apple MacBook Pro Selling Out?

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:41:31 +0000

When the new 13” MacBook Pro was announced, it didn’t take a genius to guess that it would sell well. Apparently though the little MacBook is exceeding all expectations. Some stores are having trouble keeping the notebook in stock. Gene Munster, an analyst for Piper Jaffray, notes that the faster version of the 13” MacBook is showing 7-10 day lead times.

This is a very substantial delay, and Munster says that it is the longest lead time ever for a 13” Apple notebook. In a phone survey of 10 Apple stores the analyst found that seven of them were short on at least one model of 13” notebook. He states that this shows MacBook demand is outpacing production, and that it may be several weeks before things normalize.

Some of the increased demand is likely due to Apple’s back-to-school promotional, which offers students a free iPod Touch if they buy a Mac. Summer Mac sales usually see a boost as a result of the deal, and the 13″ Pro comes in at the low end of the cost spectrum. At least for an Apple product. Hopefully we’ll see another drop in prices next year too.

Apple to Add Micro Projectors to iPhone and iPod Touch? – Mac Rumors

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:43:58 +0000

In a brief note, DigiTimes reports that Taiwanese firm Foxlink is currently developing micro projectors for use in mobile phones, with Apple being one of the companies expected to launch devices with built-in projectors later this year. The projectors would allow the iPhone and possibly the iPod touch to directly project video output onto an external surface.

International brand vendors, including Nokia, Samsung Electronics and Apple, reportedly all plan to launch handsets with built-in micro projectors by the end of this year, indicated the sources, adding that Foxlink is likely to benefit from the emerging trend due to its strong business relationships with Nokia and Apple.

Foxlink has long been a supplier for the iPhone and iPod, providing the proprietary connectors used in many of Apple’s devices.

Nvidia’s Chief Executive Publicly Unveils Pricing of “Ion” Core-Logic – X-bit labs

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:32:50 +0000

Nvidia Corp.’s chief executive officer for the first time publicly unveiled pricing of the company’s GeForce 9400M single-chip core-logic better known as Ion. Based on the information provided by Jen-Hsun Huang now and several weeks ago, it transpires that Nvidia’s platform for Intel Atom processors is up to three times more expensive compared to Intel’s own platform.

“[The price of Nvidia Ion chip] is between $30 and $35. This is significant, but it is [needed] to have a good high definition video on the screen.” said Jen-Hsun Huang in an interview with La Tribune news-paper.

Earlier this year Jen-Hsun Huang said that Intel sold its Atom processors for $45 a unit, however, if a customer wanted to get Atom chip and compatible core-logic set, it would get if for $25, which automatically reduces Nvidia’s availability to compete against Intel in the Atom-compatible core-logic market. If the GeForce 9400M/Ion costs from $30 to $35, then the whole bundle consisting of Intel Atom and Nvidia Ion costs from $75 to $80, which is up to 3.2 times higher compared to the cost of Intel’s default Atom package. Still, Nvidia’s core-logic set is much more advanced than Intel’s.

ION 2 has 2X+ more shaders

admin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:48:32 +0000

ION 2 should launch toward the end of the year, but Nvidia doesn’t want to talk too much about it, as it still plans to sell many original ION chips.

Our industry sources have told us that the new, shrunk version of ION, probably branded as ION 2, should have much faster graphics and much more shaders. We don’t believe that the thermals will change that much, but we’ve heard that ION 2 will have more than double the number of shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 /ION chip.

Since ION has 16 shaders , or processors as Nvidia calls them these days, you should expect that the new one has more than 32. This will get much better gaming to netbooks and nettops based on ION 2 which is definitely something you cannot say no to and at the same time Cuda applications might run faster, in case you found one that matter to you.

ION 2 should be launching by the end of the year.

Source Fudzilla

Netbooks to make head start in adopting touch panels, suppliers say

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:35:09 +0000

Touch panel makers believe that netbooks will make a head start in adopting touch panels to utilize the Windows 7 operating system (OS), compared to regular notebooks and LCD monitors, according to industry sources.

The touch panel makers are basing their prediction on their involvement in notebook makers’ product developments, the sources said. The models being developed, sampled and validated show that touch panels will first take off in the netbook segment before moving to larger-size notebooks and monitors, the sources added.

With prices of projective capacitive touch panels at about US$2.50-3.00 per inch, the average cost for a touch panel module will be about US$30 for a mainstream-size netbook (smaller than 12-inch), the sources noted.

Touch panels can replace trackpad and mouse functions on netbooks, giving makers more room to solve the issue regarding keyboard size, the sources added.

Source