Microsoft Up

Microsoft, the maker of the Windows operating system — including the new Windows 7 version released Thursday — reported net income of $3.57 billion, or 40 cents a share, for the quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Wall Street had expected Microsoft to earn 32 cents a share, according to a Thomson Reuters survey. “They are really serious about cost-cutting,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. “It signals there has been a change in culture that is meaningful.” Microsoft attributed part of its rebound to increasing sales of personal computers by consumers. While total PC sales were essentially flat in the quarter, compared with a year earlier, consumer sales worldwide jumped by a percentage that was “in the mid-single digits,” Bill Koefoed, Microsoft’s general manager of investor relations, said on a conference call Friday. Those gains came despite the growth of netbooks, small laptop computers, which have typically used inexpensive versions of Windows XP. Netbooks represented 12 percent of sales to consumers in the quarter, Microsoft said. The company was bullish on Windows 7, in part because of vigorous advance sales. Indeed, the company deferred $1.47 billion in revenue from presales. Without that deferral, Microsoft said it would have earned 52 cents per share in the first quarter instead of 40 cents. The financial results were released before the market opened, and investors pushed Microsoft’s shares up more than 5 percent Friday, to $28.02. “We expected to see some positive impact from Windows 7, but this is the first time it’s been crystallized in the numbers,” said Kevin Buttigieg, a technology analyst at FTN Equity Capital Markets.

Acer Passes Apple & Dell

Well, there it is. A non-American company has managed to become the second-largest computer seller for the first time in history.
In a fresh research report issued on Wednesday, IDC confirmed that Acer, based in Taiwan, overtook Dell, of Round Rock, Texas, as the Number 2 PC maker during the third quarter. The two companies had been neck-and-neck for the last couple of quarters, with Acer benefiting from the increasing demand for netbooks and Dell suffering from a lack of business computer sales. Acer has now set its sights on Hewlett-Packard, the clear PC market leader out of Palo Alto, Calif. According to IDC, H.P. took 20.2 percent of the worldwide PC market in the third quarter, an increase from 18.9 percent in the same period last year. Acer’s market share shot up to 14 percent from 11.4 percent, while Dell’s market share dropped to 12.7 percent from 14.2 percent. Lenovo, based in China, and Toshiba of Japan rounded out the top five sellers, with 8.9 percent and 5.2 percent of the market, respectively. All of the PC companies actually saw their sales rise during the quarter, except for Dell. Sales at Dell dropped 8.4 percent during the quarter, while Acer’s sales rose 25.6 percent and H.P.’s 9.3 percent. In the United States., H.P. was ahead of Dell as the largest computer seller, taking 25.5 percent of the market to Dell’s 25 percent stake. Acer, with an 11.1 percent market share, moved past Apple, which had 9.4.
Acer’s sales grew an astonishing 48.3 percent during the quarter, while Dell’s dropped 13.4 percent and H.P.’s rose 3.2 percent. “The competitive landscape, the transition to portables, new and low-power designs, growth in retail and consumer segments and the impact of falling prices are all reflected in the gains by H.P. and Acer, as well as overall market growth,” said Loren Loverde, a program director at IDC. Overall, PC sales rose 2.3 percent year-on-year to 78.1 million units. Sales had dropped the previous two quarters.

Windows 7 Launch Ready

Best Buy is ready for the Windows 7 launch.
Best Buy where the cages were loaded exclusively with new models preloaded with Windows 7. A salesperson said that the information was conveyed to me at one store in Southern California and may not necessarily apply to all stores nationwide. Best Buy can theoretically sell you a Windows 7 machine before October 22. However, the store would get fined if it does so. One figure thrown out by a salesperson was $5,000 per sales violation. Almost all of the shelf space had been cleared. In other words, when I walked into the laptop section, all of the counter space that typically holds 50 laptops (or more) was empty. The space will be repopulated on October 22. Why the empty counters? Best Buy had sold virtually all the Vista machines in the store prior to Windows 7 launch. Windows 7 laptops behind the cages include an HP dv6 laptop with a 16-inch screen (model: dv6-1352dx), a Dell Inspiron with 15.6-inch screen (model: i1545-4203), an HP G60 (model: G60-535DX), and a Sony Vaio VGN series (model: VGN-NW270/FS). Note that most of these models do not show up in a Google search or in the Best Buy database yet.
There is also reported a 18-inch class Asus laptop packing a quad-core Core i7 processor with killer graphics, we don't know which graphics card it used.

TiVo To Link Hulu With DVR

TiVo CEO Tom Rogers said video Web site Hulu.com is the last "major aggregator" his company aims to work with to increase programs for the TiVo digital video recording service. "Hulu will have to come to terms with the big screen and get themselves on the television set," Rogers said in an interview in Cannes on Wednesday. "When they decide as a policy matter that's something they'd like to do, we want to bring them to the TV." Hulu, whose owners also include General Electric's NBC Universal and Walt Disney, shows free television programs and movies on its Web site. The clips contain advertisements that can't be skipped, while TiVo is often criticized by the ad industry for allowing users to skip commercials. TiVo, the pioneer of the digital video recorder, has already formed such partnerships for online content with Netflix, Amazon.com and YouTube, Rogers said. The company is expanding its offerings of shows, movies and videos as consumers increasingly migrate online, and is seeking deals with small and medium-size cable operators. RCN, a cable operator in cities including New York, Boston and Chicago, said it would offer TiVo recording devices to its residential and small-business subscribers.Rogers said TiVo lost subscribers when pay-TV service DirecTV canceled a contract with TiVo. DirecTV, the second-largest pay-TV service after Comcast, re-entered that contract when Liberty Media took control of the company last year, and this will "help fuel our growth," Rogers said. TiVo said it will take action against companies that infringe its patents for digital recording. "The fact is we own the core technology" for the digital video recorder "and if people are going to ignore our intellectual property, we're not going to sit there and allow that to happen," Rogers said. In August, the company said it was suing Verizon Communications and AT&T, claiming infringement of patents in their DVR systems. In September, Dish Network and EchoStar were ordered to pay a total of about $200 million to TiVo for contempt of an order to stop providing its DVR service after losing a patent-infringement ruling. No damages in the AT&T/Verizon case have been specified, though Rogers said they "can get pretty substantial," based on past litigation.

Why Zune Beats Apple Yet Again

The more time you spend with the Zune HD, the more you like it. Sound quality aside, there are a bunch of features that make Apple's products seem like they've fallen behind the curve. Here are a few things in particular that you'll miss when you use your iPhone or iPods:
Zune Pass Apple has long maintained that people want to own rather than rent their music. I counter that a subscription-based music service, combined with a state-of-the-art player, is one of those features that you have to try before you realize how fantastic it is.
Quickplay This feature lets you "pin" favorite songs, albums, playlists, or other types of content to the front menu of the Zune HD. It also has a "New" section that automatically displays the six items you've most recently added to your collection, a "History" section that displays the last six things you've played, and a spot to access any currently playing song that you've paused.
Background art Remember how cool it seemed when you could first look at album covers as you played songs on your MP3 player? The Zune HD makes this seem hopelessly obsolete--instead, it scrolls through album art and pictures of the artist as each song plays. No purchase is required--it works even with the LPs I ripped. It's similar to how the Zune software can populate your music collection with album art from a database in the cloud, only more sophisticated.
Wireless sync This feature has been part of the Zune experience since 2007, and once you get used to it, you'll hate dragging your iPod to your computer every time you want to load new music. Microsoft seems to have improved the sync experience in the Zune HD and Zune 4.0 software--all you have to do is leave the Zune HD's wireless connection on, and it will periodically sync automatically with your PC, even if you don't have the Zune app open.
Apple's still riding high with the iPod, particularly the Touch, but the Zune HD is clearly moving ahead in terms of innovation. Now if Microsoft can open the Marketplace to third-party apps and fix the browser, Apple might have reason to worry.

Microsoft Win 7

You can't overestimate the importance of the October launch of Windows 7, the latest version of the operating system that accounts for 25% of Microsoft's revenue. Customers were so unimpressed with the last upgrade, Vista, that only 18% of computers run on it, says Net Applications. That anemic adoption rate since the 2007 release, combined with poor PC sales, cut Windows' revenue 13% in the past 12 months. Unlike Vista, Windows 7 has so far received positive reviews. That, plus a projected uptick in PC sales in 2010 as the economy improves, means Windows sales could pick up. But since this is a mature business the firm already leads in, it's not likely to drive growth in the future. Don't expect Microsoft's dominance in operating systems and applications software to keep leading to big profit margins, which are already down six points, to 25%, from 2005. The threat: cloud computing, in which applications run on the web. "Look at Facebook," says Morning-star analyst Toan Tran. "It doesn't care what platform you're running." It can use Mac OS, Linux, or Google's upcoming Chrome OS. As a result, Tran says Windows revenue "has the potential to be a rounding error" in 10 years. He thinks the firm's future is in Azure, Microsoft's cloud service that lets developers create applications on Microsoft servers. But Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), and others offer similar services. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) hopes to find growth in online advertising. A few months after launching its new search engine, Bing, its share of online searches has grown to 9% vs. Google's 65%. But the goal isn't to be No. 1, says Tom Forester of the Forester Value fund, which owns the stock. "Even a 20% share would be huge, given how big online ads promise to be," he says. They could exceed $30 billion by 2013, says the Yankee Group. And Forester thinks Microsoft could hit 15% to 20% in a couple of years. Under a new deal, subject to government approval, Bing will power searches on Yahoo for a cut of revenue. "Bing should march toward profitability," says Edward Jones's Andy Miedler.

Sony's PSPgo

Measuring in at 5 x 0.6 x 2.7 inches (closed) the PSPgo is about half the size of the original PSP. To access the controls, the bottom section slides forward with with a smooth but firm mechanism that seems sturdy enough to resist clumsy gamer hands. It's small but comfortable, even for those of us with big hands, It's just wide enough for the index fingers to curl around the frame, and your thumbs fall into prime button-mashing position without feeling cramped. The face buttons are slightly thinner and more responsive, and the analog nub is recessed into the console's casing, resulting in much tighter control than with earlier PSPs. The 3.8-inch screen shares the same bright, gorgeous 480 x 272 pixel resolution of its year-old predecessor, the PSP 3000. The PSPgo also ekes out battery life comparable to the 3000: you get roughly four and a half hours each during extensive web-browsing, music-playing and gaming sessions. New features include Bluetooth support, so you can pair the PSPgo with accessories like headsets, enabling Skype calls or in-game voice chat. Busy gamers will appreciate the Pause Game function, which freezes your game in its current state so you can take a break. You can now also control your PSPgo with a PlayStation 3 controller, which is handy if you've connected your portable to a TV, or are the sort of person who carries a spare Dual Shock 3 controller in your backpack next to the MREs and the water purifier. The UMD disc has been scrapped in favor of digital distribution. That means you can pick up new music, movies, and games wherever you can find a Wi-Fi connection. You can also sync the handheld with a PlayStation 3 or Windows PC, but not with a Mac (oops sorry) or a Linux PC. For storage, you'll dump all of the games and media you download onto the PSPgo's 16GB internal flash drive. If you need more space, it supports Memory Stick Micro cards, up to 32GB.