Business, Financial & Legal - Page 251

It's not like you or I did not see this coming in this smart device heavy world, but PC sales are now dropping according to new data from analysis firm IDC. IDC's latest data from Q4 2012 "marked the first time in more than five years that the PC market has seen a year-on-year decline during the holiday season".

The analysis firm said that although Windows 8 has launched, worldwide PC shipments reached 90 million units which is 6.4% lower than what they reached last year. Jay Chou, Senior Research Analyst with IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker said in a statement:

Research in Motion (RIM), the company behind the huge BlackBerry range, are already in trouble and this news is not going to help them one bit. Samsung have slowly but surely taken the consumer market into their hands after Apple's sticky hands got all over it, at least in shipment volume, and now it looks like Samsung have shifted aim to RIM's corporate users.

Samsung are investing heavily in enterprise devices that sport higher levels of security and reliability, the opposite of what consumers need badly. Various governments and corporations aren't too sure on BlackBerry 10, and are now looking for alternatives, which is where Samsung comes into play.

Chief Product Officer for Samsung Mobile USA, Kevin Packingham, said during an interview with Reuters:

CES 2013 - Panasonic's Live @ CES 2013 event is now live - and we're greeted with the prospects of multiple products being announced by the Japanese electronics giant.

14:52 US PST: And that's a wrap!

14:52 US PST: All of these products will be shown off in Panasonic's booth - which we'll report on more over the coming days.

CES 2013 - Samsung are about to start their CES 2013 Press Conference in a matter of minutes and we're here to bring it all to you live. What could they unveil? A new lineup of Ultrabooks? Some new Smart TVs? More of a tease of their new Ultra HD 4K TVs? Something completely new? We'll find out soon enough!

13:47 US PST: And that's it! A bunch of announcements and unveilings from Samsung - what did you like most?

13:46 US PST: SAFE - Samsung for Enterprise is making it safer for a bring-your-own-device to work world. On-device encryption is included, keeping your enterprise safe. Samsung are going to continue pushing into this area.

Ever since its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business back in 2005, Lenovo have done quite well for themselves, but it looks like that's not enough. According to an internal e-mail from CEO Yang Yuanqing, who admitted that despite trying, the Lenovo brand is still only doing well in the mainstream and low-end markets.

The Think brand is the company's best performer in the high-end market, and is the only brand that can compete against Apple in the high-end market. Yang has announced in the same e-mail for the sake of better brand positioning and better efficiency that Lenovo will split into two new groups: Lenovo Business Group (LBG) and Think Business Group (TBG).

The fresh start will begin on April 1st, where LBG will be headed by Senior Vice President of Mobile Internet Digital Home, Liu Jun, who will put all of energies into mainstream consumer and business desktops, laptops and tablets, as well as smartphones and smart TVs. TBG will be have current Senior Vice President of Product Groups, Dr. Peter Hortensius at the helm.

After 36 years on the job, Mike Daniels has left IBM according to a spokesperson from the company. Erich Clementi who currently serves as Senior Vice President for Global Technology Services, and Bridget van Kralingen, who is the current Senior Vice President for Global Business Services will be filling in for Daniels' spot when he leaves.

Clementi and Kralingen will report directly to the CEO. Daniels was once the head of Global Services in the Asia Pacific region, and also acted as IBM's Sales and Distribution operations in the US, Canada and Latin America. Daniels' other positions included responsibility for sales in regards to IBM's IT products, marketing and services. He was also seen by most as an economizer in regards to saving money for IBM, and secondly as a trailblazer in regards to computer management services.

Daniels missed out on the CEO position, but was passed over for Ginni Rometty just over twelve months ago. Rometty ended up becoming IBM's first female in charge of operations.

The Megaupload saga continues, this time with Megaupload complaining that the US government lied in order to get a search warrant. According to the motion, a recently unsealed search warrant shows that the US Department of Justice asked Megaupload to keep 39 copies of copyrighted movies on its servers for an investigation.

The part they didn't mention? It was an investigation into Megaupload. They then used the fact that the files were still on Megaupload's servers as primary proof that the company knowingling harbored copyrighted content:

The on-going anti-trust investigation into Google has finally been completed with a 4-1 ruling that Google must stop excluding competitors from using standards essential patents owned by subsidiary Motorola. These patents are what the FTC call the "cornerstone of the interoperability standards that we have taken for granted."

Google is also making two voluntary changes to the way some of its products work:

"The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy," said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "This was an incredibly thorough and careful investigation by the Commission, and the outcome is a strong and enforceable set of agreements."

AMD has picked a new CFO. The internal and external search turned up Devinder Kumar, who will now be a senior vice president and chief financial officer, effective today. Kumar is 57 and will report to AMD CEO Rory Reed. Kumar has served as the interim CFO since September 2012 and as senior vice president since 2006.

"Devinder has been with AMD for more than 28 years and is a talented finance veteran with deep industry knowledge," said Read. "As we accelerate our strategic growth initiatives, Devinder will play an integral role driving the new business model in the near term and strengthening AMD's long-term financial foundation."

Kumar is well equipped for the job: He holds a bachelor's degree from University of Malaya, Malaysia, a master's degree from University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's degree in business administration from University of California, Los Angeles.

Apple sued Amazon over its use of the term "app store" to describe its online marketplace for Android apps. In a ruling today, a judge has dismissed part of the case, the part alleging that Amazon committed false advertising by using the term.

Judge Phyllis Hamilton said there was "no support for the proposition that Amazon has expressly or impliedly communicated that its Appstore for Android possesses the characteristics and qualities that the public has come to expect from the Apple App Store and/or Apple products."

Apple has also sued for trademark infringement, though Apple does not yet own the trademark to "App Store." It has applied for the trademark, though several companies have moved to block the trademark. Microsoft has said in a motion for summary judgement that "Any secondary meaning or fame Apple has in 'App Store' is de facto secondary meaning that cannot convert the generic term 'app store' into a protectable trademark."