epages News [Computer Hardware Shops, January 2004]

• Competition, innovation to take Wi-fi to new highs in '04
• IBM signs 10-yr service deal with Target
• Dell offers consumers zero-interest financing
• ICICI Info product revenue to grow 40% by year end
• PC makers bet big on consumer electronics
• Intel adds cheaper variety to new mobile line
• PCs are all about home entertainment
• Chip sales seen growing 33% this year
• Chip equipment sales seen rising by 40%-60%
• Back to Computer Hardware Shops Archives

Competition, innovation to take Wi-fi to new highs in '04

Jan 02, 2004: New Delhi: Attractive price points and new technology will increase the acceptability of Wifi or public wireless LAN around the world and make it a commercial proposition, according to European research agency Ovum. "Wifi is growing. 2003 has been a watershed year as public wireless local area network has moved towards becoming a commercial proposition for business and consumer users", it said. Blue chip vendors like Cisco and Intel are beginning to impose order on this fragmented, chaotic market with high-profile initiatives, it said while adding Intel's Centrino Mobile technology (embedded WiFi) campaign has propelled WLAN into the public consciousness.

Cisco now looks set to dominate both enterprise and residential Wifi equipment with its CCX compatibility programme and its March 2003 acquisition of leading home vendor Linksys. After three years of unopposed hype, 2003 saw the first dissenting voices surrounding the public Wifi business case with questions being raised about the prospects of earning hard return on investment (ROI) from deploying hotspot networks, rounding particularly on the poor scalability of current Wifi technology and high recurring costs for backhaul, Ovum said. "2004 promises arrival of two key technology developments to the basic 802.11x standards", the agency said.

IBM signs 10-yr service deal with Target

Jan 02, 2004: New York: International Business Machines Corp. said it has signed a 10-year contract with retailer Target Corp. to manage its mainframe computers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Armonk, New York-based IBM said the agreement is based on a flexible pricing model in which Target will pay only for the services it uses. IBM previously had a five-year services contract with Minneapolis-based Target that expires on March 31, 2004. IBM has been pushing such ‘on-demand’ computing for more than a year. Under these offerings, IBM aims to make computing cheaper and more flexible as well as enable businesses to access information and react to it more quickly. Increased demand for computing power and computer services could be due to seasonal business activity, such as higher sales around the holidays or the need to do inventory management, IBM said. IBM shares were down 41 cents at $92.22 and Target shares fell 26 cents to $38.12, both on the New York Stock Exchange.

Dell offers consumers zero-interest financing

Jan 03, 2004: New York: Dell Inc. said that it will offer consumers zero-interest financing on everything from digital music players to television sets as the No. 1 personal computer maker tries to steal share in the consumer electronics market. Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, has offered 0% financing to business customers in the past as it faced stiff competition and a downturn in demand for technology. While that downturn has eased, corporations have been slow to return to their old buying habits, making consumers and their steady spending habits an attractive target. Dell, as well as its competitors Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc., has launched a slew of products aimed at consumers. It now sells Dell-branded printers, handheld computers and LCD televisions in addition to computers and data storage machines. The zero-% financing offer is for purchases of $500 or more and starts on Jan. 3 and runs through Jan. 30. It applies to 12 months of financing, the company said. In addition to consumer electronics, the offer includes Dell's personal computers.

ICICI Info product revenue to grow 40% by year end

Jan 05, 2004: Chennai: The $54-million IT solutions provider, ICICI Infotech is fast becoming a product company with the revenue contribution from its product business expected to grow aggressively in the next couple of years. The aggressive growth plans of ICICI Infotech for its product business is driven by the success of its ERP product in the MENA market (Middle East North Africa). According to a recent IDC report, ICICI Infotech was rated amongst the top five ERP players in various parts of the MENA region. Particularly in the UAE, the second largest market in the MENA region was ranked third largest ERP player behind Oracle and JD Edwards. Now ICICI Infotech is looking to replicate its success in the MENA region at other markets. In a step towards it, the company has come out with an upgraded version of its ERP product. The Orion10 upgrade includes functionally enriched capabilities for verticalised industries like pharma, chemical, auto, retail, distribution, cement and engineering.

The enhanced Orion10 functionalities will facilitate shorter transaction time, faster ROI and seamless interaction and collaboration with every constituent of the enterprise - customers, business partners, employees and vendors. For its banking solution, the company recently won a $1 million worth of contract to license and implement banking software applications at Finansa Plc, listed in the Bangkok Stock Exchange and specialising in the fund management and corporate finance. The insurance product `premia’ is being implemented at Oriental Insurance.

PC makers bet big on consumer electronics

Jan 05, 2004: New York/Los Angeles: Computer makers are placing big bets on consumer electronics in Las Vegas this week, banking on new products to boost sales and make inroads in what is already a highly competitive sector. Dell and Hewlett-Packard, the world’s two largest PC makers, have invested millions of dollars in their burgeoning gadget businesses, with designs on market share held by rivals like Sony and Samsung. They are hoping the gamble will pay off big at the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they will display their widest offering yet of products targeting that market — televisions, music players and handheld devices. For the computer makers, which have built up supply and distribution networks with Asian partners, moving into high-end consumer electronics offers the promise of higher margins and faster growth, say analysts.

The battle will also be fought at the storefront. Dell, for example, which has built its business by selling directly to customers over the phone and internet, will be going up against bricks-and-mortar giants Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores, which often lure shoppers with good deals, such as cheaper priced PCs and DVD players. Price has increasingly become an issue, as financial analysts following consumer electronics retailers keep a watchful eye on difficult growth comparisons and greater strength of discount chains in the market. Among the products that have already won Innovations Awards from the Consumer Electronics Association and will be showcased, are an oven that accepts commands from a cell phone and a satellite TV receiver that records high-definition programming.

Intel adds cheaper variety to new mobile line

Jan 06, 2004: San Francisco: Intel Corp., which dominates the market for computer processors, said it had introduced a less expensive line of mobile chips to be used in budget-oriented notebook and tablet PCs. The line of processors, dubbed Celeron M, is based on the same circuit design as Intel's flagship mobile chip, the Pentium M, the company said.

Celeron M chips, however, lack some of the Pentium M's features and will initially cost around 35% less than Pentium M, chips running at the same speed, Intel said. Hewlett-Packard Co. and tablet PC maker Motion Computing are already selling products based on the Celeron M on their Web sites. Intel made a massive push into portable computing last year with the launch of its Centrino brand, which combines power-efficient processors with wireless communications capability. Intel backed the brand with a $300 million marketing budget. In the current quarter, Intel is scheduled to introduce a more powerful Pentium M processor and a more advanced chip for communication with high-speed, wireless networks.

PCs are all about home entertainment

Jan 06, 2004: Las Vegas: Personal-computer kingpins Microsoft and Intel are angling for a more prominent position in the nation’s living rooms, with designs of enthroning the PC as the new centrepiece of home entertainment. The two giants will detail their latest assault at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where they plan to discuss a series of products that they say will make it easier to use PCs to organise movies, music and television shows, while shuttling that media around the home. The announcements should also serve as a stepping-stone in the two companies’ decade-long quest to embed Microsoft software and Intel microchips directly into televisions. This has seen traditional stereo and DVD players fighting to defend their turf.

What they fear most is the rise of a single PC, rather than gadgets designed by these companies, as the hub for controlling how consumers view photos, channel-surf or listen to music. These companies believe their own devices will be easier and more enjoyable to use than the PC, which they view as a business tool that is prone to suffer from bugs, viruses and crashes. The PC leaders are gaining momentum from the rapid transformation of music, photographs and movies into digital formats. Hardware makers have developed dozens of products to help transfer digital media from PCs to TVs and other devices around the home.

Chip sales seen growing 33% this year

Jan 13, 2004: Amsterdam: Global revenue from semiconductor sales could rise by 33% to $189.6 billion in 2004, driven by a 20% increase in output, a research group said. Makers of chip manufacturing equipment stand to benefit, as chip producers would need to invest in new production capacity. Decisions by Microsoft to stop supporting old Windows software programmes would force companies to buy more powerful PCs to run newer versions of Windows, while consumers were upgrading their cellphones and buying new gadgets such as digital music players and DVD recorders. Chip makers have run their factories at around 90% of total capacity in 2003. The demand spike can only be met if they invest aggressively in new production equipment. The revenue rise would be led by higher prices, not big volume increases, as equipment vendors would have problems boosting output after they slimmed down in the downturn.

Chip equipment sales seen rising by 40%-60%

Jan 14, 2004: San Francisco: Sales of microchip production equipment will jump by as much as 60% this year as chipmakers again start to expand and upgrade chip factories, industry officials and forecasters said. Total sales of semiconductor-related equipment is expected to grow 40% to $43.5 billion, according to a forecast by VLSI Research, a semiconductor industry research firm. The spike in investment is directly related to a return of higher average prices and increased unit sales of microchips, according to the group's forecast. A similar scenario occurred in 2000, when chip makers bought far more chip-making tools than they needed, worsening the downturn that later struck. Prices for chips plummeted amid oversupply.