Business Tech

Analyst reiterates 'July' arrival of iPhone 5S, low-cost iPhone

Fresh data from KGI Securities reiterates that the iPhone 5S and a lower end model should begin to rollout by July.

Following a research note in January, KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo says the iPhone 5S along with a low-cost iPhone 5 will be announced in June and be available by July, according to reports at Mac Rumors and Apple Insider.

Kuo, often cited as one of the more prescient and accurate Apple analysts, believes the 5S will pack a new A7 chip. Apple has gotten quite adept at designing some of the fastest phone and tablet processors on the planet, … Read more

Laptop using future Intel 'Haswell' chip surfaces

Intel's new "Haswell" chip design is just around the corner. But we're already getting a peek at finished products, courtesy of a German PC vendor.

High-end laptops with Intel's upcoming fourth-generation Core series of chips appeared on DevilTech's site, according to Heise online.

Unannounced Intel silicon in those rigs includes quad-core Core i7s, such as the 4800MQ and 4900MQ.

And speaking of leaks, Haswell chips are actually up for pre-order on some online retailers.

For those who follow Intel chip rollouts closely, the chipmaker usually debuts quad-core mobile chips first and then follows up … Read more

Seagate phasing out 7200rpm mobile hard drives

Laptop hard drive speeds aren't tied strictly to revolutions per minute anymore, according to Seagate.

Seagate is abandoning 2.5-inch 7200rpm magnetic mobile hard drives for hybrids that have slower-rated RPMs but integrate large solid-state drive (SSD) caches, the company said today in a statement provided to CNET.

"Seagate's innovation in the area of Solid State Hybrid Drives (SSHD) technology provides a much faster overall performance platform than 7200 RPM based hard drives," the company said.

Bottom line: Seagate is saying a 5400rpm hard drive with a large SSD is faster than a pure 7200rpm magnetic … Read more

Sorry, PC makers. Shipments will likely fall this year, IDC says

This year isn't looking much brighter for PC makers than last, IDC said today as it cut its expectations for 2013 computer shipments.

The tech research firm said it expects computer shipments to drop 1.3 percent this year, worse than its prior view for a 2.8 percent rise. And that decline comes after a 3.7 percent slide in 2012.

"Disappointing holiday sales, an underwhelming reception to Windows 8, and continuing economic malaise that further crimped IT budgets marked the face of the market during the second half of 2012, leading to a year-on-year decline of … Read more

Apple shares fall; market cap tumbles below $400B

Apple's market cap -- a measure of the value of a company -- is now below $400 billion.

The company passed the milestone as Apple's shares fell 2 percent in trading this morning and the decline continued through the day to a closing price of $420.05, a drop of 2.4 percent from Friday's closing price. At that share price, Apple's market cap is now $394.45 billion. The company's valuation hasn't been that low since late 2011.

Apple's share price has been on a steady decline over the last several months. … Read more

Samsung apologizes for acid leak at plant that killed worker

Samsung apologized yesterday for the January acid leak at one of its semiconductor plants that killed one worker and injured four others. The event occurred at one of the plants in the Hwaseong area of South Korea.

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Oh-Hyun Kwon said that as part of the apology, the company plans to revoke its bid to have all of its Hwaseong plants certified as green for another five years, the Yonhap News Agency reported today.

Kwon also promised that the company would take measures to prevent future accidents, saying that "we plan to overhaul the system in … Read more

Microsoft may owe Denmark $1B in back taxes, report says

Microsoft may be in a bit of tax trouble in Denmark over an acquisition it made more than a decade ago.

Denmark-based news outlet DR is reporting today that officials in that country are investigating whether Microsoft used certain techniques to save itself billions in taxes. According to the report, after Microsoft acquired financial software company Navision in 2002 for $1.3 billion, it sold off its enterprise resource planning and accounting divisions to an Ireland-based Microsoft subsidiary. That subsidiary is apparently owned by other Microsoft companies in Caribbean tax havens, effectively allowing it to shift Navavision's profits overseas … Read more

The world is better off with Best Buy alive than dead

Despite all the flak Best Buy gets from consumers and financial analysts, the world is probably a better place with it than without it.

For those who don't follow Best Buy as a business, existential questions have been dogging it for years. The word "Titanic" often comes up.

Not all that surprising, considering brick-and-mortar electronics retail stalwarts CompUSA and Circuit City have all but disappeared.

Here's what the new CEO, Hubert Joly, said Friday during the earnings conference call, via a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.

"In fiscal '13, we permanently closed 49 large-format stores … Read more

Intel's best shot at tablets hasn't arrived yet

Intel won't have its best shot at mobile salvation until late this year. Let's hope that's not too late.

As of today, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, and Acer, among others, are all shipping high-profile Windows 8 tablets and hybrids with Intel's "Clover Trail" Atom processor.

And all are billed as running "all your favorite Windows applications."

The problem is that Atom still isn't up to the task, as CNET Reviews and many other reviewers have pointed out.

In short, it's Netbook deja vu all over again. Atom-based Netbooks were never … Read more