Dell says Windows 7 price is possible barrier

Windows 7 pricing is potentially an obstacle to Windows 7 adoption for some users, though in just about every other aspect the operating system is beating Vista, according to a Dell marketing executive.

"If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP," Darrel Ward, director of product management for Dell's business client product group, said in a phone interview, referring to the various versions of the Windows 7 operating system that are expected to appear.

Ward continued. "In tough economic times, I think it's naive to believe that you can increase your prices on average and then still see a strong swell than if you held prices flat or even lowered them. I can tell you that the licensing tiers at retail are more expensive than they were for Vista."

In the business market, Windows 7 Professional is expected to be more expensive than Windows Vista Business, the version that Professional is replacing, he said.

Some schools and smaller businesses may not be early adopters due to price. "Schools and government agencies may not be able to afford (the additional cost). Some of the smaller businesses may not be able to enjoy the software as soon as they'd like," Ward said.

Pricing aside, Ward said momentum behind Windows 7 is big compared with Vista. "When Vista came out we didn't have the motivation to do the types of services that we're doing now. We didn't have the clear customer demand for such services," he said. "We do have a visible number of customers, large and small, who are actually waiting for Windows 7 and who have already put plans in place to target the transition to Windows 7, they're asking Dell for help. That demand and this opportunity is stronger than it has been in the past," Ward said.

And Dell is already getting its service organization in gear for Windows 7. "Our professional service organization is beginning to structure service offerings specifically designed to help customers migrate their images, their applications, and their management infrastructure, security capabilities and so forth."

More than half of Dell's business customers are still using Windows XP and these customers will eventually have to upgrade, according to Ward. "XP cannot live forever," he said.

Windows 7 XP mode is something Dell supports. "It's one of the things that Microsoft is doing that we think is helpful. Putting an instance of XP virtual machine in the higher end SKUs (models). This is another alternative for compatibility. We'll fully support that in our product and consulting services." he said.

Driver readiness is good, with some exceptions. "Driver readiness--it looks pretty healthy compared to the past. (There are) some things that haven't been worked out. The WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab) drivers for AMT VPRO is a little behind," he said, referring to Intel's Active Management Technology, which allows remote access to PCs for security, maintenance, and management.

Generally, however, Windows 7 is much further along than Vista was at this stage, he said. "But if you look at the ecosystem enabling for Windows 7, it is much further along that it was at the same time for Vista," he said.

Fuente: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10242555-64.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

45.7 million Wii Sports, 22.9 million Wii Plays sold

Nintendo reveals new stats for 27 first-party platinum sellers; Nintendogs hits 22.2 million, New Super Mario Bros. 18.4 million, Wii Fit 18.2 million, Mario Kart Wii 15.4 million.

Nintendo may be facing weakening demand in its home market, but its products continue to enjoy substantial demand in other regions across the globe. Yesterday, that demand came into focus when the publisher reported a 9.9 percent rise in its fiscal year earnings, to ¥1.83 trillion ($18.5 billion). A resounding clamor for software on both of Nintendo's best-selling platforms helped fuel that growth, with 197 million DS and 204 million Wii games sold during the period.

Today, Nintendo provided an update on sales figures for its first-party-published games, revealing that it now has 27 games that have broached the million-unit mark. First among those best-sellers remains Wii Sports, which is sold as a stand-alone in Japan but comes packed in with Nintendo's console in North America. The sports minigame compilation has now sold 45.7 million units since its November 2006 launch, easily outpacing Wii Remote pack-in Wii Play's 22.9 million units.

DS software sales offer a bit of a closer race in the best-selling game category. Nintendogs remains ahead of the pack, having now sold 22.2 million units through the publisher's fiscal year. However, New Super Mario Bros. and the original Brain Age aren't far off the animal-training simulator's heals, with the former having sold 18.4 million units and the latter at 17.4 million units. All three games have previously been the subject of hardware bundles.

A full list of Nintendo's million-unit sellers can be found below.

Nintendo Wii
Wii Sports - 45.7 million
Wii Play - 22.9 million
Wii Fit - 18.2 million
Mario Kart Wii - 15.4 million
Smash Bros. Brawl - 8.4 million
Super Mario Galaxy - 8 million
Mario Party 8 - 6.7 million
Link's Crossbow Training - 3.8 million
Animal Crossing: City Folk - 3.4 million
Wii Music - 2.6 million
Mario Super Sluggers - 1.3 million

Nintendo DS
Nintendogs - 22.2 million
New Super Mario Bros. - 18.4 million
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day - 17.4 million
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - 16.8 million
Mario Kart DS - 14.6 million
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day - 13.7 million
Animal Crossing: Wild World - 10 million
Super Mario 64 DS - 7.5 million
Mario Party DS - 5.8 million
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness - 4.5 million
Pokemon Platinum - 3.7 million
Kirby Super Star Ultra - 2.3 million
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia - 2 million
Rhythm Heaven - 1.9 million
Personal Trainer: Cooking - 1.8 million
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 1.6 million*

Fuente: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6209412.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1

What Will Fix the Venture Capital Crisis?

Everyone agrees that the venture capital industry is in crisis. The question is how to fix it.

The drought in acquisitions and initial public offerings of venture-backed companies means diminishing returns for investors and fewer new jobs.

At the National Venture Capital Association’s annual meeting in Boston last week, the group presented a four-step plan to address the problem. At Harvard Business School, a group of professors offered their own ideas.

The N.V.C.A. plan calls first for the return of small investment banks and accounting firms. These helped small tech companies go public until the dot-com bubble burst and then they disappeared. In order for start-ups to start going public again, the big banks and accounting firms must partner will smaller ones to reinvigorate them, the N.V.C.A. said.

The second feature of the plan deals with new forms of exits, such as SecondMarket and other exchanges where start-ups can sell shares on the private market. The third thing it seeks is tax benefits, such as a more competitive capital gains tax rate for I.P.O. investors and tax incentives for clean tech companies. Finally, it wants regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and financial statement requirements to be eased for tiny companies trying to go public.

“It can’t be fixed with a stroke of the pen, but without fixing this problem, literally innovation will be at bay in this country, precisely at the time competition is increasing from abroad,” said Paul Maeder, a general partner at Highland Capital Partners.

At Harvard, two professors of venture capital and entrepreneurship had their own ideas.

Josh Lerner teaches a class on venture capital and will publish a book this fall called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” on how public efforts to spur entrepreneurship and venture capital have, so far, failed.

He said the venture capital industry needs to focus on three other ideas to fix its problems.

First is patent policy. Patent litigation costs so much and takes so long that it is burdening small tech companies, he said.

Instead, he suggests a patent policy similar to that in Europe. There, he said, inventors can challenge patents with the patent office before patents are approved. In the United States, on the other hand, most patents are granted quickly and protesters have to go to court to fight them.

When there are patent trials, they should not be jury trials, he said, even though that has become increasingly common in the last two decades. Patent disputes are so technically and legally complicated that it is difficult for a jury to fairly decide the case in a short period of time, and they are almost always sympathetic to the patent holder.

The second change Mr. Lerner suggests is using federal funds to support start-ups, not just big, struggling companies.

“In our efforts to rescue failing giants, we are spending all this money keeping buggy whips afloat,” he said. “It seems a little crazy to say we’re going to invest all this money in sunset industries, not emerging companies.”

Third, the United States needs to do a better job keeping foreign-born scientists and entrepreneurs in the United States. He said it was inevitable that as countries like China and India became wealthier, they would also develop intellectual institutions and begin retaining their smartest people.

Lee Fleming, who teaches entrepreneurship to students from the business school as well as other programs like engineering, has another suggestion. American universities should more openly and generously disseminate technological ideas developed on their campuses, he said.

Only about one in a thousand technologies end up being blockbusters, yet universities in the United States negotiate as if they all are, he said. Entrepreneurs can sign a contract for intellectual property from some foreign universities in half an hour, while a similar agreement can take two years in the United States, he said. That contradicts universities’ mission to disseminate knowledge, he said.

“When universities start seeing tech transfer offices as profit centers, it can very quickly turn into counterproductive policies,” he said.

Fuente: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/what-will-fix-the-venture-capital-crisis/

In China, Knockoff Cellphones Are a Hit

SHENZHEN, China — The phone’s sleek lines and touch-screen keyboard are unmistakably familiar. So is the logo on the back. But a sales clerk at a sprawling electronic goods market in this Chinese coastal city admits what is clear upon closer inspection: this is not the Apple iPhone; this is the Hi-Phone

Multimedia

An advertisement for a fake iPhone that is being sold in China.

The New York Times

“But it’s just as good,” the clerk says.

Nearby, dozens of other vendors are selling counterfeit Nokia, Motorola and Samsung phones — as well as cheap look-alikes that make no bones about being knockoffs.

“Five years ago, there were no counterfeit phones,” says Xiong Ting, a sales manager at Triquint Semiconductor, a maker of mobile phone parts, while visiting Shenzhen. “You needed a design house. You needed software guys. You needed hardware design. But now, a company with five guys can do it. Within 100 miles of here, you can find all your suppliers.”

Technological advances have allowed hundreds of small Chinese companies, some with as few as 10 employees, to churn out what are known here as shanzhai, or black market, cellphones, often for as little as $20 apiece.

And just as Chinese companies are trying to move up the value chain of manufacturing, from producing toys and garments to making computers and electric cars, so too are counterfeiters. After years of making fake luxury bags and cheap DVDs, they are capturing market share from the world’s biggest mobile phone makers.

Although shanzhai phones have only been around a few years, they already account for more than 20 percent of sales in China, which is the world’s biggest mobile phone market, according to the research firm Gartner.

They are also being illegally exported to Russia, India, the Middle East, Europe, even the United States. “The shanzhai phone market is expanding crazily,” says Wang Jiping, a senior analyst at IDC, which tracks technology trends. “They copy Apple, Nokia, whatever they like, and they respond to the market swiftly.”

Alarmed by the rapid growth of counterfeits and no-name knockoffs, global brands are pressing the Chinese government to crack down on their proliferation, and are warning consumers about potential health hazards, like cheap batteries that can explode.

Nokia, the world’s biggest cellphone maker, says it is working with Beijing to fight counterfeiting. Motorola says much the same. Apple Inc. declined to comment.

Even Chinese mobile phone producers are losing market share to underground companies, which have a built-in cost advantage because they evade taxes, regulatory fees and safety checks.

“We’re being severely hurt by shanzhai phones,” says Chen Zhao, a sales director at Konka, a Chinese cellphone maker. “Legal cellphone makers should pay 17 percent of their revenue as value-added tax, but shanzhai makers, of course, won’t pay it.”

So far, however, China has done little to stop the proliferation of fake mobile phones, which are even advertised on late-night television infomercials with pitches like “one-fifth the price, but the same function and look,” or patriotic appeals like “Buy shanzhai to show your love of our country.”

Last month, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology did warn consumers about the hazards of shanzhai phones, saying “their radiation usually exceeds the limit.” China’s consumer protection agency says faulty mobile phones were the No. 1 consumer complaint last year.

A few weeks ago, a 45-year-old man in south China was severely burned after his cellphone exploded in his shirt pocket, according to state-run news media.

But that hasn’t seemed to affect sales of black market phones, which typically sell at retail for $100 to $150. In the spirit of what is called “shanzhai” — which suggests rebels or bandits and which applies to counterfeit products of all kinds — many consumers are willing to take a risk on a cheap item that looks stylish.

“I saw iPhone pictures on the Web; it’s so cool. But it costs over $500 — too expensive,” says Yang Guibin, 30, an office worker from Chongqing. “So I decided to buy a shanzhai iPhone. I bought it in a digital market here; it looked exactly like the iPhone.”

Some experts say they believe the shanzhai phenomena is about being creative, Chinese style.

“Chinese grass-roots companies are actually very innovative,” says Yu Zhou, a professor at Vassar College. “It’s not so much technology as how they form supply chains and how rapidly they react to new trends.”

While the phones may look like famous brands, companies actually add special features like bigger screens, dual-mode SIM cards (which allow two phone numbers) and even a telescopic lens attachment for the phone’s camera.

Since it is the SIM card that makes a phone run in China, as in most places other than the United States, all you have to do is insert a valid SIM card into a shanzhai phone and it works.

All this innovation comes from an industry that only took off in 2005, after Mediatek, a semiconductor design company from Taiwan, helped significantly reduce the cost and complexity of producing a mobile phone.

Using what experts call a turnkey solution, Mediatek developed a circuit board that could inexpensively integrate the functions of multiple chips, offering start-ups a platform to produce a low-cost mobile phone.

The industry got another boost in 2007, when regulators said companies no longer needed a license to manufacture a cellphone.

That set off a scramble by entrepreneurs in this electronics manufacturing center. Counterfeiting and off-brand knockoffs flourished. Tiny companies would buy a Mediatek chip loaded with software, source other components and ask a factory to assemble them.

Marketing strategies were simple: steal. Designs and brand names were copied identically or simply mimicked. (Sumsung for Samsung or Nckia for Nokia.)

Tapping into the supply chains of big brands is easy, producers say. “It’s really common for factories to do a night shift for other companies,” says Zhang Haizhen, who recently ran a shanzhai company here. “No one will refuse an order if it is over 5,000 mobile phones.”

The people who make fake iPhones admit it’s a shady business.

“We are a kind of illegal producer,” says Zhang Feiyang, whose company, Yuanyang, makes an iPhone clone. “In Shenzhen there are many small mills, hidden. Basically, we can make any type of cellphone.”

The competition is already forcing global brands to lower prices, analysts say. And new Chinese brands are emerging, like Meizu, a would-be Apple that has opened stylish stores here.

“Our phone is even better than the iPhone,” says Liu Zeyu, a Meizu salesman in Shenzhen. “Our goal is to create a phone that makes Chinese proud.”

Fuente: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/technology/28cell.html?_r=1&ref=technology

Video game sales hit the wall in March

New March sales data from NPD Group reveals that video game sales are finally being hit (and hit hard) by the recession. Despite a strong showing through February, March sales across the board dropped by 15 percent to 18 percent year over year from 2008 to 2009.

As reported on Gamespot.com:

Although unnerving on their own, NPD's March numbers also signaled a more alarming trend. When taken into account, the month's numbers caused 2009's first-quarter game sales to go from solid growth to a near flat line. For the January-March period, the U.S. game industry generated $4.25 billion, barely up from the $4.24 billion that it generated during the same period in 2008.

So, is it time to panic? Probably not. There has been a dearth of new hit titles and the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS (arguably both less expensive in terms of console and games) are the dominant platforms. Analysts have also suggested that with such a meteoric rise over the last year, the market was due for correction.

US VIDEO GAMES INDUSTRY - MARCH 2009
Software: $792.83M (-17 percent)
Hardware: $455.55M (-18 percent)
Accessories: $185.67M (-15 percent)
Total Games: $1.43B (-17 percent)

Fuente: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10222874-62.html?tag=newsLatestHeadlinesArea.0

Time Warner’s Unlimited Download Plan: $150 a Month

Time Warner Cable has modestly softened its plan to test usage limits for its broadband data customers. Landel Hobbs, the company’s chief operating officer, has just published a post with the new price tiers for a test of the plan it will conduct in four cities.

The company increased the capacity of the plans it had tested earlier in Texas. They had ranged from 5 to 40 gigabytes of uploading and downloading a month. Now those plans run from 10 to 60 gigabytes a month at prices that range between about $25 and $65 a month, depending on the area.

The company introduced a new plan with 100 gigabytes, for $75. Any more than that costs $1 a gigabyte. But there is a $75 cap on the extra fee, meaning unlimited use is capped at $150 a month.

By comparison, Comcast’s basic broadband offering costs $43 a month and has a cap of 250 gigabytes. Verizon’s cheapest broadband package with its FiOS service costs $45 a month and has no download limit.

In the wake of no small amount of protest, Time Warner made a few other changes that are meant to accommodate consumers. It won’t impose any overuse charge for two billing cycles, so customers can adjust their plans or their Internet use. It is also introducing a new $15-a-month plan, suitable for light e-mailers, with a top speed of 768 kilobits per second and a 1 gigabyte monthly cap.

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit in the announcement is the price that Time Warner set for its coming super-high-speed service, which uses technology known as Docsis 3. It will offer service with 50-megabit-per-second download speeds and 5 Mbps upload speeds for $99 per month. That is cheaper than Comcast, which charges $139 a month for the same speeds where it offers them. The post did not specify the download limit, if any, for that plan.

It is not clear that this is going to mollify critics of Time Warner’s plans. In his post, Mr. Hobbs justified the change this way:

Here at Time Warner Cable, consumption among our high-speed Internet subscribers is increasing by about 40% a year. As a facilities-based provider, we’ve built a network that must be maintained and upgraded. We have increasing variable costs and we have to continue to invest in the network itself.

This view of costs is not shared by many experts in Internet technology. Dave Burstein, the editor of DSL Prime, wrote in an e-mail message Thursday afternoon that the cost of running broadband networks is falling quite rapidly.

Fuente: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/time-warners-unlimited-bandwidth-plan-150-a-month/

THQ declares $220 million in spending cuts

The day after its latest layoffs, the publisher declares success in company-wide belt-tightening plan for its new fiscal year.

Yesterday, THQ began its fiscal year 2010. Today, the publisher tod ay said plans to steady a lilting ship for the coming year have be en successfu l, as the company has completed plans to cut projected spending for the year by $220 million.

THQ is counting on games like Darksiders to help turn things around this year.

Trimming expenditures by that much takes a lot more than creative accounting, as nearly a quarter of THQ's global workforce found out. Last November, the publisher shut down five of its internal studios and laid off employees at two more. The cuts continued last month with layoffs at Volition, followed by news that subsidiaries Heavy Iron and Incinerator Studios would be spun off into their own companies.

The publisher also said another of its internal developers, Big Huge Games, will be shuttered if a buyer can't be found in the near term. While the lights remain on at Big Huge, THQ confirmed that there were layoffs at the studio earlier this week. In addition to the personnel moves, THQ said it would change its focus to quality over quantity, and halved the number of games it would market to the traditional hardcore market each year.

"We have executed on our previously announced business realignment actions," THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said in a statement. "Our goal is to return to profitability and generate positive cash flow in fiscal 2010, and to position THQ for long-term sustainable and profitable growth."

For this year, THQ's big bets include Red Faction: Guerrilla, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Darksiders: Wrath of War. Looking beyond fiscal 2010, the publisher's plan includes continued emphasis on its owned intellectual properties, including more games in the Red Faction, Saints Row, and Darksiders franchises.

Fuente: http://www.gamespot.com/news/6207294.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=newstop&tag=newstop;story;13