Google to 'share the wealth' with partners on Apps Premier Edition
Expanding on its efforts to drive revenues from its online application suite, Google this week launched a plan to help authorized reseller partners sell, customize and support the Premier Edition of Google Apps.
Beyond the capabilities included in the free but ad-supported edition of Google Apps, the Premier Edition offers features such as Google Video (although we've learned today that may be scaled back), calendar resource scheduling, SSL enforcement for secure HTTPS access, and e-mail and phone support, according to a comparison chart on Google's Web site.
Economic downturn cancels out 15% annual PC market growth
Separate reports released almost in tandem this morning by two of the world's three leading hardware analysis firms, show that what could have been a stellar year for PC manufacturers was wiped out in one quarter.
The downturn is being felt more keenly by Dell, which saw its annual growth rate slow by about 6 percent, according to figures from IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report and preliminary figures from Gartner. That company lost about one point of market share in the process, and its slim lead over HP in US unit shipments narrowed even further -- from about 5 points to about 1.1 points, according to Gartner's numbers.
Qwest to lay off 235 in Seattle
Qwest on Thursday announced the closure of its Seattle call center, taking 235 jobs out of Rain City. Some 216 affected employees will be given the option to move to Boise, where Qwest is consolidating its consumer credit-and-collection facilities, or to Qwest offices in Des Moines, Phoenix, or Salt Lake City. The other 19 -- managers -- can apply for jobs elsewhere in the company.
The company's office space in downtown Seattle is also on the market, though around 1,600 Qwest employees will still work there once the call center's gone. Qwest will announce its fourth-quarter and full-year 2008 earnings on February 10. Shares closed up .15 at 3.55 on the NYSE Thursday afternoon.
Analysts: Social networks used to find old friends, not new ones
Adults and teens alike use social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace more so to stay in touch with old friends than to make new ones, according to a new report by analyst group Pew/Internet.
Pew's study also found that the number of online adults with a profile on a social network site has more than quadrupled since 2005, from 8 percent back then to 35 percent today.
Intel releases its Q4 earnings report; revenues soft
After announcing last week that the company expects rather unattractive fourth-quarter results, Intel scheduled its usual fourth-quarter earnings call for 5:30 pm EST Thursday. CEO Paul Otellini, CFO Stacy Smith, and finance and enterprise services VP Kevin Sellers were on the call.
The company has continued to review its numbers since the January 7 announcement, which said that Intel expects revenues of around $8.2 billion, which is down 23 percent year-over-year and 20 percent sequentially. (Make that 19 percent post-call. -- AG.) Betanews liveblogged the call, below the jump.
FCC commish holds exiting chair to the fire on DTV switch
The current FCC is not going gentle into that Dubya night -- not with the DTV switchover looming on February 17. And reading between the lines of a letter sent Wednesday from FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell to outgoing FCC chair Kevin Martin, we suspect that Julius Genachowski has more than just technical issues to smooth when he takes over Martin's job. (And considering what usually passes for forthright discourse in DC, Martin may want an icepack for his tuchis, to take the sting off those footprints. It's quite the letter.)
McDowell expands on things said at Saturday's panel of FCC commissioners, which Betanews brought to you from CES. Martin also spoke in a separate event on Saturday, and we liveblogged that conversation for you. The letter in its entirety:
Report: Best Buy may be Pre's exclusive retailer
The WebOSArena blog is reporting that, for the first 60 days of the Palm Pre's availability, Best Buy will be the exclusive retailer for the new device, launched by Palm at CES last week.
Citing an unnamed "credible source" for its information, the blog notes that the Palm Pre will also be sold directly by Sprint.
Nvidia braces its shareholders for a loss
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Motorola slashes 4,000 jobs, cites slowing mobile phone sales
With sales of its mobile phones falling, Motorola announced on Wednesday that it will cut another 4,000 jobs and incur a fourth-quarter loss.
Faced with intensifying competition from Apple's iPhone, HTC's Android-based G1, and other mobile phones in a slowing economy, Motorola has undergone shrinking demand for its own handsets.
Now it's Google's turn: Big changes in a bad economy
In a very different business climate from last year, Google's classic strategy of firing up all burners evenly to see what projects cook first, may have abruptly ended this morning.
In a manner atypical of Google, which usually deposits its resources in a central location, it was left to every department affected by an apparent round of severe budget cutbacks to relay the bad news today on its respective blog. Google referred Betanews this morning to those individual statements, in lieu of a larger corporate comment.
Analysts: WiMAX will lag, and LTE might catch up
Could the current financial crunch push back additional WiMAX deployments to 2010, the same time frame projected earlier for LTE, the 4G network adopted by AT&T and Verizon Wireless? That's what one analyst group said this week.
"Mobile WiMAX revenues were very strong in the third quarter of last year, and we anticipate revenue for the fourth quarter to hit another record," according to Scott Siegler, senior analyst of mobile infrastructure research at Dell'Oro Group. "However, as we look into 2009, we expect the WiMAX market to be hit rather hard by the economic downturn."
In praise of Windows Media Center
Microsoft showed off developments on Windows Media Center last week at CES. Despite the Ballmer bluster, despite the inexorable march of Microsoft to seize control of all your screens, something important needs to be said.
Specifically: Not bad, Microsoft.
Court allows RIAA hearing to be Webcast
In the RIAA's copyright infringement suit against Joel Tenebaum, the defendant's legal council moved to have the January 22 hearing broadcast online via the Courtroom View Network (CVN). Believing the hearing falls squarely within the public interest, especially given the captivation the "Internet Generation" has for these sort of suits, Massachusetts District Court Judge Nancy Gertner approved the motion.
Further, Gertner found the RIAA's objection to the Webcast curious. "At previous hearings and status conferences, the Plaintiffs have represented that they initiated these lawsuits not because they believe they will identify every person illegally downloading copyrighted material. Rather, they believe that the lawsuits will deter the Defendants and the wider public from engaging in illegal file-sharing activities. Their strategy effectively relies on the publicity resulting from this litigation (though it is possible they have changed their minds about the virtue of this strategy.)"
Apple draws new and conflicting Psystar arguments
Apple clone-maker Psystar keeps scraping down deeper to the bottom of the barrel to turn up new claims in its Apple court battle, and its latest arguments seem at odds with its earlier attempts.
In a 17-page response to Apple filed last week in a San Francisco court, Psystar accuses Apple of violating the US Copyright Act by trying to prevent it from reselling the Macintosh OS after buying copies of the software from Apple.
Steve Jobs takes leave for a medical sabbatical
The Apple CEO's health problems are "more complex than [he] originally thought," so today, Tim Cook will be placed in control as Jobs takes a medical leave of absence.
Last Week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs released an uncharacteristic statement to the public regarding his health, and addressing speculation about why he would not be appearing at Macworld.
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