TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Years of antitrust allegations and legal wrangling between the world's largest makers of computer chips were resolved last week with a $1.25 billion payment by Intel. But Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang believes "further action needs to be taken to protect consumers," as he called out the chip giant's business practices in the integrated graphics sector where its pricing bundles make it hard to compete.

According to Huang, the Atom chip can be used with Ion when purchased alone for $45, but Intel offers a three-chip set including its own graphics processor for $25 as a means of driving sales and steering buyers away from the competition. The Nvidia executive went on to say that there is no point in getting an Intel bus license if it's impossible to compete against their allegedly unfair pricing practices.

Intel disputes these claims, of course, saying Nvidia is "playing a trick of numbers" by comparing list price to negotiated price, and that their current pricing strategies meet the legal standard worldwide.

Nvidia is the world's leading supplier of standalone graphics chips but takes a distant second place in overall market share to Intel, which supplies integrated graphics built into the chipsets that accompany all of its processors. Although no legal action is being taken on the pricing strategy front for now, the two companies are currently caught up in a legal battle over the scope of a 2004 chipset licensing agreement.

HP announced yesterday that it would acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion, or about $7.90 per share. The agreement will underscore HP's next-generation data center strategy, and the resulting business outcome will help customers simplify the processes of deploying an edge-to-core network fabric for the enterprise.

"Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitation imposed by a network paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor," said Dave Donatelli, an HP executive. He added, "By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the network industry." The acquisition will also expand HP's Ethernet switching offerings, add routing solutions and strengthen the company's position in China -- a quickly growing market.

The agreement has already been approved by the HP and 3Com board of directors, and is still subject to customary closing conditions. The deal should be finalized in the first half of 2010.

Intel and AMD have had a troubled relationship in recent years. The latter sued Intel for antitrust violations, with allegations that have been picked up by others including U.S. and European regulators, while Intel has claimed AMD violated a licensing agreement for x86 technology with its GlobalFoundries spinoff. In a surprise announcement, however, the companies revealed today that they have now put an end to all legal actions.

As part of the agreement, Intel will pay its rival the hefty sum of $1.25 billion and has agreed to abide by a set of business practice provisions. For its part, AMD will drop all pending litigation worldwide. The two companies also forged a five-year cross-licensing agreement that gives them access to each other's key chip technology, while abandoning claims of breaches under previous agreements.

Besides getting a huge chunk of cash to help offset their mounting losses, this means AMD is now free to produce all of its processors in third-party fabs. The formal agreement may additionally help Intel argue that its misbehaving days are in the past, as the company is still appealing a $1.45 billion fine from European regulators and facing an antitrust case in the U.S.

Computer peripherals maker Logitech has announced that it is acquiring video conferencing company LifeSize, in a deal worth $405 million in cash. The company offers a range of HD video conferencing solutions from large purpose-built video conference rooms to cost-effective add-on bundles for small businesses and remote workers.


Logitech is already a well-known consumer brand with products aimed at the consumer market, but the deal is expected to extend its reach in the video conferencing space beyond the desktop and propel them into competition with firms such as Cisco and Polycom.

The two firms will combine tech expertise, R&D, manufacturing and supply chain expenses, but LifeSize will continue to operate as a separate division under the leadership of co-founder and chief executive, Craig Malloy. The acquisition is expected to close in December, subject to the usual regulator and shareholder agreements.

LiquidTV TiVo PC w/ USB tuner, 1-year TiVo subscription for $35 + free shipping

Nero offers its Nero LiquidTV | TiVo PC, model no. 900053, for $69.99. Apply coupon code "AW-GB50-88KP" to drop it to $34.99. With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we've seen. The LiquidPC adds TiVo DVR functions to your computer. It comes with a 12-month subscription to TiVo, USB HDTV tuner, software, and remote control.

Antec VERIS Multimedia Station IR Receiver w/ Remote for $50 + free shipping

Buy.com offers the Antec VERIS Premier Deluxe IR Receiver with Remote for $49.99 with free shipping. That's the lowest total price we could find by $25. It's designed for media management and playback on your HTPC and mounts in a 5.25" drive bay (and covers another below it). It features an IR receiver with LCD display to show system information, allow volume adjustment, and more. IMEDIAN software for Windows XP, Vista, and 7 is included.

Four more tech deals after the jump.

Despite a recent flurry of rumors suggesting otherwise, Nvidia's chief executive says the company is not working on an x86-compatible chip to go against Intel. Speaking after an earnings conference call, Jen-Hsun Huang said their focus is still "very, very clear" and that is to concentrate their efforts on the graphics processors field and closely related parallel computing cards like the Tesla line.

Huang went on to say Nvidia expects its GPU products to proliferate across all kinds of platforms, including servers for parallel computing, supercomputing and cloud computing, so it's clear the graphics firm still intends to take some business away from Intel in those high performance segments. The company will also be concentrating on the fast-growing mobile sector with its ARM-based Tegra platform.

The ongoing dispute between Intel and Nvidia has already resulted in a pair of lawsuits, but apparently the graphics specialist is thinking longer term rather than just coming up with its own x86 chip as an end-run around Intel's refusal to allow certain chipsets under an existing license -- or so Huang wants us to believe.

On a final note, the CEO complained that Nvidia's longstanding foundry partner TSMC was not allocating them enough capacity, but dismissed any possibility of the company using AMD-backed Globalfoundries as a manufacturing partner for its chips.

Nvidia has reported a 74% rise in profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended October 25. During the recently closed quarter, Nvidia posted revenue of $903.2 million, a 16% increase on quarter and up slightly from a year ago. Net income for the third quarter was $107.6 million ($.19 per diluted share), which compares to last year's net income of $61.7 million ($.11 per diluted share).

Nvidia president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said the company "continued to make progress in the third quarter with healthy market demand across the board," and noted that enthusiasm has grown for Nvidia's Tesla platform in the server and cloud-computing markets. In the fourth quarter, Nvidia expects revenue to increase by 2% from the third quarter, with a gross margin of 40 to 42% and operating expenses around $305 million.

Catch a full list of Nvidia's fiscal third quarter highlights after the jump.

Microsoft has announced what it hopes will be the last in a recent series of layoffs aimed at cutting operating costs. Approximately 800 workers spread across multiple business units and locations will be receiving pink slips, going beyond the 5,000 originally announced back in January.

This marks the first large round of layoffs in the company's history. It immediately let go about 1,400 people after the cuts were announced in January, followed by more than 3,000 in May. In total, around 6.3% of its approximately 91,000 head count will have been eliminated after the program is completed, up from the 5.5% previously expected. Microsoft also reduced executive pay, cut travel expenses and dropped several products including Money, Windows Live OneCare and its Flight Simulator franchise.

Last month the company managed to beat analyst expectations for its first fiscal quarter earnings and revenue, which it attributed to its tight cost controls and better-than-expected sales, although it still saw a drop in revenue and steep losses from its online business division. All eyes will be on Microsoft early next year when it reports its fiscal second quarter results, as these will include Windows 7 sales numbers for the first time.

Intel is back in the hot seat after being nailed with a record $1.45 billion antitrust fine in the EU earlier this year. The chipmaker has been sued by New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo in an antitrust case with similar grounds.

In the latest suit, Intel faces allegations of abusing its dominance in the chip market to smother its main rival, AMD. Cuomo claims that Intel pressured PC manufacturers into limiting their use of AMD processors -- which is exactly why Intel was fined in Europe. "Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," Cuomo said. Assuming the accusations are true, Intel not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also deprived consumers of better products and lower prices.

Intel denies any wrongdoing, and has appealed the European Commission's ruling. The recent filing is the first formal antitrust action against Intel by any US government agency in over a decade. The FTC began investigating the company in 2008, but has not initiated formal proceedings.

As many predicted, the debut of Windows 7 has prompted a surge in PC sales -- for now, at least. During the first week of general availability, Windows 7 boosted computer sales by some 40% year-over-year, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Katheryn Huberty.

The figure is based on NPD sales data, and is partially skewed by consumers holding off purchases. During the two weeks leading up to Windows 7's launch, sales fell 29% and 2% compared to 2008. While computer sales have rebounded (and then some) from that stint, many people -- including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer -- don't expect Windows 7 to have a long term impact on PC sales.

Huberty also dismissed concerns that computer vendors over-shipped ahead of the Windows 7 launch by showing that PC inventory levels are still below average. Did you, or anyone you know, purchase a new computer during the Windows 7 launch week?

After recording a hefty third quarter loss, Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it will lay off a significant portion of its global workforce. The company intends to let go between 7 and 9% of its 64,000 workers, for a total elimination of 4,500 to 5,700 jobs. In combination with its "strategic workforce rebalancing," Nokia Siemens will reduce overheads, expand its portfolio and consider acquisitions "where assets would add scale to existing product areas or customer relationships."

The company has been slammed by weakened demand in the recession and said the cost cuts are in response to ''changes in the global economy and competitive environment." Nokia Siemens posted a 21.2% fall in revenue on year in the third quarter, and a 13.7% decline from the second quarter. The company hopes that its restructuring plans will reduce spending by 500 million euros (around $740 million).

Former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz stepped down as the chairman of Globalfoundries, a manufacturer of integrated circuits that was divested from AMD earlier this year.

Ruiz took a voluntary leave of absence as reports surfaced of his alleged involvement in an insider-trading scandal. He will formally resign on January 4. In the meantime, Alan Ross, the former CEO of Broadcom, will serve as interim chairman until a permanent replacement is selected.

Ruiz purportedly shared details about AMD's reorganization in 2008 with a Wall Street executive, who in turn made trades based on the information. The scheme allegedly produced millions of dollars in illicit profits -- though, Ruiz has not been charged, and prosecutors aren't saying that he profited from insider trading.

It's reported that Globalfoundries has not been approached in the investigation, and is not conducting its own inquiry. Both Jeremy Fielding, who is representing Ruiz, and AMD have declined to comment.

Toshiba and Hitachi have joined Sony in an antitrust investigation. The US Department of Justice will probe the companies' optical disc drive businesses, Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology and Hitachi-LG Data Storage. Sony's Optiarc America was subpoenaed yesterday.

None of the companies have disclosed what products are being investigated, but rumors suggest that it may be related to the high cost of Blu-ray. Combined, the companies account for some 60% of the optical drive market, so it wouldn't be surprising if they've been involved in some form of price-fixing and bid-rigging -- especially considering AT&T's recent allegations of an LCD conspiracy.

Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi have all agreed to comply with the investigation, and it could be a while before specific details of the case emerge.

Netflix posted its third quarter results yesterday, showing revenue of $423.1 million, a 4% increase from the second quarter and 24% from last year. Net income was $30.1 million or $.52 per share, up from $20.4 million or $.33 a share in the year-ago quarter. Sales grew 24% to $423.1 million from $341.3 million in 2008.

Netflix closed the third quarter with 11.1 million subscribers, which is 28% higher than the previous year's 8.67 million, and 5% more than the second quarter. Of that 11.1 million, 98% were paid subscribers and 2% were free members. While most Netflix users still prefer to handle business via snail mail, the company's Internet streaming service is taking off.

Some 42% of Netflix subscribers streamed at least 15 minutes of one TV episode or movie during the third quarter, which is 22% more than last year. Given this rising interest, Netflix plans to launch an international streaming-only service in the second half of 2010 -- though, it won't be available to US customers (at least not from the get-go).

Microsoft has released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, managing to beat forecasts despite a drop in both revenue and profit compared to last year. Specifically, the company's net income slipped to $3.57 billion, or 40 cents a share, from $4.37 billion a year ago while revenue fell 14 percent to $12.92 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Microsoft to post earnings of 32 cents a share on revenue of $12.4 billion, however. Tight cost controls and better-than-expected sales sent the company's shares up more than 6% this morning to $28.35, topping off a big week for Redmond after launching its Windows 7 operating system to positive reviews yesterday. No pre-sales numbers were included in its latest results, offering hope that the current quarter will show a boost in sales from the new operating system.

Revenue from its entertainment and devices division, which includes the Xbox 360 and the new Zune HD, was almost unchanged from last year, but profit nearly doubled. However, losses from its online business continued to mount, jumping 50 percent to $480 million as Microsoft poured money into trying to catch up with Google.

Amazon posted solid third-quarter earnings today, announcing a 62% rise in profit to $199 million, or $.45 per share -- crushing analyst forecasts of $.30 per share. Revenue rose 28% to $5.45 billion, which also far exceeded analyst expectations of $5.03 billion.

The e-commerce company said that revenue from items like books, CDs and DVDs was up 17% at $2.93 billion, while electronics and other general merchandise soared by 44% to $2.36 billion. Revenue in North America was up by 23%, and rose 33% globally.

Amazon's Kindle e-book reader was reportedly its best seller during the period, though no specific figures were given. The company did say, however, that it intends to release software next month that allows consumers to buy Kindle books and read them on a PC -- no matter if they own a Kindle.

Amazon also announced a $20 price cut on the international version of the Kindle (now $259), and that it is discontinuing the original US-only Sprint-backed Kindle. The price reduction is undoubtedly a response to Barnes & Noble's "Nook" e-reader, which debuted yesterday for $259.

The world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia, today launched a legal attack on Apple alleging the iPhone infringes 10 of its patents. Specifically, the company claims ownership of technology relating to GSM communications, WLAN and UMTS (3G WCDMA) standards that cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption.

The Finnish firm says it has invested approximately €40 billion ($60 billion) in research and development, and has successfully entered into license agreements with virtually all the leading mobile device vendors -- except for Apple. Apparently the companies have been locked in negotiations for quite some time, since all iPhone models dating back to the original introduced in 2007 are allegedly infringing.

Nokia still commands a majority share of the worldwide cell phone market, but has seen its dominance slip in recent years as Apple's iPhone, RIM's BlackBerry and others eat into their customer base. The company reported a loss of $836 million dollars for their most recent quarter. Apple on the other hand reported its "most profitable quarter ever" this Monday with iPhone sales up 7% from the same period a year ago.

Those looking forward to the wide rollout of USB 3.0 are in for a major disappointment, if an unnamed industry source talking with EETimes is to be believed. Pointing out that the new interconnect "won't get real traction until it gets integrated in the chip sets," the source claims that Intel won't be offering motherboard integration before 2011, so vendors who want USB 3.0 will have to turn to costly third party controllers.

The information is said to come from a senior technology manager at a "top tier PC maker," who explains that Intel chipset teams are more focused on supporting the current Nehalem platform, as well as transitioning to the 5 GHz PCI Express 2.0 specification. The chip maker may also be showing preference to its own optical cable interface, Light Peak, which can handle transfers up to 10Gbps and will enter mass production early next year.

Intel has declined to comment on these assertions. If true, it doesn't necessarily mean we won’t see any USB 3.0 support next year, but you probably shouldn't expect to see the new interconnect on cheap boards, which in turn means less USB 3.0 compatible peripherals as the market will simply be too limited to be profitable.

Looking to secure a stronger foothold in the fast-growing flash storage business, Samsung has announced today it is investing "millions" in startup company Fusion-io. The undisclosed cash injection will reportedly see Fusion-io working closely with Samsung, which is already a big player in the NAND flash market, on evaluating technology for new applications of solid-state storage.


Fusion-io specializes in fast storage devices that plug directly into PCI Express slots, rather than SSDs using traditional HDD form factors and SATA interfaces. Their enterprise-class ioDrive Duo, for instance, offers up to 640GB of storage and read rates of up to 1,500MB/s. A gamer-oriented ioXtreme version is also available for around $895, boasting 80GB of MLC storage and an average bandwidth of 520MB/s -- enough to put even Intel’s SLC-based X25-E Extreme drive to shame.

Yahoo joined the ranks of other major tech companies that turned a profit in the recent quarter after reporting better-than-expected earnings. The search company posted a net income of $186 million or $.13 per share, which is up 244% from the year-ago quarter's $54 million, and excluding some expenses net income was $213 million or $.15 a share.

Yahoo's surge in profit comes after some major budget trimming, and despite the company's handsome bottom line, its revenue is still falling. Yahoo recorded revenue of $1.6 billion in the third quarter, down 12% year-over-year, and excluding traffic acquisition costs revenue was $1.1 billion.

Looking ahead, it is expecting gross sales to hit some $1.6 to $1.7 billion in the current quarter, and it is preparing a $100 million-plus marketing campaign. The company also agreed to a lengthy search and advertising deal Microsoft over the summer, which will put Bing on Yahoo's websites, and that is expected to rollout sometime next year.

Microsoft has confirmed plans to open its first retail store this Thursday, October 22, to coincide with the launch of Windows 7. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, Microsoft is set to open doors at 10 AM and offer incentives to spur early traffic, including free tickets to an Ashley Tisdale concert at 5PM.

If teenage pop music isn't your thing, however, fret not. The company is reportedly giving away gift bags to the first 1,000 visitors and will have some special offers running. Every PC buyer on launch day gets a free HP printer and a copy of Office 2007 Home & Student, for example.

Microsoft's retail stores are expected to showcase computers and mobile phones running Windows software, as well as the company's own Xbox 360 and Zune hardware. A further site is reportedly planned for Mission Viejo, California. Meanwhile, Apple is said to be launching an aggressive ad campaign to try and steal the spotlight away from Windows 7's launch.

Benefiting from a rebounding PC market, AMD has posted a narrower than expected loss for the third quarter of 2009 and offered an upbeat outlook for the remainder of the year. Its chip design arm actually made a $2 million net profit this time around, up from a $244 million net loss in the second quarter, but once you add in the numbers from GlobalFoundries things don't look as well.

All in all, the company recorded a $128 million net loss on $1.4 billion revenue last quarter, which despite marking their twelfth consecutive period into the red, beats market expectations of a ~$300 million net loss on revenue of $1.26 billion. AMD saw strong demand for its processors and graphics chips during the third quarter, according to CEO Dirk Meyer, and benefited from higher average selling prices.

The company reported revenue of $306 million for its graphics chips business, up 22% sequentially, while its computing solutions unit saw a 17% jump in revenue to $1.1 billion. Despite the improved results, both businesses' numbers were still down compared to the third quarter of last year.

Meyer said they expect revenue for its product-design division to be "up modestly" in the fourth quarter, but apparently failed to excite investors who have sent AMD's stock down roughly 6% since the announcement.

Gartner has released a report that shows a rise of .5% in PC shipments during the last quarter from a year ago. A small but nonetheless positive gain, compared to the second quarter's 5% decline and the first's 6.5% drop. The growth was somewhat of a surprise to Gartner, which expected PC shipments to fall by 5.6% in the third quarter.

Last quarter held a milestone for Acer, as the company raced passed Dell to claim 15.4% of the global market, with the latter holding about 12.8%, and HP remained on top with a 19.9% share. HP performed about equal to the prior quarter, but Acer and Dell were neck and neck with 13.5% and 13.6% of the market.

Gartner's report also shows a 3.9% on-year increase of PC shipments in the US during the third quarter, which compares to a 1.2% year-over-year decline in the second quarter. Dell held its ground in the States, with 26.2% share and even widened its lead over HP, which claimed 25.7% of the market. Meanwhile, Acer accounted for 13.9% of US PC shipments, and Apple took fourth place with 8.8%.

Gartner expects the launch of Windows 7 to have a "minimal impact on PC unit growth," but notes that inventory adjustments could artificially affect shipment volumes. This report follows Intel's better-than-expected third quarter earnings.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced it is close to finalizing a new wireless standard that will let devices discover and connect to one another without the need for a router. Dubbed Wi-Fi Direct, the technology seems to compete directly with Bluetooth by allowing peer-to-peer connections between wireless devices but at higher speeds and greater distances than the latter.

Many existing devices embedded with Wi-Fi will reportedly be able to upgrade through software. In other words, this means you could send documents to a printer without routing data through a home network, or back up data to an external hard drive wirelessly. You could even connect a keyboard or mouse to a computer and easily move images and video from a smartphone or camera straight to a TV set with wireless capabilities.

The technology will support standard Wi-Fi data rates and devices will reportedly be able to connect to one another within 100 meters of each other. It also includes WPA2 security and management features for enterprise environments. The Wi-Fi Alliance says it plans to publish the specification as soon as it is finalized and will begin certifying devices for Wi-Fi Direct in 2010.

Intel did well for itself in the third quarter, outpacing analyst's profit and revenue forecasts -- though, figures were still down from a year ago. The chipmaker posted net income of $1.9 billion on revenue of $9.4 billion during the third quarter, which is up 73% and 18% from the previous quarter, but down 15% and 7.8% year-over-year.

Intel seemed pleased with the figures despite the decline from 2008. "Intel's strong third-quarter results underscore that computing is essential to people's lives, proving the importance of technology innovation in leading an economic recovery," said Intel CEO Paul Otellini in a statement. Otellini said the company is confident in its business prospects going forward, and it is looking ahead to its "game-changing" 32nm technology.

During the second quarter, Intel accounted for 80.6% of global microprocessor revenue -- up 1.4% from a year ago. The company's presence will only increase as it elbows its way into the mobile market.

Cisco has agreed to acquire Starent Networks in a deal worth some $2.9 billion ($35 per share -- a 20% premium). Starent's technology allows mobile operators to deliver multimedia services like TV, VoIP, photos, video, and games to mobile devices. Cisco hopes the buyout will better prepare it to take on the ever-increasing demand for high-speed mobile Internet. The company predicts that by 2013 about 60% of the data traveling across mobile networks will be from videos.

Both companies hope to close the deal in the first half of 2010 upon regulatory approval and other typical closing conditions, at which point Starent will become Cisco's new Mobile Internet Technology Group, headed by Starent's president and CEO Ashraf Dahod. The companies will operate as separate entities until they finalize the deal.

This acquisition follows Cisco's move on October 1 to purchase Tandberg, a maker of videoconferencing systems, for an equally pricey $3 billion.

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) disclosed its financial information for September, showing revenue of NT$462 million ($14.4 million). A monthly high for the company during 2009, its September revenue marked a 4.74% increase from the prior month and 4.84% year-over-year. SiS' revenue hit NT$1.34 billion in the third quarter -- a 23.75% sequential growth. The company's first three quarters totaled NT$2.91 billion, which is down 39.34% from last year.

SiS' PC chipset business accounts for some 65% of its revenue, with about 60% company from the notebook market and 5% from desktops. Representing about 30% of the company's revenue is its Xbox chipset business, with shipments spurting some 30% sequentially in the third quarter -- though, that growth is expected to drop off in the fourth quarter.

Recognizing the inevitable impact from Intel's move to one chip solutions -- which SiS expects to be the standard late next year -- the company has turned its focus to touchscreen controllers and USB 3.0 IC development.

According to a report by DisplaySearch, the climbing popularity of netbooks has dented notebook shipments and revenue, with the mini-laptops now accounting for 22.2% of the portable PC market, and 11.7% of revenue. Second quarter figures showed much interest in netbooks, with revenue up 37% from the previous quarter and 264% from the same period a year ago.

Meanwhile, conventional notebook sales fell 14% to $23.2 billion during the second quarter. Standard laptops dropped 13% on year to $19.7 billion, ultraportable systems slipped 31% to $1.4 billion, and desktop replacements dropped 6% -- meaning that all portable PC subcategories are down in sales year-over-year except netbooks.

In addition to being more compact, netbooks typically offer something most consumers are after at the moment: low cost. Although the devices are a bit more glamorous than their debut a few years back, they are still mostly just a basic, cheap alternative to full-blown laptops. The many subsidized units offered by telecom giants have also influenced sales.

DisplaySearch expects these trends to continue, with netbooks to account for some 21.5% of portable PC shipments next year.

ARM and GlobalFoundries have inked "a broad agreement on processor implementation and circuit optimization to provide mutual customers with a robust enablement program geared towards next-generation applications." The two are basically teaming up in a strategic partnership to allow mutual customers to develop processors for mobile products using ARM technologies and Globalfoundries' 28nm fabrication process.

The chips will be aimed at ARM's usual domain of smartphones, netbooks and other small devices. The collaboration will only further strengthen ARM's position in the mobile and embedded market. It comes at a time when major players are frivolously working toward a die shrink, such as Intel and its 32nm manufacturing process.

Intel's next-generation Atom processors are expected to be a more viable option in the mobile realm. The company is placing much focus on the upcoming Atom chips, which will feature a system-on-chip (SoC) design. The chips will include an integrated single-channel DDR2 memory controller and graphics core -- which is especially valuable in mobile devices.

According to a recent study by NPD Group, 12% of households that have computers own a Mac, which is up 3% from last year. The outfit's research also shows that 85% of those Mac owners have a Windows-based PC. Some 66% of Apple computer households own three or more computers, compared to just 29% of Windows PC households.

NPD's report suggests that Apple owners are more mobile as well, with 72% of them owning a notebook, as opposed to 50% of Windows PC owners. In addition to owning more computers, Apple computer households are more likely to own an iPod, at 63% versus 36%. The same is true for navigation systems, with about 50% of Apple owners having one compared to only 30% of all computer owners.

There is an obvious explanation for this, which is that Apple computer users tend to have higher household incomes, with about 36% reporting incomes greater than $100,000. More money typical translates to more spending -- especially on electronics and gadgets. The average Apple household owns 48 consumer electronic devices, whereas the average computer household owns about 24.