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Windows 7 is Selling Well, But Microsoft Could Still be in Trouble

Justin Kerr — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:46:10 -0600

Windows 7’s launch may have turned in an impressive 234% growth in sales over Vista, but at least one industry analyst report is suggesting it may not be enough to bring Microsoft out of the red. Boxed copies of the software enjoyed strong pre-orders, but as many of you know, the vast majority of these were sold at a significant discount with an average selling price of only $76 in the week ending October 24th. Sales of PCs through the OEM sales channel also grew by 95% during the launch week, but it has since settled down considerably.

According to the report, Microsoft’s fortunes in 2010 will largely depend on whether the global economic conditions improve, and if IT budgets increase along with it. Strong sales to consumers is one thing, but getting businesses to embrace a tech refresh is the real trick to Microsoft’s recovery. Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell suggested that his company is planning for the worst, and is being “reasonably cautious” about the prospect of enterprises adopting Windows 7.

"It looks like the Win7 inspired upgrade cycle can start in late 2010 and run through early 2013," Katherine Egbert, an analyst with Jefferies & Co., wrote in an Oct. 12 report. "We expect new hardware purchases to precede the software upgrades by about 6 months." Either way, business will need to replace aging hardware and software eventually, but the big question for Microsoft is “when”.

Do Your Part to Save the Economy - Buy Windows 7

Paul Lilly — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:15:54 -0600

We can think of several reasons to invest in Windows 7. It's faster than Vista and more secure than XP. The new taskbar rocks. UAC is much less intrusive than it was in Vista. And did we mention it's fast? But if you're still not convinced Windows 7 should be your next OS, consider that you could be helping the economy rebound, according to research firm IDC.

Take this however you will, but according to a report in the Boston Globe, Microsoft hired the research firm to conduct a study of the ripple effect of the Windows 7 launch. During the course of its research, IDC found that U.S.-based companies could hire some 25,000 extra works to cope with the Windows 7 launch.

"There is a bounce effect based on the introduction of Windows 7," Said Amie White, vice president for global research at IDC.

In addition to creating jobs, IDC also estimates that technology companies across the nation stand to sell an extra $110 billion in Windows 7-related products and services through the end of 2010. This will have a trickle down effect as these same companies pump $41 billion to develop, sell, and support new products for Win 7 users, the Boston Globe reports.

Sounds Utopian.

Image Credit: Microsoft

The Facebook Economy - High School Didn't Prepare You for This

Paul Lilly — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:20:31 -0500

Your Econ class probably never covered Facbook, but maybe it should. According to the Silicon Alley Insider, Facebook is "beating the s--- out of its numbers," and it's all thanks to Zynga's virtual goods.

Farmville, Texas Hold'em, and other social games are turning out to be cash cows. By some estimates, Zynga is pulling in a staggering $580,000 per day, with a good chunk of that coming from selling its users virtual goods. To ensure the well doesn't dry up, Zynga has spent a reported $50 million on Facebook ads.

"Zynga is an aggressive player in this space … possibly the most aggressive," writes AllFacebook.com. "There is two parts to their strategy. The first is to fund developers that have game ideas, promote them, and for those that are successful, they snatch them up, often at pennies on the dollar. The second is outright acquisition of successful application that they didn’t fund."

While Zynga has proven that selling virtual goods can be booming business, the future looks even brighter. There's talk of Zynga and Facebook teaming up to build a "Pay With Facebook" payment system that would both take on Paypal, and allow the companies to cash in twice on selling virtual goods.

Intel, Dell, and HP are Predicting a Tech Recovery for the Remainder of 2009

Justin Kerr — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 10:29:00 -0500

Stronger than expected demand for microprocessors has prompted Intel to raise its Q3 forecast from $8.1 billion to $9.2 billion, and the good news is they aren’t the only ones predicting better times ahead. Both HP and Dell are forecasting Q3 revenues to rise, though this news comes hot on the heels of disappointing year to date earnings.

On Thursday, Dell reported a 23 percent drop in Q2 profit, but still managed to beat the street estimates. CEO Michael Dell claims, “if current demand trends continue, we expect revenue for the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half”. Rival Hewlett-Packard reported a similarly depressing drop in profit of 19 percent for the first half of the year, but is also expecting the trend to reverse itself soon.

The PC Industry is expected to benefit from the economic stimulus package in China, as well as what appears to be the start of an economic recovery in the U.S. Windows 7 is also expected to help move PCs in the consumer sector, but businesses will likely put off upgrading for at least a year or more.

Survey: IT Industry to Take the Lead in Economic Recovery

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:26:04 -0500

Many financial savants grabbed their crystal balls and went into hiding when the economy went into freefall. Now that there are signs of recovery, they are again gazing into their crystal balls with renewed hope. According to many of them, including IMF’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard, the recession is behind us.

Tech honchos now believe that the IT industry would lead the recovery. According to a survey conducted by KPMG, two thirds of the 130 CEOs that were surveyed believe the IT industry would recover quicker than the US economy. Furthermore, a vast majority of CEOs feel 2010 would bring glad tidings for their industry. One can expect lesser job cuts in the near future as more than two thirds of tech bosses are not too keen on cost cutting.

Image Credit: ProgressOhio

Year-Over-Year Gaming Sales Drop Five Months Straight

Justin Kerr — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:18:05 -0500

Last month we reported on the rather bleak fortunes of the gaming industry, and it appears as though the trend that was identified in June has carried over to July. According to the NPD Group, July marks the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year video-game sales declines. Not only is the gaming industry no longer considered recession proof, but it managed to shed a staggering 29 percent compared to the same period last year. Sales of software and hardware for July 2009 were approximately $848.9 million, down from $1.1 billion in 2008.

NPD blames the summer tailspin on lackluster new game releases, and fewer hardware purchases. The industry on a whole is expected to pick up some steam in the traditionally strong Q4 period with several high profile launches expected. "This isn't the best time of year for video-game sales. In a down economy it makes it all that tougher said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "Of course, there's nothing that's ultimately going to be recession-proof if the recession goes on long enough."

“Video games have large amounts of entertainment value beyond short-term enjoyment," Gartenberg said. "That's typically one of the reasons video games have done well." Would you agree?

Blu-ray Could Save the Consumer Electronics Market

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:54 -0500

The PC market isn't the only sector to note its first decline since the dot-com bust. According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), consumer electronics in general is on pace to record its first annual drop in revenue since 2001, the same year the PC market also recorded its last decline prior to 2009.

Revenues are expected to be about $165 billion by the end of the year, down about 7.7 percent from 2008. However, it's not because consumers have reduced their spending. Instead, the CEA blames the lower revenue on lower product prices. In fact, CE spending as a percentage of all durable goods is as high as it has been in 50 years, TGDaily reports.

That might come as little consolation to CE manufacturers unable to cash in on consumer spending, but Blu-ray could turn that around. Despite falling prices of Blu-ray players, the CEA predicts unit shipments to reach nearly six million, a whopping 112 percent jump. That would push Blu-ray revenue over the $1 billion mark, a 48 percent increase over 2008.

Image Credit: tech2.in.com

Release Notes: Don't Let Economic Woes Keep YOU from Being Maximum

Will Smith — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:00:00 -0500

In times of hardship, it’s important that we, the people, step up and do our civic duty. That’s why, in light of the harsh economic conditions we all face today, I implore everyone to spend more money on computers. LOTS more money. With hardware vendors reporting the worst holiday season of all time, they desperately need you to buy more components and build new PCs. And so-called “budget” machines won’t cut the mustard. You need to buy $1,000 CPUs and multiple $500 videocards. Think 6GB of RAM is enough? Think again. Now, all this PC construction will undoubtedly require tough sacrifices in other areas: Your kids may not get to go to “college.” You may need to cut back on your “food” budget. You may need to turn off non-essential services like “water” and “garbage collection.” Just remember that baloney and ramen taste better when you have a rig that can run Crysis at 2560x1600 with everything turned all the way up. Yes, power user, some things are worth tough sacrifices.

Wait. That’s terrible advice.

I don’t want you to mortgage your children’s future or live on reconstituted noodles for the sake of a few extra frames per second. When times are hard—and I know that they’re hard for a lot of folks right now—necessities come first. And as much as we’d all like to think that a 30-inch flat panel and a new videocard are necessities, they aren’t. However, just because times are tough doesn’t mean you can’t continue to follow the basic spirit of our Pure PC Power philosophy. It simply means you’ll need to work on getting more from your existing rig.

That’s what we’re going to do in Maximum PC. Sure, we’ll still tell you all about the latest, greatest hardware, but in addition to that, we’re going to devote more pages to showing you how to get more from the kick-ass PC that’s already under your desk. Our first step is to expand our how-to section, adding pages and running multiple step-by-step DIY guides every single month. We’re also going to ever-so-slightly tweak our approach to product reviews. Maximum PC has always lauded raw performance at pretty much any cost. We’re not changing that, but we are going to seek out and make special note of products that offer great performance for a great value. Finally, due to popular demand, we’ve brought Best of the Best back to the magazine, and made it better than ever. In addition to all the classic categories, we’ve added CPU recommendations and also included budget and midrange suggestions for every category where they make sense. Check it out at http://www.maximumpc.com/best-of-the-best.

Let me know what you think of the changes we’ve made and be sure to send me your favorite PC performance tweaks. As always, you can reach me at will@maximumpc.com.