q4

Windows 8 got pummeled today by analysts, who cited it as a major factor in tepid PC growth.

The launch of a new Microsoft operating system rarely, if ever, goes smoothly. But Windows 8 is having an especially bumpy takeoff.

The first reason Deutsche Bank listed today for cutting its PC estimates this quarter was a "lackluster initial uptake of Windows 8," in a research note from analyst Chris Whitmore.

After citing the impact of amorphous factors like "macro weakness" and the "fiscal cliff," Whitmore continues.

Apple's knack for surprises held up in its quarterly earnings today.

The company narrowly beat expectations on revenue, but missed on profits.

Buoyed by sales of the iPhone and iPad, the company reported revenue of $36 billion and profits of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per share, for the quarter ended September 29.

Wall Street expected Apple to report $35.80 billion in sales, with earnings per share of $8.75. Apple's own forecast for the quarter was $34 billion, with earnings per share of $7.65.

"We're very proud to end a fantastic fiscal … Read more

Apple may disappoint investors tomorrow with fiscal fourth-quarter results that show weaker sales of its key iPad and iPhone product lines.

Wall Street is expecting Apple to report $36.27 billion in sales, with earnings per share of $8.91. Apple's own forecast for the quarter is $34 billion, with earnings per share of $7.65. Much of that tally is expected to come from the iPhone and iPad, which together made up 72 percent of the company's revenue last quarter.

This is the first quarter to include sales of Apple's iPhone 5, but only a few … Read more

Apple's rare earnings miss yesterday, driven by a falloff in iPhone sales, dinged the stock and led Wall Street analysts to reassess their expectations and financial models for Apple's current quarter.

The situation is an odd sort of problem. Sure, iPhone sales dipped in the latest quarter -- selling 26 million versus expectations of 29 million -- but the company stressed that its fan-base is simply putting off buying new products until the new version (read: the iPhone 5) comes out.

And that -- along with many other product upgrades -- leads us to look ahead not to … Read more

Sprint is looking to follow last year's Motorola Photon 4G with a 4G LTE variant, according to new rumors surfacing today. Called, for now, the Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE (what a mouthful!), the Android smartphone isn't dropping any spec hints, though history may offer clues.

At the time of its arrival last year, the Photon 4G was one of the top handsets on the market. Assuming Motorola and Sprint look to do the same with this model, I'd anticipate a display with 720p resolution and a high-end processor.… Read more

Nvidia is eying a market for inexpensive dual-core smartphones that underprice the iPhone 4S by a wide margin.

That phone segment, which the graphics chipmaker calls the "1,000 RMB phone" in China, will use Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 processor paired with a 3G modem, according to Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang, who spoke during the earnings conference call this afternoon. RMB refers to the Chinese currency.

RMB 1,000 is about 75 percent less than the price of an iPhone 4S, which currently retails for RMB 4,988 in China.

"That's a pretty exciting … Read more

Apple is out-shipping traditional PC vendors by a wide margin on the back of strong iPad sales, a marketing research firm has found.

In the fourth quarter, Apple became the leading worldwide client PC vendor by shipping more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs, representing 17 percent of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in the fourth quarter, according to Canalys.

Hewlett-Packard was a distant No. 2 with about 12.7 percent.

"We're going through the biggest shift the PC industry has seen in 20 years. It's very difficult to grow in the … Read more

Listening to Intel's CEO Paul Otellini over the last couple of months, one can't help but wonder whether Windows 8 isn't coming sooner rather than later.

Sooner as in not next year (as in October?) Next year being a scenario pitched by some analysts.

And I do mean Windows 8 on the tried and true Intel and Advanced Micro Devices X86 platform--not ARM necessarily--as that's all Otellini cares about.

Otellini's chipperness started back in November when he made a very upbeat presentation about how Windows 8 will transform laptops into tablets--or what is now being … Read more

Intel surprised Wall Street today by posting fourth-quarter revenue of $13.9 billion, and earnings per share of 64 cents, despite issuing a warning last month about a revenue shortfall.

Analysts had been expecting revenue of $13.7 billion and 61 cents per share.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini said that server and storage growth in the Data Center Group was strong, in an earnings conference call this afternoon.

The company said net income was up modestly to $3.4 billion from $3.2 billion in the same period last year.

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of around $… Read more