Mobiles

According to a recent article written by Scott Ferguson of eWeek Magazine, laptop sales will increase 12 percent in 2008 regardless of current economic concern. That means the demand for laptop bags will grow in unison with the market. Mobile Edge is poised to help meet this consumer demand with quality laptop carrying cases and accessories that help the user reflect their own personal sense of style.

Here is a portion of the article from eWeek.

By Scott Ferguson

Even with the slowdown in the U.S. economy, PC shipments look to increase by about 12 percent in 2008, according to new research from IDC.

Despite growing concerns about the overall health of the U.S. economy and IT spending, PC shipments are expected to grow more than 12 percent this year, with laptops driving demand in both the consumer and commercial markets, according to new research for IDC.

In its March 12 report, IDC is predicting that vendors will ship about 302 million laptops and desktops worldwide in 2008, an increase of 12.8 percent from 2007 when OEMs shipped more than 267 million PCs.

The total value of the PC market will increase 7.4 percent this year for a total of $280 billion, according to the report.

The report also found the PC industry will see double-digit growth in shipments through 2009, even with the downturn in the U.S. economy, before hitting only single-digit growth in 2010.

While other reports found that IT spending on hardware could slow in the next several months, notebooks are driving the growth in the PC market as enterprises continue to refresh and replace old hardware. In addition, IDC found that a new class of low-cost laptops that are beginning to hit the market will drive more sales in the coming years, especially with consumers.

In a research note released March 13, Doug Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research, found that the worldwide semiconductor market, which includes Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, the two biggest chip suppliers to the PC market, is within its normal bounds for this time of year.

The American Technology Research report also found that notebooks are the driving force within the industry at this time of year.

“We believe the PC food chain is acting normal for this time of the year with sell-through generally down,” Freedman wrote. “Notebooks continue to grow as a percentage of total units and strong builds for low-end products likely benefits Intel this quarter in terms of unit share, based on our checks.”

Within the worldwide PC market, notebook shipments are expected to increase more than 26 percent in 2008, according to IDC. This double-digit growth will likely continue through 2012, although IDC does see some slowdown at the end of the four-year period.

Tor read the full article, visit the eWeek website by clicking here.

As the first U.S. carrier to launch the OpenWeb solution from Openwave Systems Inc., Sprint customers will be able to get faster, more user-friendly renderings of Internet sites, even those not optimized for the mobile device.

NTT DoCoMo will be selling their second Bone-Conduction Headset, Sound Leaf+, which uses bone vibration in the skull to transmit sound to the auditory apparatus. This method allows greater loudness sensitivity so that phone users can hear the speaker's sound more easily in noisy surroundings when using the headset.

Available since last week, Nokia has finally release a press release for the new Nokia N95 8GB for US. Packed with portable entertainment features and high-speed HSDPA connectivity on 850/1900 MHz networks in the Americas, the Nokia N95 8GB is now shipping to select locations across the United States -- and with six months of free navigation service included with Nokia Maps.

Obopay customers can now use their existing bank accounts to send and receive money via their mobile phone. With Obopay's mobile money transfer, non-customers can pick up payments without signing up for Obopay.

Boost Mobile announced the launch of a new mobile advertising platform for mobile phones. Acura and Fox Searchlight Pictures are among the first companies to advertise on Boost Mobile's mobile advertising platform.

Linksys introduced the Wireless-G IP iPhone (WIP310). The device is the latest edition to the Linksys IP phone product family offering VoIP connectivity via WiFi Internet access.

The new Samsung G810, with a 5 megapixel camera, running Symbian OS v9.2 and has HSDPA connectivity at 3.6 Mbps. Based on S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1, G810 users can also access a rich suite of applications on offer from the S60 applications library.

In a world where people are often divided by borders, differences and conflicts, it's easy to lose sight of what we have in common. Pangea Day is an event that seeks to overcome these barriers by helping people see themselves in others through the power of film. Nokia is inviting everyone to enter the 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards by creating and submitting their short videos to www.ovi.com/pangeaday to be considered for inclusion in the first Pangea Day broadcast event on May 10, 2008.