June 2008 Archives

In another sign that consolidation is escalating in the channel, distributor Avnet has acquired Source Electronics Corp., a provider of outsourced custom programming services for integrated circuits. Just a week ago, Avnet completed the purchase of Horizon Technology Group, a technical distributor and integrator in Ireland and the U.K.

The world may be facing uncertain economic times, but people still are buying computers. That's the conclusion to draw from research firm iSuppli's latest report on worldwide PC shipments. The study found global PC shipments rose 12.1 percent in Q1.

Long-time industry veteran John Venator is retiring as CEO of industry trade group CompTIA, the Computing Technology Industry Association. According to a report on Channel Insider, Venator will be replaced by Todd Thibodeaux, a senior vice president at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

A majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives has caved in to White House pressure and passed legislation granting amnesty to large service providers who monitored your computer and telephone lines without the necessary court order. Happy Amnesty Day to AT&T and Verizon!

IPTV service is finally catching on in the U.S.market, according to new research from iSuppli Corp. The company found that U.S. service providers Verizon and AT&T reached 1.2 million subscribers by last year's end, up 295 percent from one year ago. Verizon, which got a head start on AT&T has the lion's share of subscribers.

Toshiba America Information Systems (TAIS) has named Mark Simons as the company's new president and CEO. Simons is a 15-year veteran at TAIS, where he helped establish the company's thriving laptop computer business and served as a VP in the digital products division.

Sales to emerging markets and the continued demand for mobile technology are boosting PC sales, according to latest market research firm Gartner. The research shows that global PC sales will rise 12.5 percent this year, despite concern abut the economic slowdown.

Now that Apple's new iPhone has dominated the high-tech industry landscape this week, the real question is: what comes next? Will the sleek, slick "zippy" (as Steve Jobs termed it) device make it in the enterprise business market, or is its fate to be meremy a consumer novelty? 

FCC Chairman's Kevin Martin's free Internet access proposal won't be discussed at least until Julygiving the wireless carriers who oppose the plan more time to derail it. It seems likely the carriers will fight it tooth-and-nail.

The top channel distribution companies remain fairly optimistic about the financial future. Ingram Micro has just reaffirmed its guidance for Q2, anticipating earnings of between 34 and 37 cents per share on sales of between $8.5 and $8.7 billion.

It looks as if those mini-sized notebooks that are getting more popular may end up giving Microsoft's XP operating system a new life. The stripped down, barebones, small-footprint devices can't really handle Vista, so XP is Microsoft's alternative to Linux.

Talk about value-added service! A new plan to offer free Wi-Fi to Starbucks customers has proven so popular that the coffee-makers' Web site has been overwhelmed.

With a variety of new mobile devices on the horizon (including a new iPhone from Apple expected next week), mobile security is becoming more important and emerging as a profit-making opportunity for channel partners.