DigitMemo.com

Handheld makers saw their market contract substantially for the fifteenth consecutive quarter, down about 70% from its peak in 2002.

Playing in the handheld market today - with “handheld” being defined as a PDA without cellphone capability - isn’t much fun. Once again, the shipment volume of such devices declined significantly in the third quarter of this year.

IDC estimates that 728,894 PDAs shipped globally during the period, which is down 39.3% from 1.20 million in Q3 of 2006. Looking back over the past four years, third quarter shipments have shown a steady decline from about 2.3 million in Q3 2003. By Q3 2004, shipments were down to 2.0 million, one year later the number slipped to 1.7 million. In fact, in Q3 2004 Palm shipped more than 736,000 PDAs - more than the global market volume in Q3 2007.

Click for more on PDA market still shrinking dramatically with no end in sight »

The new data centers in Chicago and Dublin are being built on an accelerated schedule; Chicago will be up and running by April.

Prepping for growth in the Internet era can be costly, as Microsoft is finding out. The software company is ponying up more than $1 billion for two new data centers near Chicago and Dublin, Ireland, Microsoft confirmed this week.

These new investments only add to the hundreds of millions of dollars Microsoft’s already spending on server farms around the world to keep pace with online competitors like Google and to make sure it has the capacity to handle a growing online world, which daily checks millions of e-mails, downloads millions of software updates, and shares millions of photos. In each data center, there might be “tens of thousands” of machines, according to Microsoft. The Chicago facility will sprawl over more than 12 acres and draw tens of megawatts of power.

Click for more on Microsoft Spending $1 Billion On New Data Centers »

It took Apple approximately six weeks to ship its 2 millionth copy of Mac OS X Tiger back in 2005.

Apple said Tuesday that it sold over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in the company’s history.

Sales included copies sold at Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store, under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac computers. In comparison, it took the Cupertino-based Mac maker approximately six weeks to ship its 2 millionth copy of Mac OS X Tiger back in 2005.

Click for more on Apple sells 2M copies of Mac OS X Leopard in first weekend »

Google will unveil its long-anticipated plan to bring its software to cell phones within the next two weeks, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday

The “Google-powered” phones are expected to make it to market by mid-2008, possibly from Taiwan’s HTC, South Korea’s LG Electronics, Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, France Telecom’s Orange SA and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.’s 3 U.K., the report says. In addition to the ad-supported phone services bundling Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail, the operating system would be open to developers to build additional features.

Click for more on More Google Phone rumor »

Congress and the House decided once more to not tax the Internet!

The U.S. Congress and Senate once again agreed to a bipartisan resolution that extends the Internet tax moratorium.

The highly debated issue saw strong support for keeping the Internet tax free from both those in the industry and from grass roots movements.  ISPs strongly opposed any sort of taxation as it would hurt their revenues by driving away customers.  Users, who joined movements such as the “Don’t Tax Our Web Coalition,” did not want to be taxed either, as taxation would likely mean higher service charges.

Click for more on Let the Good Times Roll: 7 More Years of No Internet Tax »

Despite underwhelming consumers and being snubbed by enterprises, Windows Vista’s numbers keep growing

Despite underwhelming consumers and being snubbed by enterprises, Windows Vista’s numbers keep growing, with Microsoft Corp. saying Thursday that it has now shipped 88 million copies of the operating system, almost double the number of copies of XP in the same amount of time at its launch.

In late July, Microsoft said it had hit the 60 million shipment mark with Vista.

Click for more on Microsoft: 88 Million Copies of Vista Shipped »

Microsoft has announced a revenue of $13.76 billion for the quarter ending on September 30, 2007, a 27% increase over the same period of the prior year.

Microsoft’s businesses of Client, Microsoft Business Division, and Server and Tools grew combined revenue in excess of 20%, and experienced robust demand for Windows Vista, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows Server, and SQL Server. “Customer demand for Windows Vista this quarter continued to build with double-digit growth in multi-year agreements by businesses and with the vast majority of consumers purchasing premium editions,” said Kevin Johnson, president of the Platform and Services Division at Microsoft.

Interesting Quarter Notes:

• The fastest revenue growth of any first quarter since 1999
• Operating income = $5.92 billion, net income = $4.29 billion, diluted earnings per share = $0.45
• Microsoft’s largest acquisition occured, aQuantive was purchased for $6 billion
• Halo 3 achieved the biggest entertainment launch day in history

Mozilla, the group behind the open-source Firefox Web browser, disclosed its 2006 revenue Monday night: $66,840,850.

That’s a 26 percent bump up from the $52.9 million that Mozilla garnered in 2005. And with 2006 expenses slicing off only $19.8 million, Mozilla has a tidy sum left at its disposal, even if it’s no Microsoft.

“The highlight is that Mozilla remains financially healthy: we’re able to hire more people, build more products, help other projects, and bring more possibilities for participation in the Internet to millions of people,” foundation Chairman Mitchell Baker said in a blog posting. The foundation released the results in conjunction with its 2006 tax form.

Click for more on Mozilla’s 2006 revenue: $66.8 million »

AMD Says It Is on Track with 45nm Process Technology

Advanced Micro Devices said in its most recent call with financial analysts that despite of relatively slow ramp of its quad-core microprocessors the chipmaker does not expect any issues to occur with the ramp up of its 45nm production technology.

“We’re looking forward to ramping 45nm product production in the first half of next year,” said Dirk Meyer, president and chief operating officer of AMD.

Click for more on AMD: Start New Process Technology Ramp in Q1 2008 »

Microsoft Corp., facing new competition from Apple Inc., is working with sellers of its Windows Mobile phones to cut prices below $100.

AT&T Inc. began offering the 3125 Windows Mobile model for $49.99. Another phone will go on sale for less than $100 next month, Microsoft said, declining to name the company selling the device.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, competes with Apple and Symbian Ltd. in developing phones that handle e- mail and surf the Internet. More consumers are buying such devices, so-called smart phones, which had been the domain of corporate customers. As competition grows, Microsoft is cutting prices to appeal to a broader range of shoppers.

Click for more on Microsoft, Facing iPhone Challenge, Plans Phones for Under $100 »