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PC, Graphics Shipments on Surprise Rise

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WW Q2 2011 shipments fail to behave according to past years' sales patterns, according to Jon Peddie Research-- resulting in higher Y-o-Y shipments for both graphics and PCs.

PCGraphics shipments for Q2 2011 show 6.3% Y-o-Y growth (where the 10-year average for Q2 totals 3.5%), while PC shipments are up by 2.4% Y-o-Y, reaching totals of 84M.

JPR describes 2011 as a whole as "anomalous," with the increase the Q2 growth welcome, if "not a bit worrying"-- is it inventory building for the back to school and holiday seasons, or channel stuffing (with potential negative effect on Q3 and Q4)?

Like all other analysts, JDR says tablets changed the nature of the PC market, and thus its results only include desktops, notebooks/netbooks and PC-based commercial (such as POS).

Intel sees growth of 21% in desktop and notebook processor shipments, with 14.7% growth in market share thanks to its Core i5 EPG (EmbeddedProcessor Graphics) CPUs, Sandy Bridge and Pineview Atom sales for netbooks.

Meanwhile AMD and nVidia lose in overall Y-o-Y market share-- AMD has losses of 14.2% and nVidia slips by 18.4% due to its withdrawing from the integrated segments.

However AMD's HPUs see 80% Q-o-Q growth for desktop and notebook, and Intel's EPG growth averages 41%, confirming the CPU with embedded graphics' value within the industry.

The analyst also says that while netbooks contribute to notebook growth "a bit", it also speculates tablets are cannibalising into netbook sales.

Ultimately, 2009's market crash and ARM-based tablets' appearance (and subsequent influence) caused the PC market's deviation from historical trends, and changes in market data are likely to continue until tablets "find their place in the market"-- and analyst decide whether to include them or not within their PC marktet analyses.

Go Q2 Surprise: Graphics and PC Shipments Up According to Latest Report

Fnac and Lagardère Services Join Travel Retail Forces

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French retailers Fnac and Lagardère Services announce a "strategic partnership" with a network of new small stores in France and Spain.

FnacThe stores-- measuring less than 350 m²-- will appear in train stations and airports around the 2 countries.

While Lagardère Services operate the stores (with its travel retail know-how) Fnac will provide branding, as well as its products and service offerings.

Fnac describes the move as a "venture into new horizons", seeing how travel retail is a new market for its current store formats.

Go Fnac and Lagardère Services Join Forces

Will the Games Industry Support HMV?

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HMVHMV asks the games industry to step up show its support, following its difficult start for 2011.

Speaking to MCV, HMV CEO Simon Fox says the games industry has to do what it can to support the retailer, just as the film and music industries did earlier this year.

HMV's losses for the 53-week period ending April 2011 total £121.7M.

Fox tells MCV the retailer is currently undergoing a "process of rebuilding confidence", in the hopes that the crucial Q4 2011 period will prove to be a successful one.

Go HMV: "Games Industry Needs to Support Us" (MCV)

Go HMV Full Year Results

The iPad 2 With Solid Gold (Pre)History

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We've seen plenty of blinged-out CE devices-- especially iDevices, for some reason-- yet we're sure Stuart Hughes' latest takes the "most luxurious" award, until something else manages to beat it.

Gold History iPad 2What makes the "Gold History Edition" iPad 2 unique is history-- or pre-history, rather. Its front frame consists of 75 million year-old Ammolite rock containing fragments from a 65 million year old T-Rex fossil thigh bone!

The device's rear is no less impressive-- with 2kg of 24 carat gold and an Apple logo formed out of 53 individually set diamonds.

Topping everything off is a home button consisting of a single cut diamond set within a platinum base containing 12 more diamonds.

There's 2 Gold History Edition iPads in existence-- each costing an affordable (ha!) £5000000. No mention of a similarly luxurious smart cover yet, though.

Go iPad 2 Gold History Edition

Pierre Cardin Takes on Tablet

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Your more fashionable customers might want Pierre Cardin for their next tablet-- the haute couture designer announces the PC-7006 Android tablet.

Pierre Cardin TabletIt runs last year's Android (version 2.2) and comes in a 7" form factor, complete with a Cortex A-8 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (expandable via Micro SD cards) and built-in wifi.

The package comes in a fancy leather case, which makes it look rather good.

Those wanting 3G will need to accessorise though, since it only comes through a separately available dongle.

This is actually Pierre Cardin's second attempt at tablets-- following its 2010 Windows-based effort.

Go Pierre Cardin PC-7006

PierreCardin at CeBIT 2011

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