ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Düsseldorf airport's departure terminal C houses Saturn's first automated retail shop, Saturn Xpress.

The kiosk carries over 50 products aimed at travellers-- headphones, recharging cables, mp3 players, digital cameras-- from top brand names.

Customers carry out purchases with a touch screen interface, and credit cards handle payments.

Saturn plans a test run of 11 Xpress kiosks in busy areas through Germany-- including airports and train stations.

Go Saturn Tests Use of Automated Retail Shops

ARM and IBM announce an extension in their collaborative semiconductor research deal.

While the 2 companies worked together since 2008, the new deal will see them research on increasingly smaller process sizes-- down to 14nm. This will result in cheaper, faster and more energy efficient designs for mobile devices.

The actual terms of the deal are not yet available.

ARM leads the mobile processor market, and now appears to be going for the netbook, notebook and desktop markets. Back at CES, Microsoft also announced its support for ARM-- with Windows versions supporting the company's architecture.

Go IBM and ARM to Collaborate on Advanced Semiconductor Technology

The Genesis, Lexmark's latest AIO printer, not only looks stylish but also offers speedy scanning, inkjet printing and wifi connection.

The company says the Genesis can scan a page in 3 seconds thanks to its 10MP imaging sensor.

A 4.3" touchscreen handles the user interface and allows users access to Lexmark's SmartSolutions cloud-based application suite (including Evernote and Box.net). A Twitter and Facebook app lets users print pictures posted on their social media through the printer itself. It can also access pictures on devices like iPhones and iPads.

Internet connections come through wifi and IEE 802.11n.

The Genesis uses Lexmark's Vizix print technology, with separate colour ink cartridges.

Go Lexmark Genesis

Gartner reports EMEA Q4 2010 PC shipments total 32m units-- a 6.2% increase over Q4 2009.

Meanwhile  W.W. Q4 2010 PC shipments total 93.5m-- a 3.1% increase over Q4 2009. This figure is below Gartner's earlier prediction of 4.8% for the same period

W. Europe's consumer market remains weak as consumers' preferences shift towards other CE devices. The professional market is picking up, even if PC pricing (due to increased Euro/Dollar exchange rates) remains an issue.

The professional sector sees steady growth thanks to replacement purchasing.

HP maintains its no. 1 position in W.W. PC shipments for the period, doing well in EMEA professional and consumer markets. Following it are Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.

Go Gartner Says Worldwide PC Shipments in Fourth Quarter of 2010 Grew 3.1 Percent; Year-End Shipments Increased 13.8 Percent