Worldwide PC shipments may total 293 million units in 2008 (up 10.9%) but Gartner if global economic “headwinds” could push growth down to single digits. 

Mobile PCs exhibit strong momentum, emerging-market growth is robust, and desk-based PC replacements start to stir. However, a deepening U.S. recession, possibility of a sharp slowdown in China's economy after the Beijing Olympics, and higher prices of oil mean global PC shipments face increasing economic “headwinds.& Continue reading...

Context SalesWatch Distribution (data for France, Germany &UK) says the Average Selling Price (ASP) of 802.11n routers reached 111 euro in January 2008 (down 6.7% from 119 (excl. VAT) in Dec. 2007).

Vendors with the most significant ASP drops in January: Linksys (94 euros), Belkin (91 euros), U.S. Robotics (110 euros), AVM (152 euros) and SMC (43 euros). Distributor pricing was mostly stable for other vendors such as Netgear, D-Link, and slightly upwards for Apple.

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Just before CeBIT opened, the European Commission launched a €2.5 billion Joint Technology Initiative called ARTEMIS to address embedded computer systems that – while running almost unnoticed by users – improve the performance of all kinds of machines: from cars, planes and phones, to factories, washing machines and televisions.

An enormous opportunity for systems integrators that shifts commercial attention to industrial B2B commerce, more than 4 billion embedded processors were Continue reading...