7:31 PM
Report says that netbooks will be extinct by 2015. Netbooks were introduced in 2007 and there were 32.14 mil netbooks shipped in 2010...but the iPad was introduced in 2010 and other tablets followed, so just 14.13 mil netbooks were sold in 2012 and 3.97 mil in 2013. The projection is for just *264,000* netbooks to be shipped in 2014 and *0* netbooks sold in 2015. 32.14 mil in netbooks sold in 2010 will be 0 in 2015!
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-netbooks-likely-dead-by-2015-report-says-20130412,0,7382956.story
BlackBerry's stock took a dive after a variety of analysts reported that BlackBerry Z10 sales are weaker than expected. BlackBerry did not respond to those reports, but BlackBerry *did* object strongly when one analyst claimed that in several cases, return of the Z10 are now exceeding sales!
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-blackberrys-us-z10-sales-weak-start/2013-04-11
Verizon announced how they are tightening their smartphone upgrade policies for customers. Instead of allowing customers to get a new phone at the subsidized price after 20 months, they will make people wait 24 months...so, they are requiring an actual 2 years for a 2-year contract that customers sign. Customers with "New Every Two" credits that they have been saving for the Samsung Galaxy S4 are out of luck because their credits will expire on Monday unless they use it on a new phone this weekend. Customers who have been using tablet upgrades to purchase another smartphone will not be able to do that anymore. I'm glad that they are letting phone upgrades be transferred to smartphones--I have 3 people on my family plan with basic phones who don't upgrade their phones very often, which means that early upgrade transfers are very useful:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-tightens-handset-upgrade-policy/2013-04-12
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-netbooks-likely-dead-by-2015-report-says-20130412,0,7382956.story
BlackBerry's stock took a dive after a variety of analysts reported that BlackBerry Z10 sales are weaker than expected. BlackBerry did not respond to those reports, but BlackBerry *did* object strongly when one analyst claimed that in several cases, return of the Z10 are now exceeding sales!
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-blackberrys-us-z10-sales-weak-start/2013-04-11
Verizon announced how they are tightening their smartphone upgrade policies for customers. Instead of allowing customers to get a new phone at the subsidized price after 20 months, they will make people wait 24 months...so, they are requiring an actual 2 years for a 2-year contract that customers sign. Customers with "New Every Two" credits that they have been saving for the Samsung Galaxy S4 are out of luck because their credits will expire on Monday unless they use it on a new phone this weekend. Customers who have been using tablet upgrades to purchase another smartphone will not be able to do that anymore. I'm glad that they are letting phone upgrades be transferred to smartphones--I have 3 people on my family plan with basic phones who don't upgrade their phones very often, which means that early upgrade transfers are very useful:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/verizon-tightens-handset-upgrade-policy/2013-04-12