PC sales sank 10% in ’13, firms report
SAN FRANCISCO - Personal-computer sales sank even further during the Christmas shopping season, capping the steepest annual decline in PC shipments since desktop and laptop machines began to appear on people’s wish lists decades ago.
The fourth-quarter numbers released Thursday by the research firms Gartner Inc. and International Data Corp. serve as the latest testament to the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers. The mobile devices are typically less expensive than PCs and more convenient to use than clunky desktops, making them appealing alternatives to go online for work, entertainment, information and communications.
Gartner cited the shift to mobile devices as the main reason for a 7 percent drop in worldwide PC sales from the previous year during the three months ending in December, a period when the demand for electronics is at its peak. It marks the seventh-consecutive quarter of decreasing PC sales.
International Data Corp. came up with a slightly different figure. By its calculations, worldwide PC shipments slipped by nearly 6 percent during the fourth quarter.
For all of last year, PC sales plunged 10 percent, according to both Gartner and International Data Corp. Shipments of desktop and laptop computers had never slipped by more than 4 percent in any other previous year. About 315 million PCs shipped last year, according to the research firms.
Hewlett-Packard Co., the largest U.S. maker of PCs, had a particularly tough fourth quarter as its shipments declined by 7 percent to 9 percent from the same time in 2012, according to the researchers. China’s Lenovo Group saw its fourth-quarter shipments climb by 9 percent, according to International Data Corp. Lenovo begins this year with a worldwide market share of nearly 19 percent compared to 17 percent for HP.
Ruling affirms Apple win in patent case
Apple Inc. didn’t infringe a patent owned by Google Inc.’s Motorola Mobility unit concerning mobile-phone technology, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday.
The ruling, posted on the website of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, affirms a victory Apple won that ensured there would be no disruption to U.S. imports of its iPhone.
Motorola Mobility had unsuccessfully claimed Apple infringed six patents in a case before the U.S. International Trade Commission. The sole patent on appeal involves a way to control the delivery of data to applications on a wireless device. A three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit said the commission was correct to rule that Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple used a different technique.
Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., inherited the case when it bought Motorola Mobility in 2012 for $12.4 billion. The purchase was made in part to get Motorola Mobility’s trove of more than 17,000 patents, which Google hoped would be used to counter attacks that its Android operating system was infringing Apple and Microsoft Corp. patents.
The patent in this case also has been asserted against Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.
The case is Motorola Mobility LLC. V. U.S. International Trade Commission, 13-1666, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington). The commission case is In the Matter of Certain Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music and Data Processing Devices, Computers and Components Thereof, 337-745, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).
Google’s catamaran to ferry employees
SAN FRANCISCO - Google workers commuting from San Francisco to the company’s Silicon Valley campus can now make part of the trek on an 83-foot, Wi-Fi-equipped catamaran.
The search-engine company has launched a free ferry service from San Francisco’s ferry terminal to the Port of Redwood City about 26 miles away, where employees can then hop on a private bus to work.
Named the Triumphant, the charter ferry can carry up to 150 passengers and runs twice each morning and evening, with voyages lasting about 47 minutes each way, according to KPIX-TV.
“They’re going to see if this is something their employees want, and if it makes economic and logistical sense,” Peter Dailey, maritime director for the Port of San Francisco, which operates the terminal used by the Google ferry and other charter services, told the San Jose Mercury News.
The company’s venture into aquatic commuting depends on the impact on public ferry operation.
Google is hoping to defuse a growing controversy as the boat service started on the same day San Francisco city officials said Google and other tech companies, including Apple Inc. and Genentech Inc., that use public bus stops to pick up thousands of employees on private shuttles must pay roughly $1 per stop per day as part of an 18-month pilot program.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 24 on 01/13/2014