Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation operating system will be the driving force behind the company’s triumphant “re-rise” according to Acer chairman and CEO, J.T. Wang. While Microsoft maintained a 91.86% share of the global operating system market in October according to Net Applications — Apple’s OS X was No. 2 with just 6.94% of the market — the company’s mind share is still in decline along with its mobile business. In an interview with DigiTimes, Wang said Windows...

After announcing this past August that it was considering a spin off of its PC business, HP confirmed on Thursday that it would keep its PC division. “HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,” said HP CEO Meg Whitman in a statement. “HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger.” The initial announ...

Acer founder Stan Shih on Friday said that tablets like Apple’s iPad and ultrabooks like those in the works from numerous Intel partners — including Acer — are a “short-term phenomena.” Speaking with DigiTimes, Shih urged companies to continue focusing on notebook computers and innovative value-added products. Shih commended Apple for thinking outside the box when bringing the iPad to market, but said personal computers will continue to be requisites for businesses and consumers. When as...

Market research firms Gartner and IDC have both released preliminary data for global PC sales in the second quarter of 2011, and the reports paint a much improved picture compared to the first quarter of the year. Lenovo was the biggest winner globally in terms of growth according to Gartner, having shipped 10.23 million PCs for a 12% share of the market. The China-based vendor’s PC market share grew a whopping 22.5% compared to the same quarter a year prior, and Lenovo now finds itself in the No. 3 spo...

During his Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference keynote on Monday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the company has now sold 400 million Windows 7 licenses to date. Microsoft’s current operating system was first launched in October 2009, and it was welcomed with open arms as customers were eager to dump Vista following its troubled introduction. Despite an impressive 20 months for Windows 7, it is still far from being the world’s most used operating system. Windows XP’s share w...

Taiwan-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute expects roughly 360 million combined personal computers and media tablets to ship in 2011, Taiwan Economic News reports. MIC sees PC shipments growing 6.6% over 2010 to land at more than 320 million units this year, and it thinks shipments of media tablets like Apple’s iPad 2ill w exceed 48 million units in 2011, up 198% from 2010. MIC senior industry analyst Chris Wei notes that the improving global economy and replacement PC purchases in the ...

BGR’s Throwback Thursday segment is typically reserved for extinct tech, but this week we make an exception. On June 16th, 1911 — one hundred years ago today — Charles Ranlett Flint merged three companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Headquartered in New York City, CTR manufactured and sold scales, card-punch machines, meat slicers and a variety of other products that have long since been replaced by several generations of improved offerings. CTR changed its name to Internatio...

During a press event in Japan recently, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows 8 would would launch sometime next year. His firm says otherwise. “It appears there was a misstatement,” a Microsoft spokesperson recently said in a statement. “We are eagerly awaiting the next generation of Windows 7 hardware that will be available in the coming fiscal year. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.” Despite Microsoft’s stat...

According to a new report issued by Canalys today, the global PC market grew 7% during the first quarter of this year – largely fueled by tablets. There were 88.6 million PC shipments during the quarter, up from 82.8 million during the same quarter last year. HP had a 66% share of the shipments, followed by Acer (12.8%), Dell (11.3%), Apple (9.5%), Lenovo (9.2%), and others (40.6%). “Apple set the standard in the pad market, mainly at the expense of notebook and netbook shipments, as pads competed for...

It appears as though Acer founder Stan Shih will get his wish, as news of CEO Gianfranco Lanci’s resignation could mark the start of a much needed overhaul. Shih, who retired from the company in 2004, said on Tuesday that Acer is in need of an overhaul and a shift in focus from being a leader in the PC market to increasing profit margins. On Thursday, Acer announced that Lanci is resigning effective immediately, and company chairman J. T. Wang will step in as interim CEO until the company finds a suita...

We’re all settled in at the Samsung experience store in the Time Warner Center ready for the event to start. What’s Samsung going to announce today? TVs? Laptops? Smartphones? Refrigerators? We’ll see soon enough, ladies and gentleman. Hit the jump to read our live coverage. (more…)

Towards the tail-end of today’s HP media event, the company laid out its future plans for its acquired operating system, webOS. Citing a more connected, social world, the Palo Alto juggernaut promised to extend webOS beyond smartphones and tablets and on to printers (HP’s cash cow), PCs, and more. HP is one of the world’s largest printer and PC manufacturers, which makes the potential ramifications of such a move very, very interesting. All the talk has been extremely high level — no s...

Any developers out there that thought they’d be able to submit trial or demo versions of their applications for inclusion in Apple’s Mac App Store are going to unfortunately out of luck. Not unexpected, Apple has chosen to only offer full apps in the upcoming computer-focused application portal. Apple’s suggestion for those of you that still want to distribute beta, trial, or demo versions of your applications? Well, just keep on truckin’ and continue making those versions available on...

Sony’s first VAIO P was a was quite a disappointment considering how poorly it performed and the huge price tag it carried, but Sony seems to be confident that its second-gen VAIO P will right the wrongs of the past. Shipping one week ahead of schedule, the “Lifestyle PC” comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and has an Intel Atom Z530 processor and 2GB of RAM to help keep things flowing. Apart from that, the $900 rig has a 8″ 1600×768 display that’s straddled by optica...