Microsoft Corp is cutting the price of its Windows software for small tablets, seeking to shore up foundering efforts to combat Apple Inc in the mobile-computing market, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Microsoft is using the changes to try and get more manufacturers to adopt Windows RT, a version of its flagship software for tablets, said the people, who asked not to be identified because pricing is confidential. The price cuts affect Windows RT for small-sized tablets.
A year after unveiling the first Windows RT machines aimed at cutting into Apple and Google Inc’s lead in the US$64 billion tablet market, Microsoft is struggling. Global device makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) and HTC Corp (宏達電) are shunning the system, leaving a dearth of RT machines in stores and giving Windows RT less than a percentage point of market share in the first quarter, compared with 40 percent for Apple, according to International Data Corp (IDC).
Microsoft will take pains to drum up interest in Windows RT, the variant of Windows 8 for machines with chips based on ARM Holdings PLC’s technology, at Computex, the largest PC-industry conference, which begins today in Taipei.
While Microsoft has not disclosed the prices computer makers are charged to preinstall the software on tablets, a cut would enable the manufacturers to charge consumers less.
HTC scrapped plans to introduce a full-sized tablet computer featuring RT on concern over lackluster demand, people familiar with the matter said last week. The device maker also balked at the price of making the machines, these people said.
HP, the biggest PC manufacturer, has no plans for an RT device, while Samsung Electronics Co, which developed an earlier RT tablet before opting not to sell it in many markets, has said it has not decided whether to introduce a successor.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day