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There are now more than one billion PCs in use worldwide and this number will double by the year 2014, according to Gartner research. The figures relate to computers that are actually being used, as opposed to those that have merely been shipped over a period of time. Over half of these PCs (58 per cent) are based in established markets such as Western Europe, Japan and the US.
But these regions only account for 15 per cent of the world’s population. Users in emerging markets will play an increasingly large role in driving global take up, said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. “We expect per-capita PC penetration in emerging markets to double by 2013,” said Shiffler.

View: The full story @ vnunet

Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit recently kicked off the biggest hiring spree in its 11 years of existence. Ironically, the group’s attempts to lure talent sound a lot like Apple’s own efforts to highlight its position as the Arthur Fonzarelli of the IT industry. In a recent post to the Office for Mac Team Blog, Craig Eisler, general manager of the Mac Business Unit, announced the hiring campaign and highlighted the unique place the group occupies within the Microsoft galaxy.
"We are the brightest, coolest, and most interesting business unit at Microsoft — if we do say so ourselves," Eisler said in the blog post. Although presented in tongue-in-cheek fashion, Eisler’s description is reminiscent of Apple’s tendency to contrast its own coolness with Microsoft’s plodding nerdiness. But to Apple partners, the coming expansion of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit is a sign of the robust health and continued emergence of their preferred platform.

View: The full story @ CRN

Nokia on Tuesday announced it plans to acquire all of Symbian, which develops an operating system for mobile phones. The Finnish phone giant currently owns about 48 percent and will pay €264 million ($410 million) for the rest. It has received thumbs up from Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic Mobile Communications, and Siemens, which represents about 91 percent of the Symbian shares subject to the offer, according to a statement from Nokia.
Samsung Electronics, a partial stakeholder in Symbian, hasn’t commented yet, but Nokia said it expects the company to agree to the sale. The deal doesn’t come as a surprise to Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight. "Nokia paid out more than $250 million in Symbian license fees last year, so it makes commercial sense to buy Symbian for about $410 million, rather than keep paying what is effectively a subsidy to the other shareholders," Blaber wrote in a company blog.

View: The full story @ Infoworld