News Bits: Lenovo and the NBA, Notebook Battery Shortages, Wal Mart to Push Laptop Sales for Holiday 2006

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Lenovo and NBA announce global partnership

October 23^rd - The NBA and Lenovo today announced a new multi-year global marketing partnership to increase Lenovo's brand recognition internationally, and to enhance the NBA game by using new technology and statistics.

Lenovo will be the &quot;Official PC Partner of the NBA&quot; with marketing rights in the United States and China. Lenovo products will be integrated into all facets of NBA operations, highlighting Lenovo's focus on building the world's best personal computers.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement:

“The innovation and reliability of Lenovo computers forms the foundation of this unique global alliance which will integrate Lenovo products throughout the league and enhance how fans experience the NBA around the world. Through our shared commitment to social responsibility, we will help make technology accessible to underserved communities through our NBA Cares initiatives.”

Lenovo will deploy ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, and Lenovo 3000 notebook and desktop PCs courtside in all 30 NBA arenas to record data and statistical information for over 1,300 NBA games in the regular season and playoffs. Lenovo personal computers will be used by NBA statisticians, who will benefit from touch-screen Lenovo PCs to log game statistics to NBA.com, the league's 30 websites, NBA TV, and thousands of media around the world in real time. NBA referees will also use Lenovo personal computers to review videos of their calls at halftime, post-game, and while traveling between games.

Compal profit falls, battery and memory DRAM chip shortage

October 23^rd - Compal Electronics, the world's #2 notebook manufacturer today reported a 2.1 percent fall in quarterly profit due to stiff competition hurting profit margins. Compal's Q3 profits missed market expectations, although the company forecasts that Q4 shipments will rise by 18 percent from Q3 despite part shortages.

According to Compal President, Ray Chen, &quot;Demand in the fourth quarter is hot, but component shortages, especially for batteries, will affect our output this quarter.&quot; Part shortages are not isolated to batteries; memory DRAM chips and CPUs by AMD are also in short supply. Compal could not fulfill orders for 100,000+ units due to battery shortages, and the company has revised its Q4 shipments to 4.6 units, down from 4.8 - 5 million.

Compal's total shipments for 2006 should total 14 million units, and the target for 2007 is 18 - 18.5 million. Notebook computers account for 90 percent of Compal's profits.

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Firefox 2.0 to be released October 24

Mozilla's Firefox web browser will see its first major update tomorrow as version 2.0 reaches its final state. The final release version should not be any different than the RC3 version. Firefox 2.0 is now officially complete.

With Microsoft's release of its Internet Explorer 7 browser, there are bound to be comparisons between the two browsers. Firefox is rapidly gaining ground in the business world; 44 percent of businesses with 250 employees or more allow their employees to use Firefox.

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WalMart to push HP and Toshiba laptop deals this holiday season

Who can forget the $400 laptop that WalMart sold during last years holiday season? The fights to get to those laptops were both entertaining and scary. Well, it looks like WalMart will be really pushing laptop sales again this November. According to statements made today by Wal Mart execs the store will &quot;aggressively push into electronics.&quot; Wal Mart will feature HP and Toshiba laptops prominently in its main shopping aisles and be aggressive with pricing. They will also be selling flat panel televisions at low prices.

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Acer notebook sales decline 20% sequentially in Taiwan market in October

While Acer's global notebook sales in October have remained strong as they did in Q3, the company's sales in Taiwan this month have declined 20% from Acer's recorded average in Q3. Vice president of marketing for Taiwan area at Acer, Calvin Chang, said the sequential decline is normal due to weakened demand in October after the peak season for the local market ended in Q3.

Chang predicted Acer's notebook sales would increase in November and December, and Q4 sales should reach the same levels as they did in Q3. Acer, like other manufacturers, will also be affected by the part shortage; shipment delays could be caused by a lack of key parts, especially CPUs. Acer is doing its best to avoid such delays.

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Sweet, I can't wait to get my Cleveland Cavaliers branded ThinkPad.

 

King James Thinkpad. =D

 

Compal makes notebooks for "HP" it said in the news release. I wonder which models they make for them?
The spokesman for Compal said: "margins will inevitably drop" they manufacture 40% of the notebooks in the world market.
This confirms that notebooks get cheaper even still. Great for consumers.