Items tagged with Recession
Analyst firm IHS reports that chip supplier inventories have risen for the seven consecutive month. The continued rise in inventories reflects a general belief that consumer demand for electronic products will soon increase, though economic indicators are somewhat sketchy on this point. "Increases in stockpiles during the first quarter reflect efforts by semiconductor suppliers to rebuild inventory for products that were in short supply during the capacity crunch of 2010,” said Sharon Stiefel, analyst for semiconductor intelligence at IHS. “Suppliers also are moving to strategically build for the higher demand expected later this year. In a fortuitous stroke of good timing, semiconductor...
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Tomato, to-mah-to. Netbook, Mini-Note. Despite the fact that DisplaySearch refers to the well-known netbook as a Mini-Note, we still catch the research outfit's drift: shipments of these mini notebooks are expected to surge this year.With the economy forcing consumers to take a closer look at just how much they spend on their next mobile PC, and with emerging markets looking to finally secure notebooks they can afford, the netbook sector is expected to boom throughout the rest of this year. In fact, DisplaySearch figures that netbook shipments will hit 33 million in 2009 and its overall penetration into the netbook PC market to hit 20% worldwide.It's kind of hard to fathom that netbooks were...
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As the economy here in America creeps back into gear, the online gaming industry is reaping the benefits. According to a new survey, video game addicts who aren't already turning their attention to the tube (or even a subset of those who are) are looking to low-cost online games to pass the time.Industry tracker ComScore found that around 87 million US Internet users visited online video game sites in May, which is a 22% increase from the same month last year. We'd heard that the economy was forcing more users to remain planted at home, but wow--22% percent! According to ComScore, the "continuing surge in online game play was attributed, in part, to people opting for cheaper entertainment alternatives...
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Ever since this so-called "recession" thingy got the media all hot and bothered a few months back, we'd been hearing that more and more individuals were finding ways to stay entertained at home. Now, we finally know what they've been doing at the domicile: gaming.A new research report published this week by the Nielsen Company shows a sharp uptick in hours spent in front of a game console since the economy as a whole took a turn for the worse. Said stat has been on the rise since 2007, but here lately is has especially shot up. Of course, this totally makes sense--with more people curbing their spending on "going out," it makes sense that dusty consoles are seeing more usage.The other finding...
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It's a little funny, really. Just two weeks ago, we saw a report from ABI Research asserting that netbooks were getting along just fine in the recession, and already another research firm is out to burst that bubble. Essentially, iSuppli is anticipating that netbook sales will begin to cool once our economy is completely back on track, noting that sales have been held up thus far by the recent attractiveness of low-priced everything. In fact, global shipments of these low cost notebooks are up nearly 70% in 2009, but it's not likely that such a remarkable growth pattern will continue -- at least not so steeply. Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli, had this to say:...
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While we're still unsure if netbooks are ready to dabble in the corporate world, they're clearly ready to take on pretty much every other sector. In fact, they already have. According to new research from ABI Research, netbook sales really haven't been adversely affected during the recent credit crunch. Sure, the extra low price tags are mostly to thank, but even without any recessionary factors, some analysts suggest these things would still have taken off.The report notes that the recession has definitely given netbooks an edge over larger, pricier alternatives. First off, netbooks are a new class of device, and obviously adoption tends to be rampant when a product is hot, new and unique. Secondly,...
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You don't have to search hard to find signs of the economic downturn. Just look at the newspaper, or your favorite website. But a new report on Americans' search behavior by market research firm comScore emphasizes the FUD of Americans during this recession. Check it out. Searches for: Coupons, up 161%Unemployment, up 206%Bankruptcy, up 156%Unemployment Benefits, up 247%comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said: "Online behavior has come to reflect the interests or concerns of Americans, and we are certainly seeing this manifest itself with respect to the economic downturn. Search volume using terms relating to the economy has ballooned over the past year as Americans have become increasingly concerned...
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As we wrote previously, Microsoft over --- and underpaid --- a number of the 1,400 workers it recently laid-off. After a wave of criticism which occurred after Microsoft asked for the, ahem, overpayment back, Microsoft caved in. Microsoft human resources chief Lisa Brummel said the company had changed course. Twenty-five workers were overpaid and about twenty underpaid, Microsoft said. "I thought it didn't make sense for us to continue on the path we were on. I have called now 22 out of the 25 impacted employees, only because I haven't had time to get to the three, but I will after we hang up."On average, those overpaid received about $4,000 or $5,000 in extra pay. Nothing, obviously, that would...
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Perhaps Microsoft used Excel when they calculated the severance packages of some of the 1,400 workers they recently laid off. At any rate, apparently they made some errors, and are now asking some of those laid-off workers for some of their severance package back.According to a report by TechCrunch, the letters have been sent to more than one person, and it appears some may have even been underpaid. However, no one has been informed as to what went wrong in the calculations (at least via the letter; see below embedded).Severance and a layoff are tough enough for a worker, without something like this happening. Obviously, it's a simple error, but the problem is that a lack of sensitivity on Microsoft's...
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When we look at our email nowadays, the most popular domain name we usually see is linkedin.com, as people we know either try to recover from a layoff, or try to prepare, in case of a layoff. That's actually a little bit of hyperbole, as it's not really the most popular domain we receive email from. But we have been receiving a ton of LinkedIn email, either invitations to connect or requests for recommendations. And that is verified by the latest report from comScore, that shows that in January LinkedIn's unique U.S. visitors climbed 22% to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Meanwhile, total minutes spent on the site more than doubled in January to 96.8 million, up from 47.6 million...
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IBM has laid off several thousand people during this recession. However, according to a internal IBM document obtained by CNNMoney, some of the North American employees can still save their jobs --- if they choose to move to another country and work at the local pay rate. In other words, according to the document, these American or Canadian IBM workers can move to any of these countries: India, Nigeria, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates, as long as they are "satisfactory performers" who are "willing to work on local terms and conditions." Translation: local pay. IBM attempts to...
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All the volatility in the credit and stock markets have consumers, investors, and corporate heads nervous, but Hewlett-Packard is no indicator of any downturn. HP raised their forecast for the year after reporting excellent results for the first quarter.“In the U.S., at the end of the quarter, we saw a little more caution in the consumer segment than we’ve seen in the past,” Mr. Hurd said.Nevertheless, Mr. Hurd raised his forecast for the full year. The company estimated that second-quarter revenue would be as much as $27.9 billion, and full-year revenue would be about $114 billion — increases of about 9 percent in each case over the year-earlier period. Previously, H.P. projected sales for the...
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