Sony PCs to offer Google Web browser

Google Inc is shipping its Chrome browser with Sony Corp PCs, sealing the Internet company's first such deal since it introduced the Web browser last year to compete with Microsoft.

The deal could expand the reach of Google's fledgling product which lags behind browsers offered by Microsoft Corp and the Mozilla foundation in market share.

Google spokesperson Eitan Bencuya said the deal with Sony went into effect this summer, but declined to discuss terms of the deal, such as which Sony PC models come pre-installed with the Chrome browser, or any financial terms.

Google said the company was now exploring ways to make Chrome accessible to more people.

"We are in the process of testing one such channel with Sony," according to a statement.

The deal with Sony was first reported by the Financial Times. Sony trails PC giants like Hewlett-Packard Company and Dell Inc, and did not rank among the top five PC vendors by worldwide shipments in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC.

But Bencuya said Google was looking at striking similar deals with other PC makers.

Google introduced the Chrome browser in September 2008 and remains a distant number four player in the browser market, with a 2.59 percent worldwide share in July according to market research firm Net Applications.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates the browser market with 67.7 percent market share, followed by the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, with 22.5 percent, and Apple Inc's Safari, with 4 percent.

Nokia bolsters phone lineup

Nokia on Wednesday bolstered its smartphone line-up to better compete with Apple and said a $820 laptop will lead its foray into the fiercely-competitive PC market.

The new handsets -- including its first phone using Linux software -- are the latest moves by the Finnish firm to match Apple's innovation in a sector switching focus to services and software, but left market-followers unimpressed.

"Nokia has major challenges on developing user experience, and we might have to wait for a significant improvement until the second half of next year," said Jari Honko, analyst with eQ Bank in Helsinki.

Nokia's offering in the top end of the market worries investors as the firm has rapidly lost market share in the most profitable part of the industry to Apple and RIM.

"We are fighting back. We are on attack," Anssi Vanjoki, head of Nokia marketing, said in a speech.

Nokia unveiled three new phone models and announced further details of its new Booklet 3G, its first laptop.

Getting into PC industry

Nokia has seen its profit margins drop over the last few quarters as handset demand has slumped, and analysts have worried that entering the PC industry, where margins are traditionally razor-thin, could further depress earnings.

But Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said Nokia had no choice.

"Nokia had to do it. You see more and more PC guys getting into the mobile operators' shelves. It's kind of the counterattack, it's not just defensive," Milanesi said.

John Hwang, the head of Nokia's laptop business, said the company aims to bundle laptops with Nokia's new Internet services to better compete with rivals offering just hardware.

With the move into laptops, Nokia is crossing the border between two converging industries from the opposite direction to Mac-maker Apple, which entered the phone industry in 2007 with the iPhone.

Following Apple, Acer and Asustek have also jumped from PC world to cell phone industry.

"We are witnessing a sizeable shift in the overall industry. No one feels considerably safe," Nokia's Hwang said in the interview.

In the laptop business Nokia will face new rivals like HP, Dell and Acer, and some commentators said the market -- from which IBM pulled out in 2005 -- could be too tough to crack.

At the same time Nokia's history has been marked by major steps from one industry to another. In the early 1990s it sold most of its units, including those making rubber cables and home electronics, to focus on telecommunications.

Nokia said its new top-end N900 phone will sell for 500 euros ($711.9). The phone, which has computer-like functions, is the Finnish firm's first phone to use Linux software.

The unveiling of the phone last Thursday helped to lift its shares 11 percent for the week.

Nokia has been looking for business opportunities in offering services like music downloads or games to cell phone users as the handset market matures, but so far its offerings have had limited traction.

Nokia also on Wednesday announced a new Lifecasting service -- follower to its similar Lifeblog and LifeVine services -- that will link Nokia phones' location and media data to Facebook, and allow people to update their location and status directly via a Nokia Ovi account.

The first phone to support the service will be the N97 mini, which will start shipping to retailers in October.

"This deal sees Nokia catching up with rivals such as Apple and RIM. The big win is getting the Ovi brand and its Maps service featured on Facebook," said Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at CCS Insight.

Nokia shares were slightly down in the wake of the announcements at the "Nokia World" event in Stuttgart, having fallen 0.9 percent at 9.34 euros at 1406 GMT but outpacing a 1.2 percent weaker Dow Jones Stoxx Technology index.

Intel's P10,000 PC: good or bad idea?

Remember Intel's NetTop from last year? Well, they just launched the second iteration of the cheapo personal computer targeting the Philippine market at large.

The idea is that they want to increase PC and Internet penetration rates in the country by providing the most affordable computer. There's a news piece available from ABS-CBN News.

The company says that this little machine should be perfect for basic computing tasks like Emails, chat, VoIP and word processing. Maybe you could throw in DVD movies and music. But the gist is that it isn't made for power gaming or video editing.

If you ask me, this isn't exactly a good idea. At the price it's currently pegged at, the Nettop 2 will save you about Php5,000 when compared to a basic off-the-shelf rig from the mall.

Why not?

Maintenance

When buying a computer, you don't just think of the cash you're shelling out. Like anyone with enough common sense, you will want to ask yourself: "will this be worth my money?". At 10k, you are getting a barebones package. Put that side-by-side with a basic box, you're actually losing money when looking at the value you get for the price.

Upgradeability

Another thing you'd want to look out for is the machine's capacity to get upgraded. Say you want to buy a PC for the whole family. Sure, all you want is Web surfing, maybe word processing, a few slide presentations here and there, instant messaging (chat) with your aunt abroad; you still get all these from NetTop 2.

But what happens when your high school kid gets to college, and suddenly learns he/she needs to run Photoshop, AutoCAD, or some business software that needs better processing and handling capability? You would want your computer to be able to take upgrades like additional memory, better video card(s), processor replacement and a plethora more.

Basic today isn't all that basic anymore

Come on, admit it. What people called "simple computing" 5 years ago is not the same thing as what it is today. Back then, no one could expect a 14-year old kid to make the next Christmas part photo movie, or for your daughter to be in charge of music remixing and editing for the big school project. It's no longer as simple as it was before. I could imagine NetTop doing the basic, basic stuff just fine. But what about that Christmas show, or that school project?

My take: don't scrimp out on your next PC investment. The longer your computer lives to serve, the longer it will pay off.