Fujitsu president blames poor sales on 'weak' Windows 8 demand

PC industry is relying on Windows 8 to take off

Fujitsu president Masami Yamamoto has said the lack of appetite for Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is hurting PC sales.

Speaking to reporters in Japan on Thursday, Yamamoto said the demand had been "weak," following the launch of the re-imagined operating system in late October.

PC shipments are expected for fall short of the company's 7m estimates when everything is tallied up at the end of the fiscal year in March.

Yamamoto's comments come in the same week that Acer president Jim Wong said that customer adoption may be "dramatically delayed" as users become accustomed to the radical new interface.

Leading manufacturers citing Windows 8 as the answer to shortcomings in their bottom lines might become a bit of a theme in the next few months, as the PC industry continues to struggle.

Microsoft has plenty riding on the success of Windows 8, but if it fails it could also bring down an entire segment of the market.

Via CNET

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By: Dilusha On 9:08 PM

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Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage

A sign is shown at the headquarters of Netflix in Los Gatos, California September 20, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

By Sam Forgione

NEW YORK | Tue Dec 25, 2012 10:32pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An outage at one of Amazon's web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc's streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.

The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and television shows from home, Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said. Such devices range from gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 to Blu-ray DVD players.

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, California, has 30 million streaming subscribers worldwide, of which more than 27 million are in the Americas region that was exposed to the outage and could have potentially been affected, Evers said.

Evers said the issue was the result of an outage at an Amazon Web Services' cloud computing center in Virginia and started at about 12:30 p.m. PST (2030 GMT) on Monday and was fully restored before 8:00 a.m. PST Tuesday morning, although streaming was available for most users by 11:00 p.m. PST on Monday.

The event marks the latest in a series of outages from Amazon Web Services, with one occurring in April of last year that knocked out such sites as Reddit and Foursquare.

"We are investigating exactly what happened and how it could have been prevented," Evers of Netflix said.

"We are happy that people opening gifts of Netflix or Netflix capable devices can watch TV shows and movies and apologize for any inconvenience caused last night," he added.

Officials at Amazon Web Services were not available for comment. Evers, the Netflix spokesman, declined to comment on the company's contracts with Amazon.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and Matt Driskill)

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By: Dilusha On 8:37 PM

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Google apologizes for Nexus 4 delays, blames LG for erratic and scarce supply

Google’s latest Nexus 4 smartphone is a great deal for anyone looking to buy an unsubsidized phone upfront. It's only $300 for 8GB or $350 for the 16GB model, as opposed to $600 or more for today's high-end phones if you can find them off contract, and since it comes unlocked you'll be able to get a cheaper or pre-paid plan rather than locking yourself into two years of overpriced voice and data.

Indeed, demand for the Nexus 4 is there, but the problem is Google can’t seem to get them into customers’ hands. Supplies of the handset have been scarce since launch, with Google pushing the initial 3-5 day shipping estimate to up to eight weeks in some cases, and then pulling new orders altogether.

Google UK and Ireland Managing Director Dan Cobley wrote on his Google+ page this weekend to explain the situation, pinning the blame on "scarce and erratic" supplies from manufacturer LG, but also admitting that their communication has been flawed. Cobley personally offered “an unreserved apology” to Nexus 4 buyers, calling the delays “unacceptable”, and promising to work “through the nights and weekends” to resolve the issue.

Orders that originally showed a 3-5 day shipping estimate are being processed this week and will receive a refund for the shipping charge soon. Orders with pre-Christmas shipping estimates are also said to be going through shortly. You can read the full statement below and other comments from Cobley on his G+ page.

Dear all

I know that what you are going through is unacceptable and we are all working through the nights and weekends to resolve this issue. Supplies from the manufacturer are scarce and erratic, and our communication has been flawed. I can offer an unreserved apology for our service and communication failures in this process.

For those that originally received a 3-5 days shipping estimate, your orders are now in process for fulfillment. You can expect an email notification early this week which will include tracking information. Although you will be initially charged in full, you will receive a credit for the shipping charge soon after.

For others that received pre-Christmas shipping estimates, we anticipate processing your orders for fulfillment this week.

I realise that the people who ordered the Nexus 4 so early are among our most committed and loyal users and we are doing all we can to put things right.

Sorry again.

Dan

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By: Dilusha On 3:12 PM

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