EC charges Intel with competition breach

CHIP-making giant Intel has rejected European Commission charges that it engaged in anti-competitive practices, arguing that its market behaviour in Europe was both legal and in the interests on consumers.

The European Commission says Intel has engaged in monopoly abuse to lock its competitor AMD from accessing new customers. Intel has ten weeks to respond formally to the charges, which could ultimately lead to fines running to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The commission said Intel had given substantial rebates to PC manufacturers for buying their x86 processors and that the company paid the manufacturers to either delay or discontinue making products that used AMD processors.

It said Intel also made below cost bids for business in accounts where AMD was a competitor.

The commission said each of the three types of behaviour were both anti-competitive and against the law, but added the combination of the three showed an anti-competitive strategy that damaged both AMD and the market.

“The Commission also considers at this stage of its analysis that the three types of conduct reinforce each other and are part of a single overall anticompetitive strategy,” it said.

Intel senior vice-president and general counsel Bruce Sewell said the company rejected the charges and welcomed the chance to address them.

“We are confident that the microprocessor market segment is functioning normally and that Intel's conduct has been lawful, pro-competitive, and beneficial to consumers,” Mr Sewell said.

“While we would certainly have preferred to avoid the cost and inconvenience of establishing that our competitive conduct in Europe has been lawful, the Commission's decision to issue a Statement of Objections means that at last Intel will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the allegations made by our primary competitor,” he said.

For more IT Hardware news, click here.

Apple polishes shiny new iMacs

APPLE has freshened its line of popular iMac desktops with new models that are slimmer, more powerful and have bigger screens.

Typical of a new Apple launch, the systems are at the cutting edge of industrial design, with widescreen displays and aluminium and polished-glass cases.

In Australia the new models come with a starting price-tag of A$1,698 for the 20-inch model – about A$600 less that the previous low-end model. The 24-inch iMac model starts at A$2,599.

The new models redefine the iMac signature all-in-one design, where the entire computer system is integrated into a sleek, professional aluminium enclosure for a striking, clutter-free desktop.

“This new iMac is the most incredible desktop computer we’ve ever made,” said Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs.

“Our new design features the innovative use of materials, including professional-grade aluminium and glass that are highly recyclable.”

The machines all feature the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors running up to 2.8GHz with 4MB of shared L2 cache and up to 4GB SDRAM.

They also feature next-generation graphics from ATI. The new iMac also offers up to 1TB of internal storage to accommodate a user’s growing library of digital photos, movies and music.

The iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g; Gigabit Ethernet; and five USB 2.0 ports – including two on the keyboard.

The machines also have one FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port.
The new iMac line is available immediately through Apple Store online and Apple Authorised Resellers. A new Apple Wireless Keyboard will ship by the end of August.

For more Future Parc news click here .

Intel Q2 profit surge

DESPITE its ongoing corporate restructure, chip-maker Intel second quarter profits have jumped 44 per cent to US$1.3 billion (A$1.5 billion), the company said.

Intel said revenue climbed to US$8.3 billion. The results included an US$82 million restructuring charge taken for the uarter.

“Intel's operational execution continued to strengthen, resulting in an outstanding product roadmap and solid year-over-year revenue growth,” Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini said.

“We're pleased that our efforts to streamline the company are delivering profit growth in excess of revenue growth,’” he said.

And Intel said it expects continued strong growth in the third quarter on the back of a healthy global IT market. The company has forecast revenue growth to US$9 billion to US$9.6 billion, with gross margin up marginally to 52 per cent.

Intel has enjoyed strong sales growth for its quad-core Xeon server processors, but has suffered a slowdown at the low-end of the PC chip market through stiff price competition.

For more IT Hardware news, click here.

Microsoft takes US$1 billion Xbox hit

MICROSOFT has been hit by a A$1.35 billion repair bill for hardware problems with its Xbox 360 game console.

The company said it had set aside US$1.15 billion to fund warranty claims on undetailed user problems with the popular game player.

While Microsoft would not provide details of the hardware issues, it said in a statement that an “unacceptable number” of Xbox 360 machines had been returned by users for repairs, prompting extensive investigations.

The company has extended its warranty program as a result of the investigation.

“Having identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures indicated by three red flashing lights on the console, Microsoft has made improvements to the console and is enhancing its Xbox 360 warranty policy for existing and new customers,” the statement said.

“Microsoft stands behind its products and is taking responsibility to repair or replace any Xbox 360 console that experiences the ‘three flashing red lights’ error message within three years from time of purchase free of charge, including shipping costs,” it said.

“Microsoft will take a $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion pre-tax charge to earnings for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 for anticipated costs under its current and enhanced Xbox 360 policies.”

Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices division president Robbie Bach said for any customer that had already paid for repairs to the Xbox for problems rlated to the three flashing lights error message, Microsoft would retroactively reimburse them.

“The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one. But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologise,” Mr Bach said.

“We value our community tremendously and look at this as an investment in our customer base,” he said.

For more IT Hardware news, click here.

Dell to sell through local channel

PC-maker Dell, which made an art-form of selling direct to end-users – bypassing traditional reseller channels – will soon start selling some desktops and notebooks through retail outlets in Asia.

The radical shift began in the US, where the company last month started selling some low-end machines through the giant WalMart chain.

Now the company says it has plans to extend the plan to the Asia-Pacific markets.

Dell’s Singapore-based Asia-Pacific chief Paul-Henri Ferrand told a regional media briefing that the company was in talks with retail chains and some specialist IT outlets, but gave no details.

He said the diversity of the markets through the region meant the indirect channel strategy would come sooner in some countries, and much later in others.

The company would use different retail chains in different countries as part of the plan, Mr Ferrand said.

“What we want to make sure is that we customise our approach by country and target (market),” he said.

For more IT Hardware news, click here.