Fred Harteis Business News - New chips for cheaper cell phones

Fred Harteis Business News - Less than two years after announcing new semiconductor technology aimed at drastically reducing the cost of making very basic wireless phones, Texas Instruments says it now has developed a similar chip that will help make so-called smart phones cheaper to produce.

Texas Instruments, which has found a way to put much of the technology on a single microchip, says it now can add on a processor that supports multimedia applications such as games, videos and multipixel cameras.

TI says handset makers will begin integrating this newest single-chip solution, code-named "eCosto," into handset prototypes early next year.

Texas Instruments initially began working on single-chip solutions in order to deliver bare-bones phones - capable of making and receiving phone calls and text messages, and little else - to meet the demands of poor customers in fast-growing markets such as China.

Indeed, the first phones using TI's initial single-chip solution, dubbed "LoCosto", are expected to cost handset makers $30 or less to produce

But Texas Instruments executives said they discovered there was also strong demand for affordable phones that could take pictures, show videos and perform other rich functions. Using the eCosto chip, TI says, handset makers could develop multimedia phones for carriers.

"As the emerging markets evolve beyond voice-centric, basic multimedia applications, we must support the integration of more advanced multimedia features into our single-chip cell phone solutions," said Alain Mutricy, Texas Instruments's vice president and general manager of cellular systems solutions for its wireless terminals business unit, who announced the new product at a press conference in China.

CEO of Texas Instruments, Rich Templeton, affirmed the company's commitment to providing China with chips that support a range of devices. "The size and diversity of China's population create a consumer market that cannot be served with a 'one size fits all' approach," Templeton told wireless operators and device makers gathered in Beijing. "At TI, our goal is to provide our customers in China with products that help them meet the broad range of consumer needs."

Texas Instruments said it expects smart phones made with the eCosto chip to cost manufacturers anywhere from $60 to $120 to produce. Those phones should begin shipping to consumers by the end of 2008.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Big discounts for SUVs and trucks

Fred Harteis Business News - Car lots are filling up and auto makers are offering big discounts on several SUVs and trucks to clear inventory, Edmunds.com said Thursday.

Buyers can push for a better deal on trucks and may receive customer cash rebates and zero-percent financing, in some case saving up to 30 percent off the sticker price, Edmunds.com said.

Customer cash incentives and zero-percent financing offers for SUVs and trucks are higher than ever before," said Alex Rosten, manager of pricing and market analysis at Edmunds.com.

"In recent weeks, the average incentive was nearly $5,000 and the average transaction price was nearly $8,000 below sticker," he said.

Edmunds.com reported that the True Cost of Incentive (TCI) for trucks in October was $4,640, up 31.7 percent over last year.

This means that an average of over $5,000 truck was being offered on each truck in the form of customer cash rebates, special interest financing and lease specials. The TCI for large SUVs was $4,849.

Autumn is generally the time when manufacturers try to sell off current truck models to make room at dealerships for the following year's models.

"Shoppers who buy now will likely find a large selection of inventory and rather motivated sellers," stated Rosten. "December tends to be the busiest month for SUV and truck sales, so if you're considering that sort of vehicle you'll want to try to beat the rush."

Edmund.com said trucks shoppers looking for good deals should check out the the Ford Expedition, General Motor's GMC Sierra 1500, Infiniti QX56, DaimlerChrysler's Jeep Commander, Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Tundra, and the Acura MDX from Honda.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Preventing squabbles over a will with no-contest clause

Fred Harteis Business News - When Frank Sinatra drafted his will, he made sure that his heirs would accept their inheritance his way. Before Jerry Garcia died, the Grateful Dead guitarist took steps to promote peace among his survivors once his truckin' days were over.

How? Both entertainers included "in terrorem" provisions in their wills.

The in terrorem provision, known less formally as a "no-contest" clause, is a paragraph or more of legal boilerplate aimed, as its Latin name implies, to scare off legal challenges by heirs who don't feel they've been given their fair shares of the enchilada.

In essence, the provision states that if you contest this will or trust, you forfeit your inheritance. In fact, to continue with the spooky theme, typical language instructs the court to consider contentious heirs as having died childless before the deceased.

If a challenge is successful, however, the entire will, including the in terrorem clause, would be revoked and the estate would be divided according to the state's rules of "intestacy" (as if a will had never been made) or according to a prior valid will.

Think of it as a "deal or no deal" proposition from beyond the crypt: Do you want to accept the inheritance you've been given, or go for more and risk losing it all?

"Where you stand to gain is if you don't get as much under the will as you would if there were no will," says Mary Randolph, author of "The Executor's Guide."

"So the only people who are going to sue are people who stand to inherit if there is no will," she says. "Often it's the closest surviving relative. If someone dies without a spouse or surviving children, it could be a niece or nephew who is next in line."

"You've got to give the person you're trying to 'disinherit' a nice chunk; you've got to give them enough so that they'll be too afraid to risk losing it," he says. "You can't leave them $100 if they could get $5,000 or $50,000 in intestacy. You've got to scare them or it won't work."

Let's step into the laboratory and see how a skilled estate planner might instill terror in the hearts of unworthy heirs, shall we?

State probate courts have taken an inconsistent approach to in terrorem provisions in wills. Beyer says that a few states (notably Florida) do not recognize the clause at all. While most states do honor and enforce in terrorem provisions, they do so with varying degrees of rigidity based on case law and/or state statutes. Some states, for instance, will allow an unsuccessful legal challenge without disinheriting the plaintiff if the suit was brought in good faith and with probable cause.

Source: Bankrate.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Beware Social Security e-mail scam

Fred Harteis Business News - If you get an e-mail announcing the cost-of-living increases scheduled for 2007 Social Security benefits and purporting to be from the Social Security Administration, don't answer it and don't click on any links in the e-mail.

It's a scam.

The Social Security Administration on Tuesday warned of a new e-mail scam in which recipients are asked to update their personal information or risk having their Social Security "account" suspended indefinitely by Nov. 11.

Recipients are then directed to click on a link in the e-mail that takes them to a Web site designed to look like the Social Security Administration's Web site.

Among the pieces of information recipients are asked to give are their name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, credit card information, as well as bank account numbers.

The Office of the Inspector General of Social Security is investigating the case. "I am outraged that someone would target an unsuspecting public in this manner," said Social Security Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart in a statement Tuesday.

The scam is a classic example of "phishing," whereby thieves looking to make a quick buck or to steal someone's identity send e-mails to consumers in which they claim to be from an institution like a bank or government agency. They then try to get the consumer to unwittingly give up valuable information like a Social Security or bank account number.

Sometimes when a consumer answers a phishing e-mail, malicious keylogging software is automatically downloaded onto the consumer's computer, allowing the thieves to view anything you type in. Phishing can also occur by phone.

Don't respond to e-mails or phone calls from parties claiming to be institutions with which you do business unless you've initiated the exchange and have been told in advance that they would be contacting you. Your bank isn't going to contact you to get your account information, nor is the Social Security Administration going to ask you to send the agency your Social Security number and other financial information.

If you have responded inadvertently to this most recent Social Security scam, call the fraud hotline at the Office of Inspector General (1-800-269-0271 or, if you're deaf or hard of hearing, call 1-866-501-2101).

And if you're currently receiving Social Security benefits, you might also call the Social Security Administration (SSA) at 1-800-772-1213 and ask them to make a note in your records indicating that no one calling should be allowed to make any changes to your file on record without the SSA contacting you first.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - How to score a cheap airline ticket

Fred Harteis Business News - When you hear "JetBlue," "AirTran" or "Southwest," you think "cheap fares." These and other low-cost airlines have rapidly expanded in the past six years, bringing bargains to more markets and burnishing their reputations as the value-minded traveler's best friend.

Lately, though, the low-fare club has been growing and admitting some unexpected members.

Traditional airlines like American, Continental and United are selling more tickets at lower fares, aggressively matching or even undercutting prices on routes where discounters fly.

The result: While your first step when planning a trip used to be finding out whether a discounter served the route you wanted to fly (and then booking without a second thought), your best move today is to search the big boys right along with the discounters.

One reason for the change is that traditional airlines have been slashing expenses (many in bankruptcy court) and are returning to profitability, enabling them to better compete with their low-cost rivals.

As for the discounters, well, their prices can go only so low. If you fly between New York and Los Angeles in early November, for example, you'll pay $337 on JetBlue but just $284 on American, Delta or United. A round-trip Hartford-to-Fort Lauderdale ticket bought in September for November travel cost $314 on Southwest and $293 on Delta.

Southwest and other low-cost airlines still offer more seats at lower prices than traditional carriers do. "The problem is, those seats sell out the quickest," says Southwest marketing vice president Kevin Krone. Therefore, which airline has the lowest fares at any time is partly a matter of timing. And no one disputes the dramatic downward effect that low-cost airlines have had on fares.

But Steven Morrison of the Journal of Transport Economics and Policy says the difference between traditional and low-cost airlines has eroded. "The effect of Southwest on fares today is less than it used to be," he says.

The discounters still have some of their charm: Most cap their highest fares, meaning you'll never be fleeced for $1,200 even if you book a ticket at the last minute, and they have newer planes and fewer restrictions.

So if you want to change your flight, you'll pay nothing on Southwest and $25 on JetBlue. Most major carriers charge $50 to $100. Still, now that finding a cheap fare requires more than just a quick check of one or two discount airlines' Web sites, how do you find the best rate?

Go to the source Airlines save the best deals for people who go directly to their sites. Southwest, for example, reserves some of its lowest fares for its Ding program, which alerts you to a discount with a noise on your computer that sounds like the signal heard when the captain turns off the seat-belt sign.

And all the major airlines offer weekly Web specials. If you buy directly, they don't charge a booking fee or prevent you from earning frequent-flier miles, as some third-party sites do.

Time it right Fares are loaded into reservation systems three times daily but only once a day on weekends. Many airlines sneak in sales on Friday nights, so Saturday is a good time to shop, says George Hobica, who runs AirfareWatchdog.com, which scours airline sites for hidden deals.

Plan ahead Though many airlines offer low fares for last-minute trips, they are often on unpopular routes and at inconvenient times. The best way to save is to buy ahead - remember that most seats go on sale nearly a year in advance. How does Florida next November sound? Book now.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Heavier drivers seen using more gasoline

Fred Harteis Business News - The widening waistlines of Americans have increased the consumption of gasoline since 1960 according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Virginia Commonwealth University.

A report by Laura A. McLay of VCU, concludes that Americans now pump 938 million gallons of fuel more on a yearly basis than they were in 1960 because of their increasing weight.

"Although the amount of fuel consumed as a result of the rising prevalence of obesity is small compared to the increase in the amount of fuel consumed stemming from other factors such as increased car reliance and an increase in the number of drivers," the report stated, "it still represents a large amount of fuel, and will become even more significant as the rate of obesity increases."

Americans' reliance on cars for private transportation has increased as low rise construction, single-family homes and highways associated with suburbs have grown since the end of World War II.

McLay began the study as a doctoral student of Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science and director of the simulation and optimization laboratory at Illinois.

Exxon makes $10.5B, a near-record quarter

The report's conclusions are drawn from mathematical computations of weight gain applied to passenger vehicles, including cars and light trucks driven for non-commercial reasons.

The study ruled out increased cargo weight or poor performance through lowered maintenance of cars as contributors to increased consumption. The report will be published in a forthcoming issue of The Engineering Economist.

In spite of a recent dip in gas prices, oil companies such as BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil have enjoyed rising profits, based in part on Americans' dependence on their product.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Wal-Mart: 'Cheap' better than 'chic'?

Fred Harteis Business News - Is Wal-Mart, the king of "cheap," shooting itself in the foot by straying from its low-priced strategy in favor of more upscale offerings?

In his presentation to a group of Wall Street analyst, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott admitted the world's biggest retailer has seen at least one big setback to its attempts to boost sales by offering fancier, higher-priced merchandise.

"We have to understand why Metro 7 does well in 600 stores but [doesn't] do well when you expand it [into more stores]," Scott said.

Scott was referring to Wal-Mart's fashionable private-label clothing brand called "Metro 7" that the company launched last year.

Compared to the basic T-shirts, sweatshirts and jeans Wal-Mart typically sells, Metro 7 was a step up in fashion - and price.

Moreover, Wal-Mart supported the brand's launch with a splashy and expensive marketing campaign.

The strategy worked, at first. Wal-Mart couldn't get the product into stores fast enough. The retailer expanded Metro 7 into 600 stores quickly, hoping to leverage the brand's early success.

Then the unexpected happened. Metro 7 failed take off in some markets. Wal-Mart had planned to roll out the line in more than 1,000 locations but has since scaled back that target to between 700 to 800 stores.

"We overexpanded it. We had a pretty good idea. I think what happened is we didn't follow the strategy. We overloaded the fashion part. We need to remember who we are," Scott said.

"We need to have a little bit of fashion so our customers know we have a sense of what's happening in the world. If we try to do more [with fashion], we're not going to do well," he added.

To that end, Wal-Mart in recent months set in motion a plan to court wealthier shoppers and boost profits and sales by introducing more upscale items that generate fatter profits.

For instance, in addition to Metro 7 Wal-Mart has added other fashion labels like the trendy urban line for men called "Exsto" and a clothing line from designer Mark Eisen. It's introduced organic baby clothing under its "George" label, expanded its higher-priced organic food offering and added more brand-name flat screen TVs and personal computers in electronics.

It would appear that Wal-Mart is trying to emulate Target's tremendous success with its "cheap-chic" merchandise approach. But some industry watchers warn that Wal-Mart is no Target.

"Wal-Mart is not cool. It's impossible for Wal-Mart to be cool because they would have to discredit their entire business to do that," said veteran retail consultant Howard Davidowitz.

For its part, Target created the "cheap-chic" market by being the first to enter into collaborations with high-profile designers like Mossimo, Isaac Mizrahi and Todd Oldham to market affordable clothing, home furnishing and kitchen products.

Target, the No. 2 discounter, is now among the leaders in the "cheap-chic" space. Despite its roots as Wal-Mart-like discounter, Target's become synonymous with the term "trendy." Many consumers say it's "cool" to pay just a bit more, and walk out carrying Target's well-known bull's-eye logo on their shopping bags.

But retail experts said Wal-Mart simply isn't there yet in terms of changing its image.

"Any time that Wal-Mart tries change, it's tricky because of who they are," Davidowitz said."There are very few retailers with such a solid established image as Wal-Mart. To consumers Wal-Mart means every-day low prices. In apparel, Wal-Mart sells body covering. It's what its customers expect."

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Microsoft to offer Vista coupon for new PCs

Fred Harteis Business News - Microsoft Corp. this week will begin a coupon program for personal computer buyers to upgrade to the new Vista operating system when it premieres next year in an effort to avoid a drop-off in PC sales over the holidays and ahead of the software's release.

Microsoft also said it will defer around $1.5 billion in revenue from its current fiscal second quarter to its third quarter to account for its upgrade plan and pre-shipments of Vista and the Office 2007 software suite.

The revenue from those products will be deferred until it is officially recognized as revenue in the third quarter upon fulfillment of the program. Microsoft said it does not expect the deferral to affect its full-year sales outlook.

Microsoft said Tuesday the upgrade program will begin Oct. 26 for its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite.

The program allows customers who buy a PC running Windows XP to still be able to upgrade to Windows Vista when the new operating system becomes available in early 2007. A similar program is in place for Office 2007, also due out early next year to consumers.

Most large PC manufacturers, including industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. will participate in the upgrade program, although upgrade offers may vary depending on the company.

The Windows Vista upgrade may be free or sold at a discount depending on the manufacturer, Microsoft added.

"There is no objections for why you'd want to buy a PC this holiday season, because you know you can get the upgrade," said Brad Brooks, general manager of Windows product marketing.

Vista is Microsoft's first major upgrade in five years for Windows, which sits on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers. In the first year of release, Vista will be installed on more than 100 million computers worldwide, according to research firm IDC.

Microsoft's Brooks estimated that between 80 percent and 85 percent of PCs sold during this holiday season will be eligible for the upgrade program.

Consumers who buy a Windows XP computer at a major retailer or directly from a large manufacturer will see a designation that the PC is "Windows Vista Capable" and then receive a coupon for an upgrade.

After Windows Vista is released, the customer will be shipped a DVD carrying the new operating system.

The Windows and Office business together account for more than half of Microsoft's total revenue and nearly all of its operating profit. The new Windows and Office is scheduled to be released to corporate customers before the year-end.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - Beware Social Security e-mail scam

It's a scam.

Recipients are then directed to click on a link in the e-mail that takes them to a Web site designed to look like the Social Security Administration's Web site.

Among the pieces of information recipients are asked to give are their name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, credit card information, as well as bank account numbers.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News – Salary Secrets and Myths

Fred Harteis Business News - Your pay doesn't necessarily reflect performance and seniority

While fair and equitable pay may be your company's aim, the goal post keeps shifting.

Managers will pay what the market demands to get the right candidate. So in a tight job market the starting salary of a new hire at your level may come close to or even match yours, despite your seniority and institutional knowledge.

What you should do: Keep abreast of the going rate for people with your experience and education, especially if you were hired in a down market.

If you notice a discrepancy, said Dallas-based compensation consultant Rebecca Elkins, tell your boss, "I'm aware of this and am wondering what can be done to bring me up to market?"

There's more raise where that came from - When it comes to merit increases, your boss has discretion about how much she gives you, so long as the average raise she gives doesn't exceed a certain target, say 3.5 percent. So she might award the top performer 5 percent, but below-average employees only 2 percent. But there might be more money available than your manager lets on.

What you should do: The day of your review is not the time to negotiate a higher raise since your manager has already gotten approval for the increase he's budgeted. Your campaigning should start months before. "You have to sell yourself all year round. Don't be shy about telling your manager, 'Hey, I did this,'" Elkins said.

When you're told they can't pay you more now, budget may not be the issue

If you ask for more money and your boss says the budget is too tight now -- ask him what it will take for you to reach your desired pay level, said Minneapolis-based compensation consultant Jim Fox. If you don't get a clear or encouraging answer, it could mean one of several things:

Your boss doesn't think you're worth that much money in your current position.
He doesn't have the authority to make that decision or doesn't want to take on the challenge of getting you up to the next pay level.
Or, you're already paid at the top of the company's scale for your position.

What you should do: Consider whether you want to continue working in that position at that company, Fox said.

Your pay is all about you

Thanks to a fear of lawsuits and dissension in the ranks, companies usually employ a systematic process, complete with outside paid consultants, to determine compensation. What you should do: Ask what salary surveys they use to assess the going rate for your position and which competitors' pay scales they use as a point of comparison.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - How to score a cheap airline ticket

Lately, though, the low-fare club has been growing and admitting some unexpected members.

Traditional airlines like American, Continental and United are selling more tickets at lower fares, aggressively matching or even undercutting prices on routes where discounters fly.

And all the major airlines offer weekly Web specials. If you buy directly, they don't charge a booking fee or prevent you from earning frequent-flier miles, as some third-party sites do.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - How to Remember Names

Fred Harteis News Articles - Who hasn’t called Eileen “Elaine” or incoherently mumbled, “It’s so great to see you…Stracey”? Next time you meet someone whose name you should remember but don’t, try these tips.

Instead of fessing up and apologizing for forgetting, “introduce yourself and extend your hand,” says Pamela Eyring, director of the Protocol School. “Putting the other person at ease may prompt him to say his name.”

If you introduce yourself to someone you’re seeing out of context, she may reply, “Why, I’m Pat Walker. Our children are on the same soccer team.” You can then say, “I know, but I didn’t want to presume that you remembered me,” says Judith Martin, author of Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior (Norton, $35, www.amazon.com). Or, Eyring says, “make friendly small talk — often that will help you remember.”

If someone has an unusual name and you have asked him to repeat it but are still not sure how to pronounce it, Martin suggests asking him to write it out phonetically for you, then saying, “What a beautiful name. I just want to be sure to get it right.”

If a third party whose name you can’t recall enters a conversation, says Martin, “confidently introduce the person whose name you do know: ‘This is Heather Davis.’ Then just let the mystery woman complete the introduction.”

Source: Aol.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis News Articles - Music for the MySpace generation

Fred Harteis News Articles - Thanks to social networking sites such as MySpace and video-sharing company YouTube, we now know that there are thousands of amateur auteurs yearning to express themselves in song and film. Indeed, sometimes it seems there's an entire cohort of young people who are natural born performance artists.

At least that's what Victor Wong is betting on. Wong is chairman and CEO of OpenLabs, a four-year-old, privately held company that designs gear for performing and recording music. OpenLabs' NeKo production stations are big hits with music professionals.

This fall OpenLabs started shipping a miniature version of the NeKo - dubbed "the MiKo" - aimed squarely at the MySpace generation. "The original design goal was to get it into the hands of people who are professionals," Wong says. "But what we realized is that a lot of people want to do multimedia work. They may want to create music, make films, surf the Internet. And they want it all in one box."

The MiKo is like a musical Swiss Army knife: In a device that's about twice the size of your typical synthesizer, OpenLabs packs a fully-loaded Windows computer, a 37-note keyboard, a 15-inch touch screen, a video mixer, DJ controls, ports for MP3 players and camcorders and a Wi-Fi chip for broadband connections to the Internet. The system retails for about $2,500 - about a thousand bucks more than a new Macbook.

So what can an artistically minded kid do with a MiKo? He can, with little to no experience, start composing music using some of the 5,000 preset sounds that come with the MiKo. He can load his MP3 files into the machine and start doing DJ-style music mixes. He can create some beats and rap on top of them. Or, he can download video he's shot on his camcorder, edit it on the MiKo's screen, add a soundtrack and using the Wi-Fi connections, post his masterpiece on YouTube or his video blog.

This machine isn't just kid's play, though: OpenLabs says Jonathan Davis, lead singer of the band Korn, has been using the MiKo on the band's tour bus to write new songs. (We wanted to talk to Davis about all this, but like a true rocker, he doesn't exactly keep normal business hours.)

Though it boasts a roster of pop musicians and producers as clients, OpenLabs is at its heart a technology company. Its machines incorporate 64-bit computer processing. (That means it can process twice the data as a 32-bit chip.) The company also develops software, such as a new keyboard cloning application, that lets users sample any MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) keyboard sound into a NeKo or MiKo device, without loss of sound quality; a big deal to music professionals.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.

Fred Harteis Business News - PC seen getting a price chop this holiday

Fred Harteis Business News – This Holiday Season you will be in luck in you are looking for a new Computer.

Computer prices are expected to tumble through the holiday season as PC makers try to clear out merchandise ahead of the launch of Microsoft's new operating system Vista, according to a report published Thursday.

Citing estimates from the research firm Current Analysis, the Wall Street Journal reported that 70 percent of notebook PCs sold this holiday season will be priced at less than $1,000. In 2004, just 38 percent of notebook PCs were priced at less than $1,000, according to the paper.

The price chop, expected to come from both manufacturers such as Sony and retailers like Circuit City Stores Inc., was prompted by Microsoft's decision to delay the release of its new operating system Vista to January, the paper reported.

It is expected that few consumers will want to purchase computers that run on Windows XP following the launch of Vista, the paper reported, even though Microsoft is launching a coupon program for computer buyers to upgrade to Vista when it premieres next year.

PC makers like Hewlett-Packard and Dell Inc., had been hoping that the launch of Vista would drive sales during the holiday season, after U.S. PC shipments fell 2 percent during the third-quarter, according to the research firm Gartner, the paper reported.

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures