Dell drops $299 Windows RT tablet, cheapest offer now $479

Shoppers who tried to buy a Windows RT tablet at Dell's website Friday morning would have seen one listed for US$299. By the end of the day the cheapest tablet came bundled with a keyboard for $479.

Buy One, Get One Free Dell made several changes to the RT offers on its website. By Friday evening it had eliminated all the options for a standalone tablet and now only sells the product, called the XPS 10, bundled with a keyboard.

In some ways it bucks a recent trend. Dell has been lowering prices for its Windows RT tablet since May, after the company admitted it was selling poorly. When it was introduced last October, the XPS 10 was priced at $499, and it had dropped to $299 in May.

Dell is apparently trying to up-sell customers to breathe a bit of life into its XPS 10 business after poor sales, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates

Student Exclusive: Save an additional 10% off Surface Pro and Surface RT at Microsoft Store Canada Selling the tablet bundled with a keyboard suggests Dell views it as a device for creating content rather than just consuming it, perhaps because Windows RT is designed to provide some "laptop-like" capabilities, Kay said.

"It seems like the direction they are going in. It's a better idea if it's a bundle," he said.

Earlier Friday, a tablet with 32GB of storage priced at $299 was listed as "out of stock." IDG News Service inquired about the product to see if it was still on sale, and shortly afterward, the listing disappeared from the site. Later in the day, a standalone XPS 10 with 64GB of storage also disappeared.

Dell never replied to requests for comment about the changes.

The only models listed on the site by late Friday came bundled with keyboards. And, somewhat confusingly, the bundles with the 32GB and 64GB tablets were listed for the same price -- $479. That's apparently because the 64GB device comes with a steeper discount offer.

There's also an LTE version of the 64GB XPS 10 listed on the site, priced at $579 with a keyboard.

Apart from the storage and connectivity, the other tablet features are the same. They all have a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and a 10.1-inch screen that displays images at 1366 x 768 resolution. Windows RT is Microsoft's version of Windows 8 for ARM processors like the Snapdragon.

Keyboards are expensive as an accessory and can be more profitable for Dell than the tablet itself, and Dell could use all the financial help it can get right now, Kay said. On Thursday, it reported quarterly profits that were down 72 percent.

Bundling the tablets and keyboards together could also be Dell's way of clearing out its XPS 10 tablets and accessories, he said, though it was unclear if that was Dell's goal.

The price changes come at a time when other vendors are distancing themselves from Windows RT. Lenovo has stopped selling the Yoga 11 through its website, Asus has said it was moving away from the development of RT tablets after the failure of its VivoTab RT. Microsoft dropped the price of its Surface RT tablet last month from $499 to $349.

Microsoft plans to announce the successor, Windows 8.1 RT, on Oct. 17. Dell has said it is committed to Windows RT, and the OS got another potential boost with reports on Friday that Nokia will release an RT tablet, though analysts called the idea "bizarre."

Dell will likely not abandon Windows RT because it has a close relationship with Microsoft, Kay said.

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Apple's smartphone market share drops to three-year low

Apple's share of the smartphone market dropped in the second quarter to its lowest level in three years, research firm Strategy Analytics said.

The share of the iPhone slipped to 13.6 percent in the quarter from 16.6 percent in the same quarter last year. The largest vendor Samsung Electronics, however, saw its share soar to over 33 percent from over 31 percent in the same period. Samsung shipped over two times the number of smartphones Apple did in the quarter, Strategy Analytics said.

Apple is at risk of being trapped between 3-inch Android smartphone models at the low end and 5-inch Android models at the high end, the research firm said Thursday. The market share of the iPhone in the second quarter was the lowest since the second quarter of 2010, it added. In contrast, Samsung saw strong demand in China and other countries for its flagship Galaxy S4 device, which helped increase volumes.

Sales of the iPhone hit 31.2 million in the April to June quarter, a record for the period, Apple said earlier this week. It had sold 26 million phones in the same quarter last year.

Overall, smartphone shipments grew 47 percent year-on-year to reach a record of 230 million units in the second quarter of 2013, Strategy Analytics said. LG had a share of 5.3 percent, while ZTE had 5 percent and Huawei Technologies had 4.8 percent of the smartphone market. The research firm listed other vendors as together having a share of 38.2 percent in the quarter.

IDC reported Thursday a 52.3 percent growth in the smartphone market with 238 million units shipped in the second quarter. Buyers may have postponed iPhone purchases expecting the launch of a next-generation device in the fall, it added. Apple's sales could accelerate globally if it launches a lower-cost iPhone and continues to penetrate prepaid markets in the quarters to come, IDC said.

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 6 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2013 to over 432 million units, according to IDC. Strategy Analytics said shipments reached 386 million units, an increase of 4 percent year-on-year.

The research firms did not immediately comment on the reason for the variations in their estimates.

Nokia's share dropped in the handset market to 15.8 percent as its shipments fell 27 percent to about 61 million in the second quarter, said Strategy Analytics. The Finnish vendor was hit by "fading Symbian smartphone volumes and lackluster feature phone demand," as it continued to struggle in the big three markets of China, U.S. and India, the research firm said.

S. Korea drops antitrust investigation against Google

South Korea has dropped a two-year anti-competition probe into Google's Android smartphone operations in that country, sources close to Google confirmed Thursday.

The investigation, which was based on claims that Google had pressured Android phone manufacturers to block search engines or other applications that rivaled its own, has ended with no finding of a violation of law, sources said.

Two Korean search engine operators, Daum and NHN, filed the claims with South Korea's Fair Trade Commission in 2011. Among other charges, Daum said Google had influenced Android-based phone manufacturers to block certain other software services from being placed before Google's search tools.
However, it has since been established that Google's Android business practices did not break any laws, the sources said. Google declined to comment on the case. Neither Daum nor NHN could be immediately reached for comment.

Google's position on Android is that it is an open platform and that other carrier and OEM partners are free to decide which applications and services to include on their Android-based phones.

Google still faces an ongoing antitrust investigation in Europe. The European Commission has been investigating Google since 2010 after rivals accused the company of gaming search algorithms to direct users to its own services and reducing the visibility of competitors.

Europe's competition chief confirmed on Wednesday that he had written to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt asking for better assurances related to those claims. Google declined to comment on that investigation.

Use of Android, the mobile operating system Google launched in 2008, is growing. The platform has roughly 900 million users, Google executives reported in May during the company's Google I/O conference for developers.

Lenovo drops Yoga 11 hybrid with Windows RT from its online sales

Lenovo has discontinued sales on its website of the Yoga 11 convertible PC with the Windows RT operating system. Analysts say this is a sign of PC makers moving away from their commitment to the struggling OS.
A page on Lenovo’s website stated the Yoga 11 is no longer being sold through its website, but said consumers “may still buy this product from a Lenovo retailer or reseller.”

The Yoga 11 (shown above) is still for sale by a few retailers such as TigerDirect, which is selling the device for $495. The device is not being sold by Best Buy, which instead sells the Yoga 11S, a hybrid released earlier this year that uses the Windows 8 operating system powered by an Intel Core processor.

The Yoga 11 hybrid was one of the handful of computers running Microsoft’s Windows RT, which is designed for tablets. The Yoga 11’s dual functionality allowed it to serve as a laptop, and also a tablet when the screen was folded up.

Lenovo did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the company is now selling ThinkPad and IdeaPad laptops running Windows 8 and 7. Prices of other Windows RT tablets have also been dropping. Microsoft this week lowered the starting price of Surface RT to $349 from the original $499, while prices of RT tablets from Dell and Asus have also dropped to under $300.

Microsoft released Windows RT for ARM-based devices and Windows 8 for Intel-based devices in October last year. The price drops appear to be an acknowledgement that Windows RT has failed, according to analysts. Some PC makers like Hewlett-Packard have shied away from RT, adopting Android or Windows 8 for their tablets instead.

The Yoga 11 being pulled from the website shows Windows RT is not a priority for Lenovo, said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

“They will serve a need if there is one. But I don’t think it is a focus,” Milanesi said.
Devices such as the Yoga 11 will be replaced with fully functional Windows 8 tablets, said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates in an email.

“I think you’ll see most vendors of RT tablets move in the same direction as Lenovo. RT tablets have not been selling well at all,” Gold said.

Lenovo is now promoting Yoga 11S with Windows 8, and the trick for such tablets and hybrids will be to meet the price points that RT allowed, Gold said.

“New Intel chips should help get the battery/power down so vendors can achieve parity with iPads and other ARM tablets,” Gold said.

Any momentum Windows RT had in the past is gone, and the lack of Windows backward compatibility hurt its position with consumers and potential business users alike, said Tim Bajarin, president at Creative Strategies, in an email.

“We are also seeing less commitment to RT from the OEMs, who realize that there is little demand for this OS,” Bajarin said. “While RT may live on, it will never realize the success Microsoft, ARM and those that supported it had hoped for.”


IDC in April said that Windows RT tablet shipments have been poor, and hardware makers have voiced concerns about the operating system’s fate. Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang also said he was disappointed with the poor response to Windows RT, while Acer’s president Jim Wong said the company will make a final decision on whether to release an RT tablet after the release of Windows RT 8.1 OS later this year. 

Microsoft drops Surface RT price by as much as 30%

Microsoft slashed prices on its Surface RT tablets by as much as 30 percent, with the entry-level 32GB model selling for $349 starting July 14.

The 64GB Surface RT was also discounted by $150, and now sells for $449, or 25 percent off its former price.

When Microsoft launched the tablet, it sold the 32GB device for $499 and the 64GB configuration for $599.

Microsoft started selling the Surface RT at the lower prices July 14, as did some of its U.S. retail partners, including Best Buy and Staples. On its website, Staples noted that the discounted prices are valid until July 20, and only while supplies last.

Microsoft's website, however, listed no caveats, hinting that the lower prices might be permanent or at least will be honored for longer than one week.

The prices are another attempt by Microsoft to clear its existing inventory in preparation for a second-generation line of Windows RT devices. Previously, Microsoft had launched multiple deals to rid itself of the poor-selling tablet, most recently in June when it slashed prices by 60% in a bid to get universities and K-12 schools to buy the device.

Earlier, it kicked off a buy-a-Surface-RT-get-a-free-cover deal that ran until June 30. And at several conferences, including June's TechEd North America and this month's Microsoft Partner Conference, the company sold attendees a 64GB Surface RT for $100, 83 percent off list price.

The sale prices are nearly at Microsoft's cost, which according to estimates of the tablet's component prices, runs the company at least $284 for the 32GB Surface RT.

Microsoft has not abandoned Windows RT, the pared-down operating system that powers the Surface RT, but virtually every third-party OEM has either pointedly ignored the OS or publicly announced that they would not support it with devices of their own. Instead, the OEMs have flocked to Windows 8 Pro, even though some analysts question the value of touch devices on a platform whose biggest selling point is legacy software that doesn't support touch.

It was the lack of OEM support that made it possible for Microsoft to drop the price of the Surface RT so dramatically. Microsoft essentially had promised hardware partners that it would not undercut their pricing—unlike Microsoft, the third-party OEMs must pay for the Windows RT license—but with no competition, and thus no OEMs to antagonize, Microsoft was able to push the Surface RT into the bargain basement.

Long-time supporters of Microsoft have turned their back on Surface RT, even at the heavily-discounted price. Today, blogger Paul Thurrott, generally bullish on Microsoft, excoriated the tablet, calling it a "piece of junk" that is "simply too underpowered to provide a satisfactory experience."

Microsoft has made no noise about when, or truth be told, even if, it will debut new Surface RT devices. But it seems clear, after last week's corporate reorganization and its emphasis on a "complete spectrum" of devices—a "family of devices," as CEO Steve Ballmer put it—that the company must at some point unveil new tablets, if only to put its money where Ballmer's mouth is.

Analysts and pundits alike have held up the newest processors from Intel and ARM licensees such as Nvidia as Microsoft's best hope for gaining more ground in tablets. Those processors, battery misers and more powerful, respectively, are expected to appear in new devices this fall—in time for the holiday selling season but likely not for the almost-as-important back-to-school sales, into which Best Buy lumped the discounted Surface RT.

Microsoft has not revealed sales figures for the Surface line—which also includes the Surface Pro, powered by Windows 8 Pro—but estimates by research firms like IDC have been lackluster.

The discounted Surface RT can be purchased at Microsoft's retail and online stores, as well as retailers like Best Buy and Staples.

Dish drops bid for Clearwire, ending brutal bidding war

Dish Network has dropped its offer to buy Clearwire, probably clearing the path for a strengthened Sprint Nextel to complete its takeover of the struggling but spectrum-rich mobile operator.

 

Both SoftBank's US$21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint and Sprint's buyout of Clearwire are now on track for completion in early July, with the main remaining hurdle being U.S. Federal Communications Commission approval of the SoftBank-Sprint transaction. Together, those deals will create a stronger competitor to Verizon Wireless and AT&T, with fewer than half the subscribers but nearly twice the radio spectrum in major metropolitan areas, analysts say.

 

Dish drew Sprint into a bidding war for Clearwire in early January and dramatically drove up the price that Sprint would pay for its long-time network partner. Sprint's latest bid, which Clearwire's management accepted late last week, is $5 per share. That's up from its original offer of $2.90 per share late last year.

 

The satellite TV and Internet provider also attempted to buy Sprint itself, eventually pushing up the sum SoftBank would pay for the nation's third-largest carrier. Dish pulled out of bidding for Sprint last week.

 

Sprint already owns just over half of Clearwire, which has provided the network for Sprint's 4G WiMax service but has struggled financially since it was formed in 2008. Clearwire is expected to be a key asset for the new Sprint, which will use the company's spectrum to bolster its LTE service. Clearwire is already building an LTE network that Sprint has been planning to use in conjunction with its own.

 

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China Box Office: 'Man of Steel' Drops to No. 2 as Local Film 'Tiny Times' Swoops In

HONG KONG – What does it take to bring Superman to ground? What angry birds or war planes couldn’t do, a teen-oriented rite-of-passage drama did – as Man of Steel was thrown off the top in mainland China’s daily box-office rankings just a week into its release there.

Having been locked in a neck-and-neck struggle with the Jet Li-starring action film Badges of Fury in the past few days, Man of Steel finally surrendered its shaky grip atop the earnings rankings Thursday upon the release of Tiny Times, writer-turned-filmmaker Guo Jingming’s adaptation of his own novel about four young women’s glitzy passages to adulthood in Shanghai.

PHOTOS: China Box Office: 10 Highest-Grossing Movies of All Time

According to figures accumulated by entertainment industry analysts Entgroup, Tiny Times broke the Chinese opening-day record for a solely 2D release by taking $11.2 million (69 million yuan) on Thursday, with the film having already taken $1.2 million (7.3 million yuan) in sneak previews held the previous day.

Man of Steel, which averages tickets of $6.65 (41 yuan) per head across the country, took $2 million (12.3 million yuan), with its total earnings now standing at $37 million (228 million yuan). Badges of Fury – which was also a 2D-only movie, with average ticket prices standing at $5 (31 yuan) – came in third Thursday on $1.75 million (10.8 million yuan), taking its total earnings to $25.7 million (158.4 yuan).

The revenue trends on Thursday have led to a drastic increase in the number of screenings of Tiny Times. Entgroup’s statistics have revealed the film as taking up more than half of all shows across China on Friday – that’s more than 30,000 for the day – with Badges of Fury and Man of Steel securing only about 18 percent and 16 percent of screenings, respectively. Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou remained the three cities still giving Clark Kent more than one-fifth of its screenings.

But the backlash has already begun for Tiny Times, with its staggering ticket sales running contrary to the mauling it received online – the film averaged ratings of 3.4 and 5.0 out of 10 on mtime.com and douban.com, two of China’s most-visited movie portals.

STORY: Chinese Coming-of-Age Drama 'Tiny Times' Eyeing Huge Local Debut

Commentators have frowned on how the film’s emphasis on glamorous lifestyles have rendered the whole premise vacuous, with seasoned critic Zhou Liming going to the extremes of writing on his miniblog about how the “flaunting of wealth in the film has reached pathological levels” – a comment that has led to him being barracked by hate tweets. The Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the country’s most influential newspapers, reported of viewers exiting screenings describing the film as being “pretentious” and “only suitable for high school students.”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in Shanghai last week, Guo said his film is made with China’s new “me generation” in mind, that “these days it’s all about looking after myself – saying, ‘I want to enjoy life the way I like it.'” The director reiterated the point to the Chinese press after the film’s launch in Beijing on Thursday, saying how “a film couldn’t satisfy everyone, and I have never wanted to make a film suited for both the old and the young.”