Channel Insider Staff

BOSTON (Reuters) – A new version of Mozilla’s popular Firefox Web browser is ready for download with improved security and memory use as the tiny company takes a stab at Microsoft Corp’s dominant Internet Explorer. The program’s creators told Reuters on Thursday that the privately-held company’s trial version of Firefox 3 browser is ready for […]

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—Intel Corp, the world’s biggest computer chip maker, will soon expand its distribution of low-cost educational laptops to retail distributors in the United States and Europe, a company executive said on Wednesday. Computer makers will start selling Intel-designed Classmate PCs in those markets for about $250 to $350, making them the latest super […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Staples, the No. 1 office supply retailer, on Tuesday posted a flat quarterly profit and cut its full-year outlook, citing a weak economic climate. Declines in sales at stores open at least a year could continue "well into 2008," John Mahoney, Staples chief financial officer, said on a company conference call.  […]

NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) – Computer products distributor Tech Data Corp. posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly profit Tuesday on stronger worldwide sales and improvement in gross margins. Net income for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31 rose to $50.2 million, or 92 cents a share, from $36.1 million, or 66 […]

 SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp released the latest version of its Windows operating system for powerful servers on Wednesday, thrusting itself into the red-hot market for virtualization technology that allows one computer to act like many machines. Windows Server 2008 marks Microsoft’s first major challenge against VMware Inc, the leader in virtualization, by building the […]

 By Alexandra Hudson and Jessica Hall AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Office supply retailer Staples Inc made an unsolicited 2.5 billion euro ($3.7 billion) bid for Corporate Express on Tuesday after unsuccessful attempts to hold friendly merger talks with the Dutch office supply company. Corporate Express rejected the offer, saying it undervalued the company. A deal, which […]

By Philipp Gollner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co on Tuesday issued a quarterly earnings report and forecast ahead of Wall Street targets as it cut costs and sold more PCs and server computers, sending its stock up 5 percent. The report of a 38 percent profit rise showed HP was able to manage through […]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc (BBY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) cut its fiscal 2008 profit outlook on Friday, saying it expects its fourth-quarter sales to miss its own target on lower-than-expected January sales growth, sending its shares down 4.5 percent. "The macroeconomic environment grew more challenging after the holidays," said Jim Muehlbauer, Best […]

SEATTLE, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Ingram Micro Inc, the world’s largest computer products distributor, forecast sales and profit in the current quarter would fall short of Wall Street estimates due to market weakness in North America and Europe, sending its shares down 4 percent. For the current quarter, Ingram Micro forecast net income of $63 […]

By Daisuke Wakabayashi and Eric Auchard SEATTLE/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc rejected Microsoft Corp’s unsolicited $41.6 billion takeover offer as too low on Monday, forcing the software maker either to sweeten the bid or adopt a hostile approach to clinch a deal. Microsoft responded by calling its offer full and fair, but stopped short […]

TAIPEI, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s Acer, the world’s No. 3 PC seller, said its operating income rose 44 percent in the fourth quarter, as it included results from its recently acquired U.S.-based Gateway unit. Acer said fourth-quarter operating income hit T$3.5 billion ($106.6 million), and that Gateway was profitable for the quarter, according to […]

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Best Buy, the largest U.S. consumer electronics chain, said on Monday it will recommend that consumers choose Sony’s Blu-ray high-definition video format. The decision gives Sony yet another victory in the battle with Toshiba’s HD DVD to be the high-definition DVD format of choice. Earlier on Monday, online video rental company Netflix said […]