Cynthia Harvey

Market researchers at App Nation are predicting that the “app economy” will roughly double in the next four years, reaching $151 billion by 2017. However, paid downloads account for a very small portion of that total. MobileMarketing’s Kirsty Styles reported, “The first report from Appnation’s research division has forecasted that app-enabled commerce will be the […]

New reports are saying that Apple is in talks to purchase Primesense, the Israeli firm whose sensor technology was used in Microsoft’s first Kinect device. Sources suggest Apple is offering between $280 and $300 million for the firm. PCMag’s Stephanie Mlot reported, “Apple is reportedly looking to acquire Israeli fabless semiconductor company Primesense. According to […]

Apple has reportedly engaged with Samsung to build the chips for the iPhone 7. Samsung has provided the processors for many generations of iPhones, but the two companies are also bitter rivals and are currently engaged in wide-ranging patent lawsuits. The Korea Economic Daily reported, “Samsung Electronics will supply mobile application processor (AP) to Apple […]

Oracle has announced the first major update to its Exalytics in-memory database appliance. The system now has twice as much memory, plus expanded storage capabilities. V3’s Shaun Nichols reported, “Oracle has updated its Exalytics in-memory database platform. The company said that the Exalytics X3-4 appliances would sport improvements to both hardware and software features including […]

Forrester Research has slightly lowered its predictions for global spending growth this year. However, it now believes U.S. tech spending will be higher than anticipated. InformationWeek’s Kelly Sheridan reported, “In January, Forrester predicted a global tech market growth of 5.4% in local currencies and 3.3% in U.S. dollars. It predicted modest growth in the U.S., […]

Three years ago, VMware bought Zimbra, makers of a suite of open source enterprise e-mail and collaboration story. Now it has announced the sale of the business unit to Telligent, which sells social enterprise software. William Alden with The New York Times reported, “When VMware bought Zimbra in 2010, the deal was considered integral to […]

Apple says it will investigate an iPhone-related death in China. Allegedly, one of the smartphones electrocuted a young woman who used the device while it was plugged in. The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Mozur reported, “Apple Inc. said Monday that it is investigating a case in which the family of a 23-year-old woman alleges that […]

Amid rumors of poor sales, Microsoft is dramatically reducing the prices for its Surface RT tablets. The devices, which feature a slimmed-down version of Windows 8, now cost between $349 and $549. Bloomberg’s Lisa Rapaport reported, “Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is cutting the price of its Surface RT tablet by as much as 30 percent as […]

A new survey by Evolve IP finds some conflicting opinions about cloud computing in mid-size enterprises. While everyone agrees that companies will be doing more in the cloud in the future, C-level executives are much more likely than IT managers to describe themselves as “cloud believers.” Gina Roos with eWeek reported, “Cloud computing is considered […]

The British newspaper The Guardian claims to have seen top secret documents provided by Edward Snowden that show a high level of cooperation between Microsoft and the NSA’s Prism intelligence-gathering program. Microsoft denies the accuracy of the report. The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, Laura Poitras, Spencer Ackerman and Dominic Rushe wrote, “Microsoft has collaborated […]