While U.S. markets have surged lately, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting milestone after milestone in 10 straight days of advances, a relatively modest increase in the value of IT company shares reflects the reality that a rising tide will not lift all boats in the tech sector.
With U.S. markets rallying and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting record highs, analysts and industry insiders are expressing a sense of sober confidence, if not exuberance, about the tech sector's prospects for the year.
Economic uncertainty tamped down the number and value of technology mergers and acquisitions in 2012 and this year may not look much different, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
Even though PC giants Hewlett-Packard and Dell reported significant year-over-year sales declines, tech stocks, buoyed by signs of confidence from other IT vendors, started to rise again Friday after slumping for most of the week.
The growing number of shareholders voicing opposition to Dell's US$24.4 billion plan to go private appears to be putting the company increasingly on the defensive, raising questions about the terms of the deal.
Solid sales reports from companies as diverse as Akamai, LinkedIn and NCR as well as positive economic data buoyed shares of IT companies Friday as markets closed in on multiyear highs.
Despite some caution about the fortunes of BlackBerry, Facebook and Apple, solid financial results from tech vendors coupled with positive reports about the economy are boosting confidence in IT, with share prices of computer, consumer electronics and Internet companies rising this week.
The newly rechristened BlackBerry has delivered on its promise to breathe new life into its aging, iconic product line for diehard fans, but faces an uphill battle against the iPhone and devices based on Google's Android operating system.
Despite Microsoft's quarterly profit decline and Apple's fall Friday from its position as the world's most highly valued company, this week's wave of earnings reports was strong, boosting markets to highs not seen since before the recession.
Vendor earnings, market research reports and the International CES in Las Vegas this week highlighted the hardware arena, which appears to be a tale of two sectors with very different fates: PCs and mobile devices.
As the economy improves and at least some of the concerns about the so-called U.S. "fiscal cliff" are resolved, desire for new mobile, analytics and storage technology will drive IT spending this year, according to market researchers and economists.
A U.S. International Trade Comission judge is recommending sanctions against Samsung that include an import and sales ban on products found to infringe Apple patents, and the posting of a bond for 88 percent of the value of some of the devices involved in the case.
Change in any industry involves conflict. Evolution and revolution in tech this year took place not only in the marketplace but also in the courtroom, the factory, and on the Web. Here are the top news stories of 2012 as selected by the editors of the IDG News Service.
Even though sales of some mobile devices are booming, overall confidence in the tech sector continues to erode as economic weakness puts downward pressure on the computer market.
After a two-day outage, Internet access in war-torn Syria appears to be for the most part restored on Saturday, according to reports from several sources.