Nanotech - The Circuits Blog

In the wake of a research note from Citigroup that seems to discount the possibility of a MacBook Air with iPad-like features, it's worth pondering what this could mean to Apple's future product lineup.

First, let's look at Friday's note from Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner, who met with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer on Thursday. Here's an excerpt.

"Tim Cook reiterated his view that rapid innovation on the iOS platform (and mobile OS platforms in general) will significantly broaden the use case for tablets, eventually pushing annual tablet volumes above those of … Read more

So, does AMD have a solid Windows 8 tablet strategy this year? I'll let the reader decide, but AMD needs to be extra aggressive on the power-efficient chip front because it's not just an Intel-AMD fight now.

Windows 8 will bring ARM chip players like Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Freescale into the market, presenting AMD with plenty of heavyweight Windows competition.

Earlier in the week, I spoke with John Taylor, director of client product marketing and software at AMD, who cited two major chip designs for tablets, Hondo (2012) and Temash (2013). AMD now calls its chips … Read more

Amazon's Kindle Fire falls short of the iPad in a satisfaction survey but has some big upsides, said market researcher Changewave Research in a note released Thursday.

The Kindle Fire has become surprisingly popular because it's affordable yet versatile for its price. And the numbers bear this out.

Bob O'Donnell of IDC told CNET this week that he believes Amazon shipped just under five million units in the latest quarter. "That's huge. Remember they didn't ship until early November so that's essentially two months," O'Donnell said. (Amazon does not reveal exact … Read more

Qualcomm, along with Ericsson, has successfully completed a major hurdle that will enable Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE).

The technology, called Single Radio Voice Call Continuity, or SRVCC, enables continuity of service by seamlessly switching to a WCDMA network when a consumer on a VoLTE call leaves the LTE network's coverage area, Qualcomm said.

Qualcomm and Ericsson have completed the first voice call handover from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using SRVCC.

A Snapdragon-powered Ericsson device, using Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 3G/LTE multimode processor, will be on demonstration at Qualcomm's Mobile World Congress booth, Qualcomm said. … Read more

The popularity of Apple's iPad and iPhone is driving the shift of chip spending to wireless from computers, according to IHS-iSuppli.

Global spending by the world's top device makers on chips for wireless products amounted to $58.6 billion in 2011, up 14.5 percent from $51.2 billion in 2010, according to IHS iSuppli. As a result, spending for computers was topped by wireless, which became the world's largest semiconductor spending segment for device makers--aka, OEMs or original equipment manufacturers--in 2011.

Though this is not the first time wireless spending has exceeded that of computer-related spending (… Read more

Donald Trump jumped into the Apple-China manufacturing debate Tuesday, calling for Apple CEO Tim Cook to make Apple products in the U.S.

After a New York Times article described abject working conditions at China-based Foxconn, Apple is facing increased criticism. Foxconn is Apple's go-to contract manufacturer for iPads and iPhones.

Speaking on Fox News, Trump said Cook should decree that its stuff be made in the U.S.

"Wouldn't it be a great thing if the new leader of Apple said we're going to start building plants in the United States," he said.

Trump … Read more

In the wake of a solid earnings report, ARM's CEO Warren East said Microsoft may have some potential advantages over Android in the tablet market.

ARM processors power the vast majority of tablets and smartphones sold globally.  And for the first time with Windows 8, a mainstream Windows operating system will run on both ARM and Intel chips.

Responding to an analyst's question about why consumers would buy Windows 8 tablets when Android tablet sales have been "disappointing," East cited Microsoft's brand recognition among consumers.

Microsoft's brand advantage: "Consumers are familiar with … Read more

Apple is out-shipping traditional PC vendors by a wide margin on the back of strong iPad sales, a marketing research firm has found.

In the fourth quarter, Apple became the leading worldwide client PC vendor by shipping more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs, representing 17 percent of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in the fourth quarter, according to Canalys.

Hewlett-Packard was a distant No. 2 with about 12.7 percent.

"We're going through the biggest shift the PC industry has seen in 20 years. It's very difficult to grow in the … Read more

Apple's outrageous success has a dark side. But does that mean it's time to stop buying Apple products?

Before we go there, let's get a few things out of the way. The focus of the New York Times iPad human cost story was Apple because:

Fame: Like anything that is constantly in the public eye (such as, say, a Republican presidential candidate) Apple is a magnet for reporters. There's lots and lots of reporting about Apple, some invariably negative.

Profits: While analysts and journalists trip over each other to applaud Apple's profit juggernaut, the way … Read more