PC Sales Yet To See Windows 7 Effect
Holiday shopping is just around corner so maybe folks are just waiting for the right time get their spanking new PC hardware. Because as of today, PC sales remain no better than before Windows 7 was launched in October. PC makers were expecting the new Microsoft OS would boost sales, but more than a month down the road, nothing much moved. Or maybe the recession has much to do with it.
Microsoft itself isn’t as worried as PC makers due to the continued climb of its Vista sales which already enjoy millions of users, though still a far cry from XP users who account for about 70% of all PC users.
Adobe Responds to Recession with 680 Job Cuts
The publisher of image editing standard Photoshop is cutting 9% of its workforce, or around 680 positions, as it restructures itself to respond to the festering economic downtrends. Adobe noted this job cut in its official 8-K filing with the US SEC this Tuesday. It comes 10 months after its last restructuring in December 2008 axing 600 jobs.
With a quarterly income after tax went down by 30% ending August to just $136m against the same period last year, Adobe, like other companies reeling form the recession, has to resort to such drastic cuts. The falling income reflects similar downtrend in other companies, not just in the technology sector. Adobe has been diversifying lately, acquiring Macromedia in 2005 and the web metrics company Omniture last month with layoffs as part of the acquisition.