Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No 3 PC maker, posted on Thursday a much stronger-than-expected, nearly 13-fold surge in quarterly profit as strong corporate demand offset fierce competition at home.

Analysts say Lenovo should be able to sustain a recovery in an ailing business abroad after its second straight profitable quarter in the United States, but they also warn of a price war with Dell on its own home turf -- the world's second-largest PC arena.

One of a handful of Chinese firms trying to forge a global brand, the PC giant dropped to global fourth place early in 2007 after ceding market share overseas, but reclaimed the No. 3 slot in the second quarter from Taiwan's Acer after a hard-fought battle, according to Gartner and IDC.

"This is a good sign: they're seeing light at the end of the tunnel," said YK Chan, a fund manager with Phillip Capital Management. "And they're stepping out of IBM's shadow."

"Lenovo is now riding macro factors in the global PC industry, especially low component costs."

The firm reported a profit of USD 66.84 million in its fiscal first quarter ended June, versus USD 5.21 million a year earlier.

That was more than twice an average forecast for USD 32 million, according to four analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.


Courtesy : Expressindia.com

Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday it will offer a free, advertising-supported version of its basic productivity software, Microsoft Works, as part of a test program with computers manufacturers.

The world's largest software maker has been pondering the future of Microsoft Works, its basic spreadsheet and word processing software, in the face of rising competition from Google Inc's suite of business software services.

Unlike Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which are delivered through an Internet browser, Microsoft plans to pre-install Works on computers and display advertisements stored in cache. The software normally retails for $39.99.

When a user connects to the Internet while using Works, that cache of ads will refresh, said Melissa Stern, a Microsoft senior product manager in the Office group

The company plans to roll out the advertising-supported Microsoft Works SE 9 in a few months. Microsoft would not disclose either the PC makers with which it was working or the markets for the test program.

Google and other Internet rivals are threatening to topple Microsoft's dominant position in desktop software with software services delivered over the Web supported by advertising or subscriptions.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has said the company needs to embrace the 'software as a service' movement without abandoning its bread-and-butter desktop products. The company has invested heavily in its Web advertising business with the goal of building a powerhouse to rival Google.

One of the goals of the test program is to figure out if there is a viable business model for advertising supported software, Stern said.

Courtesy : Expressindia.com

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