Scott Hillis in San Francisco | January 11, 2008

AS the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas winds down to lacklustre reviews, Apple is expected to grab the spotlight with an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at its biggest annual show next week.

The new products are seen more as enhancements to Apple's current offerings rather than ones that pack the "wow factor" of last year's star attraction, the iPhone.

Next week's annual Macworld event in San Francisco is the favourite venue of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to roll out new products and chart the company's course for the year.

His showman-like pronouncements also increasingly set the agenda for the computer and electronics industries, and have in recent years overshadowed CES, held in Las Vegas around the same time.

Apple gives no hint of what will be announced, so guessing what Mr Jobs has up sleeve is a favourite pastime of analysts and industry executives.

Don Clark and Chad Bray | January 11, 2008

INTEL's troubles with antitrust authorities spread to the US, as New York Attorney General Andrew M Cuomo announced an investigation into the chip giant's tactics against rival Advanced Micro Devices.

The state's investigators have served Intel with a "wide-ranging" subpoena for documents and information to determine whether the company had coerced customers to refrain from buying AMD chips, according to a statement issued by Mr Cuomo.

Intel dominates sales of x86 microprocessors, the chip design that provides calculating power for most PCs and server systems. In the third quarter, Intel accounted for 76.3 per cent of unit sales of those products, according to the market-research firm IDC.

Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman, reiterated the company's position that its tactics are legal. "The microprocessor market is competitive and functioning as one would expect a competitive market to function," he said.

But AMD has long attacked Intel's practices and filed a private antitrust suit against the company in 2005 that is scheduled for trial in April 2009.

Mr Cuomo said the agency is examining whether Intel penalised computer makers for purchasing x86 chips from competitors, improperly paid customers for exclusivity and illegally cut off competitors.

Three other government bodies have sided against Intel after studying the situation. The European Commission issued a "statement of objections" against the company in July, a preliminary ruling that can lead to fines or other penalties. On Monday, Intel issued a confidential reply to those allegations, and the company said it will seek an oral hearing on the matter.

Nick Tabakoff | January 08, 2008

AUSTAR United Communications has made a surprise decision to sell all of its WiMAX regional wireless broadband spectrum to the Optus-led Opel consortium for $65 million and focus its attention on regional pay-TV operations.

The decision flies in the face of Austar boss John Porter's comments in October that a sale of the spectrum was unlikely.

"We don't need the cash," Mr Porter said at the time.

"Our instincts would be to try to partner with other companies" to build and operate the spectrum.

Yesterday, however, the regional pay-TV operator said selling the spectrum was best for the group, after negotiations with a number of parties, including Optus and the Seven Network, in recent months.

Austar last year made more than 30 staff redundant, including its entire wireless broadband engineering division, in what was seen as a clear sign it had abandoned any ambitions to be a sole operator of a regional WiMAX network.

It still appeared keen to be part of a joint venture vehicle with a larger company, which would have operated the network.

Austar corporate development director Deanne Weir said last night the company had discussed a joint venture to build and operate a WiMAX network, but it was never a definite outcome.

"We've never been fixated on building our network," she said.

Leo Lewis | January 10, 2008

THE sprawling consortium of technology and media companies assembled to promote the HD DVD format of next-generation, high-definition discs could be close to collapse after a spate of defections to the rival Blu-ray disc group.

As many as 20 companies that are members of the HD DVD Promotion Group could be preparing to remove their names from the alliance's 130-strong membership list.

The defections could, one Tokyo-based analyst said, represent the final nails in the coffin of Toshiba's HD DVD standard after a bitterly fought battle between the formats.

Eiichi Katayama, of Nomura Securities, said the battle between the formats, which display films and video games more sharply in an era of ever-larger television screens, was "entering its final phase".

The threatened exodus from the HD DVD format follows the decision of Warner Bros last week to back the rival Blu-ray disc format, whose main technology backers include Sony, Apple and Dell.

Adam Gartrell in Canberra | January 10, 2008

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Stephen Conroy has received a report that will guide his decision on whether Telstra can shut down its CDMA mobile network later this month.

Telstra's carrier licence conditions require it to continue to operate the CDMA network until Communications Minister Stephen Conroy notifies the telco he is satisfied that the Next G network provides equivalent or better coverage

Senator Conroy confirmed he had received the results of an independent Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) audit which sets out whether Telstra's new Next G network is up to scratch and ready to replace CDMA.

As reported in The Australian yesterday, Telstra's carrier licence conditions require it to continue to operate the CDMA network until the minister notifies Telstra he is satisfied that the Next G network provides equivalent or better coverage.

Senator Conroy, who is required to make a decision by January 21, said he intended to make a public announcement after carefully considering the ACMA report and other relevant evidence.

The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is also providing advice on whether equivalent services are being provided, such as voice calls, SMS, internet and pre-paid and post-paid options.

Meanwhile, Telstra has indicated it was unlikely to extend a planned "warehouse" period, which would give CDMA users who failed to switch over before January 28 an extra 28 days to join another network before they lost their numbers.

CDMA users who wait longer than 28 days after January 28 risk having their numbers given to somebody else.

It is understood that Telstra officials told opposition communications spokesman Bruce Billson during a meeting Tuesday they would consider extending the period.

Michael Shields in Frankfurt | January 10, 2008

MICROSOFT will not launch a product that competes directly with Apple's iPhone, chairman Bill Gates said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"No, we won't do that. In the so-called smart phone business we will concentrate solely on software with our Windows Mobile program," Mr Gates was quoted as saying in the interview published on Wednesday.

"We have partnerships with a lot of device manufacturers from Samsung to Motorola and this variety brings us significantly more than if we would make our own mobile phone," he said.

Apple's iPhone, which also plays music and lets users browse the internet, has been a big hit.

Kenneth Maxwell in Tokyo | January 11, 2008

MATSUSHITA Electric Industrial said it will change its name to Panasonic, its best-known brand, highlighting the growing importance of branding and marketing in the technology industry.

The consumer-electronics company, whose products range from state-of-the-art television sets to vending machines, also said it plans to invest 94 billion yen ($958 million) to expand chip production in Japan as it targets overall revenue of 10 trillion yen for fiscal year 2010. The target represents a 14 per cent increase from the company's revenue forecast of 8.78 trillion yen for the year ending March 31.

The move to adopt the Panasonic name, under which many of its products are sold in major markets, including the US, means the Osaka company is dropping the name of its founder as it ramps up branding efforts outside Japan to help combat stagnant demand for its goods at home.

The change, effective October 1, will cost the Japanese technology company 30 billion yen. It comes 90 years after Konosuke Matsushita started the company at age 23, making electric sockets and insulator plates.

In its statement, Matsushita described the name change as a "step forward to make the company a truly global corporation." The plan will be submitted to shareholders for approval at the company's ordinary general meeting in June.

President Fumio Ohtsubo made it clear at a news conference that the switch was related to perceptions of the company's brands.