Filed under: Consumer electronics

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Sam’s Club to sell Apple’s iPad and iPhone

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s warehouse unit Sam’s Club will sell Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

The world’s largest retailer said at an investor meeting in Wednesday it is expanding Sam’s Club electronics and jewelry sections and will carry the popular tablet computer. Get the full story »

High hopes for iPad push Apple shares near $300

Apple Inc.’s stock flirted with $300 Tuesday as investors high on the iPad’s promise pushed shares to a record peak. Analysts see few reasons to believe shares will stop there. Get the full story »

Wal-Mart to start selling iPads

Wal-Mart Stores will start selling Apple’s iPad tablet computer this Friday.

Wal-Mart said the iPad will be available in hundreds of its stores in the United States to start, expanding to more than 2,300 outlets by mid-November.

Wal-Mart rivals Best Buy and Target are already selling the iPad, which Apple launched in April. Get the full story »

Microsoft launches new phones, available Nov. 8

The new Windows Phone 7 is presented at the Windows Phone 7 launch press conference in New York, Oct. 11, 2010. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)

The new Windows Phone 7 is presented at the Windows Phone 7 launch press conference in New York, Oct. 11, 2010. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)

See a photo gallery of the Windows 7 phones here.

Microsoft on Monday unveiled its plan to battle the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones with its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

At a press event in New York, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows Phone 7 smartphones would be available in the United States on AT&T’s network.

“When Microsoft first showed us Windows Phone 7, we knew it was going to be a winner,” AT&T CEO Mobility and Consumer Markets Ralph de la Vega said at the event. “It was different than anything we’ve seen.” Get the full story »

MasterCard reports back-to-school uptick

Caution remained the name of the game for U.S. consumers in September, but there was an upswing in spending on back-to-school supplies and less expensive electronics, according to a report by MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse.

Clothing, electronics and online retailers all saw sales gains in September, SpendingPulse said, supporting Wall Street’s view that they got a boost from late back-to-school shopping that pushed sales from August. Get the full story »

Microsoft presents its answer to Apple’s iPad

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shows Slate PCs during his keynote speech before the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January. The company plans to introduce a new slate to counter the iPad. (Reuters)

A Microsoft slate to counter Apple’s popular iPad tablet computer will be seen by the Christmas holiday, Microsoft’s Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.

Ballmer did not say whether the palm-sized slates would actually be on sale in time for Christmas, nor did he say who would make them. Microsoft has been slow to respond to the iPad, and has also made little headway in mobile phones.

“You’ll see new slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas,” he told an audience of students, staff and journalists at the London School of Economics. Get the full story »

Microsoft to unveil Windows Phone 7 on Oct. 11

Microsoft Corp. plans to unveil its Windows Phone 7 on Oct. 11 in a bid to catch up in the mobile phone market.

The software firm announced the launch on its Web site, posting an invitation to the unveiling in New York next Monday. Get the full story »

Motorola to sell R2-D2-themed Droid 2 devices

The R2-D2 Droid. (Motorola)

A limited-edition version of Motorola’s Droid 2 phone resembling lovable Star Wars droid R2-D2 will go on sale Thursday at one Verizon Wireless store in downtown Chicago.

Verizon, the exclusive carrier for the phone, said its store at 36 S. State St. will open at 12:01 am on Thursday. It has 100 of the devices in stock. The phone runs Google’s Android operating system and costs $249 with a rebate and two-year contract. Get the full story »

RIM unveils PlayBook tablet to compete with iPad

An image provided by Research In Motion showing the new Playbook.

Research In Motion unveiled a tablet computer on Monday that it hopes will leapfrog Apple’s iPad with its potential for social networking, media publishing and corporate uses.

The tablet, named BlackBerry PlayBook, has a seven-inch (18 cm) screen and dual facing cameras. It has WiFi and Bluetooth but needs to link with a BlackBerry smartphone to access the cellular network.

Shares of RIM jumped nearly 2 percent to $49.29 in after-hours trade following the announcement, made at the company’s annual developers’ conference in San Francisco. Get the full story »

Target to start carrying iPad in October

Target Corp. says it will begin carrying four models of Apple Inc.’s iPad, starting at $499. The nation’s second-largest discount chain says it will start selling the touchscreen tablet computer Oct. 3. The iPad will be covered under the retailer’s 5 percent discount for store credit-card holders, which rolls out Oct. 17.

Verizon CEO hints iPhone not coming soon

Comments from Verizon Communications Inc. CEO Ivan Seidenberg leave little room for the possibility of a Verizon version of the iPhone in the near future.

Speaking to an investor conference Thursday, Seidenberg said nothing about an iPhone for the company’s current network, but said he hopes Apple Inc. will come around and allow Verizon to sell the phone for a new network it’s building. The “4G” network hasn’t yet opened for service and won’t be complete next year. Get the full story »

Flat-screen TV prices to plunge for holiday season

A customer shops for TVs at Best Buy. (AP Photo/Ron Heflin)

An historically large oversupply of LCD TV panels is causing television prices to fall right in time for the holiday shopping season.

By the end of this month, LCD TV prices will be about 5 percent lower than they were at the same time last year, according research firm DisplaySearch. But a tailspin will start in October: In the last three months of the year, the firm forecasts that prices will keep falling until they bottom out at 12 percent below 2009 levels. Get the full story »

Dell shows off new 7-inch tablet

Dell Inc. Chief Executive Michael Dell showed off a new seven-inch tablet and said the computer maker is on track to bring in more than $60 billion in revenue this year. Get the full story »

Half a million iPad owners use AT&T to connect

About a half a million iPad owners use AT&T Inc.’s network to connect the Apple tablet computer to the Internet, according to the telephone company’s top executive Randall Stephenson.

Apple said it sold 3.27 million iPads in the second quarter alone. AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service, is the only U.S. operator providing cellular connectivity for the iPad.

Pacific Crest analyst Steve Clement said this could indicate that many iPad purchasers aren’t bothering to connect the device to the Internet using the AT&T network. Get the full story »

EU accepts WTO ruling on technology goods

The World Trade Organization adopted a ruling Tuesday condemning controversial European duties on electronics products after the European Union declined to appeal against the verdict by WTO judges. Get the full story »