Cyber Monday deals 2011: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Dell and more

Cyber Monday is to online shopping what Black Friday is to brick-and-mortar retail stores. And Cyber Monday 2011 is expected to be a big one -- possibly record-setting.

But, just as with Black Friday, everyone seems to be having a sale, and finding what you actually want online and not just what's cheap can become a chore.

So what sort of Web-only deals are out there? Here are a few from some major retailers.

Amazon

Discounted goods on Amazon.com can be found pretty much all year. So while a sale is nothing new for the online retail giant, the company is promising that it's Cyber Monday discounts will be significant. However, unlike most retailers, Amazon's Cyber Monday promotion isn't lasting just one day, but instead all week. Head over to Amazon.com for details.

Barnes & Noble

Amazon's e-reading and tablet rival, Barnes & Noble, is having a one-day Cyber Monday sale too. Among the promotions is a free $25 Barnes & Nobe gift card with the MasterCard purchase of a Nook Simple Touch e-reader, a Nook Color tablet or Nook Tablet. If you use any other payment method to buy a Nook you'll get no free gift card.

The bookstore chain, which sells DVDs, Blu-Rays, CDs and toys too, is also offering 30% off of any one item, 50% off New York Times bestselling books and up to 70% off Blu-Ray movies. Head over to BN.com for details.

Best Buy

Best Buy is the largest bricks-and-mortar consumer electronics retailer out there, but it doesn't shy away from Cyber Monday. Among the price cuts: a 55-inch Samsung LED-backlit TV, normally $1,500, is selling for $999.99, the HTC Titan running Windows Phone and the HTC Wildfire S running Android are both free with a new two-year contract, point-and-shoot cameras are $40 to $80 off, a number of laptops are on sale including a 15.6-inch Toshiba Satellite for $279.99, and Barnes & Noble's Nook Simple Touch e-reader is down to $79.99 from $99.99. Head over to BestBuy.com for details. 

Dell

Dell also regularly offers discounts on its website, but for Cyber Monday it has discounted 21 specific items, some of which are already sold out. The computer maker dropped the price a variation of its Inspiron 14R from $499.99 to $399.99, selling out its run of that laptop. Other laptops are on sale to, but at only $50 off rather than $100, such as the Inspiron 15, Inspiron 15R and Inspiron 17R.

Dell is also offering a $600 discount, down to $798, on a 46-inch Sony Google TV with 1080p resolution. And the Nintendo Wii with the New Super Mario Bros. game is down $15 to $134.99. Head over to Dell.com for details.

Staples

Staples is offering a wide range of discounts on gadgets, furniture and office supplies, including as much as $200 off Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard laptops, as much as $130 off printers, as much as $100 off point-and-shoot cameras and up to 50% off office chairs. Head over to Staples.com for details.

Verizon

Verizon Wireless' Cyber Monday sale is nearly the same as its Black Friday promotion: the Motorola Xoom 4G tablet is down to $199.99 and the HTC Droid Incredible 2, Sony Xperia Play and Motorola Droid Pro are free, as long as you get each item with a new two-year data plan as well. Head over to Verizon.com for details.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

Image: A screenshot of Dell's Cyber Monday sale at Dell.com. Credit: Dell

Apple to become PC leader, report says -- if iPad counts as a PC

Apple may want to change its mind on the whole "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" question.

If the company decides to apply the stuffy "PC" label to its own computing devices, it may soon find that it is the world's largest personal computer vendor.

It takes a little semantic contortion, but if you call the iPad tablet -- or any tablet -- a personal computer, Apple is on track to sell more PCs than computing giants like Hewlett Packard Co. and Dell by the middle of next year, research firm Canalys said this week.

"Pads, and particularly the iPad, have radically changed the dynamics of the PC industry over the last year, already propelling Apple into second place in the worldwide PC market" as of the most recent quarter, wrote Canalys analyst Tim Coulling.

Apple now has about 15% of the global PC-plus-tablet market, Coulling said.  That puts it a close second behind PC-leader HP.  HP had an 18% share of the global PC market as of July, according to a report from research firm IDC.  (IDC's report does not include tablets in the PC mix; if it did, HP's share would be lower.)

Apple may not catch HP in the holiday quarter because of competition from newer, low-cost tablets from Amazon and Barnes and Noble that may eat into Apple's tablet sales. The iPad 2 is no longer new -- and some consumers may be shopping for the latest devices for the holidays.

But that will change, Canalys says, when the iPad 3 comes out -- an event they guess will happen before the second half of 2012.

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-- David Sarno

Photo: John Hodgman, left, and Justin Long in one of their popular television commercials for Apple in 2006.  Credit: Apple Inc.

Dell and Baidu team on smartphones, tablets in China

U.S. computer maker Dell and China's leading search engine Baidu are reportedly teaming up to create a line of smartphones and tablet computers to challenge China's current market leaders such as Lenovo and Apple.

The collaboration will result in Dell phones and tablets running an operating system developed by Baidu called Yi [link in Chinese] according to a report from Bloomberg. Baidu's move into mobile software will follow that of what Google has done with Android, now currently the world's most popular mobile OS.

Yi, which is built using some technology from Android, will run on phones and tablets from a number of different hardware makers and not be a deal exclusive to Dell, Bloomberg said.

China, of course, is quickly becoming one of the largest markets for consumer electronics, having recently passed the U.S. as the world's biggest personal computer market. According to Reuters, China also has about 900 million mobile phone subscribers as well.

Baidu has risen to greater prominence in China's online search market over the last year as Google has clashed with the Chinese government over censorship and government-sponsored hacking allegations.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

Image: A screen shot of renderings of Baidu's Yi operating system. Credit: Baidu Inc.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note: Is it a tablet or phone?

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Note, a new 5.3-inch touchscreen device, on Thursday at the IFA electronics trade show in Berlin.

But in announcing the new gadget, Samsung described the Note as neither a phone or a tablet, but instead something different.

Whether consumers end up buying into Samsung's vision -- instead of seeing the Note as just a big phone or a little tablet -- remains to be seen.

The 5.3-inch display is bigger than just about any smartphone, yet it is smaller than most tablets, which typically run as small as a 7-inch screen size.

One thought that comes to mind is whether or not the Note could repeat the category confusion of the Dell Streak 5, which had a 5-inch touchscreen, ran Android and failed to catch up with consumers in any significant way. Dell has since released a 7-inch version of the Dell Streak.

Samsung has high hopes for the Note, touting it as being the first in a "new category of product, developed through Samsung's deep consumer understanding and insight."

"It combines core on-the-go benefits of various mobile devices while maintaining smartphone portability, to create a whole new user experience," Samsung said.

Another curiosity of the Note is the inclusion of a stylus that can be used to take notes or draw, as well as replace the tapping normally done on Android with a finger.

The move to include a stylus echoes that of HTC's push for tablets with styluses, such as its Jetstream, Evo View and Flyer tablets and a legion of PDAs before it (Newton, Palm Pilot, etc.)

"An advanced pen-input technology, called the S Pen, is combined with the Galaxy Note's full touchscreen to introduce a new type of user experience," Samsung said. "Through this, consumers are able to freely capture and create ideas while on the go."

So, does anyone actually want a device that fits between tablets and phones, with a digital pen? Samsung seems to think so. What do you think? Sound off in the comments.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

Photo:  D.J. Lee, executive vice president of Samsung, presents the Galaxy Note at the IFA mobile trade show Thursday in Berlin. Credit: Odd Andersen / AFP/Getty Images

T-Mobile's Philipp Humm talks prices, tablets, and how Steve Jobs and the iPhone 'fundamentally changed our industry'

Philipp Humm, the new CEO of T-Mobile USA, has come from sister company T-Mobile Germany to try to boost the carrier's fortunes in the U.S.  Humm is visiting dozens of cities around the nation, holding grassroots town halls with employees to get a sense of where they feel the company should be heading.

Humm sat down with The Times recently to talk up his plans to make smart phones affordable, to get everyone a tablet, and how he'll face off against his bigger rivals in Verizon and AT&T.  He also has a few words about the iPhone (which T-Mobile doesn't yet have) and Apple's Steve Jobs. 

What is one of the more important lessons you learned from operating in the European market?

The best way of being a good challenger is by having played defense for a while.  Now you know how the defenders play the challenger game.  Back at the time in Germany we had very good challengers attacking us.  Looking at how other people attacked you is a very good way to determine how you’ll make your next attack.

Steve Jobs and Apple probably picked the best day to announce medical leave

Steve Jobs and Apple might have picked the most ideal time possible to announce his medical leave -- on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, when the U.S. markets are closed, and just before releasing news of a 78% earnings increase.

And the decision to announce Jobs' break from day-to-day duties at Apple is probably a calculated one, as are many of the moves made by the secretive tech giant.

Andy Zaky, writing for Seeking Alpha, said he found the Jan. 18 release date for Apple's fiscal first-quarter earnings report "extremely peculiar" when it was announced a month ago.

"Here's why: Since 2007, Apple has always chosen to report earnings during the last week of the month in order to avoid the manipulation that usually comes with options expiration week," Zaky wrote. "If you go back at least 14-16 quarters, Apple has reported during the last week of the month in every one of those reporting periods."

The Tuesday earnings announcement, however, makes a lot more sense given Jobs' announcement that  he was taking an indefinite hiatus because of health issues.

John Gruber, writer of the popular tech blog Daring Fireball, wrote: "With the holiday yesterday and blockbuster results today, I think it's fair to say that yesterday was the single best day of the entire calendar year on which Jobs could have announced a medical leave of absence."

Apple reported a $6-billion profit on a record-setting revenue of $26.74 billion, largely on the success of the iPhone and the iPad.

One unintended consequence from Jobs' temporary decrease in duties at Apple is an apparent benefit for its competitors, as reported by Times columnist Tom Petruno over at our sister blog, Money & Company. Petruno wrote:

What's potentially bad for Apple -- co-founder Steve Jobs' surprise decision to take another medical leave of absence -- might have been viewed as good for the company's many tech rivals.

Nobody ever accused Wall Street of having a heart, after all.

While Apple dropped $7.83, or 2.2%, to close at $340.65, shares of Google Inc. surged $15.45, or 2.5%, to $639.63, a three-year high. Google's Android smart phone operating system is going head-to-head with Apple's iPhone, of course.

Among other tech giants and Apple combatants, Microsoft Corp. added 36 cents, or 1.3%, to $28.66; Oracle Corp. gained 28 cents, or 0.9%, to $31.53; and Dell Inc. was up 5 cents, or 0.4%, to $14.10.

BlackBerry smart phone maker Research in Motion Ltd. rose as much as 2.6% early Tuesday before falling back to close with a gain of 45 cents, or 0.7%, to $65.22.

Read more about how Apple might be helping their rivals in Petruno's post, Apple falls but its rivals gain, pushing Nasdaq index to 3-year high.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

Photo: Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks at an Apple Special Event on Sept. 1 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Consumer Electronics Show: T-Mobile bets on tablets with Dell's Streak 7 and LG's G-Slate

T-Mobile USA Inc. will be adding tablets from LG and Dell to its lineup of mobile broadband devices, the company announced at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday.

T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm brought LG CEO J.S. Park on stage to show off a product called the G-Slate, powered by Google's new Honeycomb version of Android. 

Then Dell Vice President John Thode came on to hold up (but not demonstrate) the yet-unreleased 7-inch Dell Streak 7 tablet. 

Both tablets will run on T-Mobile's cellular network. The executives did not provide pricing information or specific release dates for the tablets.

Instead, T-Mobile focused largely on claims about its network, which it now says is both the largest and fastest 4G network in the U.S. (Wireless carriers frequently highlight that they are the fastest or largest network, but the claims are often based on different critera. In fact, there is still some debate about what 4G actually means, if anything). 

The company says it has beguin deploying a 4G network -- based on a technoogy called HSPA+ -- capable of transmitting data at 42 megabits per second.  That would be almost 100 times faster than many current 3G devices today. But the 42 Mbps number, as executives acknowledged, is a "theoretical peak" -- meaning it is the maximum speed the technology could achieve under ideal conditions. Whether users will ever see that peak is a different matter that is not as frequently discussed.

In a demonstration of the new technology, two T-Mobile engineers showed songs downloading quickly -- about five or 10 seconds for an entire MP3 file. But when they ran a software program designed to show how fast the demonstration network was actually going, it maxed out at 30 Mpbs -- a sign that theoretical peak speeds and the speeds users will actually see may differ substantially.

-- David Sarno

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Photo: LG CEO J.S. Park, left, and T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm show off the just-announced G-Slate tablet.  Credit: David Sarno / Los Angeles Times

Tablets coming for the holidays, but is it time to buy one yet?

This year's hottest new tech gadget was undoubtedly Apple's much-talked-about iPad, the sleek tablet computer that has sold millions and started many discussions about whether the future of personal computing will be seen on a touchscreen.

But the iPad debuted only about eight months ago, and the entire nascent tablet market has emerged since then. That is hardly enough time for a new type of technology product to mature or to find the many generalized and specialized tasks it may eventually be used for.

Still, the flood of tablets is about to begin, and we've looked at a few of the newest ones in our Sunday business story about tablet computing, and the accompanying video.

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-- David Sarno

Photo: a variety of new tablet computers on sale for the holidays. Clockwise from front: the Dell Streak, Augen Gentouch 78, Maylong M-150, Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Dell doubles its profit in third quarter [Corrected]

Personal-computer maker Dell Inc. more than doubled its net income in its fiscal third quarter, and average consumers had little to do with the increase.

Instead, the public sector and business customers helped push profit to $822 million for the quarter ended Oct. 29, up from $337 million in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue soared 19% to $15.4 billion from $12.9 billion, with sales of desktop and laptop computers making up the majority.

Large companies replacing old technology spent $4.3 billion with Texas-based Dell, up 27% from a year earlier. Smaller businesses poured in 24% more than a year before -- $3.7 billion total.

Even the public sector pitched in $4.4 billion, a 20% increase. Dell strengthened its link to the healthcare industry by providing technology to institutions such as the Methodist Hospital in Houston.
The company’s fiscal year ends in January.

Dell's consumer business reported sales of $3 billion, up 4% from a year earlier.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

CORRECTION: This post corrects sales figures from Dell's consumer business.

Photo: Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press

HP outbids Dell to pay $2.4 billion for 3Par

Computer maker Dell Inc. withdrew Thursday from the three-week bidding war over tiny data-storage company 3Par Inc., which quickly accepted the offer of $33 a share from Dell rival Hewlett-Packard Co.

HP's final bid -- which values the Fremont, Calif., company at $2.4 billion -- came early Thursday. Dell wasted little time responding: An hour later, it threw in the towel.

The bidding started Aug. 16 with Dell's initial offer of $18 a share, or about $1.13 billion. Several more bids came in rapid succession from both companies, and 3PAR was a sudden sweetheart.

With barely $200 million in annual sales, losses in each of its three years as a public company and a stock price stuck below $10 a share, 3Par seemed an unlikely prize. But each bidder saw its operations as a way to help provide less-expensive data storage and to build up the cloud computing business, which gives customers software, data storage and other services over the Internet.

3Par also has $104 million in cash and short-term investments, which will fall into HP's balance sheet.

For HP, the premium was apparently worth it.  The company has endured falling prices for personal computers -- though it remains the world's leading PC manufacturer -- and was looking to branch out in a technology world that increasingly relies on fast, Internet-based services.

"It looks like an extremely expensive acquisition," said Aaron Rakers, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.  "But at the end of that day, neither HP nor Dell had products in this category, and it fits."

3Par's revenue grew slightly, to $203 million, in the most recent four-quarter period, but that barely registers on HP's bottom line: The computer giant takes in close to $30 billion a quarter. 

Still, the move was seen as a way for HP to use its marketing muscle to boost sales for the small company, which builds server-level computers that can host the huge amounts of data and heavy-duty online services that power big Internet companies.

Dell, also looking to jump into that market, will have to keep looking.

“We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions,” said Dave Johnson, Dell's senior vice president for corporate strategy.

Shares of 3Par rose 80 cents, or 2.5%, to $32.88. HP shares rose 47 cents to $39.68, and Dell shares were up 24 cents, or 2% to $12.36.

-- David Sarno