A round-up of today's other stories in brief.
US downturn to hit tech spend
Growth in global technology spending will slow next year, hurt by a US economic downturn that could crimp spending on computer hardware, research firm IDC said on Thursday in a report with predictions for 2008.
IDC estimates worldwide technology spending growth will range from 5.5-6 per cent in 2008, down from about 7 per cent this year. US spending growth will dip to 3-4 per cent next year from 6.6 per cent in 2007, IDC says.
Companies will target faster-growing emerging markets along with small and medium-sized businesses to offset slower US spending growth, IDC predicts. In some cases they will need to make acquisitions to launch into promising sectors, it adds.
Frank Gens, IDC's senior vice-president of research, said Web search leader Google could cement its position in the small and medium-sized business market with an acquisition of Salesforce.com or Intuit Inc, two companies with strong Web-based business applications. - (Reuters)
Hackers target Apple Macs
After years of relative safety in obscurity, the Apple Mac is becoming an increasingly tempting target for malicious computer hackers, according to a new report published this week.
Security researchers have been aware of the threat to Apple since last year, when they detected the first piece of malicious code - or "malware" - specifically designed to target Apple.
Over the past few months, however, the number of malicious programmes has increased, according to a report published this week by F-Secure, an internet security company.
"Over the past two years, we had found one or two pieces of malware targeting Macs," said Patrik Runald, an F-Secure security researcher. "Since October, we've found 100-150 variants."
The rising security threat could present a challenge to Apple, which has long touted the security advantages of its platform over those of Microsoft, whose software is a perennial target for hackers.
Apple declined to discuss specific steps it was taking to counter the growing number of attacks.
However, the company said: "We take security very seriously and have a great track record for addressing vulnerabilities before they can affect users." - (Financial Times service)
Dell wins bigger market share
Dell grew fastest among the top makers of external storage computers in the third quarter, selling cheaper systems to take market share from IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
Sales of Dell's external disk-storage computers jumped 18 per cent to $409 million (€279 million) from a year earlier, according to IDC. Market leader EMC's revenue rose 3.9 per cent to $964 million .
Dell, the fourth-largest maker of computers that store data on computer networks, boosted its share of the market to 9.3 per cent. - (Bloomberg)
Nokia targets top spot in US
Nokia plans a significant assault on the US mobile market in a bid to re-establish its pre-eminence there.
Nokia increased its share of the global mobile market to 39 per cent in the third quarter of this year, as measured by the number of handsets sold to network operators.
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive, expressed confidence that the company could raise its share to 40 per cent or more, and said it had to perform better in the US, its weakest market excluding Japan.
Nokia is the leading supplier of mobiles in western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions.
"The only possible ambition for us in the US is to be the market leader," said Mr Kallasvuo. He declined to put a timeframe on regaining the top spot. - (Financial Times service)
