I.D.C. Holding a.s.

With more than half its latest devices left on store shelves at the end of the third quarter, things may be getting out of hand for Palm as the manufacturer struggles to hold market share in the rapidly evolving telecom market.

IBM is going deeper into the cloud. On Tuesday, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company announced beta versions of an expanded commercial cloud-based service for software development and testing, on both public and private clouds.

Cloud computing for development and testing environments, the company said, can cut IT costs in half while improving quality, reducing time to market, and utilizing infrastructure more efficiently.

Partner Companies

Google is making it easier for IT administrators to switch from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The Internet search giant on Wednesday made available a tool to help businesses migrate from Exchange.

The Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange tool will help lure more companies to Google Apps by simplifying the migration of e-mail, contacts and calendars from both cloud-hosted Exchange servers and those hosted at the customer's location. The tool allows businesses to make the move whether they have a handful or thousands of users.

U.S. regulators are reportedly digging deeper into Google's planned AdMob acquisition. The Federal Trade Commission is asking for sworn statements from the search giant's competitors and advertisers in what could signal plans to hold up the merger. The news comes as part of a wave of government scrutiny against the maturing company.

The reduced revenue guidance for Palm's current business year, announced Thursday, is suggesting to industry observers that the company will either have to make major alterations to its business plan or find a buyer. The slower-than-expected consumer adoption of the company's products -- which pushed Palm's annual projections well below its earlier forecast of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion -- was no big surprise to industry observers.

With only a slight nod toward business clients during the launch of Microsoft's latest mobile-phone operating system this week, CEO Steve Ballmer fueled speculation that the software giant wants a bigger slice of the consumer pie.

Some Verizon Wireless customers will soon have access to Skype, an Internet telephone service, the companies announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Tuesday. Skype, based in Luxembourg, allows people to use the service to make free video and voice calls. Users are also able to send instant messages and other files.

Verizon data customers will be able to make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls, according to the companies. Users will also be able to make international calls using Skype Out, a competitive service.

Deep inside millions of computers is a digital Fort Knox, a special chip with the locks to highly guarded secrets, including classified government reports and confidential business plans. Now a former U.S. Army computer-security specialist has devised a way to break those locks.

Tech-security companies are poised to become Wall Street darlings this year, thanks in part to Google's tiff with China.

Last month, the search giant threatened to pull out of China because of censorship and a distinctive cyberespionage attack on itself and some two dozen other tech, financial and media companies.

The Google-China affair has reinforced an already positive outlook for 2010 stock price performance of major security vendors, such as McAfee, Symantec and Check Point, says Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets.

Apple's iPad is undeniably cool, but will consumers buy the tablet computer in large numbers? Too big to fit in your pocket and with few native apps that can take advantage of the larger screen, is the iPad a "third device," as Apple claims, or an awkward middle child?

Analyst Charlie Wolf of Needham & Company released a research report Wednesday that projects modest sales of just two million units this year. Sales are expected to reach six million in 2011, but Wolf wrote that it will take a catalyst to propel sales to the eight million mark in 2012.