Investment Development Co

The phone's sleek lines and touch-screen keyboard are unmistakably familiar. So is the logo on the back. But a sales clerk at a sprawling electronic goods market in this Chinese coastal city admits what is clear upon closer inspection: This is not the Apple iPhone; this is the Hi-Phone.

"But it's just as good," the clerk says.

Nearby, dozens of other vendors are selling counterfeit Nokia, Motorola and Samsung phones, as well as low-cost look-alikes that make no bones about being knockoffs.

It's just a couple of minutes to check that stock I bought. Five minutes to check if my bid on eBay won. It won't hurt, right? And if I periodically check my Facebook or Yahoo! Sports page, there's no harm in that.

But all those minutes can add up throughout the day or week. In fact, 30 to 40 percent of Internet use in the workplace is not related to business, according to IDC, a Massachusetts-based provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Taiwan-based Acer is taking the netbook market by storm, even as it posted a weaker-than-expected first quarter. President and CEO Gianfranco Lanci told analysts his company shipped more than five million netbooks last year, beating the 4.9 million sold by its competitor, ASUSTeK Computer, even though Acer started its deliveries six months after ASUS.

Net Profit Drops 31 Percent

But despite that success, Acer, the world's third-largest computer maker, issued reduced growth forecasts for this year and said its first-quarter net profit dropped 31 percent.

Samsung Electronics has joined the Google-backed Android party with the announcement of the Samsung i7500. The device, with a full touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity, and 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, will be available in Europe in June.

No official plans have been announced for availability in the U.S., but J.K. Shin, a Samsung executive vice president, told Engadget that two Android smartphones will be made available in the U.S. later this year.

Global shipments of personal computers fell 7.1 percent in the first three months of the year, but the decline was smaller than expected and research group IDC on Wednesday said the industry could turn around by the end of the year.

A second research group, Gartner Inc., calculated first-quarter PC shipments fell 6.5 percent from the same period in 2008. The two groups use different methods to track PC shipments.

In IBM's biggest foray in business consulting since it acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting in 2002, the company announced on Apr. 14 that it is setting up a 4,000-person organization focused on helping corporations analyze data better and make smarter decisions. The consultants will mine IBM's research and software divisions for innovations. They'll also incorporate products from other companies.

Apple and its exclusive domestic iPhone carrier, AT&T, are in talks to extend the carrier's exclusive right to offer iPhone service in the United States. AT&T's current deal expires next year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Not having the terms of the deal has been a handicap for observers, who see this as a crossroads for Apple. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has had success with the iPhone, selling nearly 14 million units last year, but a chance to expand into other markets can be tempting, say some analysts.

With anticipation high for a new iPhone this summer, rumors are rising after a recent Apple purchase from Samsung. Apple bought 100 million 8GB NAND flash chips, which DigiTimes says points to increased storage for the iPhone.

Flash-chip suppliers Hynix, Intel, Micron and Toshiba may also have had a part in the Apple purchase. The order fueled rumors that Apple is building a bigger-memory iPhone, likely with 32GB of storage, to share shelf space with the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3G models already on the market.

Dell Inc. is introducing new server and storage products aimed at cost-conscious companies, betting that its emphasis on value can help win market share as competition intensifies.

The announcement on Tuesday comes as the corporate server market heated up considerably over the past week, with the much-anticipated entry of network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc, and widely-reported merger talks between market leader IBM and high-end server maker Sun Microsystems Inc.

The summer may bring some heated competition among smartphone vendors. Research in Motion is said to be getting ready to release another BlackBerry called Niagara. That device is expected to go head-to-head with the Palm Pre and the new iPhone that some speculate will hit the market at the same time.

While some are speculating that Niagara is a new smartphone, others believe it may simply be a software upgrade.