retail outlets

One-quarter of Russian software outlets sell bootleg Microsoft programs, the company said Monday as it published the results of a survey intended to elbow authorities into taking more action.

Russia is a notoriously lucrative market for unlicensed software, movies and music -- a persistent issue in Moscow's stalled accession to the World Trade Organization.

Microsoft checked 2,500 retailers in 53 Russian cities over the last few months and found 25 percent offered illegally copied software, while 11 percent of stores offered to install the unlicensed programs onto clients' computers.

Nokia is reducing its retail presence in the U.S. The Finnish phone maker announced Thursday the closing of its two flagship stores. The company said the decision to close the stores in Chicago and New York was based on advertising success as U.S. consumer awareness has grown substantially since the stores opened three years ago.

Sony is turning to a combination of tried-and-true and innovative marketing strategies to boost the appeal of the company's e-book offerings to price-conscious American consumers.

Earlier this week, Sony knocked $2 off the prices at its online e-book store for new releases and New York Times best sellers and unveiled two new e-book Readers at reduced price points of $199 and $299. What's more, the company has joined Amazon in offering a few newer titles free from popular authors such as Brenda Jackson, James Patterson, Joseph Finder, and Kim Stanley Robinson.

Sony is turning to a combination of tried-and-true and innovative marketing strategies to boost the appeal of the company's e-book offerings to price-conscious American consumers.

Earlier this week, Sony knocked $2 off the prices at its online e-book store for new releases and New York Times best sellers and unveiled two new e-book Readers at reduced price points of $199 and $299. What's more, the company has joined Amazon in offering a few newer titles free from popular authors such as Brenda Jackson, James Patterson, Joseph Finder, and Kim Stanley Robinson.

Clearwire says it remains on track to launch its Clear-branded WiMAX 4G service in Atlanta next month, with Las Vegas slated for a late summer launch and Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas/Fort Worth scheduled for rollouts later in the year.

The company that built an empire selling a printer with every computer is struggling to reinvent itself as environmentally minded consumers eschew paper.

Hewlett-Packard, whose $23 billion Imaging and Printing Group is based in San Diego, has been working to identify nontraditional printing markets -- essentially seeking to be the solution wherever words and graphics are printed.

The Palo Alto-based company once employed 2,000 people at its Rancho Bernardo [San Diego] campus.

In yet another move to get Apple's iPhone into more retail outlets, Best Buy on Tuesday became the first retailer to offer refurbished iPhone 3Gs at stores nationwide.

The news follows two similar moves in December. That's when AT&T began offering refurbished iPhone 3Gs even as Wal-Mart inked a deal with Apple to sell brand-new iPhone 3Gs at a $5 discount at its stores.

As T-Mobile gears up to release the first Android-based smartphone, reports say it already has sold about 1.5 million T-Mobile G1s in preorders. According to the financial site fool.com, T-Mobile tripled its manufacturing directive to handset maker HTC for preorders after the first run sold out, and all of the 1.5 million units available for preorder have sold out.

The report also indicated that another two million units are being readied for sale through retail outlets.

Initial Estimate Was 400,000 Units

Just one day after Dell announced it was moving into the market of netbooks by introducing its new Inspiron Mini 9, which weighs less than 2.3 pounds and has an 8.9-inch LED display, the company said it is partnering with Vodafone to resell the Mini 9 in Europe.

The two companies said Friday that the Mini 9 would be sold with a Vodafone built-in mobile broadband connection, which supports High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA). Sales will be exclusively through Vodafone stores and online, and directly from Dell, later this month in key markets in Europe.