Technology, Sales | featured news

IDC says PC global shipments of PCs fell 14 percent in the first three months this year, the sharpest plunge seen since the research firm started tracking the industry in 1994....

Fortune reporter Philip Elmer-Dewitt compiles sell-side and independent analysts forecasts on Apple.  He has gathered 56 projections that have an average of 18.4 million iPads sold from the Street analysts and 17.7 million from the independent analysts.  The median for all of them is 18 million, which would be 53% growth from last year’s 11.8 million and down 21% from December’s quarter.

Raspberry Pi, the tiny, ultra-cheap, Linux-based PC, went on sale Monday in the U.S. through retailer Allied Electronics, but it's already out of stock. The A version of the computer, which only costs $25, has 256MB of RAM, a single USB 2.0 socket, an HDMI, SD card, and 3.5 audio sockets, but no Ethernet port. Available only through Allied, the A is now completely out of stock for U.S. customers. The $35 Raspberry Pi B is also out of stock at Allied, but it can be bought through Newark, another retailer, which only carries that particular model.

Android continues to dominate the battle to be the top smartphone system in the world, thanks in part to Samsung, which reigned as the top phone manufacturer for 2012.

EBay Inc reported holiday quarter results that just beat Wall Street expectations, but the e-commerce company also gave a cautious forecast for 2013. EBay shares climbed 1.7 percent to $53.80 in after-hours trading following the announcement. Expectations were high ahead of the results because sales data from outside sources suggested strong sales growth from eBay's online marketplace and a solid increase in transactions processed by the company's PayPal payments business.

Revenue at Barnes & Noble stores fell 10.9% during the holidays, as sales of Nook devices slipped, a sign that the retailer is falling behind in the tablet battle with Amazon, Apple and Google.

Black Friday retail sales online this year topped $1 billion for the first time ever as more consumers used the Internet do their early holiday shopping, comScore Inc said on Sunday.

Delivery times have climbed quickly as Apple takes orders for the iPhone 5, suggesting strong demand. Apple began taking orders for the phone at 12 a.m. Pacific time. It initially promised delivery by next Friday, when the new phone also goes on sale in stores.

Microsoft says it is pleased with the demand for Windows 7 as it reports an 18% fall in quarterly profits.

US technology giant Apple posts a better-than-forecast rise in quarterly results, thanks to strong iPhone sales.