Toshiba won't bring any new netbooks to the US market, a company executive told Liliputing. This means that the NB510 netbook powered by Intel's Atom N2600 processor introduced at CES won't be sold in the US. Instead, Toshiba America will sell ultrabook computers, which are lighter and thinner, but also more expensive.
Toshiba has launched its Regza tablet line for the Japanese market, releasing four tablets ranging between 7.7 and 13.3 inches. All four offerings will launch running Android 4.0, and come with 1GB RAM, a two-megapixel front camera, and a five-megapixel rear camera. All models will also have Wi-Fi capability, Bluetooth compatibility, USB2, and an SD card reader.
Toshiba has added two higher-capacity models to its Canvio line. The line is now buttressed by the Canvio 3.0 and Canvio Basics 3.0, which now offer up to 1.5TB of storage space. The Canvio 3.0 includes software allowing OS X to both read and write the NTFS file system.
The FTC-imposed transfer of assets by hard drive maker Western Digital (WD) to Toshiba is now completed, the company announced on Tuesday. The move was required by regulatory bodies due to monopoly concerns after WD revealed its intention to purchase Hitachi's Viviti hard drive maker. Previously, Viviti was known as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
The 10-inch model of Toshiba's Excite tablet line is now available for order. The Excite 10 comes in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models. All models feature a 10.1-inch, 1280x800 Gorilla Glass display and are listed at about 10 hours of battery life.
Apple's next iPhone might drop the traditional glass-on-glass approach to touchscreens if one rumor proves true. Part suppliers claimed to Digitimes that Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display were "likely" producing in-cell touch panels now that yield rates were good enough for the two to participate. The two would start production of in-cell panels sometime during the spring, although it wasn't clear if that schedule would include Apple.
Taiwan-area contract manufacturers claimed Wednesday that Intel and Microsoft have ambitious aims of reducing the iPad's dominance of tablets. The Digitimes contacts understood the Wintel combination wanted the iPad down from 70 percent share, as it has had in the past, to under 50 percent by mid-2013. For Intel, Lenovo's strength in its native China would be a key factor.
Both Gartner and IDC provided early estimates of winter 2012 market share that showed Apple making big strides in the US. The two gave the Mac a tentative share of 10 or 10.6 percent, in either case enough to put it in third place. Both saw rapidly falling Acer and Toshiba below Apple in share.
Toshiba is rolling out a number of notebook introductions on Tuesday, with the Qosmio X875 and X875 3D the latest among them. The flagship notebooks are meant for gamers and/or video editors as well as other demanding users. They get Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M GPUs with 3GB of dedicated video memory.
Toshiba has brought out two new performance laptops alongside today's earlier affordable notebook announcement. The Satellite P800 series will be powered by Intel's Ivy Bridge processors and NVIDIA GeForce 630M discrete graphics, while the Satellite S800 series will have the choice of Ivy Bridge or AMD's most recent notebook processors with optional AMD graphics.
Toshiba on Tuesday unveiled two new lineups of mainstream notebooks in the Satellite L800 and Satellite C800. The L800s are thinner than their earlier counterparts and get a choice of third-generation Intel Core (Ivy Bridge) and AMD processors. They are available in 14-, 15.6-, and 17.3-inch screen sizes.
Toshiba has announced its new line of all-in-one desktop PCs it will release in the third quarter. The 21.5-inch LX815 and 23-inch LX835 are Intel Ivy Bridge powered combined monitor and computer units which Toshiba are aiming towards design conscious users.
Toshiba grew its Excite tablet line in both directions on Tuesday with three new models to cover every possible category. The Excite 7.7 (which we've tried), Excite 10, and Excite 13 (AT770) all carry a quad-core Tegra 3 chip along with a completely stock version of Android 4.0 bundled with apps like Netflix and Zinio's reader. They keep the slimmer builds of past Excite models but with a more rounded, polished design.
Toshiba has begun shipping the Camileo AIR10, a pocket camcorder that features Wi-Fi connectivity. The device enables users to shoot 1080p video and upload the content to the Internet or a computer without requiring a direct connection via USB. The Wi-Fi connection also enables wireless webcam and streaming functionality.
Toshiba is building a new NAND flash memory plant to cope with rising mobile demand, according to claims by a Japanese business paper. The Nikkan Kogyo understood it would be the second piece of a fifth plant in Yokkaichi whose future had previously been in doubt over the tough Japanese economy. Construction would start in the summer with an aim to have the new factory running in 2013.
A newly leaked press image of an unknown tablet has been shared online by Pocketnow, and it's believed to be a near production-ready version of Toshiba's AT270 tablet we had a chance to put our hands on at Mobile World Congress. The images do show off the fact the tablet will be running on Google's Android 4.0, though it's very barebones, with no extraneous apps usually found on tablets. The Android Market icon is just that, however, and does not yet reflect the new switch to the Google Play branding.
Screen technology alliance Japan Display has formally launched operations as of the start of April. The teamwork between Hitachi, Sony, Toshiba, and the government's Innovation Network Corporation of Japan is divided and will have several divisions, some of which are behind the scenes while others will focus on specific markets. It will have separate sections for automotive and mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, along with wider research and production teams.
Fujitsu has bought the remaining 19.9 percent of the shares it didn't own from Toshiba in the pair's jointly owned Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications business. The Monday announcement means the new company is now a fully-owned subsidiary of the Fujitsu Group and has thereby been renamed to Fujitsu Mobile Communications. The joint venture worked on the IS12T Windows Phone smartphone that was launched in Japan at KDDI, but little else outside of an Android equivalent.
Streaming TV show and movie provider Hulu on Thursday announced it has made its Hulu Plus service on seven new Android tablets. This includes the Acer Iconia Tab line, ASUS Transformer Prime and Eee Pad Transformer, LG G-Slate, Motorola Xoom, Motorola Xyboard 10.1, and Toshiba Thrive. The app (free, Google Play) will become available for more Android tablets in the future as well, Hulu added.
Hulu has added Hulu Plus support for several new devices. The new components include select Toshiba 2012 Blu-ray players, Sharp 2012 TVs, and Best Buy’s Dynex Blu-ray players. Hulu confirmed that it hoped offer to its premium service through Apple TVs and Boxee Box systems "someday soon."
Toshiba has finally unveiled its 13.3-inch tablet prototype, now known as the AT330, which was originally announced several weeks ago as a concept. The company is showing off the prototype at its Toshiba World event in Bonn, Germany, where the company reiterated preliminary features, such as an integrated TV tuner and NVIDIA's Tegra 3 chipset.
Toshiba has launched its LT170 budget Android tablet in Italy, with the specs shared by NotebookItalia. It uses a 1GHz Freescale CPU, 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of integrated storage space. For expansion, there is a microSD card slot.
Microsoft's Windows 8 ARM tablet rollout has had a rough schedule possibly outlined in a rumor late Tuesday. Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo were said by Digitimes' part supplier contacts to be the ones hand-picked for the October release. The Nokia tablet might follow a month later, in November.
In a rare first ahead of more official outlets, XBMC forum member aicjofs has posted a teardown of the newer 1080p-capable Apple TV that shows a number of changes. As suspected, it has upgraded from an A4 to an A5, although it's now using a slight variant on the iPad 2/iPhone 4S version with an APL2498 part number. Apple's media hub now has 512MB of RAM as well, which along with a second core should improve performance across the device, not just in the higher resolution video.
Toshiba late Tuesday brought out a new line of SD cards, Exceria, that it hoped would be the fastest ever. The entire line is fast enough to meet the UHS-1 speed grade and Class 10, and in many cases is near the peak. The fastest tier of the new cards, Exceria Type 1, can top 95MB per second in read speed and writes at 90MB per second, making it a good fit for speed shooting with more recent DSLR cameras.
An unusually ambitious patent lawsuit filed late last week, and published Monday, is hoping to profit from the rest of the industry's work. Largely unknown NovelPoint Security LLC has sued 35 mostly major companies over two patents for a "method for limiting computer access to peripheral devices" and a "network security system allowing access" based on master tokens. The sweeping nature of the patent includes virtually every major PC and electronics builder, including Acer, Apple, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba.
Toshiba has revamped its Satellite P range with the launch of the P8-series. The new line will ship in Q2 and will feature Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors and Intel’s GeForce 600M, although the company is remaining somewhat coy in outing the new components by name in its press materials. The full line-up includes two 15.6-inch notebooks (P-850, P855) and two 17.6-inch notebooks (P870, P875).
Apple now has the top-selling cellphone of any kind in Japan, IDC Japan determined late Thursday. The iPhone 4S launch helped Apple claim 26.6 percent of all cellphone shipments in the country this fall. It may have been the first non-Japanese company to top local ranks, ending a longstanding emphasis on local makers.
Toshiba has introduced a new gaming notebook, the Qosmio X870. The device features a 17.3-inch display with 1920x1080 resolution and 3D capabilities, powered by Intel processors and an unnamed NVIDIA GPU with 3GB of dedicated memory.
Toshiba, on the heels of its showing off its still-mysterious AT270 7.7-inch tablet at Mobile World Congress last week, has revealed a conceptualization of a much larger sibling. The Japanese electronics maker has displayed a mock up of a 13.3-inch super-sized tablet. If Toshiba ultimately makes it into a commercial product, it's expected to come powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor.
The Federal Trade Commission has ruled that Western Digital sell its desktop hard drive manufacturing assets and some Intellectual Property rights to Toshiba, following its multi-billion purchase of Hitachi. The condition of the sale is needed, the FTC believed, because the original deal would have left WD as one of just two global desktop hard drive makers. The FTC ruled the deal as uncompetitive and feels its ruling will maintain "vigorous competition" in the worldwide market that should result in competitive prices and innovation in the field.
Toshiba just revealed it will ship the thinnest and lightest 10-inch tablet on March 6, which, not likely coincidentally, is one day ahead of the iPad 3 launch. Previously dubbed as the Excite X10, the tablet touts a 7.7mm (0.3-inch) thickness and weigh 535 grams (1.18lbs), while sporting a 10.1-inch, LED-backlit touchscreen with a 1280x800 resolution. Depending on the iPad 3's girth and ship dates, Toshiba may only enjoy the thinnest and lightest claims for a short time, perhaps a matter of days.
Western Digital struck a deal late Tuesday to divest some of its 3.5-inch desktop hard drive assets to Toshiba. The pact would see WD buy Toshiba's storage group in Thailand, as well as give away other elements, as a condition of WD's buyout of Hitachi's storage group. By the completion of the deal, Toshiba could make desktop 3.5-inch hard drives for home users, and it could improve its ability to make specialized drives for pro uses.
Despite recent efforts to team with Toshiba or partner with Micron, Japanese computer chipmaker has filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, The Register reported. The DRAM maker has debts that add up to 448 million yen ($5.6 million). In a statement, the company revealed its actions were made necessary by the falling prices of DRAM products due to competition and record yen values against the US dollar.
Apple was the lead mobile PC vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the rest of the year, at least when including tablets, an NPD DisplaySearch report shows. The company shipped just under 23.4 million MacBooks and iPads in the fourth quarter, and more than 62.8 million for the entire year. NPD observes, though, that almost 80 percent of Apple's numbers were iPads, estimated at 18.7 million in Q4, and 48.4 million for the whole year.
Toshiba USA just revealed over Twitter that it plans to update its Thrive 10.1-inch tablet to Android 4.0 before the end of the spring. This puts the release in mid-June, as the summer season starts on June 20.
Lenovo has climbed to the top of Rescuecom's computer reliability ratings for the beginning of 2012, achieving a significantly higher score than its competitors. Apple has fallen to fourth in the lineup, despite maintaining a stronger rating in past years and achieving a surge in overall market share, with a score that is just over half of Lenovo's rating.
RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook may have seen the same effect on tablet share in Canada as its close cousin the Kindle Fire did in the US, Solutions Research Group said Wednesday. Having had as little as five percent in the fall, it's now estimated to be up to 15 percent of tablets in its home country through the price cut to $200. The shift would have dropped the iPad's share from 86 percent to 68 percent, the Globe and Mail was told.
Three large Japanese electronics makers are involved in talks on merging assets to build computer chips. Renesas, Fujitsu and Panasonic will at first spin off their separate chip design and development divisions to create a joint company, according to Japan's Nikkei newspaper (login required). The three are doing so in order to better compete in the industry for devices and vehicles.
Toshiba's AT200 tablet has now gone on sale in the UK as an exclusive for Carphone Warehouse. The tablet was originally supposed to launch in September, but was delayed for unknown reasons. The 10.1-inch Android tablet sports a 1.2GHz processor and has 1GB of RAM.
New Gartner data breaking down European computer market share has shown poor results for almost every computer builder outside of Apple. Continent-wide, both market leader HP as well as Acer, Dell, and Toshiba were all dropping market share. Only ASUS (up 1.5 points) increased share based solely on its own merits among the top five; Lenovo's gain was inflated by its acquiring Medion last June.
Toshiba appears to have quietly released its Satellite U840 ultrabook for customers in Australia. The notebook builds upon the company's Z830, adding a larger 14-inch display with 1366x768 resolution and powered by Intel's 1.6GHz Sandy Bridge Core i5 processor.
Toshiba has reported a sudden drop in quarterly profit, dipping 72 percent on operating income of $1.1 billion for the fall quarter. The marked decline in profit also prompted the Japanese tech stalwart to issue a revised outlook (PDF) for its annual profit forecast based on lower than expected sales for the full fiscal year. The company blamed this on a number of factors, including unemployment rates in the US, the ‘severe’ state of the Japanese economy and the general weakness in the global economy. The company also said that it was impacted by the both the Japan earthquake and tsunami in March last year, and the floods in Thailand.
Toshiba has introduced a new seven-inch color e-book reader in Japan, the BD50. Effectively a local alternative to the Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet, the Android 2.3 slate carries a 1024x600 LCD as well as 8GB of internal storage space. A 1GHz Freescale CPU powers the device and is paired with 1GB of RAM.
Dell is trying an unusual strategy to try and steer ultrabook buyers towards the XPS 13 on Thursday. Nicknamed the Ultrabook Challenge, the demo campaign Thursday amounts to a blind taste test for the thin-and-light notebooks. Starting in San Francisco first, those at the corner of Chestnut and Scott, and later at Fisherman's Wharf, are being asked to pick an ultrabook based on "look and feel" with all the branding covered up, ostensibly to avoid bias.
The third-generation Xbox could mark a symbolic switch in storage but also a step back for game ownership. Kotaku understood from a rumor source that it would keep an optical drive but jump to Blu-ray, allowing it to hold larger games and play offline HD movies. For Microsoft, it would be the footnote to the HD disc debate of the mid-2000s, where the company officially backed HD DVD but was forced to drop plans after Toshiba axed the format and eventually supported Blu-ray.
Colorado federal Judge Robert Blackburn on Monday set a precedent with an order requiring that a woman decrypt data on the hard drive of her Toshiba Satellite M305 notebook by February 21. The official dismissed a defense by Ramonia Fricosu's attorneys that argued it would violate the Fifth Amendment's rule against self-incrimination, CNET said. The All Writs Act of 1789, which had already been used to compel phone companies in surveillance requests, was also valid with locked down storage.
Toshiba and Lenovo have reportedly signed deals with contractor Quanta Computer for production of new tablets based on the Windows 8 on ARM architecture. Unnamed sources within the industry have told DigiTimes Quanta will handle the tablet production for both companies, with the first models expected to arrive on the market early next year.
During Toshiba's CES booth tour, the company showed off its latest and greatest wares. Of the most interest were the current and soon-to-be-released tablets, along with some interesting concepts the company is considering. We got our mitts on the company's Excite X10 Android tablet, which is claimed to be thinnest and lightest, at 7.7mm and 1.18lbs, respectively. It certainly feels nice and light, yet solid when held, and the brushed aluminum rear panel offers a sure grip.
Fall 2011 was the worst season for PC growth in the US in a decade, IDC found in preliminary results. The overall PC field shrank 6.7 percent compared to what it had in late 2010, based partly on hard drive shortages triggered by Thailand flooding. However, the iPad and other tablets like it, combined with a tough economy, meant many didn't want PCs, particularly in the "difficult competitive landscape" of the US as well as Western Europe.
