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ZOOMING IN
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STUDY
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TREND HUNTER
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EBCENTER ACTIVITIES
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
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ZOOMING IN
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Companies: There is no Future Without the Environment
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A proper environmental strategy can respond satisfactorily to society’s demands while creating the foundation for significant competitive advantages. However, to succeed, companies must adhere strictly to environmental regulations while developing innovative products and processes that do not pollute the earth or damage peoples’ health.
Read (PDF, 18 Kb)
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STUDY
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Videogame Sales Take Off in Spain
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Title: Videojuegos. Resultados 2007
Source: aDeSe (Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento)
Date: April 2008
Abstract: In 2007, the Spanish videogame and videogame console industry had a turnover of 1.454 billion euros, and an increase of 50% compared to the previous year. This market, ranked fourth in Europe, outgains movie box-office numbers, recorded music and video films consumed by Spaniards. The Nintendo DS platform ranks first in games sold, followed by PS2, PS3 and Wii; the most sought-after games category was action and combat; Nintendo’s Brain Training was the most successful game. Other data of interest from the study by the association of videogame makers includes the continued presence of illegal sidewalk sales and piracy in general, the rise in videogame console sales (53%), and the increased advertising investment, which exceeded 143 million euros, up 51% from 2006.
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TREND HUNTER
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Changes in Software Market Will Affect Windows
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Consulting firms Gartner and Forrester are forecasting unfavorable winds for Microsoft if it does not change its Windows strategy. The Spanish daily El País ran a story titled ¿El colapso de Windows? [“The Collapse of Windows?”], where it included opinions from two analysts at Gartner who say that “Microsoft is not responding to the market, is bogged down by a legacy of nearly two decades of codes and decisions, and is facing some very serious competition." Too much complexity, lack of innovation and instability are among the ills that these analysts say are plaguing the world’s most ingrained operating system. So, what is the solution? According to the analysts, it is about making a more decisive commitment to online applications. Another story from the same newspaper, taken from its technology insert Ciberpaís, explores the issue while focusing on the specific problems being experienced by Windows Vista, the most recent version of the Microsoft operating system.
This complex situation could get worse for the Redmond-based company if we see the predicted decrease in software prices, since after years of firmly resisting any price reductions, it will have no choice but to follow the path of the hardware and communications sectors, which have seen continuous lowering of prices. Gartner made this prediction in late 2007, citing as causes the rise of open-source software—which is already a real alternative to proprietary systems—the boom of applications defined as online services, and offshoring. According to Gartner, these factors will put pressure on developers to make their products cheaper.
Article in El País
News in Diario TI
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China: Number One in Cell Phones and Net Users
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The Chinese dragon is not only wide awake from a technological standpoint, but in fact heads up the list in number of both cell phone and Internet users. China is already the country with the most cell phones, with a total of 574 million users—23 million more than in 2007—according to data published by the Xinhua news agency. The newspaper Cinco Días featured this news story and cited information from the International Telecommunication Union, which estimates a total of three billion cell-phone users worldwide, a piece of data that offers a better picture of the potential of Chinese technology consumers. It also reports that halfway through 2007, the United States ranked second in number of cell-phone users, with 220 million; followed by Russia (120 million), Japan (94m) and Brazil (86m).
But China is making news once again by breaking another technological record, having reached the milestone of 215 million Internet users, which makes it the top country in that category, moving past the US. The article in BBC Mundo highlights the quick growth in China’s use of the Web, with 11 million users registered in the past four months. This trend will remain steady in the coming months, and in 2012 the number of Internet users in China will approach the 500 million mark.
Articles in Cinco Días, BBC Mundo and PCWorld
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EBCENTER ACTIVITIES
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
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Tenth Edition of the bdigital Global Congress
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 Bdigital Global Congress, previously known as the Internet Global Congress, is finalizing the details for this year’s edition. This annual event, organized by Fundació Barcelona Digital, focuses on the latest developments and uses of information technologies in both private and public companies, as well as in society as whole. The congress will be held at the Montjuïc Conference Centre at the Fira de Barcelona. One of the highlights of this year’s edition will be, once again, the awards ceremony, in which two prizes will be given. The City of Knowledge award recognizes the best initiatives that have been dealing with social uses of IT, whereas the Digital Innovation awards are split in three different categories and seek to encourage ideas and innovative projects in businesses, technology centres and universities that can eventually become useful for companies
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Copyright 2008 e-business Center PricewaterhouseCoopers & IESE Business School.
Copyright 2008 e-Business Center PwC&IESE. All rights reserved. This document can be redistributed, retransmited or copied without modifying for any but commercial use. This copyright comment and the URL http://www.ebcenter.org must be included at all times.
In accordance with the wording of the Organic Act 15/99, IESE, Universidad de Navarra (hereinafter IESE), informs that the Personally Identifiable Information (Personal Information) used in this communication, is included in a computerized file of which IESE is ultimately responsible for. If you wish to exercise your rights of access, modification, cancellation and/or opposition, you can send an electronic mail to ebcenter@iese.edu
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