Brand: MacTech

Wow, how’s this for a change? Shares of Microsoft edged lower Wednesday after Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry downgraded the software giant in part due to increased competition from Macs to Windows systems, notes the “Seattle PI” (http://www.seattlepi.com/business/1310ap_us_microsoft_mover.html).

SinoCast Daily Business Beat (http://macosg.me/2/nl) is reporting that Apple is close to purchasing Handseeing Information Technology, a mobile Internet service provider and a mobile game developer in China, for as much as US$150 billion.

Apple’s plan to take over the Chinese company underscores its mounting interests in China’s potentially huge mobile Internet sector, which has been basically ignored by it for a long time, the article adds. If Apple is interested in the company, it’s probably for its online gaming technologies.

ABI Research (http://www.abiresearch.com) expects mobile application downloads from Apple’s iOS and the Android to account for 78% of all application downloads in 2010, with iOS (the iPhone’s operating system) taking the lion’s share of 52% of all applications.

The numbers are driven by availability, variety and novelty in both the Android market and the Apple App Store, which is currently unmatched by any other smartphone platform, says the research group. In addition, the sale of Android phones has taken off in 2010, with over 160,000 activations being reported daily.

Sanyo North America (http://www.us.sanyo.com/Dual-Cameras) has introduced a new waterproof Full HD (1920 x 1080) Dual Camera Xacti, model VPC-CA102YL, that can be used to record over 480 minutes of 1080 Full HD video on a single 64GB SDXC memory card and 14MP photos from a depth of 10 feet underwater. The camera will be available later this month at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of US$349.99.