Google (GOOG) is taking its campaign to promote its Chrome Web browser up a notch, sealing an alliance with Sony to have the Web browser pre-installed on some Sony (SNE) notebook computers.

A Google spokesman said Monday that Chrome will be pre-installed on some Sony laptops. He declined to comment on financial terms of the deal and the geographic scope of the partnership, which he called a test. Sony didn’t return requests for comment.

Google will need a lot more than Sony’s relatively small computer market share to make a dent. As of July, Chrome accounted for 2.6 percent of the global Web browser market, according to Net Applications.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Intel (INTC) shares this afternoon are getting a lift from an upgrade by JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna from “Market Perform” to “Market Outperform,” with a $24 price target.

Following on a much-stronger-than-expected Q2 report last week, Intel, Gauna says, should continue to gain from better-than-expected results of its customers’ sales of notebook computers and server computers. Servers are benefitting form a shift to “cloud computing,” where more data processing is done via networks on a central computer, while notebooks may get a lift from Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows 7, when it comes out on October 22.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Yes, this may be the worst recession America has seen since World War II. But the people who are bringing us the Consumer Electronics Show would like to point out that sales of tech products are actually faring pretty well when compared to what happened during previous recessions.

The evidence suggest that people’s views on devices such as televisions, notebook computers and mobile phones are changing, says Shawn DuBravac, economist for the Consumer Electronics Association. Through November of 2008, 17.22 percent of total durable good purchases were tech goods, the highest share in 50 years, he says.

“While these are typically discretionary purchases, consumers are treating them like nondiscretionary purchases,” says Mr. DuBravac.

That doesn’t mean that consumers aren’t making cutbacks. In fact, in many categories, consumers seem to be gravitating toward lower-priced items for varying reasons. For example, coming out of the 2007 holiday season, nearly 50 percent of all flat panel sales were over 40 inches. Today, Mr. DuBravac says, that numbers stands closer to 35 percent.

Read the rest of this post