Dell Profits Slump 79% As Buyers Opt for Tablets and Smartphones

May 19th, 2013Curious Stuff, Electronics Industry Chatter, Tech News No Comments

The laptop is by no means dead. We buy laptops and plenty of other personal computer staples that prove folks are still looking to have a personal computer that does the heavy stuff. Who wants to sit around trying to use Photoshop on a Microsoft Surface tablet? Bottom line, sometimes nothing beats a laptop or a PC.

Try telling Dell that.

The former no.1 of the personal computer industry recently reported a 79% drop in profits in three months – February to May –  to £85 million on revenue of £14 billion (down 2%) The hardware giant blames people making the switch from PCs and laptops to smartphones and tablets.

Personal computing means something different to everyone. To our Money4Machines order processing teams it means whatever hardware does to the job quickly and efficiently, but to our CEO and the folks who run about a lot it means something portable, light, efficient and practical. And this is where Dell is falling short. Folks who once had no other option than the smallest laptop they could find now have access to hundreds of smart devices that fit the bill a lot better.

Dell is currently going through an in-house tangle between shareholders and Dell founder, Michael Dell, over whether to take the company private. Mr Dell says he can save the company’s PC division, which is performing poorly in contrast with the 12% rise in profits from the new technologies and software arm of Dell. Some shareholders insist new management is all that’s needed to make a difference.

Want to sell laptop hardware using our sell for cash service? Dell laptops are well-made, numerous and still a big brand name, so we try to keep great rates an option for folks looking to make a bit of cash on their old laptop.

No More Games for the Wii U, Says EA

May 18th, 2013Electronics Industry Chatter, Tech News No Comments

Here at Money4Machines we help you sell console boxes like the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. We’ll take a look at anything, though, including the Nintedo Wii U.

Released in November 2012 (a mere six months ago!), the Wii U was designed as a development of the Wii console. Supporting HD graphics, running 2GB of RAM and capable of video output of 1080p, the Wii was expected to be as successful as its predecessor. The touchscreen controller definitely had the “oooooo!” factor (that has to be read in the voices of the aliens from Toy Story!), but the dream just didn’t play out for Nintendo.

EA is one of the most significant players in the gaming industry, and a recent press release confirmed the company’s departure as a games developer for the Wii U. Will other’s follow suit? It’s never a great sign when the heavy-hitters walk away from your device, but since falling from the top spot in terms of market leadership, EA have become exceptionally cautious, opting to place safe bets and invest in money-spinners like the next Xbox and PS4.

Gaming blog, GamesIndustry, described the likely demise of the Wii U as “death by apathy” as the console experienced it’s “Dreamcast moment” The site also reported that although official figures cannot be reported by the press, the Wii U and it’s games are a dead duck, with developers only need to shift around a thousand units to hit the no.1 rank.

 

Google Told to Give Auto-Complete a Good Clean by German Court

May 15th, 2013Curious Stuff, Tech News No Comments

Type in “Mila Jovovich” and Google will try to auto-complete your request to “Mila Jovovich Feet”. Weird.

We’ve all done it. Typed something completely innocent into Google and ended up with plenty of rude/questionably valid auto-correct options from Google. We thought about providing a link something like  a top 40, but we think it’s more the kind of thing to find on your own time after leaving Money4Machines‘ website with your nice hefty sell for cash quote!

A German court recently informed Google that it had had enough of the search engine’s nonsense and future auto-correct results must not be defamatory or offensive.

We’re not sure what the deal is with Mila Jovovich’s feet or whether she’d think of it as defamatory that people seem keen to get such a specific image search, but we do know what the German court ruling means for Google. It’s means Google needs to clean up auto-complete in it’s German networks to remove all defamatory/rude endings when told about them.

Would you sell your mobile if the service provider brought in a similar system of cleaning up content? Google say they’re disappointed with the results, as they’ve always claimed auto-complete is the result of organic searches and therefore not really something they should be policing.

World of Warcraft Losing Gamers

May 12th, 2013Curious Stuff, Tech News No Comments

 Here in the Money4Machines office we’re a pretty mixed bag of gamers. Monkey Island to Bioshock – the heart wants what the heart wants! But while you’re crusading with Guybrush Threepwood on your Xbox 360, it’s worth sparing a thought for the shrinking landscape of World of Warcraft.

It seems subscriber numbers are way down on last year, indicating the avatar-laden landscape could be on the wane in terms of global popularity. Activation Blizzard reported a 14% drop in numbers between January and March this year, with most of those jumping ship in the East.

Despite creating an expansion pack aimed at the Asian markets – Mists of Pandaria – World of Warcraft has failed to take quite the grip on the exceptionally competitive Eastern gaming sector as it has elsewhere. 2.7 million copies of Mists of Panderia were bought in it’s first seven days of commercial release, helping to boost player numbers to more than one million in China.

But before you sell Macbook or PC devices as some kind of odd protest, it’s worth remembering that the entire nature of online gaming has been altered by things like free games and high quality competitor virtual worlds like Disney’s new venture, Disney Infinity (more on that another day!)

Fancy using our sell for cash service to fund a PC upgrade? You can shift your Xbox 360, Wii or other consoles to make some fast funds!

More Mobile Phones than People by 2014

May 11th, 2013Curious Stuff, Tech News No Comments

 Okay, so you’ve used Money4Machines to sell your iPhone and upgrade to something splendid like the new Samsung S4 (congrats!)

But you’ve probably get a spare somewhere in the labyrinth of ‘stuff’ drawers just in case that shiny new smartphone takes a trip to toilet land or drops off the face of the dashboard. Makes sense. You sound like a very sensible person.

And according to a UN agency report, there will be more active mobiles by 2014 than there will be people, passing the seven billion mark early in the year (the six billion figure was smashed back in October 2012)

More areas of the globe now maintain a mobile phone market, with Russia topping out at 1.7 active mobile subscriptions per person. Third world areas like parts of Africa and India are also helping out by adding at least sixty-three mobiles per one hundred people. The UN says struggling economies can benefit from your old mobile phones, encouraging communication and commerce to blossom in tough environments.

But perhaps the most sobering statistic is that come 2014 we could see more mobile devices per person than toilets! According to UN figures, only 4.5 billion people have access to a toilet.

Want to add a little to your own new smartphone fund? You can sell mobile phones and all those other gadget-y odds and ends through our sell for cash service.

Externals pooping aside,

Tablets Will Die Out by 2018, Says Blackberry Boss

May 9th, 2013Electronics Industry Chatter, Selling Your Device, Tech News No Comments

Will the tablet live on? Let us know what you think in our comments section!

In the wake of analysts at IDC announcing tablet shipments are up by 142.4% in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2012, we came across a speech by Blackberry boss, Thorsten Heins, saying the tablet will likely be a dead weight round the neck of the tech world by 2018.

Speaking to Bloomberg, the Blackberry leader was clear about his belief the tablet format will fall in popularity over the coming years, being replaced by bigger smartphones and better laptops.

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore. Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

Here at Money4Machines HQ, we can’t help buy think there could be an element of sour grapes about the tablet markets. Folks who visit us to sell tablet devices from the Blackberry range – the Blackberry PlayBook – appear to be terminally underwhelmed with the devices performance, look, weight and overall usability. Bloomberg reports as few as 150,000 PlayBooks were shifted in the first quarter of their release in 2011.

So, would you sell Blackberry PlayBooks to fund an upgrade? The folks visiting us to use our sell for cash service are typically offloading their disappointing Blackberry device to change to another brand. The Kindle Fire and Apple iPad ranges are very popular, leading to great rate increases for our customers.

 

Is Apple Losing Credibility and Innovative Clout?

May 8th, 2013Electronics Industry Chatter, Tech News No Comments

“Am I death? Destroyer of credibility?”

Not too long ago we reported on Apple announcing the company’s first fiscal loss in more than a decade. But let’s set this in perscpetive. Apple still enjoys almost 40% of the global tablet market, and despite a lot of to-and-fro with Samsung to claim the global smartphone market crown, Apple doesn’t show signs of letting go of said piece of headwear.

The iPad Mini Debacle

According to Gizmodo UK, the iPad Mini could be heard as the death knell for Apple’s reign. If you already have an iPad, what’s the point? Few folks visiting our website said they wanted to sell iPad devices to switch to the iPad Mini. It’s not retina display, so why downgrade if you have a retina display device or why buy a non-retina display device new when you could opt for something like the Kindle Fire HD? Also, it feel un-Jobs-like as a product. Steve Jobs just wouldn’t have been happy with the clear revenue drive that seems to have been behind the iPad Mini. So, is this a sign Apple are on the out?

We saw it happen to Blackberry – they got comfortable, they got sloppy and they very nearly went under. The pitiful effort of the Blackberry PlayBook marked a real low point. Here at Money4Machines HQ the PlayBook is frequently cited as the worst investment in tech made by the folks using our sell for cash service.

The bottom line is that it’s not quite time to wheel out the pipe and slippers for Apple. A quick look at this performance graph coving the past fifteen years of Apple’s fiscal performance and it’s clear the giant still has some growing to do.

Could Graphene-Based Electricity-Producing Paint Charge Our Devices?

May 6th, 2013Uncategorized No Comments

According to a recent article in Wired, graphene-based paint could soon be used on the outside of some buildings to help generate electricity. The article drew from work by the University of Manchester, which recently released material about how studies are currently underway to develop the first prototypes of a graphene-based, electricity-producing paint that harnesses the sun’s rays to generate electricity.

Here at Money4Machines HQ we’re not on the frontline of technological development. But we do help folks like you to sell mobile devices and gadgets like your old Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and perhaps even sell Nokia phones that crept under the radar of credability and seemed like a good idea at the time (the Nokia 7280, we’re looking at you!)  The bottom line is that we can see a good idea coming a mile off, even if it’s not going to hit our business for a good while.

It’s not a big leap to go from using paint to power buildings to using the covering of your smartphone to charge it on the go. What could be simpler than leaving your iPhone on a sunny windowsill for half an hour to charge it up? If successful, something like a self-powered smartphone could be the next step in everything from communication in remote locations to helping some of the world’s poorest people afford technology that could improve their lives.

Researchers at the University of Manchester say the project of developing the paint for buildings is still in early stages. We’ll keep you posted on developments. And who knows, within the next decade you could be charging you iPhone 15 in  nothing more than a sun-trap!

GeekDad’s Data Free Weekend Advice to Wired Readers

May 4th, 2013Curious Stuff, Tech-y Life Advice No Comments

This cat is also going data-free!

Leaving the country. For many Money4Machines customers that means rationing a piddling data bundle to try and stay in contact with your favourite Instagram, Facebook and Twitter feeds. After all, what day is complete without seeing what your mates back home have been eating for lunch?

For our favourite tech blogger, GeekDad, leaving the country ended up meaning going data-free (so pretty much device-free) once the frantic purchasing of local SIM-cards, borrowing of unsecured Wi-Fi and apparently even a Wi-Fi-sniffing trip to McDonalds didn’t pay off.

So he did it. He turned off the data on his iPhone.

A week back from his holiday and GeekDad realised he still hadn’t turned his data back on. For us this raised the same question – how much access is too much access?

Seriously, how many times each day do you NEED to check Facebook or browse new Pins on Pinterest? We put it to the test here in Money4Machines HQ and found that controlling your data bundle is actually pretty empowering.

Sure, apps like WhatsApp are only accessible when your smartphone data is switched on, but how many ways do you really need to be contactable? When we process your sell for cash order and sell my mobile quotes, we sometimes ask a few questions about things like data use and so on. We really only do it out of interest so we can report back to our blog on any interesting trends.

One of the main reasons you want to keep your data turned on seems to be ease of use. Great. GeekDad agreed and suggested a solution – an app that turns your data on/off without the usual navigation through settings. Another reason is that you’ve got unlimited data with your contract so you may as well use it. But what if you could monitor your data use and cut your bills by giving up that unlimited bundle for a cheaper option?

Let us know what you think in the comments section and we’ll keep you updated on any splendid little apps that pop up to help you turn your data on/off.

Tablet Sales More Than Healthy in First Quarter of 2013

May 3rd, 2013Electronics Industry Chatter, Tech News No Comments

According to figures released by IDC, tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2013 are up on the same period in 2012. Way up. Analysts at IDC say shipments have increased in 2013 by 142.2% on the same quarter the previous year. So why is everyone suddenly out buying tablets?

Here at Money4Machines we believe it has a great deal to do with quality versus financial outlay. The gap is closing and it means you don’t need to sell your iPhone, trade in your PC and sell mobile devices harvested from the rest of the household and perhaps even sell your grandmother to be able to afford a high performance tablet.

We saw the release of the iPad Mini, which didn’t quite make the waves Apple had perhaps hoped, but it did offer a superb product at a cut price. The release of the iPad retina models also played well for companies like ours because we saw a lot of people using the opportunity to sell iPads and upgrade to the latest model after a bit of a drought on the Apple tablets front. Apple still enjoys a healthy share of almost 40% of the tablet market.

 

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