Downturn Derails Dell's Turnaround

Economists try to put a value on PCs in America

(NEWSER) - You can scope out the price tag of a Mac or PC at any given electronics hawker, but how much are computers really worth to us? Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta actually tried tackling that question, and they came up with $500 billion—or, on average about $1,700 per person. That's equal to about 5% of total consumer spending in 2009, reports the Wall Street Journal . More»

Company now has 1.5M followers on Twitter

(NEWSER) - Twitter has proved to be a bit of a gold mine for Dell—the computer maker said promotions over the social-networking site directly resulted in more than $6.5 million in sales this year. The number of subscribers to Dell's Tweets has risen 23% over the last three months, to the point where 1.5 million people—as far-flung as China, Mexico, Japan, and Brazil—now follow along, reports Bloomberg . More»

Recession isn't over as far as consumers are concerned

(NEWSER) - If the recession is indeed waning, nobody told consumers. Retailers of every kind reported lousy sales for the quarter ended Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reports. Target’s same-store sales fell 6.2%, Home Depot’s dropped 9.1% and Saks’ plummeted a whopping 15.5%. And with unemployment, stagnant wages, and tight credit squeezing shoppers, executives don’t expect to see improvement until next spring. More»

Sales slowdown hides fact that low-cost laptops are taking over

(NEWSER) - You may not be able to buy a "netbook" in the not-too-distant future, but a new generation of low-power, low-priced laptops descended from the netbook are poised to conquer much of the PC market, experts tell Wired. Sales of the netbook—one of last year's hottest gadgets—haven't met expectations so far this year, but manufacturers are turning their attention to new categories like "consumer ultralow-voltage notebooks." More»

(NEWSER) - Retailers are fighting to survive in 2009, some more successfully than others. Some 73,000 stores could close their doors by year’s end. Forbes breaks down which chains are shrinking the fastest:

• Ann Taylor: Catering to working women isn’t so great when unemployment’s at 8.1%. Expected sales drop: 17.3%
• Saks: November’s 70%-off sale didn’t help, and it’s already been forced to lay off 1100. Expected sales drop: 26.2%