The world's top-six notebook vendors, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo, Dell, Apple, Acer and Asustek Computer, will together occupy 81.7% of global notebook shipments in 2015, increasing 1.7pp on year, according to Digitimes Research.With the exception of Lenovo and Asustek, other vendors will barely sustain significant shipment gains in 2015 during which Lenovo is expected to continue adopting an aggressive strategy to maintain its leading market position, while Asustek will try to generate more revenues by ramping up shipments of low-priced models.HP, Dell and Apple will see their combined shipments decline slightly in 2015 as the buying activities triggered by the expiration of Windows XP and Sony's phasing out from the notebook market will dwindle. However, the three vendors will take a combined 40% share.Facing the mature notebook market, product differentiation among brand vendors will become more vivid in 2015, with Apple likely having drastic changes, Digitimes Research asserted.Asustek and Acer are expected to focus on models using Microsoft's Windows with Bing low-royalty program as well as Chromebooks.

A new data storage solutions company focusing on Solid State Disk (SSD) technology has revealed itself by announcing a new SSD controller IC that enables SSDs with densities up to 5 Terabytes (TB). The company, Sage Microelectronics, is currently shipping in volume 2.5 TB SSD units on a single PCB with a standard 2.5" form-factor.Sage Micro's new technology enables a single SSD controller IC to address up to 5TB of flash memory (on an array of 10 X 4 X 128GB eMMC BGA modules), achieving an industry first in high density and small form factor. The Sage S681 device, currently in mass production, employs a SATA II interface to drive 10 channels of SD, MMC or eMMC flash memory cards, with each channel supporting up to 512GB of flash memory."Until now, SSD densities were limited to 512GB by the maximum capacity of flash memory chips, and by the fan-out limitations imposed on flash controllers by the high number of interface traces required for each memory device," explained Dr. Jerome Luo, founder and President of Sage Microelectronics. "Sage decided to leverage the highly competitive pricing of flash memory cards—such as eMMCs—to develop an SSD controller that can effectively address up to 5TB of data."eMMC Enables Higher Density, Eases Design & Inventory ManagementBy offloading the management and high pinout interface of individual flash memory chips to the flash controller IC embedded in each flash memory card, the new Sage S681 can effectively manage ten memory cards, increasing SSD capacity ten-fold.Replacing flash memory chips with flash memory cards does not increase per-byte cost for the Sage SSD controller architecture, because the market has driven flash controller IC pricing to become highly commoditized. This results in flash memory cards being price competitive with the underlying cost of the component flash memory chips themselves. The use of JEDEC-compliant memory cards instead of discrete flash ICs also enables SSD manufacturers to mix-and-match inventory, further reducing testing cost, inventory management complexity and firmware version control.Sage developed a propriety multi-core architecture for its SSD controller IC. Unlike single core SSD controllers from other vendors, the Sage S681 is built on a multi-core processor that devotes a single concise RISC CPU core to SATA bus management, plus additional cores to handle two memory card channel interfaces each. This enables clear firmware partitioning between the SATA interface and memory card interface, simplifying software upgrades, testing and verification.The Sage S68X family of SSD controllers includes three devices: the S681 supports 10 memory channels, the S682 supports 5 memory channels, and the S685 support 4 memory channels. All three devices are currently in mass production.The S681 is available in a BGA 207 package.The S682 is available in a LQFP 128 package.The S685 is available in a QFN 88 package.Sage Micro also offers a portfolio of low-density SATA II SSD flash controller solutions.Experienced Team of Storage Innovators Behind New VentureSage Microelectronics was formed by leading technologists with corporate experience in flash memory and controller design. The company is led by President Jianjun (Jerome) Luo, PhD., who also serves as Director of the prestigious Micro Electronics Research Institute (MERI) at Hangzhou Dianzi University, China.The company's founding team includes senior executives that co-founded storage technology developer Baleen Systems, and held senior executive and technology positions at Synopsis, IBM, Maxtor, Oak Technologies and other Silicon Valley companies. With more than 60 patents granted between them, Sage Micro's core team has decades of experience in innovative storage technology development.The company is financially backed by China-based venture capital and corporate investment from the Cybernaut Investment Fund, Enjoyor Ltd. and Shenzhen Jinchang Asset Management Co.

Global tablet shipments are expected to reach 63.4 million units in the third quarter of 2014, growing a mere 1% from a year ago, showing that the market has entered the maturity phase earlier than expected, according to Digitimes Research's latest report about tablets.Shipments of iPad and white-box tablets were also flat in the third quarter. Affected by a delay in shipments of iPad Air 2, total shipments of iPad devices totaled 15 million in the third quarter, up only 6.4% from a quarter earlier.Third-quarter shipments of white-box tablets were less than those shipped a year earlier period, reaching only 26.2 million units despite subsidiaries from Intel.However, non-Apple tablet suppliers as a whole managed to ramp up their shipments in the third quarter, with Samsung Electronics seated in the number two position firmly. But Samsung has been lowering its shipment target for 2015 due to a lack of models for the second half of the year and its conservative pricing strategy.Asustek Computer has managed to ramp up shipments of its Fonepad and MeMO Pad family products, widening its gap against Lenovo. Meanwhile, Acer, Amazon and Dell took the titles from five to seven, respectively.Taiwan-based tablet vendors shipped a total of 23.13 million tablets in the third quarter, accounting for 62.2% of global shipments in the quarter. Foxconn saw the ratio of its tablet shipments to total shipments by Taiwan-based makers fell to below 50% due to reduced shipments of large-size iPad and ODM models to Xiaomi Technology.Quanta Computer and Compal Electronics saw their shipment ratios improve thanks to increased shipments to Asustek and Amazon.

Taiwan panel makers' shipments of large-size (9-inch and above) TFT LCD panels will reach 67.01 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 1.3% on quarter but up 4.2% on year, representing the fourth consecutive quarter of on-year increase as a result of the global economy recovering, according to Digitimes Research.Taiwan's 9-inch and above size tablet shipments will be down on quarter compared to Samsung Display, LG Display and Sharp, all of which expect to see over 10% sequential growth during the fourth quarter as a result of orders from Apple.For notebook and monitor panel applications, Taiwan makers expect to see a small decline as both markets see limited demand. In terms of TV applications, panel shipments will be down following strong demand in the previous quarter when vendors prepared for the year-end holidays. Additionally, LG Display and BOE will begin adding new capacity and production to newly established or existing 8.5G lines, causing some orders to be shifted away.Overall, the makers' shipments are expected to grow 4.4% on year in 2014 to reach 264.7 million, said Digitimes Research.In terms of small- to medium-size applications, Taiwan's related shipments are expected to grow 2.6% sequentially to reach 338 million units. Some orders were delayed in the third quarter to help boost Taiwan's panel volume and demand for phablet devices is expected to increase, which will push up Taiwan makers' tablet panel shipments 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the makers' vehicle and PND panel shipments will see on-quarter growth of 6.6% and 4.4% respectively as they further enter the supply chains of major automakers in North America and Europe.

The total number of LTE, consisting of FDD-LTE, TD-LTE and FDD/TD-LTE dual-mode, subscribers around the world will increase to 379.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, growing on quarter by 14.9% and on year by 89.6%, according to Digitimes Research.North America will account for 40.4% of the total number, Asia Pacific for 40.1% and Europe for 15.5%, Digitimes Research indicated. Mainly due to China Mobile's fast growing TD-LTE user base, Asia Pacific will account for 41.5% of global LTE subscribers in the first quarter of 2015, exceeding 38.8% for North America.There will be 306 FDD-LTE networks, 45 TD-LTE and 16 FDD/TD-LTE dual-mode networks in commercial operation around the world in the fourth quarter.Taiwan-based ODMs/OEMs will ship 2.088 million LTE data communication devices in the second half of 2014, consisting of 123,000 dongles, 441,000 Mi-Fi units, 1.234 million CPE (customer premises equipment) units, 21,000 Small Cells and 269,000 modules. Shipments in the first half of 2015 will increase to 2.201 million units.

Intel's Skylake-based processors, originally expected to launch in early third-quarter 2015 to support the release of Windows 10-based notebooks, may not become available until the end of the third quarter or early fourth-quarter 2015. The delay is expected to hurt demand for Windows 10 notebooks.The Skylake series is Intel's next-generation CPU platform, following the existing Broadwell. Because mainstream Broadwell-based processors will not be released until early January 2015, Intel has decided to postpone Skylake processors' ready to market (RTM) schedule to avoid the new CPU platform from impacting the lifecycle of notebooks using the mainstream Broadwell processors.Intel has set the RTM schedule for the Skylake to the 37-47th weeks of 2015 (the end of August to the end of October). If the plan is unchanged, Skylake-based notebook models are expected to become available in the retail channel at the end of September, at the earliest, as the upstream supply chain normally takes another 4-5 weeks after CPUs' releases before shipping out end products.Windows 10-based notebooks are already facing many negative factors that could impact their shipments in 2015: most enterprises are expected to finish their PC replacement by the end of 2014 after Microsoft terminated support for Windows XP; Microsoft will offer free upgrade to Windows 10 for existing Windows 8/8.1 notebooks; and Windows 10 lacks attractive features.The Skylake delay is expected to worsen Windows 10-based notebooks prospects, and may in turn weaken the notebook market's performance in the second half of 2015, Digitimes Research believes.

Concerns raised in a previous report that allowing the schism between the gaming press and their core audience to fester could lead to real economic impacts for the gaming industry during the holiday season appear to have had merit. Major advertisers are being dragged into the argument against their will, and some of the major players in the industry have announced conservative outlooks in their financial forecasts corresponding to the final quarter of 2014.The conflict which has been fought for over two months across Twitter and most of the major gaming-related news sites, recently spilled into the mainstream media prompting fears that the coverage could lead to a "moral panic" scaring parents into crossing games and console hardware off their child's Christmas list which would impact the three main console vendors Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. These companies outsource their console manufacturing to Taiwan-based Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Pegatron Technology, and also source the bulk of their related components from Taiwan-based suppliers.Meanwhile, GamerGate supporters who feel they have been denied the right to have both sides of the issue discussed fairly by the media, have turned to addressing their displeasure directly to advertisers, causing one of the Internet's dominant blogging groups to have already "lost thousands of dollars," and eliciting a backlash from the media calling out major brands including Intel, Adobe, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.Distract and discreditMisogynists, hate-mongers, and terrorists worse than ISIS, are not the worst insults being thrown at the multinational, self-styled consumer revolutionaries that have banded together under the hashtags #GamerGate and #notyourshield to call on the gaming press to root out bad apples in their ranks, stop colluding across competing outlets to push or suppress particular stories, and to disclose conflicts of interest.But rather than cave to pressure to "police themselves", the opponents of GamerGate have deflected the issue by focusing on the harassment and death-threats being directed at a few women in the gaming industry by individuals they assume to be motivated by their support for GamerGate.This harassment has escalated over the months since the dispute erupted to the point where a massacre was threatened against a university in the US if it allowed a planned speech by a prominent feminist-games critic to go ahead. These threats have been almost universally attributed to GamerGate supporters by the media.Although the authorities assessed the threats and determined that all university business should be conducted as scheduled, the speaker decided to cancel the engagement which helped bring GamerGate to the attention of the mainstream media, in particular MSNBC, which over the following days ran a series on on-air segments and interviews presenting the issue from the perspective of the women being harassed and threatened.Critics of the media's coverage of GamerGate point out that severe threats have been targeted at people on both sides of the debate, but most have been left unreported or dismissed as insignificant. The critics view this "selective reporting" which serves to paint GamerGate as a misogynist hate-group as a dishonest attempt to discredit the movement, and by extension the sincerity of its claims.And the media's strategy of distract and discredit appears to have been effective, as demonstrated by movie director Joss Whedon jumping into the dispute to compare GamerGate supporters to members of the KKK. The overwhelming negative perception being presented by the media of GamerGate has caused any potentially legitimate claims being made by its supporters to be largely ignored, and any attempt to present their evidence to be dismissed outright.The allegationsDespite repeated assurances by the media at the start of the dispute that any appearance of collusion and cooperation between websites to control the narrative and present an independent but unified front were purely coincidental, it has since been revealed that around 150 members of the gaming press and a few developers were in fact communicating on a private message board called GameJournoPros. The group has since disbanded and members have tried to paint the group as a "water cooler" where professionals congregated to discuss mundane day-to-day events related to working in the gaming industry.However, leaked postings reveal that members also used the group to apply pressure on members working at other outlets to remove stories on their sites, to call for the firing of uncooperative writers, to warn members to avoid communicating with certain individuals (effectively creating a blacklist), and even discussed private personnel matters including soliciting opinions on how to handle internal disciplinary cases.Additionally, in the weeks since GamerGate attempted to open a discussion of professionalism in the gaming press, individuals have come forward to share their experiences of how they were harmed by the current seemingly incestuous nature of the industry with allegations that bloggers have, in specific instances, published incorrect or incomplete reports without performing adequate fact checking, refused requests to correct or respond to reported allegations, and had interfered with or blocked attempts to put out the other side of the story in competing outlets.Finally, while the overall response from the gaming press is that readers should have no concerns about the ethical standards of the industry and that any attempts to change or reform would actually inhibit bloggers' ability to do their jobs, some individuals have broken ranks to acknowledge there are issues.Most prominent of these is a staff writer at Gawker Media saying live on air during a radio debate that, "There are totally, unethical, things going on in video game journalism. I covered tech for a long time... all consumer product journalism faces basically the same problem, which is that you trade access for favors or whatever else. This is going on all over the place."Whether or not the above concerns have merit, supporters of GamerGate overwhelmingly refuse to allow the issue to be brushed away without at least a thorough and fair discussion of the evidence. Meanwhile, the gaming press, with increasing support from the broader media, are refusing to discuss the ethics-issues raised while the atmosphere of intimidation and threats continues to be associated with GamerGate. Instead they appear to be set on a course to publish increasingly hostile write-ups, while meeting insult with insult on Twitter and other social media.Going for the moneyGamerGate supporters have stepped up their original strategy of starving the blogs of revenues by boycotting sites publishing what they perceive as openly biased accounts of the issue, and have started to attack their revenue streams directly though coordinated email campaigns to companies advertising on these sites. Dubbed Operation Disrespectful Nod (ODN), the strategy scored its first major victory when Intel removed its advertising from a major games publication.Intel's attempt to distance itself from the dispute was met with widespread criticism from the gaming press. Bloggers took to Twitter calling on their followers to demand Intel reinstate the ads, and published disdainful posts accusing the company of siding with a hate-group. Intel issued a statement reiterating that it "[D]oes not support any organization or movement that discriminates against women." At the time of publication, Intel had not restored the ads.The next escalation in tensions occurred when an editor at Gawker Media Tweeted, "Ultimately #GamerGate is reaffirming what we've known to be true for decades: nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission. Bring Back Bullying." This marked Gawker as the next target of ODN.Over the following days companies including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Adobe distanced themselves from Gawker. Several brands announced they had suspended their current advertising in order to assess the situation.As in the case of Intel, the brands trying to back away were openly attacked on blogs and social media. A particularly vitriolic post by Gawker's Editor-in-Chief called out Intel for being "run by craven idiots", lambasted other advertisers for their "breathtaking cynicism and dishonesty, and lamented that "I've been told this attack on my company has already cost me thousands of dollars, and could cost thousands if not millions more."This post was the first, with any authority, to put an actual figure on the economic impact GamerGate is having on the industry.[Almost] everybody losesWith opinions on GamerGate appearing in media of all stripes, from Rolling Stone to Playboy, on TV and radio, and in Tweets from prominent movie directors, actors and comedians, it seems that everyone has planted their flag to show on which side of the debate they stand.However, the major console vendors, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, and AAA publishers, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard have still managed to avoid being brought into the debate officially. This is despite the fact that, as pointed out previously, they face the possibility of seeing significant impacts on their business operations during the fourth-quarter 2014 period if gamers and the gaming media refuse to reconcile their differences before the major year-end sales and marketing push starts in November.Furthermore, GamerGate supporters are currently discussing whether or not to put pressure on these companies by deferring any games and console purchases until the new year, which could cause them to miss their performance projections for 2014.Signs that these impacts are a being taken into consideration may have been revealed in Microsoft's recent earnings call for its fiscal first-quarter 2015 (ended September 2014) and its forecast for the following quarter.During the call, Microsoft stated, "In Computing and Gaming we expect revenue to be US$3.5-3.8 billion, this range reflects growth in Xbox One consoles over the last year, but a mix shift to lower priced SKUs last June. With the momentum we are seeing with Surface Pro 3, we expect units to grow sequentially." Microsoft's Computing and Gaming segment includes its Xbox, Surface and other PC hardware product lines.Microsoft reported revenues of US$4.73 billion for its fiscal second-quarter 2014 (ended December 2013), meaning that the company expects to see an on-year decline in revenues of around US$1 billion during the 2014 holiday season. This is despite the fact that Xbox One sales increased 102% during its fiscal first-quarter 2015 (ended September 2014) after the company effectively reduced the entry-price of the console by US$100 to US$400 with its "Kinect-less" SKU, as well as having recently launched in 28 new markets, including China. Microsoft has also recently announced Xbox One will enjoy a further US$50 promotional reduction at participating retailers during the November 2 to January 3 period.Microsoft declined to comment on these observations.Meanwhile, EA has also delivered conservative expectations for its fiscal third-quarter 2015 (ending December 2014) with GAAP net revenues estimated at US$1.1 billion and non-GAAP net revenues at US$1.275, compared to GAAP net revenues of US$808 million and non-GAAP net revenues of US$1.572 billion announced for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. EA said previously that 2013 was a transitional year due to the start of the next console generation causing weakness in current generation software.EA was invited to comment but did not respond by the time of publication.Ubisoft and Activision have upcoming earnings calls scheduled for October 30 and November 4.Google and Amazon positioned to reap significant benefitsMany gamers have responded to the gaming press' handling of the issue by creating blacklists of unsympathetic sites. As a direct result of this many have turned to so-called YouTube celebrities for gaming related news, reviews and discussion. Successful YouTubers were earning a substantial living even before this shift, with the highest earner pulling in an estimated income of US$4 million in 2013 through sponsorship deals and his share of advertising revenues from Google's AdSense program.If YouTubers become the gaming industry's primary media channel, Google stands to benefit significantly from the increased advertising impressions they draw to its site.Furthermore, many YouTubers have created a secondary income source through live-streaming content for which they earn money through a combination of advertising/sponsorship, on-air donations and monthly subscriptions. The dominant player in this segment is Twitch.tv, which entered into an acquisition agreement with Amazon in August in a deal valued at approximately US$970 million. With the sudden change in the dynamics of the gaming media market, Amazon could stand to make back that investment much sooner than originally expected.GamerGate logoPhoto: Anonymous

The fourth quarter is traditionally a slow season for the small-to-medium-size panel industry, but in the fourth quarter of 2014, Taiwan's related shipments are expected to grow 2.6% sequentially to reach 338 million units, according to Digitimes Research.China's demand for smartphones was not as strong as expected in the third quarter and vendors cut panel orders for the quarter to focus on digesting their smartphone inventories. As a result, Taiwan's small-to-medium-size panel shipments did not enjoy as strong a growth as expected.Heading into the fourth quarter, some orders were delayed in the third to help boost Taiwan's panel volume and demand for phablet devices is expected to increase, which will push up Taiwan makers' tablet panel shipments 4.4%. Additionally, demand for low-priced notebook panels will also increase as vendors aim to release lower-priced notebooks in emerging markets.Vehicle and PND panel shipments will see on-quarter growth of 6.6% and 4.4% respectively as they further enter the supply chains of major automakers in North America and Europe.In terms of shipment growth by maker, Innolux can expect to see a 4.4% on-quarter increase in the fourth quarter largely due to rebounding orders from China's handset vendors.

China makers' shipments of touch panels used in smartphone, tablet and notebook applications are expected to grow 7.1%, 3.6% and 10% respectively on quarter during the third quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research.Tablet panel shipments will see the lowest decline of the three applications due to the tablet market slowing down, and Korea-based vendors are shifting more orders to local makers.China makers' smartphone touch panel shipments will see limited growth as orders from Samsung Electronics remain lower-than-expected and Coolpad still has a high inventory of 4G smartphones.Heading into the fourth quarter, handset and tablet touch panel shipments will increase 8.8% and 7.4%, respectively, on quarter due to an expected surge in 4G smartphone orders from Huawei Device, Xiaomi, TCL and Lenovo, coupled with increased orders from white-box tablet vendors.Touch notebook shipments, meanwhile, are expected to be weak in the fourth quarter. As a result, shipments of notebook touch panels will drop 1.5% sequentially, added Digitimes Research.

Taiwan makers' shipments of large-size TFT LCD panels sized 9-inch and above reached 67.92 million in the third quarter of 2014, up 0.6% on quarter and up 5.3% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Innolux was a main driver of the overall increase, with TV panel shipments growing 17.7% in the quarter. The company also saw a 41% increase in Ultra HD TV panels.Taiwan panel makers' overall shipments of LCD TV panels grew 7.4% on quarter during the quarter to represent 31% of total large-size panel shipments.Additionally, Taiwan makers' monitor panel shipments declined 8.9% while notebook panel demand rebounded as Innolux received new orders as a result of LG Display shifting capacity to other applications, said Digitimes Research.