Weak Market = Big Tech Bargains

Who benefits from the slowdown in tech spending? Consumers. Expect big bargains on Black Friday, and neat new tech down the road. Given all of the bad news about the economy and the current slowdown in tech spending, it's easy to forget that technology is still the backbone of the digital enterprise—and more recently the center of a lot of people's lifestyles. We're on a 50-year journey from analog to digital; start the clock at the birth of the personal computer (and its march to impact business and consumers worldwide) and we're just past the halfway point. Yes, in developed worlds the move from analog to digital is very advanced, but in emerging markets it has barely begun. This is one reason many major tech companies will keep R&D budgets at current levels and in some cases even boost them, despite short-term hiring... [read full story]