CBS unveils CNET Web-site redesign

Internet

CBS introduced a redesigned home page for CNET Networks, the Internet company it purchased for $1.8 billion, and said it would use its TV network, radio stations and billboard to promote the site.

The redesign lets advertisers create campaigns to run alongside CNET's reviews and product news. Next to a write-up of MP3 players that cost less than $100, for example, retailer RadioShack promoted digital music devices.

CBS has also added reviews and columnists from CNET to its "Early Show" and radio programs. As a result, the number of visitors to CNET sites jumped in July, said Neil Ashe, president of CBS Interactive.

"This is a ground-up reconstruction of one of the largest Web sites in the world," said Ashe, CNET's former chief executive officer. The redesign has been in the works for a year, he said.

CBS, owner of the second most-watched TV network, bought San Francisco-based CNET to become one of the top 10 U.S. Web-site operators and to add faster-growing Internet businesses to its stable of TV and radio stations. News Corp.'s Fox network overtook CBS in total viewers during the TV season that ended in May.

Computers

Dell's low-cost PCs target new markets

Dell showed four new PCs that will sell in China and 20 other emerging markets, its biggest push so far to tap growth that's four times faster than in the U.S.

The two laptops and two desktops, called Vostro and priced from $400 to $500 in China, were to begin shipping in August and be available in Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East by November.

The PCs include free software and pared-down technology, making them more affordable, Dell spokeswoman Gretel Perera said. First-quarter PC sales in Brazil, Russia and China grew at more than four times the pace of the U.S., according to researcher IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts.

In China, the desktop PCs will start at $440 and the laptops at $480, Dell spokesman Dwayne Cox said. Perera declined to compare the prices to similar models in the U.S., saying the features offered are different. The PCs have wireless Internet and the Linux operating system or Microsoft's Vista.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell said last month that emerging markets will help the company grow faster than the PC market this year. Dell introduced its first PC for such markets earlier this year. The PC, called Dell 500, was initially sold in China and India.

Software

Database sales sluggish for IBM

IBM's database sales advanced at a slower pace than those of Oracle and Microsoft last year as companies relied less on mainframe computers, research firm Gartner said.

Database sales at IBM, the world's largest computer-services provider, advanced 10 percent to $3.53 billion, compared with 14.9 percent growth at Oracle and 16.5 percent at Microsoft, Gartner said.

Microsoft and Oracle, the No. 1 and No. 2 software makers, benefited from more customers choosing systems running Windows and Linux. Oracle took about half of the $17.1 billion database market in 2007, followed by IBM at 21 percent and Microsoft at 18 percent, Gartner said.

"The growth of any vendor in this market is a result of the popularity of its core platform," said Gartner analyst Colleen Graham. "IBM ends up struggling with the fact that a fair amount of its revenue comes from the mainframe and other slow-growing hardware."

Database sales at Oracle increased to $8.29 billion, while revenue at Microsoft advanced to $3.09 billion, Gartner said.

Compiled from Bloomberg News