On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Hercules appears not to care about tablets replacing netbooks on the market with its eCafe series-- 2 ultra portable netbooks for customers on the go.

The company says its Slim HD is the slimmest and lightest on the market, having a 10.1", 1024 x 600 resolution screen while being only 0.8" thick. It also has all the regular ports and connections (x3 USB, ethernet, wifi and SD card reader).

Meanwhile the EX HD has up to 13 hours of battery life (according to Hercules), together with added HDMI-out port and multimedia touch control. It's also slightly thicker than its slim brother, at 1.1".

Both models carry 512MB RAM and 8GB flash storage and use a Linux-based OS with a number of applications handling office, media playback and social networking duties.

Go Hercules eCafe Netbooks

Gome releases its annual results for 2010, where it shows a 39% Y-o-Y increase in net profit, reaching a total of $294m.

The retailer says its net sales are up by 19% from last year, reaching $7.6BN, with a Y-o-Y increase in operating profits over 2009 of 58%. The reasons for such growth include an ever-growing demand for electronics in mainland China-- Gome opened 139 stores in 2010 (and closed 39), bring its store number to 826.

For this year the Gome group plans further expansion of its store network and remodelling existing stores into new-model flagship and anchor stores, while expanding product ranges with high-margin differentiated products.

Clearly big stores are doing well in China, at least when compared to the woes the likes of Best Buy are going through back in the West...

Go Gome Announces 2010 Annual Results

Philips expects its TV devision to report pretax losses of €100m - €120m for Q1 2011-- a record for the compnany.

While last December the company was hoping for its TV activities to restart making a profit in 2011, it now doubts they'll even manage to break even-- marking the TV division's 5th consecuitive annual loss. In Q4 2010, it recorded pretax losses of €67m.

Philips TV prices fall by almost 15% in Q1 (from Q4 2010's), while inventories fail to return to normal level.

The company's Q1 2011 earnings call is set for April 18.

Go Philips Provides Update on Financial Results Development in its TV Business

Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci resigns from the company with immediate effect, with chairman J.T. Wang as temporary CEO.

The company says Lanci "held different views" from the board's majority, causing "failure to reach consensus" on the direction Acer should take in the future-- basically whether the company should concentrate on shifting volume (as it does now, and Lanci's preferred direction for the company) or making more profit from its products.

Analysts say the company should shift towards tablet production (rather than its staples, laptops and netbooks) in order to boost profits-- taking on Apple at its own game.

With Lanci's resignation also comes a new Acer EMEA President-- Walter Deppeler, current Acer Senior Corporate VP and Acer EMEA Deputy President.

Go Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci Resigns

Go New Acer EMEA President