Today’s topics include reports that Apple’s iPhone 5se and iPad Air 3 will go on sale March 18, IBM’s new super-secure mainframe for hybrid cloud environments, claims that Vaio, Fujitsu and Toshiba plan to merge their PC units, and LG will introduce its X Series consumer smartphones in advance of the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.
Apple plans to the release its latest rumored smartphone, the iPhone5se, and its iPad Air 3 tablet March 18, just three days after it plans to introduce the devices to the general public at a March 15 media event, according to news reports.
The planned event and product release dates were unveiled in a Feb. 12 story by 9to5mac, which attributed the details to unnamed sources who said that the dates could still be changed.
IBM is continuing its efforts to demonstrate that the mainframe is still a force to be reckoned with in enterprise IT, this time by announcing a new mainframe for midsize organizations that delivers the security of data encryption without slowing down system performance.
The new system, the IBM z13s, is optimized for hybrid cloud environments and can help secure information and transactions better than earlier models, IBM said.
IBM highlighted the new mainframe at its PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla.
Japanese PC makers Vaio, Toshiba and Fujitsu reportedly are a month away from merging their computer businesses and creating a larger entity that they hope will be better suited to compete in a PC market that is contracting worldwide and is dominated by the likes of Lenovo, HP and Dell.
Reports of a possible merger first surfaced in December 2015, though none of the principles involved would comment on the prospects for a merger. At the time, the three PC vendors were reportedly beginning negotiations.
Consumer electronics giant LG decided to get a jump on this year’s Mobile World Congress by announcing the release of the first two models in the X series, the X cam and X screen, which will debut at MWC next week.
The handsets will be marketed to consumers who aren’t interested in a fully loaded smartphone but want a high-quality display and camera. The X cam has dual cameras on the rear of the device—a 13-megapixel camera and a 5-megapixel camera.