Also: A look at 10 years of failed Dell devices; Google may invest $50 million in Vevo web site.
Some users may not mind the price or bulk of the Surface Pro if it frees them from carrying a tablet for some uses and a laptop for others. But like many products that try to be two things at once, the new Surface Windows 8 Pro does neither as well as those designed for one function.
Dell’s downward spiral: 10 years of failed consumer devices [THE VERGE]
You might laugh, but it’s true — a look back at Dell’s biggest attempts to crack the consumer market and compete with Apple over the past 10 years reveals an embarrassing series of missteps, mistakes, and flat-out bad software, culminating in a flurry of poorly-executed mobile devices in 2010 that sealed the company’s fate. As the world went mobile, Dell stopped moving. “We’re no longer a PC company,” said Dell VP Brad Anderson last year. “We’re an IT company.” We’ll see how Dell manages this new chapter of its life in the months ahead — but for now, let’s just slide on down Dell’s sad little spiral together.
Zynga at a crossroads in mobile quest [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
“Do I wish that we would have gone all-in on mobile and made a bigger commitment to it earlier?” Mark Pincus, Zynga’s founder and chief executive, said in an interview after the earnings release. “Yes.”
Mr. Pincus called 2013 “a year of investment and transition.”
Google said in talks to invest $50 million in Vevo site [BLOOMBERG]
Google Inc.’s YouTube is negotiating a $50 million equity investment in music video service Vevo LLC, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
Google would own less than 10 percent of the company, giving Vevo a valuation of at least $500 million, said the people, who asked for anonymity because negotiations are still early and an agreement may not be reached.
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