And unless you read corporate press releases or work in a corporate IT shop, you probably didn’t even know Cisco made such a gadget. You didn’t miss anything, though, because the Cius is now a (very small) bit of history.

Today Cisco announced on its corporate blog that it would no longer continue to develop the Cius tablet. Cisco has basically run afoul of the growing “bring your own device” trend at corporate IT shops. And when employees bring their own tablets and smartphones, well, most of the devices have the familiar logo of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Apple has supported the trend by paying a lot of attention to security issues and making it easier for corporate shops to incorporate the once-troublesome devices into company wide networks.

The Cisco blog post notes that the company plans to “double-down” on its Jabber and WebEx software products.

Cisco’s shares are trading up 0.02% today at $16.42 in a 52-week range of $13.30-$21.30.

Paul Ausick

Besides competing with smaller national rivals like RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) and GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Best Buy has to slug it out with retailers Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), and direct sellers like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

And while Best Buy touts its increases in sales of mobile phones and other portable devices, it also notes:

Areas of comparable store sales growth in the Domestic segment included tablets and mobile phones within the Computing & Mobile Phones revenue category, eReaders within the Consumer Electronics revenue category and Appliances. These increases were more than offset by comparable store sales declines primarily in notebooks within the Computing and Mobile Phones revenue category, gaming within the Entertainment revenue category, and digital imaging and televisions within the Consumer Electronics revenue category. The Domestic segment online channel revenue grew 20 percent compared to the prior-year period.

Selling more cheaper devices does not make up for lost sales in pricier items, unless a retailer can sell an enormous number. Best Buy can’t do that because there’s simply too much competition from wireless carriers, other retailers, and direct sales.

The company reiterated its full-year adjusted EPS guidance of $3.50-$3.80, in-line with the consensus estimate of $3.59. But weak international sales and declining same-store sales mean that Best Buy will be forced to close more stores, which will hurt revenues and ultimately profits unless the company can really figure out a way to boost its online sales. The outlook is probably not as rosy as the company would like us to think.

Shares are up about 1.6% in the pre-market, but were up as much as 6% at one point. Current price is $18.43 in a 52-week range of $17.53-$32.85. The 52-week low was set yesterday.

Paul Ausick

[R]evenue was adversely impacted by lower rentals and financing revenue as a result of lower equipment sales in prior periods. Revenue was also impacted by a decline in supplies revenue due to fewer meters in service in the U.S. and lower mail volumes.

Other business equipment firms such as Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) are also seeing flatter revenues due to cautious buyers, particularly in the small-to-medium sector. Economic uncertainty makes businesses hesitate to invest in more or newer equipment, regardless of whether or not the business has sufficient cash or credit because the business just can’t accurately predict future cash flows.

About its large customers, Pitney Bowes had this to say:

Many large enterprise customers, across business sectors, continued to prolong their capital investment decisions, and are retaining their current equipment longer than in prior years. This has caused delays in orders for inserting and production print equipment, especially in the U.S., thus adversely impacting revenue.

The company reaffirmed its adjusted EPS guidance for the full year at $2.05-$2.25. The consensus estimate calls for adjusted EPS of $2.12. Pitney Bowes said that 2012 revenue would come in within a range of -2% to +2% compared with 2011 revenue. The consensus estimate calls for revenue of $5.23 billion, down -0.9% from last year.

Pitney Bowes’ shares are off about -6.6% at $15.69, after posting a new 52-week low of $15.11. The prior range was $16.53-$25.03.

Paul Ausick

According to IDC data, worldwide tablet shipments totaled 17.4 million units in the first quarter, nearly -7% below the company’s projected total. The projection represented a sharp decrease in expected shipments following the fourth quarter of 2011 when 28.2 million tablets were shipped. The sequential drop in shipments came in a -38.4%.

Apple’s share of tablet shipments rose to 68% in the first quarter, from 54.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Units shipped totaled 11.8 million iPads, down from 15.4 million units in the prior quarter. IDC attributes Apples success to two decisions:

Apple’s move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet, instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating with consumers as well as educational and commercial buyers. And its decision to keep a lower-priced iPad 2 in the market after it launched the new iPad in March seems to be paying off as well.

Amazon’s share of global shipments fell from 16.8% in the fourth quarter to just more than 4% in the first quarter, falling behind Samsung Electronics into third place. Lenovo and B&N rounded out the top five.

IDC noted that it expects second quarter shipments to improve as new products enter the market, with a significant caveat to vendors:

[T]o compete in the media tablet market with Apple, [vendors] must offer their products at notably lower price points.

IDC expects a Google-Asus tablet to come into the market at a price point to challenge the Kindle Fire. And a tablet using the Windows Phone 8 platform from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is due in the fourth quarter of this year.

The takeaway from this appears to be that Apple will continue to dominate while the other vendors fight for share among themselves. Apple’s decision to continue selling the iPad 2 puts an upper limit on lower-priced competitive tablets as well. There’s still a fair bit of room between the entry price of a Kindle Fire or a Nook and an iPad 2.

The trick for Google-Asus, Amazon, and the others will be to find the highest price point they can below the iPad 2 entry level price of $399 while still offering the same or more features. Then they have to be prepared to drop their price if/when Apple does. This is not a game for the faint of heart.

Paul Ausick

The news comes just a few days after Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) announced a new joint venture with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) to put more effort behind B&N’s Nook e-reader. The Kindle devices and the Nook use customized versions of the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Reuters reported this morning that it received an email from a Target spokesperson announcing the company’s decision, but declining to say whether Target was developing closer ties with Apple or did not want to sell a device that enriched a major competitor like Amazon. Target has said it would continue to sell the Nook e-reader.

Apple plans to open mini-Apple Stores at 25 Target locations during the year, at terms that are reported to be quite favorable to Target. Perhaps Apple did a little arm-twisting, or more likely, Target saw which side of the bread had the most butter. Pushing Amazon’s Kindle would cut into its more profitable deal with Apple, and help one of Target’s bitterest rivals in the bargain. The Nook remains, presumably with other low-selling products, to give the impression of variety and choice that Target claims to offer to customers.

Target’s shares are down about -0.9% at $57.49 in a 52-week range of $45.28-$58.95. Amazon’s shares are up 0.3% at $230.82 in a 52-week range of $166.97-$246.71. Apple’s shares are up 0.4% at $584.30 in a 52-week range of $310.50-$644.00.

Paul Ausick

Western Digital even boosted its fourth quarter estimates to $4.2-$4.4 billion in revenue and EPS of $2.35-$2.55. The consensus estimates for the fourth quarter called for revenue of $4.05 billion and EPS of $2.30. So what is Western Digital’s stock getting pounded today? And, for that matter, why is Seagate Technology LLC (NASDAQ: STX) taking its lumps today as well?

It seems that there is some concern among analysts that the hard drive industry’s recovery from the Thai floods happened more quickly than most believed it could. That means that production will rise and prices will come under pressure as the drive makers have to find a market for all those drives. That’s the straightforward interpretation. But there’s a more complicated one as well.

Western Digital believes demand will reach 155-160 million units in the fourth quarter, a figure below a Street estimate of 170 million units. Thus sales prices will be soft because demand is lower. But Western Digital’s gross margin guidance for the fourth quarter is 30%-31%, considerably stronger than usual in the drive business.

Shares in Western Digital have fallen -15% today, to $37.49, ikn a 52-week range of $22.64-$44.44. Seagate’s shares are also down -5.2% at $29.46 in a 52-week range of $9.05-$31.39.

Paul Ausick

The Kindle Fire nabbed 54.4% of the Android tablet market in February, followed by the Galaxy tab family of tablets from Samsung Electronics Ltd. (OTC: SSNLF.PK) with 15.4% and the Xoom tablet from Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (NYSE: MMI). The Dell Streak from Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) holds a 1.3% share and the Tablet S from Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) has a 0.7% share.

In December the Kindle fire had a 29.4% share of the Android tablet market, and it took share from every one of its competitors over the next two months. The iPad’s share of the total market for tablets is around 70%.

In US sales, HP and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) were the only two companies to gain market share, while Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Toshiba Corp., and Acer Inc. lost share. HP’s US market share rose about 2% to either 28% or 29% depending on which survey you refer to. Apple grew its US market share by around 4% or 5%, again depending on the report. Dell lost -3.6% on both surveys. HP shipped more than 4.5 million units in the US, Apple shipped about 1.6 million, and Dell shipped around 3.5 million.

Globally, China’s Lenovo Group Ltd. grew market share by 28% (Gartner) or nearly 44% (IDC) shipping more than 11 million units in the quarter. Dell shipped about 10 million units worldwide.

Global shipments totaled 88.9 million units (Gartner) or 87.3 million units (IDC), up 1.9% (Gartner) or 2.3% (IDC) over the same period a year ago.

In the US, shipments totaled 15.5 million units (Gartner) or 16.6 million units (IDC). By Gartner’s count, US shipments fell -3.5% while shipments rose 1% according to IDC.

The shortage of hard drives due to floods in Thailand had little effect on overall sales, but could have affected smaller vendors which had trouble securing drives.

Another interesting point is the growth in Apple’s US sales. The company’s leadership in tablets and smartphones is very likely giving a boost to sales of its desktop and portable computers. Apple’s brand is a powerful marketing message and the company’s image as a technological leader helps it sell its computers even though the machines compete with lower-priced PCs.

As the Wintel consortium rolls out both a new processor and a new operating system later this year, sales of PCs could pick, especially for the thin, lightweight Ultrabook portables.

HP’s shares are up about 6.7% today, at $24.99 in a 52-week range of $21.50-$41.74. It looks like the company’s decision not to sell off its PC division was correct.

Paul Ausick

According to the results of a survey by research firm ClickFox, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was named by 20% of respondents as “the brand they couldn’t live without.” Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) were the next-highest finishers, with other brands like Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) also called out among a “slew” of other companies and brands.

Survey respondents overwhelmingly listed quality as the main driver of brand loyalty (88%), followed by 72% who named customer service. A whopping 87% said they would pay higher prices or make some other accommodation to support their favorite brands.

And it’s never too early to start. Nearly half of respondents said that brand loyalty begins at the time of purchase, while 40% said that a critical component of loyalty is effectively resolving product or service issues.

All of this is relatively obvious, of course, but what may not be so obvious is the payoff. Nearly 80% of survey respondents said that tell other people about the brands they can’t live without. About 70% say they buy more of the brand’s products and more than half say that they don’t even consider other brands.

The next time you wonder why Apple’s stock is up more than 500% over the past five years, repeat this thought: More than half don’t even consider buying another brand.

Paul Ausick

The problem appears to be that some phones are failing to register properly with the network causing the connection failures. There does not seem to be a problem with the phone’s Windows Phone 7 operating system from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Nokia had hoped that its first US smartphone, priced at a mere $99.99, would launch the company into a market dominated by the iPhone from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and phones that use the Android platform from Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). That parade just got rained on.

A software fix has been completed and will be available on April 16th. Nokia has said that it will give away the phone for a short period of time until the problem is resolved. The phone will still cost $99.99 with a two-year contract, but buyers will receive a $100 credit on their AT&T bills when they purchase the phone. Defective phones are being pulled, so presumably any new phone won’t have the problem.

How big a problem is this for the company? It’s not as bad as the earnings warning, that’s for sure. The glitch does not affect all the phones that were sold and Nokia is making a really good effort to do right by its customers.

That said kicking off your next big product only to discover a bug of this kind doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of trust or confidence in the company or its product. Initial quality remains a huge factor in determining whether or not a customer is satisfied with a product, and perhaps more important with a company.

Getting return customers is what it’s all about and no company does that better than Apple. That’s why any challenger to Apple has such a high wall to scale and why missteps like Nokia’s make that wall even higher.

Paul Ausick