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After inundating the smartphone segment in the first two quarters of the year, Samsung is now concentrating on strengthening its entry in budget level of the market. First in the line is the recently-leaked Samsung C3212 DuoS, a dual-SIM device with an estimated street price of €135 (US$193.78) and is believed to be headed to Russia and Eastern Europe.

Another Samsung device doing rounds in the inner circles of the web is the Samsung Reclaim M560. Widely rumored to be released in the Americas under Sprint branding, the device is expected to be available to customers in the US as early as August 16th. There has been no official announcement from either Sprint or Samsung on this matter, and most of the specifications available on the web are based on Sprint publication material, which first surfaced late May this year.

Following on close heels of Bell's announcement of the Samsung Link in Canada, another major carrier, Virgin Mobile, has announced the availability of the Samsung Link, thereby ending the exclusivity of the device to Bell in the North American nation. Virgin Mobile have packed in a big surprise with their pricing of the device, offering a contract-free Samsung Link at less than 50% of the price being presently charged by Bell Canada for the same model. While the carriers are engaged in price wars and exclusivity deals, both manufacturers and consumers are reaping the benefits of wider market penetration and  economical deals respectively. Bell Canada may be expected to revise its pricing policy for Samsung Link to keep up with the attractive offerings by Virgin Mobile.

                     

 - The Motorola Morrison has been approved by US regulator FCC. It is known from past leaks that it will be marketed by T-Mobile, possibily as the T-Mobile G3, or Google G3.

The Morrison is another one of Motorola's Google Android-powered handsets, which hasn't been released to the market yet. The phone will be compatible with T-Mobile's 3G bands (1700/2100MHz), according to the FCC test.

The device features, besides 3G, Wi-Fi connectivity, an undefined camera, Bluetooth, and obviously, it will run on Google Android.Motorola has already at least three Android-powered handsets in its upcoming products list: the high-end Motorola Sholes, with a 3.7" touchscreen display, full QWERTY keyboard, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth; the Motorola Heron (also known as the Ironman), with a 2.8" touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, and GPS; and the Motorola Calgary, with a 3-3.5" touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

T-Mobile itself has five Android-powered handsets in the pipeline (including the Morrison): the Samsung Houdini, HTC Magic (T-Mobile G2), Bigfoot G1 v2, and a Huawei device.

The Motorola Morrison's release date is scheduled towards the end of this year.

                     

Popular social-networking site Facebook was hit with a DoS (denial-of-service) attack Thursday, but the attack did not appear to be as severe as one that crippled Twitter the same day.

Facebook reported on its own Facebook profile Thursday that users may have had trouble accessing the site or its services because of the attack, but that the situation seemed well in hand by late morning in California, where the company is located.

"We have restored full access for most people," the company reported. "We’ll keep monitoring the situation to make sure you have the reliable experience you expect from us."

Users reported that Facebook was not loading properly or could not be accessed early Thursday, but the site seemed to be working properly by late morning.

Facebook did not provide specifics about the attack or how it was handled, only providing a link to a Wikipedia entry with information about DoS attacks in its posting.

It's unknown if the attacks on Twitter and Facebook are linked. However, a source with knowledge of the situation said that the company is working with Google and Twitter to investigate the matter further. A portion of the service that redirects third-party-owned URLs to Google Sites or the Google Blogspot service also was affected for about an hour by a DoS attack this morning, another source familiar with the situation said. It's also unknown at this time if that is related to the Facebook and Twitter attacks, the source said.

A DoS attack is an attempt to make a Web site or service unavailable to intended users by flooding the service or site with incoming data requests, such as e-mails. Motives for DoS attacks vary, but perpetrators mostly target companies with high-profile, highly trafficked Web sites. Hackers often have a financial or political motivation for such attacks.

                     

The once-healthy Windows cash cow is starting to exhibit signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Microsoft's Client division stumbled to its first-ever annual revenue decline in fiscal 2009 and saw fourth-quarter revenue fall more than $1 billion. And some of that weakness is the result of the growing popularity of netbooks.

Microsoft's overall OEM revenue fell 24 percent during the quarter, which Microsoft attributed to PC market weakness and the shift toward lower-priced netbook offerings like Windows XP Home. OEM premium mix, which pertains to sales of higher-priced versions of Windows vs. lower-priced ones, fell 13 percent during the quarter and now stands at 59 percent.

Yet, in spite of the evidence that netbooks are deleterious to Microsoft's revenue, Steven Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's OEM division, said Microsoft doesn't see netbooks as a threat.

"I don't think we think about [netbooks] as hurting the business or not. I think we think about [them] as another aspect of the laptop market," Guggenheimer said in an interview earlier this month at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference.

Microsoft has long been working to get Windows running on small devices and was an early participant in the One Laptop Per Child program, and this enabled the company to react quickly to the opportunity netbooks represent to get Windows onto more devices, according to Guggenheimer.

"When the netbook came out, there wasn't a version of Windows for it. So, we adapted and came up with a version of XP, and that's what helped the market go forward," Guggenheimer said. "If you look at the percentage of netbooks running Linux today, I think Windows has actually helped make that market more successful."

Nonetheless, some Microsoft partners disagree with Guggenheimer's assertion that netbooks aren't a threat.

"I think Microsoft is very afraid of netbooks -- how could they not be?" said Andy Kretzer, director of sales and marketing at Bold Data Technology, a Fremont, Calif.-based system builder.

Kretzer believes it'll be difficult for Microsoft to start charging more for Windows 7 on netbooks. "As prices on PCs continue to plummet, the 'Microsoft tax' on each machine begins to stick out like a sore thumb. When the OS is a third to half the price of a unit, people start to investigate other options," Kretzer said.

Microsoft is believed to charge OEMs between $20 and $25 per copy of XP Home on netbooks and it'll definitely have to charge more than that for Windows 7 on netbooks. Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions On Microsoft, expects Microsoft to charge $20 or $30 more per unit for Windows 7 on netbooks compared to XP Home.

However, if Microsoft charges too much it risks driving more buyers to Linux netbooks. Tim Ulmen, principal at Midwest IT Solutions Group, Wichita, Kan., says OEMs have already slashed netbook prices to the bone and won't be able to take on the potential added costs of Windows 7.

"Whether it's XP Home or some entry-level version of Windows 7, overall price point is a key element to the success of the netbook, and I don't think the hardware vendors can squeeze any more out of their costs," Ulmen said.

Google's Chrome OS represents another looming threat for Microsoft. Although little more than vapor at this point, Google has said Chrome OS is designed specifically for netbooks, and some analysts believe that Google could add legitimacy to the idea of Linux on the desktop and lend it valuable name-brand recognition.

"Linux is still a potential platform for netbooks, but I think Google has the biggest chance of being disruptive," said Ken Winell, CEO of ExpertCollab, a SharePoint-focused solution provider in Florham Park, N.J.

Despite these threats, Microsoft expects Windows 7's arrival this fall to clarify the role of the netbook in the PC market. The notion of netbooks as a new class of device arose from the fact that they were unable to run Vista, but Guggenheimer predicts that when Windows 7 arrives, that will cease to be the case.

"Vista didn't fit well on [netbooks], which allowed for the perception of a discontinuity," Guggenheimer said. "But as soon as you have Windows 7 out there, and it works cleanly and you have all versions for it, then it'll just become part of the laptop family. I think we see that as good, [because it'll mean] more machines, hopefully, that are shipping now."

                     

Microsoft confirmed late on Friday that store plans posted on Gizmodo are genuine, but represent the company's early thinking and that no final decisions have been made on how the company's retail stores will look when the first ones open this fall.

The designs, which include a giant video wall, Surface computers, and an "answer bar" were leaked to the gadget site, which wrote about them earlier Friday.

"As a part of our process in briefing creative agencies, we shared some early prototypes and concepts of our retail store plans," a Microsoft representative said in a statement to CNET News. "No final decisions have been made. As we previously announced, we are on track to open retail stores this fall.

As I noted last week, Microsoft plans to start with just a few stores this year with more to open in 2010. At least some of those locations will be in close proximity to Apple stores.

Microsoft first announced its plan to enter the retail arena in February, when it hired David Porter, a Wal-Mart veteran.

At last week's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner (also a Wal-Mart veteran) said to "stay tuned" for more news on the retail front.

"We're going to have some retail stores opened up that are opened up right next door to Apple stores this fall," he said. "Stay tuned, just stay tuned."