PC Briefs

PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Hewlett-Packard said it has produced its 200 millionth inkjet printer. The printer will ship next month. To mark how fast the category has grown, the company said that in November 1993 it celebrated the shipment of its 10 millionth inkjet. This growth has helped HP garner 58 percent of the worldwide inkjet printer market for the fourth quarter of 2002, according to an IDC, Framingham, Mass., study cited by HP, and 70 percent of the North American market in February 2003, according to The NPD Group, Port Washington, N.Y.

ATLANTA — Motorola has started shipping its wireless Instant Messaging with a $99 suggested retail price. The 900MHz device is dubbed the Imfree and will automatically sync up with a Web-enabled PC allowing the user to IM. It has a 150-foot range, connects to the PC through a USB antenna, features a full keyboard, and has 12 on-board emoticons. The IMfree uses a person's AOL AIM account so they do not need to reset buddy lists. There are also several parental controls built in.

Port Washington, N.Y.— With the passing of the Federal tax filing deadline on April 15, software sales were again dominated by gaming and business titles, according to The NPD Group. For the week of April 20-26 Norton's Antivirus 2003 was the leading seller, followed by Microsoft's Windows XP upgrade, Norton System Works 2003 and Microsoft Office XP Student and Teacher edition. Command & Conquer: Generals, The Sims Deluxe, Delta Force Black Hawk Down and Battlefield 1942 finished out the list.