Freescale's network and computing systems group, which supplies processors to computer makers, generated 28percentt of revenue, and its wireless and mobile solutions unit accounted for one-quarter of the sales.
Since the dawn of personal computing, software makers have sought to be not just providers of products, but universes unto themselves, into which users merge a piece of their identity.
The world's largest computer maker is on the verge of missing the next great phase of the computing revolution.
a computer networker, firmed up the terms of its $23 billion spinoff of its hand-held computing device maker Palm Inc.
Maybe a few years from now, when there are more tablet computing platforms, hardware makers will be able to use sales tactics learned from years of personal computers.
If people are looking to Apple and its new smartwatch to kickstart wider consumer interest in wearable computing gadgets, the maker of the iPhone will have a lot of work ahead of it.
In the 1990s, the Windows operating system rose to dominate personal computing, but its maker Microsoft Corp was accused of favoring its own browser and word processor over its competitors' offerings like Netscape and WordPerfect.
He served as chief executive of Intuit; the Go Corporation, a pioneering, but ultimately failed, maker of pen computing technology; and Claris, the software maker that Apple spun off in 1987.
Should it succeed in the Dell buyout, one possibility could be for it to collaborate with BlackBerry in mobile computing, where the PC maker has struggled to gain traction, the source said.
Microsoft has used its deep stockpile of computing patents to prod smartphone makers to pay it licensing fees.
