Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) new operating system, Windows 7, is set to be released on October 22, 2009, but it's unlikely to have an impact on PC prices. So, if you're feeling the urge to rush out and buy a new box, try to hold out until the end of the month. You'll get a bit more life out of it.

Fortunately, PC prices aren't expected to get much lower, so the entire supply chain -- from chips to software -- has nowhere to go but up. The effect, though, has been to put some serious pressure on manufacturers and retailers to keep from screwing up the release.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) has a new champion: Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). The PC manufacturer is promoting the online sales force-enablement platform as a way to gain access to the hefty sums available in the technology services business. The deal would give Salesforce.com access to Dell's clients in the small and medium-sized business categories. Dell would sell Salesforce.com products and provide consulting services to help clients integrate the solution with their other enterprise applications. The dollars and cents of this union weren't disclosed.

Dell sees the margins of the services business and wants a piece of the action, particularly since the PC sector is low margin. Also, sales have been hit pretty hard as a result of the financial crisis. With PCs accounting for 60% of Dell's top-line, a bit of diversity isn't a bad idea. Currently, services account for only around 10% of Dell's sales.

If I told you that Gartner Research predicts that global spending this year on mobile music (e.g., ringtones, digital music files, etc.) will end up around $13.7 billion worldwide, would you believe me? Compare that to Gartner's prediction for 2010 when it says the figure will jump to $32.2 billion.

All told, the online music industry has sold over $2 billion (as of last week), Gartner is making some pretty bold predictions about the music industry and where it is heading (P2P piracy notwithstanding). Gartner attributes much of its rosy projections to increasing consumption in the Asia-Pacific and specifically, Japan.

Many analysts and consumers expect that online music-only devices will be completely displaced by mobile phones in the coming years. Why carry two devices? The mulitfunctional music-enabled phones caught fire with Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ)' Chocolate and others, and will soon be followed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s already legendary iPhone. Analysts expect the iPhone, with a June release, to be the tipping point for this change.

Ringtones, and more recently ring-back tones, have been the primary drivers of growth in the mobile music sector thus far. When my mother's phone rang last week to the tune of Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," you knew people were catching onto the technology. Now if I can only get her to text!

In terms of the global market, consumers in the Asia-Pacific region -- especially Japan -- are expected to remain the biggest spenders on mobile music through 2010, followed by those in Western Europe and North America.