Valve Software head Gabe Newell doesn’t worry about competing with Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony with the upcoming Steam Box. Instead, he fears that Apple might enter the gaming business.

When Valve Software finally releases its non-traditional Steam Box video game console to consumers it will necessarily have to battle for market share and public opinion with competing consoles from Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. Coming in to a new, previously established market and going head to head with the companies who have ruled that segment of the industry for decades is a very bold move, but Valve Software remains unconcerned. It isn’t the slate of existing consoles or gaming companies that worries Valve. Instead, the company believes its true competition will come from Cupertino, California.

“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform,” said Valve co-founder Gabe Newell during a recent speech at the University of Texas’ Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. “I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging – I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”

Given that statement and Apple’s undeniable clout in any technologically-focused industry, shouldn’t Valve be more concerned by the threat the company represents? Yes and no. While Newell sees Apple as his firm’s prime opponent, he also strongly believes that the Steam Box offers a number of simple solutions for consumers who want to be able to play the highest quality games on as cheap a budget as possible. Traditional consoles can’t offer this kind of flexibility as they’re tied to whatever hardware they initially shipped with, but by basing the design of the Steam Box on standard, easily-customized PCs, Valve hopes to offer gamers the kind of freedom enjoyed by their PC brethren for years.

That said, Newell realizes that Valve is not the only company attempting this introduction of PC gaming tenets into the console space in the near future.

“I think a whole bunch of hardware companies are going to be releasing products in the next 12 months,” Newell said. “There are going to be a huge set of products that say, ‘If you want something that’s incredibly cheap, at a price point well below anything that consoles will be able to reach, you’re going to take advantage of the PC that’s running somewhere in your house.’”

Whether you’re a staunch Apple supporter, refuse to believe that consoles can exist without a “Nintendo” trademark on them, or see Steam as the greatest thing since sliced bread, the real determining factor of how successful Valve’s Steam Box might be lies in its library of games. The biggest hurdle facing any new console release is an initial lack of quality software, but since the Steam Box is purpose-built to connect to and download games from Valve’s ubiquitous digital distribution platform this issue is irrelevant. The tradeoff, however, will be the complete absence of exclusive titles – unless Valve decides to change its development model in order to serve the Steam Box. A new Half-Life would make an attractive lure for fans…

Will this be enough to catapult the gaming machine ahead of new consoles from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and whoever else enters the race? That remains to be seen, but if nothing else the next era of video gaming should prove interesting.

Apple to cease selling its Mac Pro desktop tower in Europe because the current Mac Pros don’t meet new European Union regulations that go into effect on March 1, 2013.

Cue the sad Mac face. Apple is discontinuing sales of its Mac Pro desktop tower in Europe on March 1. No, it’s not because the desktop line hasn’t been refreshed in years; it’s because the current Mac Pros do not meet new European Union regulations that go into effect on March 1, 2013. Luckily, the Mac Pro will still be sold around the rest of the world.

The specific regulation affecting the Mac Pro deals with internal components and electrical power flow. 9to5 Mac found a PDF that explains the regulations, which dictates everything from power cord length to the maximum size of screws used. 

The last day that retailers may order Mac Pros is February 18, with the idea that the computers will be delivered by March 1. After that, retailers are able to sell their remaining supply, which makes us wonder how many sweet deals may pop up on the last ones in stock. If you’re travelling to Europe in the next couple of months and don’t mind hauling a 30-plus-pound desktop tower home, you’ll probably score a great deal – if you don’t mind a slightly outdated machine.

Once the big daddy of Apple’s computers, the Mac Pro was considered professionals’ Mac of choice thanks to its powerful processors, numerous inputs, and easily accessible hard drives and internal components. But it’s been a few years since the Mac Pro was last updated and it’s missing newer standards such as USB 3.0 and Apple’s own Thunderbolt port for powering large displays and fast data transfers.

Thankfully, in June 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned that the company would upgrade the Mac Pro line by late 2013. Presumably once the Mac Pro is refreshed, it’ll return to European shelves in addition to the rest of the world.

IDC has released its report on the state of the tablet market, and it’s showing some surprising growth for some companies, as well as stagnation for others.

IDC has released the latest report from its Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, which analyzes the performance of top vendors and manufacturers of tablets all over the world. According to the report, tablet sales are up 75 percent from a year ago, along with some serious growth from Samsung and Asus. Apple is still number one, and has seen its market share slide significantly since peaking last year.

Apple’s still holds 43 percent of the tablet market, which is still more than its four closest competitors combined. While the market share for the iPad Maker was nearly 65 percent last year, its market share has slid with the introduction of more tablets and an increasing number of competitors. Apple still sold 48 percent more tablets than during Q4 of last year, and is confident in its new iPad Mini and iPad 5 for 2013.

Despite Apple’s gains, it’s clear that both Samsung and Asus have been eating away at its market share. Samsung has been eyeing Apple’s spot at the top for some time, and has quickly jumped ahead of Amazon in 2012 to take the number two spot in market share. With a 263 percent increase in sales year over year, Samsung is working to close the distance between it and Apple. Another surprising amount of growth came from Asus, maker of Google’s Nexus 7. Asus saw a whopping 402 percent increase in sales year over year, which is certainly attributed to the success of Google’s Nexus series, which uses Asus hardware to fuel the  flagship product.

In the end this, data simply show it’s just the beginning for all of these tablet makers. Apple’s still, far and ahead, the leader, but its competitors are starting to show a little steam. Barnes & Noble has found its way back into the top five despite shrinking sales, which gives some faith into the future of the company amid Amazon’s stagnating market share. As 2013 unfolds, all of these companies, among dozens of others, will continue to adapt to win the hearts of consumers everywhere.

A cryptic new video from Sony has people wondering what Sony has planned for February 20.

You can’t swing a bloody blade of chaos on the internet without hitting a rumor regarding the next generation of consoles that Microsoft and Sony are planning. We all know they are coming. They have been confirmed to be in development. They will play games. Beyond that, it is all rumor.

We can make plenty of educated guesses (as well as plenty of uneducated guesses), but the good money is that they will both be coming out this year, most likely in the lucrative holiday season beginning around Thanksgiving. Even that is a guess though, but it is one based on a fair amount of evidence.

But again, the rumors are rampant. A recent hoax even caught several media outlets with their pants down, when a guy deliberately contacted journalists with rumors just to see if anyone would report on them (spoiler: they did). So when something new pops up that has people talking, it is wise to approach it with caution.

Earlier today, Sony posted the mysterious video below, announcing that we should all pay attention to February 20. The video clearly states that it is a PlayStation announcement, and it was posted on the official PlayStation YouTube channel. A link even leads you to a sign up page where you can enter your email for information.

It could be something as simple as a new game announcement, or even a service upgrade to the PSN. Perhaps it is just a roadmap for the year, or even a new PS3 bundle with a bigger hard drive. But…

After the last console launches, Sony allowed Microsoft a full year head start, which proved to be a huge advantage. So it would make sense for Sony to try to get the jump on Microsoft by announcing the PS4 before the announcement of the next Xbox.

That is all supposition, of course. We’ve reached out to PlayStation, and will update the article with the inevitable no comment. After that, we’ll just have to wait until 6pm EST on February 20, when Sony pulls back the curtain.

In an editorial posted on CNET, Ben Parr goes out on a limb and says that the upcoming BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 smartphones will not be able to save BlackBerry and he boils it down to two reasons: the children and the apps.

The argument about the apps has been heard many times before. Right now, iOS and Android are absolutely dominating in that regard with each of their respective app stores boasting nearly one million apps. By contrast, BlackBerry 10 will launch with “just” 70,000 apps. Even Windows Phone, which is slowly making some headway, is only in the neighborhood of 150,000 apps in its store. The problem is that BlackBerry 10 doesn’t really have any killer app that’s exclusive to its platform; it just has apps that iOS and Android already have like Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. However, it’s missing other important ones like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix and Instagram.

While I’m not completely confident about BlackBerry’s chances in today’s market, I think the app argument doesn’t really work. You might remember when the same argument was used against Android (as compared to iOS) and look at where Google’s platform is now. I’m not saying that BB10 will balloon into being as big as Android, but its inability to do that is not because of the apps per se.

Parr also uses the “children” argument. He says that if you were to find a focus group of 10-year-olds and ask if they want an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone or BlackBerry, they’re very unlikely to choose the BlackBerry. The problem with that is that children have never been the target market for BlackBerry, nor should they be. I understand BlackBerry’s need to go mass market, but looking to children who can’t even buy their own phones isn’t really the way to best test that market.

No, I don’t think that BlackBerry 10 is going to fail because of the apps or because of the lack of support from children. I think that it will struggle because it really does little to differentiate itself from the pack in a good way. Yes, BlackBerry Balance seems interesting, but it’s not enough of a killer reason for someone to make the switch from iOS, Android or even Windows Phone. At this point, BlackBerry 10 is just playing catch-up to stay par for the course. It might be enough to retain some existing diehard BlackBerry fans, but it probably won’t be enough to attract new ones.