Advanced Micro Devices gave further details of its upcoming Fusion processor, saying it will be based on the design of a microprocessor used in the desktops currently shipping to enthusiast PC users such as gamers.
The Fusion chip, which will combine a graphics processing unit and CPU on one chip, will be a redesign of the company's current Phenom processor, said Patrick Moorhead, vice president of advanced marketing at AMD, in an interview. However, the Fusion chip will witness significant design changes from the current iteration of Phenom, Moorhead said.
The Fusion chip, code-named Swift, will be shrunk from the Phenom core and be optimized for use in a notebook, Moorhead said. The optimization will focus on making the chip more power-efficient while increasing graphics capabilities, Moorhead said.
The graphics processing unit on the Fusion chip will include multiple "mini-cores" that breaks down code from a program, like 3-D games, to process data faster, said John Taylor, an AMD spokesman. Fusion's graphics processor will be based on a graphics card AMD plans to release in the near future, Taylor said, declining to give details.
The first Fusion chips will be released as dual-core CPUs for notebooks, followed by quad-core CPUs for notebooks, Moorhead said. The dual-core notebook processors will be available in the second half of 2009, said John Taylor, an AMD spokesman. The company didn't provide a timeline for the quad-core chips.
Fusion chips will also be released eventually for desktops, Taylor said, although he declined to comment on a release date.
Originally released as part of the "Spider" multimedia platform last year, the Phenom processor has an integrated memory controller, cache, and four cores on a single chip. Currently available in speeds up to 2.3GHz, AMD earlier this month delayed the shipment of the faster Phenom 9700 and 9900 quad-core processors to the second quarter. The company is due to ship a triple-core Phenom processor later this year.
The Fusion CPU is part of Project Shrike, the next-generation platform that will be an upgrade to the company's upcoming Puma platform. It includes the Turion Ultra processor, code-named Griffin. The Puma platform boosts a system's graphics performance by running both the integrated graphics processor and a graphics card attached to the motherboard together.
Like Puma, additional graphics cards can be attached to boost performance of systems based on Project Shrike, Taylor said.
Fusion chips will be made using AMD's 45-nanometer production technology, said Mario Rivas, executive vice president of the computing products group, during a meeting in December.
Fusion isn't being designed for ultramobile PCs, Moorhead said. "The jury is still out on whether the UMPC market has legs or not. But we'll see," Moorhead said.
Plans to launch the Fusion chip were announced when AMD bought ATI for US$5.4 billion in 2006. The acquisition of ATI was also viewed as a potent weapon in AMD's attempt to dent Intel's domination of the x86 processor market. However, AMD has struggled lately, announcing five straight quarterly losses, delaying processor shipments, and falling behind Intel in chip production.
Intel has already rolled out more than 30 Penryn-based chips based on the 45-nanometer process, with AMD still producing chips using the older 65-nm process.
Agam Shah is U.S. correspondent for the IDG News Service.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Analysts cast doubt on Nokia's mobile growth prediction
Analysts at IDC predict annual growth in mobile phone sales will drop below 10 percent this year, casting doubt on Nokia's more upbeat outlook for 2008.
Nokia and the analysts both put the number of phones sold in 2007 at around 1.14 billion, or 12.4 percent more than were sold in 2006, according to IDC.
But it's unrealistic to expect that growth to continue, IDC analysts said in a report published Friday.
"We expect growth to be in the single digits throughout 2008, and most likely for years to follow," they wrote.
On Thursday, Nokia had issued a more upbeat prediction, of 10 percent growth in mobile phone shipments in 2008 -- and bullishly predicted that its share will increase beyond the 40 percent of the market it claimed for the fourth quarter.
That's one figure IDC agreed with, adding that Nokia shipped more units in the fourth quarter than the next three vendors
combined: Samsung captured 13.9 percent of the market for the quarter (up from 11 percent a year earlier), Motorola 12.2 percent (down from 22 percent) and Sony Ericsson had 9.2 percent.
Motorola's dramatic fall to third place during the year was caused by missed opportunities in China and the market for 3G (third generation) handsets; it is renewing its product range, but will take until 2009 to recover, said IDC.
For the full year, Nokia once again took top honors,
Nokia and the analysts both put the number of phones sold in 2007 at around 1.14 billion, or 12.4 percent more than were sold in 2006, according to IDC.
But it's unrealistic to expect that growth to continue, IDC analysts said in a report published Friday.
"We expect growth to be in the single digits throughout 2008, and most likely for years to follow," they wrote.
On Thursday, Nokia had issued a more upbeat prediction, of 10 percent growth in mobile phone shipments in 2008 -- and bullishly predicted that its share will increase beyond the 40 percent of the market it claimed for the fourth quarter.
That's one figure IDC agreed with, adding that Nokia shipped more units in the fourth quarter than the next three vendors
combined: Samsung captured 13.9 percent of the market for the quarter (up from 11 percent a year earlier), Motorola 12.2 percent (down from 22 percent) and Sony Ericsson had 9.2 percent.
Motorola's dramatic fall to third place during the year was caused by missed opportunities in China and the market for 3G (third generation) handsets; it is renewing its product range, but will take until 2009 to recover, said IDC.
For the full year, Nokia once again took top honors,
700MHz auction update: High bids total $3.2 billion
The high bids totalled US$3.2 billion in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's auction of wireless spectrum licenses in the 700MHz band after three rounds and a day and a half of bidding.
That figure is far short of the $10 billion Congress and the FCC expect to raise in the auction, which opened Thursday, but bidding could continue for weeks. In most cases, the high bids don't yet meet the FCC's reserve price set for minimum winning bids.
A fourth round of bidding will happen Friday afternoon.
The 700MHz auctions represent the last large chunk of spectrum available for the FCC to auction in the foreseeable future. The spectrum, now used to carry over-the-air television signals, can be used to carry long-range wireless broadband traffic. Consumer groups have said the spectrum represents the "last, best hope" for a nationwide wireless broadband network that competes with cable and telecom broadband services.
For sale is 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band. In late 2005, after a decade of debate, Congress passed a law requiring U.S. TV stations to move to all-digital broadcasts and abandon analog spectrum between channels 52 and 69. The deadline for TV stations to end broadcasts in the 700MHz band is February 2009.
After three rounds, 906 of the 1,099 available spectrum licenses had bids, with four more licenses receiving bids than at the end of round two late Thursday. High bids had totalled just under $2.8 billion after round 2, and just over $2.4 billion after round one Thursday morning.
The top bid after the third round was $1.49 billion for eight of 12 regional licenses in the C block, a 22MHz block of spectrum covering all 50 states. The bidding for those C block licenses was up from $1.24 billion at the end of the second round. The FCC's reserve price for the C block is $4.6 billion, and the winning bidders of C block spectrum must allow any legal devices to connect to their network, including mobile phones purchased from other carriers.
The second highest bid remained $472 million for the D block, a nationwide 10MHz chunk of spectrum to be paired with another 10MHz set aside for public safety agencies. The bidder of the D block would be required to build a national network to be jointly used by public safety agencies and commercial customers. The high bid for the D block has remained unchanged since round one.
Bidding in the auction is anonymous.
The A block, a 12MHz piece of spectrum covering parts of New York and the northeastern U.S., also generated interest. The high bid was $119.8 million after the third round, up from $100 million after the second round and $83.2 million after the first round. A similar chunk of spectrum in the E block, also covering the same area, has generated a high bid of $59.9 million after the third round.
The high bid for a 12MHz block called the B block, for a local New York City license, stood at $85.6 million after rounds two and three.
High bids for five blocks in the Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas were between $28 million and $55 million after round three.
That figure is far short of the $10 billion Congress and the FCC expect to raise in the auction, which opened Thursday, but bidding could continue for weeks. In most cases, the high bids don't yet meet the FCC's reserve price set for minimum winning bids.
A fourth round of bidding will happen Friday afternoon.
The 700MHz auctions represent the last large chunk of spectrum available for the FCC to auction in the foreseeable future. The spectrum, now used to carry over-the-air television signals, can be used to carry long-range wireless broadband traffic. Consumer groups have said the spectrum represents the "last, best hope" for a nationwide wireless broadband network that competes with cable and telecom broadband services.
For sale is 62MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz band. In late 2005, after a decade of debate, Congress passed a law requiring U.S. TV stations to move to all-digital broadcasts and abandon analog spectrum between channels 52 and 69. The deadline for TV stations to end broadcasts in the 700MHz band is February 2009.
After three rounds, 906 of the 1,099 available spectrum licenses had bids, with four more licenses receiving bids than at the end of round two late Thursday. High bids had totalled just under $2.8 billion after round 2, and just over $2.4 billion after round one Thursday morning.
The top bid after the third round was $1.49 billion for eight of 12 regional licenses in the C block, a 22MHz block of spectrum covering all 50 states. The bidding for those C block licenses was up from $1.24 billion at the end of the second round. The FCC's reserve price for the C block is $4.6 billion, and the winning bidders of C block spectrum must allow any legal devices to connect to their network, including mobile phones purchased from other carriers.
The second highest bid remained $472 million for the D block, a nationwide 10MHz chunk of spectrum to be paired with another 10MHz set aside for public safety agencies. The bidder of the D block would be required to build a national network to be jointly used by public safety agencies and commercial customers. The high bid for the D block has remained unchanged since round one.
Bidding in the auction is anonymous.
The A block, a 12MHz piece of spectrum covering parts of New York and the northeastern U.S., also generated interest. The high bid was $119.8 million after the third round, up from $100 million after the second round and $83.2 million after the first round. A similar chunk of spectrum in the E block, also covering the same area, has generated a high bid of $59.9 million after the third round.
The high bid for a 12MHz block called the B block, for a local New York City license, stood at $85.6 million after rounds two and three.
High bids for five blocks in the Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., areas were between $28 million and $55 million after round three.
Switzerland tells antipiracy group tactics violate law
Switzerland has warned a company that tracks file sharers for copyright violations that its tactics violate the country's telecommunication law.
Logistep, which supplies information on suspected file sharers to law firms around the world for use in copyright violation cases, has until Feb. 9 to respond to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), said Marc Schaefer, the agency's legal advisor.
Under Swiss law, the identity of a subscriber to an ISP (Internet service provider) can only be revealed during the course of a criminal case, not a civil one, Schaefer said. The IP (Internet Protocol) address of a computer controlled by the subscriber is considered "personal" information.
In order to try to claim damages from people suspected of trading songs or movies, Logistep has asked Swiss prosecutors to open criminal cases, Schaefer said. As the criminal cases progresses, Logistep receives information from prosecutors that identifies the file sharer.
Logistep then initiates a civil case against the file sharer while the criminal case is ongoing. Prosecutors usually drop the criminal case against the person, Schaefer said.
By starting a criminal case "to obtain the identity behind an IP address ... they just found a way to avoid the telecommunication law," Schaefer said. "Therefore, we told Logistep to stop their work until there is a legal basis which allows such an identification."
The FDPIC's recommended to Logistep to stop the practice, but is prepared to take the matter to court, Schaefer said. Logistep would be in the clear if they pursued a civil case after the criminal one is complete, he said.
Logistep has issued a statement contending an IP address is not personal information. Company officials could not be reached Friday.
An IP address can indicate the location of a computer but not necessarily who is using it. Several people could share the same computer, which would have one IP address. But ISPs, as well as wireless routers used in home, can also dynamically assign IP addresses, which adds further ambiguity regarding who is using the computer and who may be responsible for illegally activity conducted on the PC.
That means the person paying the bill for the Internet service may end up as the target of the civil proceeding rather than the offender, adding another worrying factor into the lawsuits, Schaefer said.
On its Web site, Logistep said it can compile a history of illegal files shared by someone, even if encryption or proxy servers are used to mask the sharing.
The row comes amid growing concerns over how personal data is collected and retained in Europe.
On Monday, a top European data protection official, Peter Schaar, said at a European Parliament hearing that an IP address should be considered personal information since it can be used to identify people.
Schaar is chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, which is looking at personal data and privacy issues, such as what kind of data search engines retain. A report is scheduled for release by April.
Also earlier this week, privacy activists claimed victory over music and content industry lobbyists concerning a report issued by the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education.
Struck out of the report was a suggestion that ISPs should monitor content and ban users for suspected copyright infringement, wrote Danny O'Brien, international outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which lobbied against the suggestion as well as others.
The report, entitled Cultural Industries in Europe, will be used to make recommendations to European Union countries on intellectual property and other issues.
Logistep, which supplies information on suspected file sharers to law firms around the world for use in copyright violation cases, has until Feb. 9 to respond to the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), said Marc Schaefer, the agency's legal advisor.
Under Swiss law, the identity of a subscriber to an ISP (Internet service provider) can only be revealed during the course of a criminal case, not a civil one, Schaefer said. The IP (Internet Protocol) address of a computer controlled by the subscriber is considered "personal" information.
In order to try to claim damages from people suspected of trading songs or movies, Logistep has asked Swiss prosecutors to open criminal cases, Schaefer said. As the criminal cases progresses, Logistep receives information from prosecutors that identifies the file sharer.
Logistep then initiates a civil case against the file sharer while the criminal case is ongoing. Prosecutors usually drop the criminal case against the person, Schaefer said.
By starting a criminal case "to obtain the identity behind an IP address ... they just found a way to avoid the telecommunication law," Schaefer said. "Therefore, we told Logistep to stop their work until there is a legal basis which allows such an identification."
The FDPIC's recommended to Logistep to stop the practice, but is prepared to take the matter to court, Schaefer said. Logistep would be in the clear if they pursued a civil case after the criminal one is complete, he said.
Logistep has issued a statement contending an IP address is not personal information. Company officials could not be reached Friday.
An IP address can indicate the location of a computer but not necessarily who is using it. Several people could share the same computer, which would have one IP address. But ISPs, as well as wireless routers used in home, can also dynamically assign IP addresses, which adds further ambiguity regarding who is using the computer and who may be responsible for illegally activity conducted on the PC.
That means the person paying the bill for the Internet service may end up as the target of the civil proceeding rather than the offender, adding another worrying factor into the lawsuits, Schaefer said.
On its Web site, Logistep said it can compile a history of illegal files shared by someone, even if encryption or proxy servers are used to mask the sharing.
The row comes amid growing concerns over how personal data is collected and retained in Europe.
On Monday, a top European data protection official, Peter Schaar, said at a European Parliament hearing that an IP address should be considered personal information since it can be used to identify people.
Schaar is chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, which is looking at personal data and privacy issues, such as what kind of data search engines retain. A report is scheduled for release by April.
Also earlier this week, privacy activists claimed victory over music and content industry lobbyists concerning a report issued by the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education.
Struck out of the report was a suggestion that ISPs should monitor content and ban users for suspected copyright infringement, wrote Danny O'Brien, international outreach coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which lobbied against the suggestion as well as others.
The report, entitled Cultural Industries in Europe, will be used to make recommendations to European Union countries on intellectual property and other issues.
IBM's Cognos acquisition gets EU approval
IBM's US$5 billion acquisition of business intelligence software vendor Cognos took a step forward on Thursday as European regulators gave their approval to the deal.
After examining the acquisition, the European Commission said in a statement that it "would not give rise to competition concerns, since the parties' combined market share would be moderate."
IBM announced its intention to buy Cognos, based in Ottawa, in November, saying it hoped to combine the Cognos software with IBM's back-end database products. They hope to close the deal by the end of March, but there are still a few regulatory requirements to be met, including the approval of Canada's minister of industry.
Business intelligence software is used to analyze data from different sources within a company and help management get a better picture of the business. Several business intelligence software vendors have been acquired recently, including Hyperion, purchased by Oracle, and Business Objects, purchased by SAP.
IBM to date has partnered with business intelligence software vendors, providing the back-end infrastructure components. But changing customer demands sparked its interest in Cognos, according to Ambuj Goyal, general manager of information management in IBM's software group and a key player in the Cognos deal.
"Now, more and more clients are saying, 'We are not an integration technology business, we are in a business-outcome business. You do the integration,'" he said in a recent interview. "More and more clients are not doing best-of-breed purchases."
(Chris Kanaracus in Boston contributed to this story.)
After examining the acquisition, the European Commission said in a statement that it "would not give rise to competition concerns, since the parties' combined market share would be moderate."
IBM announced its intention to buy Cognos, based in Ottawa, in November, saying it hoped to combine the Cognos software with IBM's back-end database products. They hope to close the deal by the end of March, but there are still a few regulatory requirements to be met, including the approval of Canada's minister of industry.
Business intelligence software is used to analyze data from different sources within a company and help management get a better picture of the business. Several business intelligence software vendors have been acquired recently, including Hyperion, purchased by Oracle, and Business Objects, purchased by SAP.
IBM to date has partnered with business intelligence software vendors, providing the back-end infrastructure components. But changing customer demands sparked its interest in Cognos, according to Ambuj Goyal, general manager of information management in IBM's software group and a key player in the Cognos deal.
"Now, more and more clients are saying, 'We are not an integration technology business, we are in a business-outcome business. You do the integration,'" he said in a recent interview. "More and more clients are not doing best-of-breed purchases."
(Chris Kanaracus in Boston contributed to this story.)
FCC auction reaches $2.8B for 700-MHz wireless licenses
At the close of the first full day of bidding for 700-MHz wireless spectrum Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission reported nearly US$2.8 billion in provisional winning bids.
There were 1,122 new bids filed in the second of two rounds that was held in the afternoon. The total value of all provisional bid winners jumped 15% from the morning bidding round, when $2.4 billion was offered.
A total of 1,099 licenses can be bid upon, although only 902 had received bids by the end of the day.
All the bids are filed anonymously and bidders are prohibited from publicly discussing their bids in an effort to reduce anticompetitive behavior, the FCC said.
There were 1,122 new bids filed in the second of two rounds that was held in the afternoon. The total value of all provisional bid winners jumped 15% from the morning bidding round, when $2.4 billion was offered.
A total of 1,099 licenses can be bid upon, although only 902 had received bids by the end of the day.
All the bids are filed anonymously and bidders are prohibited from publicly discussing their bids in an effort to reduce anticompetitive behavior, the FCC said.
Microsoft beats forecasts with record revenue for Q2
Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations for both revenue and earnings per share for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, attributing its strong quarter to sales of core client products such as Windows Vista and Office 2007, as well as Exchange and SharePoint server software.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Microsoft reported revenue of US$16.37 billion, an increase of 30 percent year over year and a number that solidly beat the $15.95 billion that Thomson Financial analysts had estimated. Last year for the same period Microsoft reported $12.54 billion in revenue.
Diluted earnings per share were $0.50, an increase of 92 percent over the $0.27 per share reported last year, and $0.04 higher than Thomson Financial estimates of $0.46. Operating income for the quarter was $6.48 billion, an increase of 92 percent from the $3.47 billion reported for the same period last year.
Microsoft's year-over-year percentage growth is higher than normal due to a deferral of $1.64 billion in revenue and operating income, as well as $0.11 of diluted earnings per share from the second to the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Without the deferrals, second-quarter growth rates for revenue, operating income and earnings per share would be 15 percent, 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively, for the quarter reported Thursday.
Analysts had been expecting the company to report a strong quarter even among economic uncertainty and fears that the U.S. economy is entering a recession.
Microsoft's client business, on sales of Windows Vista, was especially strong in the quarter, with $4.34 billion in revenue compared to $2.59 billion a year ago. According to Microsoft, its client business has grown 20 percent on average since Windows Vista was made available nearly a year ago, and the company believes Vista began hitting its stride for adoption in the second quarter. According to Microsoft, it has sold more than 100 million licenses for Vista.
Looking ahead to the next quarter, which ends March 31, Microsoft said it expects revenue in the range of $14.3 billion to $14.6 billion; operating income in the range of $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion; and earnings per share in the range of $0.43 to $0.45.
For the full fiscal year ending June 30, Microsoft expects revenue in the range of $59.9 billion to $60.5 billion; operating income in the range of $24.2 billion to $24.4 billion; and earnings per share in the range of $1.85 to $1.88.
On a conference call to discuss the results, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell noted that 60 percent of Microsoft's revenue in the second quarter came from outside the U.S., and said emerging markets are becoming increasingly important to the company's revenue. In the past several years, Microsoft has made significant investments in selling its technology in developing countries such as India, Brazil and China.
Microsoft's online business, which analysts are watching closely, grew 38 percent in the quarter to $863 million in revenue, with $154 million of that being attributed to Microsoft's $6 billion purchase of digital media services firm aQuantive last year. Online advertising revenue grew 38 percent.
Though the online growth is encouraging for a business that has been flat for several years, financial analysts on the conference call questioned whether Microsoft is growing that part of its business fast enough to compete with Google, which shows no sign of losing its solid lead in online advertising anytime soon.
Liddell defended Microsoft's online business, saying that while it's "not the size or critical mass we'd like to see," the company's investments in that segment will begin to pay off in a few years.
"We make decisions on investments now that have multiyear implications. If you look at our revenue performance over the last couple of quarters, it didn't happen by accident," it was the result of investments from several years ago, he said.
Liddell also took time to welcome Stephen Elop to Microsoft. The former Adobe and Juniper executive will join the company next month to replace longtime executive Jeff Raikes as head of Microsoft's business division. Raikes is retiring from Microsoft in September.
Liddell said Raikes had "redefined the role of business productivity software" at Microsoft. It was Raikes who helped transform Office from a fledgling desktop productivity product to a full suite for collaboration and business intelligence, and who built up Microsoft's ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) businesses. In fact, Liddell noted that the Microsoft Business Division that Raikes led currently generates the most revenue at Microsoft.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Microsoft reported revenue of US$16.37 billion, an increase of 30 percent year over year and a number that solidly beat the $15.95 billion that Thomson Financial analysts had estimated. Last year for the same period Microsoft reported $12.54 billion in revenue.
Diluted earnings per share were $0.50, an increase of 92 percent over the $0.27 per share reported last year, and $0.04 higher than Thomson Financial estimates of $0.46. Operating income for the quarter was $6.48 billion, an increase of 92 percent from the $3.47 billion reported for the same period last year.
Microsoft's year-over-year percentage growth is higher than normal due to a deferral of $1.64 billion in revenue and operating income, as well as $0.11 of diluted earnings per share from the second to the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Without the deferrals, second-quarter growth rates for revenue, operating income and earnings per share would be 15 percent, 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively, for the quarter reported Thursday.
Analysts had been expecting the company to report a strong quarter even among economic uncertainty and fears that the U.S. economy is entering a recession.
Microsoft's client business, on sales of Windows Vista, was especially strong in the quarter, with $4.34 billion in revenue compared to $2.59 billion a year ago. According to Microsoft, its client business has grown 20 percent on average since Windows Vista was made available nearly a year ago, and the company believes Vista began hitting its stride for adoption in the second quarter. According to Microsoft, it has sold more than 100 million licenses for Vista.
Looking ahead to the next quarter, which ends March 31, Microsoft said it expects revenue in the range of $14.3 billion to $14.6 billion; operating income in the range of $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion; and earnings per share in the range of $0.43 to $0.45.
For the full fiscal year ending June 30, Microsoft expects revenue in the range of $59.9 billion to $60.5 billion; operating income in the range of $24.2 billion to $24.4 billion; and earnings per share in the range of $1.85 to $1.88.
On a conference call to discuss the results, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell noted that 60 percent of Microsoft's revenue in the second quarter came from outside the U.S., and said emerging markets are becoming increasingly important to the company's revenue. In the past several years, Microsoft has made significant investments in selling its technology in developing countries such as India, Brazil and China.
Microsoft's online business, which analysts are watching closely, grew 38 percent in the quarter to $863 million in revenue, with $154 million of that being attributed to Microsoft's $6 billion purchase of digital media services firm aQuantive last year. Online advertising revenue grew 38 percent.
Though the online growth is encouraging for a business that has been flat for several years, financial analysts on the conference call questioned whether Microsoft is growing that part of its business fast enough to compete with Google, which shows no sign of losing its solid lead in online advertising anytime soon.
Liddell defended Microsoft's online business, saying that while it's "not the size or critical mass we'd like to see," the company's investments in that segment will begin to pay off in a few years.
"We make decisions on investments now that have multiyear implications. If you look at our revenue performance over the last couple of quarters, it didn't happen by accident," it was the result of investments from several years ago, he said.
Liddell also took time to welcome Stephen Elop to Microsoft. The former Adobe and Juniper executive will join the company next month to replace longtime executive Jeff Raikes as head of Microsoft's business division. Raikes is retiring from Microsoft in September.
Liddell said Raikes had "redefined the role of business productivity software" at Microsoft. It was Raikes who helped transform Office from a fledgling desktop productivity product to a full suite for collaboration and business intelligence, and who built up Microsoft's ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) businesses. In fact, Liddell noted that the Microsoft Business Division that Raikes led currently generates the most revenue at Microsoft.
VC tech spending saw surge in 2007
U.S.-based venture capital investments reached their highest point last year since 2001, with software remaining the strongest category, according to The MoneyTree Report, released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).
VC firms sunk some US$29.4 billion into 3,813 U.S. deals in 2007, according to the report.
Software-related VC funding once again received the most funding, with $5.3 billion, compared to $5.1 billion in 2006, according to the report, which used data from Thomson Financial.
VC spending on other technology categories also rose. Funding for computer- and peripheral-based interests was $580 million, up from $497 million in 2006; IT services, $1.3 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in 2006; networking and equipment, $1.25 billion, compared to $1.1 billion the previous year.
However, semiconductor VC investment fell to $1.85 billion, from $2.14 billion in 2006. Telecommunication also saw a slowdown, falling to $2.14 billion, compared to $2.6 billion in 2006.
While the VC market has hardly bounced back from its boom year -- 2000, when spending stood at $105 billion according to NVCA -- it has slowly crawled back to life. A low point came in 2003, when VC investments were a mere $19.7 billion, NVCA data shows.
Major software vendors employ varying strategies toward the VC market. While some companies, notably Sun Microsystems, infuse cash into startup companies through funds of their own, others such as IBM take a different tack, working with VC firms to analyze their portfolios and spot companies that could be potential future partners.
"We're not in the venture investment business," said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of IBM's venture capital group and vice president of corporate strategy.
"The due diligence process today is much, much heavier," Munce remarked of the current climate. But as the report's numbers indicate, venture investing is far from dead. "They're coming back in a very different way. They're not just looking at Silicon Valley," Munce said.
According to the study released this week, U.S.-based VCs invested $1.1 billion in India and $1.4 billion in China, record highs for U.S. investments in those nations (The numbers are not included in the study's aggregate totals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.).
VC firms sunk some US$29.4 billion into 3,813 U.S. deals in 2007, according to the report.
Software-related VC funding once again received the most funding, with $5.3 billion, compared to $5.1 billion in 2006, according to the report, which used data from Thomson Financial.
VC spending on other technology categories also rose. Funding for computer- and peripheral-based interests was $580 million, up from $497 million in 2006; IT services, $1.3 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in 2006; networking and equipment, $1.25 billion, compared to $1.1 billion the previous year.
However, semiconductor VC investment fell to $1.85 billion, from $2.14 billion in 2006. Telecommunication also saw a slowdown, falling to $2.14 billion, compared to $2.6 billion in 2006.
While the VC market has hardly bounced back from its boom year -- 2000, when spending stood at $105 billion according to NVCA -- it has slowly crawled back to life. A low point came in 2003, when VC investments were a mere $19.7 billion, NVCA data shows.
Major software vendors employ varying strategies toward the VC market. While some companies, notably Sun Microsystems, infuse cash into startup companies through funds of their own, others such as IBM take a different tack, working with VC firms to analyze their portfolios and spot companies that could be potential future partners.
"We're not in the venture investment business," said Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of IBM's venture capital group and vice president of corporate strategy.
"The due diligence process today is much, much heavier," Munce remarked of the current climate. But as the report's numbers indicate, venture investing is far from dead. "They're coming back in a very different way. They're not just looking at Silicon Valley," Munce said.
According to the study released this week, U.S.-based VCs invested $1.1 billion in India and $1.4 billion in China, record highs for U.S. investments in those nations (The numbers are not included in the study's aggregate totals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.).
Gates calls for 'creative capitalism' to solve needs of poor
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave a glimpse of his future as a philanthropist in a speech in Switzerland on Thursday, calling for a new kind of "creative capitalism" from businesses to help improve the lives of the world's poorest people.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates challenged companies worldwide to work with governments and nonprofits to find ways to be charitable and solve the problems of the poorest people without sacrificing their own business needs.
"We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve the wealthier people serve poorer people as well," he said, speaking via a webcast from Switzerland.
The idea of creative capitalism combines the "two great focuses of human nature -- self-interest and caring for others," Gates said. By keeping in mind business acumen, corporations can find new and innovative ways to solve major problems for 1 billion of the world's poorest people, who don't get enough food or don't have drinking water or reliable access to medication, which the rest of us take for granted, he said.
"This system driven by self-interest is responsible for incredible innovations that improve lives," Gates said. "But to harness this power to benefit everyone, we need to refine the system."
Gates plans to retire from full-time duties at Microsoft in July and devote most of his time to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization he runs with his wife.
Gates acknowledged Thursday that profits may not always be possible when companies try to serve the poor, so corporate leaders should change their thinking and not expect that they must make money from new business models around philanthropy. Rather, recognition for the good it does in the world should be enough for a company to take an interest in serving others, because that recognition also has business value.
"Recognition enhances a company's reputation, appeals to customers and attracts good people to an organization," he said. "In a market where profits aren't possible, recognition becomes a proxy for profit."
In a question-and-answer period following his speech, Gates said that rather than having goals that are too lofty, companies should focus on the businesses they know -- whether food, drugs, media or technology -- to work with governments in developing countries to bring resources to the poor.
He cited an example of an unnamed Dutch company, sharing its rights to a cholera vaccine to provide the medication to Vietnam for less than US$1 a dose, as an example of a company leveraging its core business to bring much-needed resources to the developing world.
Gates also mentioned the Red campaign as an example of creative capitalism. The campaign, supported by companies such as the Gap, Motorola and Armani, was born out of a late-night bar conversation he had with Bono of the rock band U2, according to Gates.
The Red campaign gives portions of profits from products sold to raise money for disease treatment programs in Africa. Earlier this week, Dell and Microsoft said they will sell special crimson-red versions of the XPS line of computers as part of the program. To date, Red has provided $50 million to a global fund for treating AIDS and malaria, and nearly 2 million people in Africa are receiving "life-saving" drugs today, Gates said.
Prior to the Dell announcement, Microsoft already had been putting Gates' idea of creative capitalism in practice through programs such as "Unlimited Potential," which aims to promote technology skills and bring computers to emerging markets.
Business leaders are not the only ones who will have to change the way they think to put creative capitalism into practice, Gates said. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also must be more open-minded about working with businesses to come up with new ways to serve the poor.
"Once upon a time the NGOs had a bad attitude" about working with businesses, because they would expect too much from companies and, as a result, companies that worked with NGOs often ended up with their reputations tarnished, he said. While "there is still some of that, the attitudes of both NGOs and the private sector have improved quite a bit," Gates said.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates challenged companies worldwide to work with governments and nonprofits to find ways to be charitable and solve the problems of the poorest people without sacrificing their own business needs.
"We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve the wealthier people serve poorer people as well," he said, speaking via a webcast from Switzerland.
The idea of creative capitalism combines the "two great focuses of human nature -- self-interest and caring for others," Gates said. By keeping in mind business acumen, corporations can find new and innovative ways to solve major problems for 1 billion of the world's poorest people, who don't get enough food or don't have drinking water or reliable access to medication, which the rest of us take for granted, he said.
"This system driven by self-interest is responsible for incredible innovations that improve lives," Gates said. "But to harness this power to benefit everyone, we need to refine the system."
Gates plans to retire from full-time duties at Microsoft in July and devote most of his time to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization he runs with his wife.
Gates acknowledged Thursday that profits may not always be possible when companies try to serve the poor, so corporate leaders should change their thinking and not expect that they must make money from new business models around philanthropy. Rather, recognition for the good it does in the world should be enough for a company to take an interest in serving others, because that recognition also has business value.
"Recognition enhances a company's reputation, appeals to customers and attracts good people to an organization," he said. "In a market where profits aren't possible, recognition becomes a proxy for profit."
In a question-and-answer period following his speech, Gates said that rather than having goals that are too lofty, companies should focus on the businesses they know -- whether food, drugs, media or technology -- to work with governments in developing countries to bring resources to the poor.
He cited an example of an unnamed Dutch company, sharing its rights to a cholera vaccine to provide the medication to Vietnam for less than US$1 a dose, as an example of a company leveraging its core business to bring much-needed resources to the developing world.
Gates also mentioned the Red campaign as an example of creative capitalism. The campaign, supported by companies such as the Gap, Motorola and Armani, was born out of a late-night bar conversation he had with Bono of the rock band U2, according to Gates.
The Red campaign gives portions of profits from products sold to raise money for disease treatment programs in Africa. Earlier this week, Dell and Microsoft said they will sell special crimson-red versions of the XPS line of computers as part of the program. To date, Red has provided $50 million to a global fund for treating AIDS and malaria, and nearly 2 million people in Africa are receiving "life-saving" drugs today, Gates said.
Prior to the Dell announcement, Microsoft already had been putting Gates' idea of creative capitalism in practice through programs such as "Unlimited Potential," which aims to promote technology skills and bring computers to emerging markets.
Business leaders are not the only ones who will have to change the way they think to put creative capitalism into practice, Gates said. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also must be more open-minded about working with businesses to come up with new ways to serve the poor.
"Once upon a time the NGOs had a bad attitude" about working with businesses, because they would expect too much from companies and, as a result, companies that worked with NGOs often ended up with their reputations tarnished, he said. While "there is still some of that, the attitudes of both NGOs and the private sector have improved quite a bit," Gates said.
HP introduces thin client disguised as a laptop
In an effort to push mobility into thin clients, Hewlett-Packard is adding a laptop with minimal storage and wireless networking features to its lineup.
The HP Compaq 6720T Mobile Thin Client has 1G byte of internal flash storage and will be more of a terminal than a full-blown PC, with data storage and system management handled from a remote server, the company said Thursday. The laptop boots off Windows XP Embedded OS in the flash module.
Because data isn't stored on the laptop, there is less risk of a company losing data, said Thai Nguyen, HP worldwide product marketing manager for thin clients. The thin-client laptop is also managed from a server, diminishing management challenges such as issuing software updates, Nguyen said.
Along with better security and easier system management, thin-client architecture uses less power than traditional PCs, said Klaus Besier, vice president for thin clients at HP. The thin-client laptop does not have a fan or moving parts such as a hard drive.
The product is targeted at vertical industries such as health care and insurance, Nguyen said.
Weighing 5.4 pounds (2.45 kilograms), the laptop is powered by an Intel Celeron M processor. It includes 802.11a/b/g wireless networking, wired networking, integrated graphics, three USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports and two PC Card slots. It includes a DVD-ROM drive and stereo speakers.
The laptop comes with terminal software including HP Session Allocation Manager, which establishes a secure network connection to remote servers.
Priced starting at US$725, the 6720t thin client will be available in North America and Japan later this month.
Users may not be inclined toward the HP thin-client laptop, said analyst Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Terminal users such as financial brokers prefer powerful thin clients that support multiple monitors and mobile workers want something like Research in Motion's BlackBerry, he said.
The biggest problem with the HP thin client could be its lack of mobility. "You don't want a situation where you can't use it unless you are connected," Kay said. With minimal storage and no network connection, it would be useless on an airplane, for example.
HP could be experimenting or demonstrating the laptop as a new concept to the thin-client market and as a predecessor to future HP products, Kay suggested. "It's an odd product. It won't be all that successful," Kay said.
However, the thin-client laptop isn't aimed at "mobile warriors" who spend a lot of time on the road, said Tad Bodeman, director blade PC and thin client solutions at HP. "We're not trying to replace every laptop PC," he said.
The laptop works better in environments like hospitals, where nurses walk around with laptops on carts wirelessly pulling patient data from a central server, he said, adding that it may also be useful within an office environment. The laptop minimizes the risk of data loss related to theft and gives corporations a device that is low in cost to support and maintain.
Bodeman declined to comment about HP's plans for future thin-client products.
HP competes with IBM and ClearCube Technology in the thin-client hardware and software space.
The HP Compaq 6720T Mobile Thin Client has 1G byte of internal flash storage and will be more of a terminal than a full-blown PC, with data storage and system management handled from a remote server, the company said Thursday. The laptop boots off Windows XP Embedded OS in the flash module.
Because data isn't stored on the laptop, there is less risk of a company losing data, said Thai Nguyen, HP worldwide product marketing manager for thin clients. The thin-client laptop is also managed from a server, diminishing management challenges such as issuing software updates, Nguyen said.
Along with better security and easier system management, thin-client architecture uses less power than traditional PCs, said Klaus Besier, vice president for thin clients at HP. The thin-client laptop does not have a fan or moving parts such as a hard drive.
The product is targeted at vertical industries such as health care and insurance, Nguyen said.
Weighing 5.4 pounds (2.45 kilograms), the laptop is powered by an Intel Celeron M processor. It includes 802.11a/b/g wireless networking, wired networking, integrated graphics, three USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports and two PC Card slots. It includes a DVD-ROM drive and stereo speakers.
The laptop comes with terminal software including HP Session Allocation Manager, which establishes a secure network connection to remote servers.
Priced starting at US$725, the 6720t thin client will be available in North America and Japan later this month.
Users may not be inclined toward the HP thin-client laptop, said analyst Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Terminal users such as financial brokers prefer powerful thin clients that support multiple monitors and mobile workers want something like Research in Motion's BlackBerry, he said.
The biggest problem with the HP thin client could be its lack of mobility. "You don't want a situation where you can't use it unless you are connected," Kay said. With minimal storage and no network connection, it would be useless on an airplane, for example.
HP could be experimenting or demonstrating the laptop as a new concept to the thin-client market and as a predecessor to future HP products, Kay suggested. "It's an odd product. It won't be all that successful," Kay said.
However, the thin-client laptop isn't aimed at "mobile warriors" who spend a lot of time on the road, said Tad Bodeman, director blade PC and thin client solutions at HP. "We're not trying to replace every laptop PC," he said.
The laptop works better in environments like hospitals, where nurses walk around with laptops on carts wirelessly pulling patient data from a central server, he said, adding that it may also be useful within an office environment. The laptop minimizes the risk of data loss related to theft and gives corporations a device that is low in cost to support and maintain.
Bodeman declined to comment about HP's plans for future thin-client products.
HP competes with IBM and ClearCube Technology in the thin-client hardware and software space.
Microsoft: Vista more secure than XP and open source
Windows Vista was hit by significantly fewer publicly disclosed security flaws in its first year than Windows XP and open source rivals in their first years, according to a report from Microsoft.
The report, written by Jeff Jones, a security strategy director in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group, is part of Microsoft's effort to show that its work on redesigning the security architecture and adding new security features to Vista have paid off.
Jones also found that changes to the way Microsoft handles patching has resulted in less work for system administrators on Vista compared to Windows XP.
The report comes on the heels of figures from Secunia, which reported fewer vulnerabilities for Windows in 2007 compared to open source operating systems in the same time period. However, Microsoft's report compares the way each OS fared in its first full year of supported distribution.
Comparisons between different types of operating systems on the basis of numbers of public bug reports are often downplayed by security experts, who say they are only part of the picture. For instance, Linux-based OSs are composed mainly of third-party components whose bug reports are all known publicly, whereas third-party components play a small part in Windows and many bugs may be uncovered but not made public.
However, Microsoft's main interest with the new report is in convincing users that Vista - which has received heavy criticism over bugs and usability issues - is more secure and more easily managed than XP.
"The results of the analysis show that Windows Vista has an improved security vulnerability profile over its predecessor," said Jones in the report. "Analysis of security updates also shows that Microsoft improvements to the security update process and development process have reduced the impact of security updates to Windows administrators significantly compared to its predecessor."
In its first year Microsoft released 17 security bulletins and patches affecting Vista, compared to 30 for XP in its first year, Jones said.
Microsoft fixed 36 bugs in Vista compared to 65 in XP, and there remained 30 unpatched bugs in Vista, compared to 54 for XP in their first years.
The number of vulnerabilities fixed in Mac OS X and in Linux-based operating systems was higher in their first years, Jones said: 360 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Workstation, 224 in Ubuntu 6.06 LTS and 116 in Mac OS X 10.4.
The figures for Red Hat and Ubuntu apply to a reduced set of components, which Jones used in order to make the figures more comparable to those of Windows.
"It is a common objection to any Windows and Linux comparison that counting the 'optional' applications against the Linux distribution is unfair, so I've completed an extra level of analysis to exclude component vulnerabilities that do not have comparable functionality shipping with a Windows OS," Jones wrote.
Jones compared the number of "patch events" during the year for each operating system, indicating the number of days out of the year that administrators needed to deal with patches for each OS.
"My analysis found that administrators were required to mobilize much less often for Windows Vista than any other product examined," he wrote.
Vista had nine patch events, XP had 26, Red Hat had 64, Ubuntu had 65 and Mac OS X had 17, Jones found.
Jones admitted that the figures do not indicate which operating system is "more secure" than the others, saying any such analysis would need to look at software quality, administrative controls, physical controls and other issues.
However, he said the figures were nonetheless important within their context. "This report is a vulnerability analysis, which may provide some elements that could be part of a broader security analysis," he wrote.
The report, written by Jeff Jones, a security strategy director in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group, is part of Microsoft's effort to show that its work on redesigning the security architecture and adding new security features to Vista have paid off.
Jones also found that changes to the way Microsoft handles patching has resulted in less work for system administrators on Vista compared to Windows XP.
The report comes on the heels of figures from Secunia, which reported fewer vulnerabilities for Windows in 2007 compared to open source operating systems in the same time period. However, Microsoft's report compares the way each OS fared in its first full year of supported distribution.
Comparisons between different types of operating systems on the basis of numbers of public bug reports are often downplayed by security experts, who say they are only part of the picture. For instance, Linux-based OSs are composed mainly of third-party components whose bug reports are all known publicly, whereas third-party components play a small part in Windows and many bugs may be uncovered but not made public.
However, Microsoft's main interest with the new report is in convincing users that Vista - which has received heavy criticism over bugs and usability issues - is more secure and more easily managed than XP.
"The results of the analysis show that Windows Vista has an improved security vulnerability profile over its predecessor," said Jones in the report. "Analysis of security updates also shows that Microsoft improvements to the security update process and development process have reduced the impact of security updates to Windows administrators significantly compared to its predecessor."
In its first year Microsoft released 17 security bulletins and patches affecting Vista, compared to 30 for XP in its first year, Jones said.
Microsoft fixed 36 bugs in Vista compared to 65 in XP, and there remained 30 unpatched bugs in Vista, compared to 54 for XP in their first years.
The number of vulnerabilities fixed in Mac OS X and in Linux-based operating systems was higher in their first years, Jones said: 360 in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Workstation, 224 in Ubuntu 6.06 LTS and 116 in Mac OS X 10.4.
The figures for Red Hat and Ubuntu apply to a reduced set of components, which Jones used in order to make the figures more comparable to those of Windows.
"It is a common objection to any Windows and Linux comparison that counting the 'optional' applications against the Linux distribution is unfair, so I've completed an extra level of analysis to exclude component vulnerabilities that do not have comparable functionality shipping with a Windows OS," Jones wrote.
Jones compared the number of "patch events" during the year for each operating system, indicating the number of days out of the year that administrators needed to deal with patches for each OS.
"My analysis found that administrators were required to mobilize much less often for Windows Vista than any other product examined," he wrote.
Vista had nine patch events, XP had 26, Red Hat had 64, Ubuntu had 65 and Mac OS X had 17, Jones found.
Jones admitted that the figures do not indicate which operating system is "more secure" than the others, saying any such analysis would need to look at software quality, administrative controls, physical controls and other issues.
However, he said the figures were nonetheless important within their context. "This report is a vulnerability analysis, which may provide some elements that could be part of a broader security analysis," he wrote.
Red Hat to focus on core products and service, says new CEO
Red Hat's new CEO plans to keep the company focused on its core Linux OS and middleware business while also improving the service it offers to customers, he said Thursday.
"It's a very exciting time for Red Hat, we have a very bright future in front of us. Our business model is strong and our growth remains very, very robust," said Jim Whitehurst, who was speaking in Tokyo during his third week in the job.
Whitehurst came to Red Hat from Delta Air Lines where he served as chief operating officer for two years. During that time he gained experience of being a customer of major IT vendors and says he knows well what is expected of companies like Red Hat.
"From a user perspective an absolute focus on service is critical. Based on talking to customers so far, one observation I have is that we need to re-double our effort working with our various partners in service," he said.
Because much of Red Hat's business is done through resellers and the channel, there can sometimes be disconnects in customer service. For example, Red Hat might end up telling a customer to contact the partner while the partner refers the customer back to Red Hat, he said.
But is Whitehurst the right man to be talking about customer service? After all, he came to Red Hat from an industry that is the subject of frequent complaints from its customers.
"I think airlines only beat out cable TV operators in customer satisfaction surveys so I'm certainly not going to defend the airline industry's record on customer service," he said. Experience at Delta taught him the need to pick a small number of things and do them well to improve overall satisfaction, he said.
"The Delta situation was the fastest major bankruptcy ever and during that situation our customer service numbers actually went up quite significantly. We did it by focusing on a couple of things. In the airline industry it's clean airplanes and on-time, those were the two things we focused on. I know those sound like two little things but they significantly impact the customer experience," said Whitehurst.
For Red Hat he said he is still working on which areas will be the priorities that he focuses upon.
"I understand the importance from the customer's perspective of excellent customer service in IT," he said. "As an industry, information technology is not known for excellence in serving our customers well and I have been adamant from day one that everything Red Hat does will be viewed through the eyes of the customer."
"It's a very exciting time for Red Hat, we have a very bright future in front of us. Our business model is strong and our growth remains very, very robust," said Jim Whitehurst, who was speaking in Tokyo during his third week in the job.
Whitehurst came to Red Hat from Delta Air Lines where he served as chief operating officer for two years. During that time he gained experience of being a customer of major IT vendors and says he knows well what is expected of companies like Red Hat.
"From a user perspective an absolute focus on service is critical. Based on talking to customers so far, one observation I have is that we need to re-double our effort working with our various partners in service," he said.
Because much of Red Hat's business is done through resellers and the channel, there can sometimes be disconnects in customer service. For example, Red Hat might end up telling a customer to contact the partner while the partner refers the customer back to Red Hat, he said.
But is Whitehurst the right man to be talking about customer service? After all, he came to Red Hat from an industry that is the subject of frequent complaints from its customers.
"I think airlines only beat out cable TV operators in customer satisfaction surveys so I'm certainly not going to defend the airline industry's record on customer service," he said. Experience at Delta taught him the need to pick a small number of things and do them well to improve overall satisfaction, he said.
"The Delta situation was the fastest major bankruptcy ever and during that situation our customer service numbers actually went up quite significantly. We did it by focusing on a couple of things. In the airline industry it's clean airplanes and on-time, those were the two things we focused on. I know those sound like two little things but they significantly impact the customer experience," said Whitehurst.
For Red Hat he said he is still working on which areas will be the priorities that he focuses upon.
"I understand the importance from the customer's perspective of excellent customer service in IT," he said. "As an industry, information technology is not known for excellence in serving our customers well and I have been adamant from day one that everything Red Hat does will be viewed through the eyes of the customer."
Sharp launches slimmest LCD TVs yet
Sharp will shortly begin selling a new line of LCD televisions in Japan that are substantially thinner than competing sets currently on the market.
The sets are just 3.44 centimeters at their thinnest point and fatten slightly to 3.85 cm at the thickest point. That's less than half the thickness of sets in two other product lines that Sharp also introduced Thursday.
After pursuing ever-larger screens for several years LCD TV makers are turning their attention to making TVs thinner. They are doing this by designing thinner backlights -- the light source that sits behind the LCD panel in the set. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Sharp and competitors including JVC, Hitachi and Panasonic, showed prototype thin TV sets.
Sharp has also separated the tuner unit into a VCR-sized box thus furthering helping keep the TV thin.
Sharp's new X-series models come in 37-, 42- and 46-inch screen sizes and go on sale in Japan on March 1. The largest set, the 46-inch model, will cost ¥480,000 (US$4,520), the mid-size set will be ¥430,000 and the 37-inch model will have a ¥350,000 price tag. Sharp will be putting thin sets on sale overseas but it doesn't have a concrete plan at present, it said.
The thin TVs are being targeted at design-conscious consumers that want a wall-hanging TV. Most "thin" TVs on the market today are 10 centimeters thick or more, so while it's possible to hang them on a wall the result isn't always stylish. The new sets should look much better than current sets when mounted on the wall.
Appearances will be further improved with the use of an optional wireless video transmitter. The unit replaces the HDMI cable that would otherwise link the tuner unit with the set and means that nothing but a power cable needs to be provided to the set.
The wireless system is based on a proprietary technology developed by Sharp that operates in the 5GHz band. It can send an uncompressed HDMI signal over a distance of up to 20 meters but won't work through walls. The wireless kit, which includes a transmitter and received, will also go on sale in March and will cost ¥90,000.
Over the next few months other flat-panel TV makers are expected to launch similar sets and consumers will likely see a battle for the title of thinnest set on the market -- a victory that will surely be measured by tenths of millimeters.
However while LCD and PDP makers are slimming down they still have a long way to go to match an 11-inch TV recently launched in Japan and the U.S. by Sony. The XEL-1 is based on an emerging display technology called OLED (organic light emitting diode) in which the pixels themselves emit light so no backlight unit is required. This enables the set to be slimmed down to just 3 millimeters in the case of the Sony television.
But OLED is still difficult and expensive to make. The XEL-1 costs US$2,000 and to date only a couple of larger prototype screens have been shown. So large size OLED TVs remain some way off.
Sharp was the first major TV maker to back LCD technology in a big way. Earlier this month, as it enters its eighth year in the market, the company sold its 10 millionth [m] LCD TV, it said on Thursday. This year it hopes sales will be buoyed by the thin sets and better than normal mid-year sales ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.
The sets are just 3.44 centimeters at their thinnest point and fatten slightly to 3.85 cm at the thickest point. That's less than half the thickness of sets in two other product lines that Sharp also introduced Thursday.
After pursuing ever-larger screens for several years LCD TV makers are turning their attention to making TVs thinner. They are doing this by designing thinner backlights -- the light source that sits behind the LCD panel in the set. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Sharp and competitors including JVC, Hitachi and Panasonic, showed prototype thin TV sets.
Sharp has also separated the tuner unit into a VCR-sized box thus furthering helping keep the TV thin.
Sharp's new X-series models come in 37-, 42- and 46-inch screen sizes and go on sale in Japan on March 1. The largest set, the 46-inch model, will cost ¥480,000 (US$4,520), the mid-size set will be ¥430,000 and the 37-inch model will have a ¥350,000 price tag. Sharp will be putting thin sets on sale overseas but it doesn't have a concrete plan at present, it said.
The thin TVs are being targeted at design-conscious consumers that want a wall-hanging TV. Most "thin" TVs on the market today are 10 centimeters thick or more, so while it's possible to hang them on a wall the result isn't always stylish. The new sets should look much better than current sets when mounted on the wall.
Appearances will be further improved with the use of an optional wireless video transmitter. The unit replaces the HDMI cable that would otherwise link the tuner unit with the set and means that nothing but a power cable needs to be provided to the set.
The wireless system is based on a proprietary technology developed by Sharp that operates in the 5GHz band. It can send an uncompressed HDMI signal over a distance of up to 20 meters but won't work through walls. The wireless kit, which includes a transmitter and received, will also go on sale in March and will cost ¥90,000.
Over the next few months other flat-panel TV makers are expected to launch similar sets and consumers will likely see a battle for the title of thinnest set on the market -- a victory that will surely be measured by tenths of millimeters.
However while LCD and PDP makers are slimming down they still have a long way to go to match an 11-inch TV recently launched in Japan and the U.S. by Sony. The XEL-1 is based on an emerging display technology called OLED (organic light emitting diode) in which the pixels themselves emit light so no backlight unit is required. This enables the set to be slimmed down to just 3 millimeters in the case of the Sony television.
But OLED is still difficult and expensive to make. The XEL-1 costs US$2,000 and to date only a couple of larger prototype screens have been shown. So large size OLED TVs remain some way off.
Sharp was the first major TV maker to back LCD technology in a big way. Earlier this month, as it enters its eighth year in the market, the company sold its 10 millionth [m] LCD TV, it said on Thursday. This year it hopes sales will be buoyed by the thin sets and better than normal mid-year sales ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Sprint Nextel loses CFO, CMO and sales president
Tough times continue at Sprint Nextel, as the company said Thursday that three of its top executives are on their way out.
CFO Paul Saleh, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Tim Kelly and President of Sales and Distribution Mark Angelino will leave the company on Friday, according to Sprint Nextel. It wasn't clear if the executives were leaving voluntarily or were being let go, and company spokeswoman Leigh Horner said in an e-mail that Sprint Nextel isn't "commenting further or characterizing the nature of these departures."
In a press statement, Sprint Nextel President and CEO Dan Hesse thanked the three for their "dedication and contributions" to the company, and wished them luck in future endeavors.
Hesse took the reins just over a month ago, after former Chairman, President and CEO Gary Forsee was ousted in October. Facing an uphill battle that Sprint has been losing against bigger rivals, he had been expected to make significant changes. The company's marketing has failed to give it a distinctive image, which would be critical to kick-start a recovery, according to industry analysts. Customer-service glitches are also to blame, they said.
Saleh, the departing CFO, was named interim CEO after Forsee's departure but was passed over for the permanent job. The company's board may have sought a relative newcomer rather than inflame passions on either side of an ongoing feud between former Sprint and Nextel employees, analysts said. Saleh was a Sprint executive before the two carriers merged in 2005. Hesse previously ran Sprint's Embarq spin-off, but doesn't come from either side of the fractious marriage.
Sprint Nextel is looking to replace the departing executives permanently, but in the meantime their duties are being handled by existing executives.
William G. Arendt, currently senior vice president and controller of Sprint Nextel, will serve as acting CFO, while John Garcia, currently senior vice president, product development and management, will serve as acting CMO. Paget Alves, currently Sprint Nextel's regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president, sales and distribution. All of these executives will report directly to Hesse.
The news of the executive shake-up follows the announcement last week that Sprint would be laying off 4,000 employees and the close 125 of its 1,400 retail outlets due to the net loss of more than 100,000 customers in the fourth quarter of 2007. At the end of the year, Sprint said it had 53.8 million subscribers, including 40.8 million customers of its traditional post-paid service.
The company plans to announce its full fourth-quarter results on Feb. 28.
While Sprint struggles, rival carrier AT&T seems to be doing better, thanks to its partnership as the exclusive service provider for Apple's iPhone device. AT&T's revenue was up 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, largely driven by increases in mobile phone and broadband customers, the company announced Thursday.
AT&T saw a net gain of 2.7 million mobile subscribers during the quarter, and most of them came to the company through its iPhone partnership, the company said. Apple said Tuesday it sold 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter.
CFO Paul Saleh, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Tim Kelly and President of Sales and Distribution Mark Angelino will leave the company on Friday, according to Sprint Nextel. It wasn't clear if the executives were leaving voluntarily or were being let go, and company spokeswoman Leigh Horner said in an e-mail that Sprint Nextel isn't "commenting further or characterizing the nature of these departures."
In a press statement, Sprint Nextel President and CEO Dan Hesse thanked the three for their "dedication and contributions" to the company, and wished them luck in future endeavors.
Hesse took the reins just over a month ago, after former Chairman, President and CEO Gary Forsee was ousted in October. Facing an uphill battle that Sprint has been losing against bigger rivals, he had been expected to make significant changes. The company's marketing has failed to give it a distinctive image, which would be critical to kick-start a recovery, according to industry analysts. Customer-service glitches are also to blame, they said.
Saleh, the departing CFO, was named interim CEO after Forsee's departure but was passed over for the permanent job. The company's board may have sought a relative newcomer rather than inflame passions on either side of an ongoing feud between former Sprint and Nextel employees, analysts said. Saleh was a Sprint executive before the two carriers merged in 2005. Hesse previously ran Sprint's Embarq spin-off, but doesn't come from either side of the fractious marriage.
Sprint Nextel is looking to replace the departing executives permanently, but in the meantime their duties are being handled by existing executives.
William G. Arendt, currently senior vice president and controller of Sprint Nextel, will serve as acting CFO, while John Garcia, currently senior vice president, product development and management, will serve as acting CMO. Paget Alves, currently Sprint Nextel's regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president, sales and distribution. All of these executives will report directly to Hesse.
The news of the executive shake-up follows the announcement last week that Sprint would be laying off 4,000 employees and the close 125 of its 1,400 retail outlets due to the net loss of more than 100,000 customers in the fourth quarter of 2007. At the end of the year, Sprint said it had 53.8 million subscribers, including 40.8 million customers of its traditional post-paid service.
The company plans to announce its full fourth-quarter results on Feb. 28.
While Sprint struggles, rival carrier AT&T seems to be doing better, thanks to its partnership as the exclusive service provider for Apple's iPhone device. AT&T's revenue was up 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, largely driven by increases in mobile phone and broadband customers, the company announced Thursday.
AT&T saw a net gain of 2.7 million mobile subscribers during the quarter, and most of them came to the company through its iPhone partnership, the company said. Apple said Tuesday it sold 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter.
AT&T: mobile and broadband strong in Q4
AT&T's revenue was up 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, largely driven by increases in mobile phone and broadband customers, the company said Thursday.
AT&T's pro forma revenue was US$30.4 billion for the quarter, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, when comparing combined revenue from AT&T, BellSouth and the former Cingular Wireless. AT&T acquired BellSouth and Cingular on Dec. 29, 2006.
A net gain of 2.7 million mobile subscribers helped drive up the year-over-year pro forma numbers, AT&T said in a news release. Most of those subscribers came to AT&T through its exclusive contract to provide service for Apple's iPhone; Apple said Tuesday it sold 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter.
AT&T's official reported revenue for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was $30.3 billion, up from stand-alone revenue of $15.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006. Those numbers were up slightly from the third quarter of 2007. Some merger-related costs account for the difference in revenue figures.
AT&T reported a net income of $3.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2007, up from $1.9 billion, mostly due to its acquisition of BellSouth and Cingular.
By comparison, AT&T also had net income of $3.1 billion for the third quarter of 2007, with both quarter's numbers including income from BellSouth and Cingular, which was co-owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
The company's reported earnings per share were $0.51, up from $0.50 in the fourth quarter of 2006. Excluding one-time charges, earnings per share was $0.71, matching consensus earnings expectations by analysts polled by Thomson Financial. However, AT&T missed on the revenue side: analysts had expected it to post $30.55 billion.
AT&T had an "excellent" fourth quarter, Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chairman, president and CEO, said in the statement. AT&T's mobile customer increase was the largest quarterly gain ever by a U.S. provider, he said. The company had 70.1 million mobile customers at the end of the year.
Stephenson also pointed to growth in AT&T's enterprise and broadband businesses. "These growth trends, combined with the significant opportunities we have for continuous cost improvements, reinforce the positive outlook we have for our business," Stephenson said. "AT&T has a terrific set of assets and an impressive record in terms of executing and delivering on targets, and I am very confident in our ability to drive strong results in 2008."
AT&T's mobile revenues were $11.4 billion, up 16.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006. Mobile data revenue was up 57.5 percent.
In AT&T's wireline business, the company had 231,000 subscribers to its U-verse IP-based video service at year's end, up from 126,000 at the end of the third quarter.
AT&T's broadband revenues grew 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.4 billion. Total high speed Internet connections, which include DSL, AT&T U-verse high speed Internet and satellite broadband services, increased by 396,000 in the quarter to reach 14.2 million, up by 2 million from the end of 2006.
AT&T's pro forma revenue was US$30.4 billion for the quarter, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, when comparing combined revenue from AT&T, BellSouth and the former Cingular Wireless. AT&T acquired BellSouth and Cingular on Dec. 29, 2006.
A net gain of 2.7 million mobile subscribers helped drive up the year-over-year pro forma numbers, AT&T said in a news release. Most of those subscribers came to AT&T through its exclusive contract to provide service for Apple's iPhone; Apple said Tuesday it sold 2.3 million iPhones during the quarter.
AT&T's official reported revenue for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was $30.3 billion, up from stand-alone revenue of $15.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006. Those numbers were up slightly from the third quarter of 2007. Some merger-related costs account for the difference in revenue figures.
AT&T reported a net income of $3.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2007, up from $1.9 billion, mostly due to its acquisition of BellSouth and Cingular.
By comparison, AT&T also had net income of $3.1 billion for the third quarter of 2007, with both quarter's numbers including income from BellSouth and Cingular, which was co-owned by AT&T and BellSouth.
The company's reported earnings per share were $0.51, up from $0.50 in the fourth quarter of 2006. Excluding one-time charges, earnings per share was $0.71, matching consensus earnings expectations by analysts polled by Thomson Financial. However, AT&T missed on the revenue side: analysts had expected it to post $30.55 billion.
AT&T had an "excellent" fourth quarter, Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chairman, president and CEO, said in the statement. AT&T's mobile customer increase was the largest quarterly gain ever by a U.S. provider, he said. The company had 70.1 million mobile customers at the end of the year.
Stephenson also pointed to growth in AT&T's enterprise and broadband businesses. "These growth trends, combined with the significant opportunities we have for continuous cost improvements, reinforce the positive outlook we have for our business," Stephenson said. "AT&T has a terrific set of assets and an impressive record in terms of executing and delivering on targets, and I am very confident in our ability to drive strong results in 2008."
AT&T's mobile revenues were $11.4 billion, up 16.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006. Mobile data revenue was up 57.5 percent.
In AT&T's wireline business, the company had 231,000 subscribers to its U-verse IP-based video service at year's end, up from 126,000 at the end of the third quarter.
AT&T's broadband revenues grew 13.7 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.4 billion. Total high speed Internet connections, which include DSL, AT&T U-verse high speed Internet and satellite broadband services, increased by 396,000 in the quarter to reach 14.2 million, up by 2 million from the end of 2006.
NTT DoCoMo in talks on Android-based cell phone
Japan's biggest mobile telecom carrier gave its strongest support yet to Google's Android platform on Thursday when it said it is considering a cell phone based on the technology.
"We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system," said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.
The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo's hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo's 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform's success in Japan.
Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open-source components and include an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.
NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday hadn't disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which includes about 40 companies including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.
"When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs," said Natsuno.
Natsuno didn't provide any specifics about when such a handset might be available. When the Open Handset Alliance was launched last year Google said that it expected the first phones running the software to appear in late 2008.
Despite its support for Android, NTT DoCoMo is also working with companies developing rival platforms. It has an alliance with Access, a Japanese software company with which is has deep ties, on the Access Linux Platform (ALP). DoCoMo is working on a "carrier pack," a set of unique products and services, that can run on ALP, which is intended to be a common Linux platform for cell phones.
Natsuno's comments came at a Tokyo news conference held to detail a partnership between the carrier and Google.
The alliance will see Google products and applications added to DoCoMo handsets. These will include the addition of a Google search box on the main I-mode menu page from which users will access mobile and PC Web sites. Google Ads will appear alongside search results. The two companies said they are also planning to bring more Google services, such as Google Maps, to handsets and build in support for Flash video so that users can access and stream content from YouTube.
Google will appear as the default start page on mobile phones that feature browsers for the full Internet.
The deal is Google's second in the mobile space in Japan. It already has a deal with second-ranked carrier "au" to which it provides search and advertising services. Number three carrier Softbank Mobile has a link with Yahoo Japan, the portal in which its parent company, Softbank, is the biggest shareholder.
"We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system," said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.
The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo's hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo's 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform's success in Japan.
Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open-source components and include an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.
NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday hadn't disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which includes about 40 companies including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.
"When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs," said Natsuno.
Natsuno didn't provide any specifics about when such a handset might be available. When the Open Handset Alliance was launched last year Google said that it expected the first phones running the software to appear in late 2008.
Despite its support for Android, NTT DoCoMo is also working with companies developing rival platforms. It has an alliance with Access, a Japanese software company with which is has deep ties, on the Access Linux Platform (ALP). DoCoMo is working on a "carrier pack," a set of unique products and services, that can run on ALP, which is intended to be a common Linux platform for cell phones.
Natsuno's comments came at a Tokyo news conference held to detail a partnership between the carrier and Google.
The alliance will see Google products and applications added to DoCoMo handsets. These will include the addition of a Google search box on the main I-mode menu page from which users will access mobile and PC Web sites. Google Ads will appear alongside search results. The two companies said they are also planning to bring more Google services, such as Google Maps, to handsets and build in support for Flash video so that users can access and stream content from YouTube.
Google will appear as the default start page on mobile phones that feature browsers for the full Internet.
The deal is Google's second in the mobile space in Japan. It already has a deal with second-ranked carrier "au" to which it provides search and advertising services. Number three carrier Softbank Mobile has a link with Yahoo Japan, the portal in which its parent company, Softbank, is the biggest shareholder.
Sun reports strong profits but little growth
Sun Microsystems doubled its profit in the quarter ended Dec. 30, although revenue was nearly flat compared with the same period a year earlier, the company announced Thursday.
Net income for the quarter, the second of Sun's fiscal year, was US$260 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $133 million and $0.15 per share in the same quarter of fiscal 2006, the company announced Thursday.
Revenue was $3.62 billion, up just 1.4 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The growth came from Sun's services business, where revenue climbed 5 percent. Sales of servers and storage products, which account for about two-thirds of Sun's business, declined by 0.5 percent.
Business was particularly slow in the U.S., where revenue declined 8 percent year over year. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region performed better, with growth of 7 percent. EMEA accounted for 39 percent of revenue in the quarter, overtaking the U.S., which is usually Sun's biggest source of revenue.
Despite the quarter's slow growth, Sun said its full-year growth would be better. On a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said revenue for fiscal 2008 would increase in the "low-to-mid single digits" and predicted revenue growth in the second half of greater than 5 percent.
Sun's profit benefited from its ongoing cost-cutting plan, which has included several hundred layoffs so far. Its $260 million profit included a restructuring charge of $32 million.
Sun announced a surprise plan last week to buy MySQL, the biggest open-source database vendor, for $1 billion. Sun officials said Thursday they are unsure whether the MySQL acquisition will close in the second or third quarter, and have not yet calculated the long-term impact on Sun's financials. They expect to take a one-time charge of $30 million to $50 million when the deal closes.
Net income for the quarter, the second of Sun's fiscal year, was US$260 million, or $0.31 per share, up from $133 million and $0.15 per share in the same quarter of fiscal 2006, the company announced Thursday.
Revenue was $3.62 billion, up just 1.4 percent from the same quarter a year earlier. The growth came from Sun's services business, where revenue climbed 5 percent. Sales of servers and storage products, which account for about two-thirds of Sun's business, declined by 0.5 percent.
Business was particularly slow in the U.S., where revenue declined 8 percent year over year. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region performed better, with growth of 7 percent. EMEA accounted for 39 percent of revenue in the quarter, overtaking the U.S., which is usually Sun's biggest source of revenue.
Despite the quarter's slow growth, Sun said its full-year growth would be better. On a conference call, Chief Financial Officer Mike Lehman said revenue for fiscal 2008 would increase in the "low-to-mid single digits" and predicted revenue growth in the second half of greater than 5 percent.
Sun's profit benefited from its ongoing cost-cutting plan, which has included several hundred layoffs so far. Its $260 million profit included a restructuring charge of $32 million.
Sun announced a surprise plan last week to buy MySQL, the biggest open-source database vendor, for $1 billion. Sun officials said Thursday they are unsure whether the MySQL acquisition will close in the second or third quarter, and have not yet calculated the long-term impact on Sun's financials. They expect to take a one-time charge of $30 million to $50 million when the deal closes.
Nokia claims 40 percent of phone market
Nokia reported a 44 percent rise in net profit for the fourth quarter, on sales that increased 34 percent. The company estimates 1.14 billion phones were sold in 2007, 40 percent of them bearing the Nokia brand.
The company made net profit for the quarter of €1.84 billion (US$2.7 billion as of Dec. 31, last day of the period reported), up from €1.27 billion a year earlier.
Sales for the quarter rose to €15.7 billion from €11.7 billion a year earlier. Growth was dampened by the weakening dollar: at constant currency rates, sales would have grown by 40 percent, the company said.
Nokia is counting on its acquisition of digital mapping data provider Navteq, and its move into the Internet services business, to drive future growth, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said in a conference call with analysts.
Basic mobile phones sales now account for less than half the group's revenue, down from 60 percent a year earlier. Although sales volumes increased, the average selling price of such phones dipped from €89 to €83.
Around the world, shipments in the quarter increased 26.5 percent, with growth topping 40 percent in Asia. Growth could have been faster were it not for shortages of certain components, Nokia said. Sales fell in North America, Nokia's smallest geographic market, where shipments dropped 13.6 percent to 5.1 million phones. Nokia blamed the drop on its progressive withdrawal from the market for phones based on CDMA technology, used mainly in North America, to focus on the GSM technology used worldwide.
Nokia's multimedia division saw a 42 percent increase in sales, to €3.03 billion, and a doubling of operating profit, driven by the success of consumer smartphones such as the N73 and N95, which the company describes as "multimedia computers." It shipped over 11 million Nseries devices and over 2 million of its Eseries enterprise devices during the quarter.
New phones and multimedia devices that began shipping in volume during the quarter accounted for about 30 percent of profits and revenue, said CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
The company also saw sales more than double at Nokia Siemens Networks, its network equipment joint venture with German conglomerate Siemens.
Looking ahead, the company expects mobile phone sales to dip slightly in the first quarter, picking up to grow 10 percent for the full year. It also expects its share of that market to grow, although average selling prices will likely continue to decline, it said.
"Much work remains in order to realize our ambitions," Kallasvuo said. "We will not underestimate the competition."
Nokia will have to address its problems in North America if it wants to increase its share of the mobile phone market further, said Gartner research vice president Carolina Milanesi.
The company is working with U.S. operator Sprint Nextel to build a nationwide WiMax network, but Milanesi does not expect sales of WiMax devices to compensate for the company's falling CDMA market share during 2008.
"It's not going to happen overnight," Milanesi said.
Simonson found a silver lining to the cloud over Nokia's performance in North America: with such a small share of the U.S. market, the company has little exposure to the country's economic troubles.
The company made net profit for the quarter of €1.84 billion (US$2.7 billion as of Dec. 31, last day of the period reported), up from €1.27 billion a year earlier.
Sales for the quarter rose to €15.7 billion from €11.7 billion a year earlier. Growth was dampened by the weakening dollar: at constant currency rates, sales would have grown by 40 percent, the company said.
Nokia is counting on its acquisition of digital mapping data provider Navteq, and its move into the Internet services business, to drive future growth, Chief Financial Officer Rick Simonson said in a conference call with analysts.
Basic mobile phones sales now account for less than half the group's revenue, down from 60 percent a year earlier. Although sales volumes increased, the average selling price of such phones dipped from €89 to €83.
Around the world, shipments in the quarter increased 26.5 percent, with growth topping 40 percent in Asia. Growth could have been faster were it not for shortages of certain components, Nokia said. Sales fell in North America, Nokia's smallest geographic market, where shipments dropped 13.6 percent to 5.1 million phones. Nokia blamed the drop on its progressive withdrawal from the market for phones based on CDMA technology, used mainly in North America, to focus on the GSM technology used worldwide.
Nokia's multimedia division saw a 42 percent increase in sales, to €3.03 billion, and a doubling of operating profit, driven by the success of consumer smartphones such as the N73 and N95, which the company describes as "multimedia computers." It shipped over 11 million Nseries devices and over 2 million of its Eseries enterprise devices during the quarter.
New phones and multimedia devices that began shipping in volume during the quarter accounted for about 30 percent of profits and revenue, said CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
The company also saw sales more than double at Nokia Siemens Networks, its network equipment joint venture with German conglomerate Siemens.
Looking ahead, the company expects mobile phone sales to dip slightly in the first quarter, picking up to grow 10 percent for the full year. It also expects its share of that market to grow, although average selling prices will likely continue to decline, it said.
"Much work remains in order to realize our ambitions," Kallasvuo said. "We will not underestimate the competition."
Nokia will have to address its problems in North America if it wants to increase its share of the mobile phone market further, said Gartner research vice president Carolina Milanesi.
The company is working with U.S. operator Sprint Nextel to build a nationwide WiMax network, but Milanesi does not expect sales of WiMax devices to compensate for the company's falling CDMA market share during 2008.
"It's not going to happen overnight," Milanesi said.
Simonson found a silver lining to the cloud over Nokia's performance in North America: with such a small share of the U.S. market, the company has little exposure to the country's economic troubles.
HP launches diet desktop with solid-state drive
Hewlett-Packard Wednesday introduced a business desktop with a slim form factor that packs a flash-based solid-state drive, giving the system faster boot times than PCs with hard drives.
The HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop, dubbed by HP as its smallest enterprise desktop model, provides improved power efficiency and support for tools, including Intel's vPro, that makes it easier to manage PCs.
Measuring 2.60 by 9.90 by 10.0 inches (6.6 by 25.15 by 25.4 centimeters), HP said this desktop is 46 percent smaller than previous models. The PC is loaded with power-efficient features, including solid-state drives (SSDs) that consume less power than hard drives, said an HP spokeswoman.
The SSD can replace a hard disk as the PC's primary storage drive and delivers performance and durability improvements, including quicker access to data, durability, the spokeswoman said.
Random reads require the head to continuously seek the exact location of data on a hard drive. SSDs have no moving parts or rotating platters, which results in instantaneous seek times, leading to faster boot times and quicker data access.
A 16G-byte SSD will be available with the system, although users can select hard drives with storage capacities of up to 160G byte when buying the product.
The system includes support for TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2, a hardware-based authentication technology for system security.
The Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop runs Intel's Core 2 Duo, Celeron D or Pentium processors, and supports Intel's vPro technology, a platform that helps service and manage PCs. It comes with Gigabit Ethernet and an integrated Intel graphics media accelerator. Users can select between the Windows Vista, Windows XP or FreeDos operating systems.
Pricing for the desktop, which is available now, starts at US$1,258 with the solid-state drive.
There are already a few vendors that include SSDs in their hardware. Dell's Alienware, a gaming systems manufacturer, includes them in its gaming desktop PCs and Toshiba includes SSDs in its laptops. Intel is providing SSD storage as an option to put on motherboards for its upcoming ultramobile Menlow platform, and Lexar Media is offering SSD storage under the Crucial brand.
HP also announced the HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC. The business desktop will be powered by Intel's Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium dual-core or Celeron D processors. It will include up to 500G bytes of hard-drive storage, Gigabit Ethernet networking, integrated Intel graphics, a DVD drive and a 16-in-1 media card reader.
Priced at $579, the desktop will be available starting next month.
The HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop, dubbed by HP as its smallest enterprise desktop model, provides improved power efficiency and support for tools, including Intel's vPro, that makes it easier to manage PCs.
Measuring 2.60 by 9.90 by 10.0 inches (6.6 by 25.15 by 25.4 centimeters), HP said this desktop is 46 percent smaller than previous models. The PC is loaded with power-efficient features, including solid-state drives (SSDs) that consume less power than hard drives, said an HP spokeswoman.
The SSD can replace a hard disk as the PC's primary storage drive and delivers performance and durability improvements, including quicker access to data, durability, the spokeswoman said.
Random reads require the head to continuously seek the exact location of data on a hard drive. SSDs have no moving parts or rotating platters, which results in instantaneous seek times, leading to faster boot times and quicker data access.
A 16G-byte SSD will be available with the system, although users can select hard drives with storage capacities of up to 160G byte when buying the product.
The system includes support for TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2, a hardware-based authentication technology for system security.
The Compaq dc7800 Ultra-Slim Business Desktop runs Intel's Core 2 Duo, Celeron D or Pentium processors, and supports Intel's vPro technology, a platform that helps service and manage PCs. It comes with Gigabit Ethernet and an integrated Intel graphics media accelerator. Users can select between the Windows Vista, Windows XP or FreeDos operating systems.
Pricing for the desktop, which is available now, starts at US$1,258 with the solid-state drive.
There are already a few vendors that include SSDs in their hardware. Dell's Alienware, a gaming systems manufacturer, includes them in its gaming desktop PCs and Toshiba includes SSDs in its laptops. Intel is providing SSD storage as an option to put on motherboards for its upcoming ultramobile Menlow platform, and Lexar Media is offering SSD storage under the Crucial brand.
HP also announced the HP Compaq dc5800 Business PC. The business desktop will be powered by Intel's Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium dual-core or Celeron D processors. It will include up to 500G bytes of hard-drive storage, Gigabit Ethernet networking, integrated Intel graphics, a DVD drive and a 16-in-1 media card reader.
Priced at $579, the desktop will be available starting next month.
Windows Small Business Server at risk from critical flaw
Microsoft said Wednesday that another one of its operating system products is vulnerable to a critical vulnerability, first patched two weeks ago.
In an update to its MS08-001 security bulletin, Microsoft said that the latest release of Windows Small Business Server was also critically at risk from a bug in Windows' networking software.
The flaw is also considered critical for Windows XP and Vista users. Microsoft did not say why it had initially omitted Small Business Server from its list of critically affected operating systems, but it said that the product's users were being offered patches via Microsoft's various automatic update services. "Customers with Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 2 should apply the update to remain secure," Microsoft said in its updated bulletin.
The bug lies in the way Windows processes networking traffic that uses IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and MLD (Multicast Listener Discovery) protocols, which are used to send data to many systems at the same time. Microsoft said that an attacker could send specially crafted packets to a victim's machine, which could then allow the attacker to run unauthorized code on a system.
Microsoft rates the flaw as "important" for Windows Server 2003, meaning that it would be more difficult for attackers to exploit the flaw on this operating system.
Security experts are paying particular attention to this vulnerability because it could be exploited by attackers to create a self-replicating worm attack.
The flaw is not being exploited in online attacks, but last week researchers at penetration-testing-software vendor Immunity made a sample exploit available to their customers. That software causes an unpatched system to crash, but the company is close to developing code that could be used to install unauthorized software on a victim's computer, according to Immunity Chief Technology Officer Dave Aitel.
Aitel said it's no surprise that the small business version of Windows Server 2003 is at risk.
"I assumed most 2003 servers in the real world were vulnerable," he said via instant message. "Windows Server 2003 by default does not have any multicast addresses active and would not be affected by this vulnerability. However, installing applications that use multicasting could cause the operating system to become vulnerable."
He said that Microsoft could help its customers by giving them more details on how to avoid being at risk to this problem. "What features can I enable on Windows Server 2003 to become vulnerable?" he asked.
In an update to its MS08-001 security bulletin, Microsoft said that the latest release of Windows Small Business Server was also critically at risk from a bug in Windows' networking software.
The flaw is also considered critical for Windows XP and Vista users. Microsoft did not say why it had initially omitted Small Business Server from its list of critically affected operating systems, but it said that the product's users were being offered patches via Microsoft's various automatic update services. "Customers with Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 2 should apply the update to remain secure," Microsoft said in its updated bulletin.
The bug lies in the way Windows processes networking traffic that uses IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and MLD (Multicast Listener Discovery) protocols, which are used to send data to many systems at the same time. Microsoft said that an attacker could send specially crafted packets to a victim's machine, which could then allow the attacker to run unauthorized code on a system.
Microsoft rates the flaw as "important" for Windows Server 2003, meaning that it would be more difficult for attackers to exploit the flaw on this operating system.
Security experts are paying particular attention to this vulnerability because it could be exploited by attackers to create a self-replicating worm attack.
The flaw is not being exploited in online attacks, but last week researchers at penetration-testing-software vendor Immunity made a sample exploit available to their customers. That software causes an unpatched system to crash, but the company is close to developing code that could be used to install unauthorized software on a victim's computer, according to Immunity Chief Technology Officer Dave Aitel.
Aitel said it's no surprise that the small business version of Windows Server 2003 is at risk.
"I assumed most 2003 servers in the real world were vulnerable," he said via instant message. "Windows Server 2003 by default does not have any multicast addresses active and would not be affected by this vulnerability. However, installing applications that use multicasting could cause the operating system to become vulnerable."
He said that Microsoft could help its customers by giving them more details on how to avoid being at risk to this problem. "What features can I enable on Windows Server 2003 to become vulnerable?" he asked.
JBoss alumni launch open-source startup
A startup founded by former JBoss developers will come out of stealth mode Monday to announce a new product designed to help businesses zero in on their best sales leads.
The startup, called LoopFuse, has developed a lead generation product that is offered as a paid on-demand service or as open-source software that can be downloaded for free and installed on-site.
The Atlanta-based company is entering a growing market where it will compete with several other small providers, along with established players like Eloqua, based in Toronto. LoopFuse hopes to distinguish itself with its open-source model, which it said will allow it to price its service lower than rivals' services.
Lead generation products track the activities of potential customers on a company's Web site and use factors like their job titles and activities on the site to assign "lead scores," which help salespeople to target their efforts. The products work in tandem with customer relationship management software.
Kim Collins, a research vice president with Gartner, said interest in such products is growing in all industries. The challenge for new companies like LoopFuse -- and for customers -- is that many small companies are offering similar products, each with a slightly different twist.
"They each do things a bit differently and utilize different channels for [lead] generation and distribution (e.g., Web, sales, e-mail). Some focus more on workflow and process. Others focus more on analytics and scoring. It makes the vendors and their solutions hard to directly compare," Collins said via e-mail.
LoopFuse was founded early last year by Tom Elrod and Roy Russo, who each spent three years at JBoss, the Java server vendor acquired by Red Hat. Elrod was lead architect for JBoss Remote and Russo cofounded the JBoss Portal, according to LoopFuse's Web site.
The company has quietly rolled out its product to a handful of customers over the past year. On Monday it plans to launch a new release and start marketing itself more actively.
The product, called LoopFuse OneView, includes tools for e-mail marketing, Web analytics, managing campaigns and scoring and prioritizing leads, among other things. The new release, version 3.0, will add lead management and lead nurturing tools, a spokesman said. The software is released under the GNU General Public License.
LoopFuse hopes to shake up the economies of the market. The open-source model can help vendors reduce their costs by drawing on existing software components and contributions from users.
LoopFuse OneView will be priced at US$300 per month for an unlimited number of users, although usage will be capped at about 2,500 e-mails and 100,000 page hits, said Matt Asay, an adviser to LoopFuse who is also a vice president with content management company Alfresco. Users will be able to pay more to lift the cap, he said.
That pricing compares favorably to Eloqua. Its service starts at $3,000 per month for a team of about five users, but with no limits on e-mail or page views, said Thor Johnson, Eloqua's senior vice president of marketing.
Still, Johnson said he was unconcerned with LoopForce, noting that he already has a plethora of smaller rivals. Eloqua has a battle-tested service that is being used by more than 400 customers, he said, including Nokia Enterprise Solutions, Sybase and Red Hat. It also has some capabilities that LoopFuse does not, such as direct-mail marketing, he said.
Eloqua was founded in 2000 and recently closed a $23 million funding round, which it will use to expand in Europe and Asia. Johnson questioned the ability of startups like LoopFuse to serve global businesses, or to scale quickly enough to handle big customers. "We're processing more transactions than the Nasdaq," he said.
LoopFuse will be hoping to parlay its JBoss connections and the rising confidence in open-source software to its advantage. It has partnered with open-source company SugarCRM, allowing customers to use a complete open-source stack for marketing and sales.
"While our proprietary competitors tread water, and ask you to empty your wallets for 8+ year-old brittle-ware, we're busy innovating, innovating, and innovating, by applying open source principles and methodologies to every facet of our products and business," LoopFuse said in its blog last year.
The startup, called LoopFuse, has developed a lead generation product that is offered as a paid on-demand service or as open-source software that can be downloaded for free and installed on-site.
The Atlanta-based company is entering a growing market where it will compete with several other small providers, along with established players like Eloqua, based in Toronto. LoopFuse hopes to distinguish itself with its open-source model, which it said will allow it to price its service lower than rivals' services.
Lead generation products track the activities of potential customers on a company's Web site and use factors like their job titles and activities on the site to assign "lead scores," which help salespeople to target their efforts. The products work in tandem with customer relationship management software.
Kim Collins, a research vice president with Gartner, said interest in such products is growing in all industries. The challenge for new companies like LoopFuse -- and for customers -- is that many small companies are offering similar products, each with a slightly different twist.
"They each do things a bit differently and utilize different channels for [lead] generation and distribution (e.g., Web, sales, e-mail). Some focus more on workflow and process. Others focus more on analytics and scoring. It makes the vendors and their solutions hard to directly compare," Collins said via e-mail.
LoopFuse was founded early last year by Tom Elrod and Roy Russo, who each spent three years at JBoss, the Java server vendor acquired by Red Hat. Elrod was lead architect for JBoss Remote and Russo cofounded the JBoss Portal, according to LoopFuse's Web site.
The company has quietly rolled out its product to a handful of customers over the past year. On Monday it plans to launch a new release and start marketing itself more actively.
The product, called LoopFuse OneView, includes tools for e-mail marketing, Web analytics, managing campaigns and scoring and prioritizing leads, among other things. The new release, version 3.0, will add lead management and lead nurturing tools, a spokesman said. The software is released under the GNU General Public License.
LoopFuse hopes to shake up the economies of the market. The open-source model can help vendors reduce their costs by drawing on existing software components and contributions from users.
LoopFuse OneView will be priced at US$300 per month for an unlimited number of users, although usage will be capped at about 2,500 e-mails and 100,000 page hits, said Matt Asay, an adviser to LoopFuse who is also a vice president with content management company Alfresco. Users will be able to pay more to lift the cap, he said.
That pricing compares favorably to Eloqua. Its service starts at $3,000 per month for a team of about five users, but with no limits on e-mail or page views, said Thor Johnson, Eloqua's senior vice president of marketing.
Still, Johnson said he was unconcerned with LoopForce, noting that he already has a plethora of smaller rivals. Eloqua has a battle-tested service that is being used by more than 400 customers, he said, including Nokia Enterprise Solutions, Sybase and Red Hat. It also has some capabilities that LoopFuse does not, such as direct-mail marketing, he said.
Eloqua was founded in 2000 and recently closed a $23 million funding round, which it will use to expand in Europe and Asia. Johnson questioned the ability of startups like LoopFuse to serve global businesses, or to scale quickly enough to handle big customers. "We're processing more transactions than the Nasdaq," he said.
LoopFuse will be hoping to parlay its JBoss connections and the rising confidence in open-source software to its advantage. It has partnered with open-source company SugarCRM, allowing customers to use a complete open-source stack for marketing and sales.
"While our proprietary competitors tread water, and ask you to empty your wallets for 8+ year-old brittle-ware, we're busy innovating, innovating, and innovating, by applying open source principles and methodologies to every facet of our products and business," LoopFuse said in its blog last year.
EBay beats Street, Meg Whitman to retire
EBay exceeded Wall Street's earnings and revenue expectations for its fourth quarter and, as expected, announced that Meg Whitman will step down as president and CEO at the end of March, ending a 10-year tenure at the helm of the e-commerce giant.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, eBay had revenue of US$2.18 billion, up $461 million from the fourth quarter of 2006 and above the $2.14 billion consensus estimate from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Revenue grew across the board, but PayPal, StubHub, Skype and advertising performed particularly well, as eBay enjoyed strong sales during the 2007 holiday season, the company said Wednesday.
Net income was $531 million, or $0.39 per share, up from $346 million, or $0.25 per share, in 2006's fourth quarter. On a pro-forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $611 million, or $0.45 per share, topping the consensus expectation by $0.04.
Whitman will hand over her CEO and president titles on March 31, but she will remain on the company's board of directors. She will be succeeded by John Donahoe.
In a conference call to discuss the financial results, Donahoe said the eBay marketplace business isn't growing as fast as he would like, and that a priority is to make it "easier and safer to use."
"Buyers have become accustomed to streamlined purchasing experiences that put a premium on speed, convenience and reliability," he said. "While we've made strides in these areas, I'm clear we need to do much more."
He's ready to be aggressive about making changes to eBay's buying and selling experience to meet users' expectations, he said.
EBay, which started as an auction site, later added fixed-price items to its marketplace, but it is still viewed by many mainstream online buyers as complicated to navigate and not safe enough, when compared with more traditional e-commerce sites like Amazon.com.
At the same time, Amazon.com has been invading eBay's territory by letting small merchants set up shop on its site via the Amazon Marketplace service, and providing more safeguards and guarantees to buyers than eBay does.
According to Donahoe, eBay will continue its attempts to attract new mainstream buyers to its marketplace this year. "Watch for us to make some exciting announcements about feedback, new user-protection programs, customer support and pricing," he said.
Along these lines, he will also focus on balancing the excitement and value of auctions with the convenience of fixed-price items, which may require significant changes to the eBay marketplace, customer approach and business model, he said.
Meanwhile, Whitman said her plan all along had been to lead the company for about 10 years and then give up the reins. "I'm extremely proud of eBay's performance in 2007, but more than that I'm very confident about our future," she said.
Whitman joined eBay in March 1998, when the company operated only in the U.S. and had 30 employees and $4.7 million in annual revenue. It now operates worldwide with more than 15,000 employees and almost $7.7 billion in revenue.
Donahoe has been with eBay since February 2005, coming from Bain & Company, where he was worldwide managing director since 1999. He is president of eBay Marketplaces, which generates more than 70 percent of the company’s global revenue.
For the full year, eBay had $7.7 billion in revenue, up 29 percent from almost $6 billion in 2006. Net income, which includes a $1.4 billion writedown of Skype's value announced in October, was $348 million, or $0.25 per share, down from $1.13 billion, or $0.79 per share, in 2006. On a pro-forma basis, net income came in at $2.11 billion, or $1.53 per share.
Rajiv Dutta, PayPal's president, has been named eBay executive vice president and will also replace Donahoe as president of eBay Marketplaces. Scott Thompson, PayPal’s CTO, will take over as PayPal president.
Meanwhile, Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, will step down and retire from the company at the end of the year. Lorrie Norrington, currently president of eBay International, will become president of eBay Marketplaces Operations and assume Cobb's responsibilities, eBay said.
EBay expects that in 2008 net revenue will range between $8.5 billion and $8.75 billion, earnings per share in the range of $1.27 to $1.31 and pro-forma earnings per share in the range of $1.63 to $1.67.
For 2008's first quarter, eBay expects net revenue between $2 billion to $2.05 billion, earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.28 to $0.30 and pro-forma earnings per share in the range of $0.37 to $0.39.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, eBay had revenue of US$2.18 billion, up $461 million from the fourth quarter of 2006 and above the $2.14 billion consensus estimate from analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Revenue grew across the board, but PayPal, StubHub, Skype and advertising performed particularly well, as eBay enjoyed strong sales during the 2007 holiday season, the company said Wednesday.
Net income was $531 million, or $0.39 per share, up from $346 million, or $0.25 per share, in 2006's fourth quarter. On a pro-forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $611 million, or $0.45 per share, topping the consensus expectation by $0.04.
Whitman will hand over her CEO and president titles on March 31, but she will remain on the company's board of directors. She will be succeeded by John Donahoe.
In a conference call to discuss the financial results, Donahoe said the eBay marketplace business isn't growing as fast as he would like, and that a priority is to make it "easier and safer to use."
"Buyers have become accustomed to streamlined purchasing experiences that put a premium on speed, convenience and reliability," he said. "While we've made strides in these areas, I'm clear we need to do much more."
He's ready to be aggressive about making changes to eBay's buying and selling experience to meet users' expectations, he said.
EBay, which started as an auction site, later added fixed-price items to its marketplace, but it is still viewed by many mainstream online buyers as complicated to navigate and not safe enough, when compared with more traditional e-commerce sites like Amazon.com.
At the same time, Amazon.com has been invading eBay's territory by letting small merchants set up shop on its site via the Amazon Marketplace service, and providing more safeguards and guarantees to buyers than eBay does.
According to Donahoe, eBay will continue its attempts to attract new mainstream buyers to its marketplace this year. "Watch for us to make some exciting announcements about feedback, new user-protection programs, customer support and pricing," he said.
Along these lines, he will also focus on balancing the excitement and value of auctions with the convenience of fixed-price items, which may require significant changes to the eBay marketplace, customer approach and business model, he said.
Meanwhile, Whitman said her plan all along had been to lead the company for about 10 years and then give up the reins. "I'm extremely proud of eBay's performance in 2007, but more than that I'm very confident about our future," she said.
Whitman joined eBay in March 1998, when the company operated only in the U.S. and had 30 employees and $4.7 million in annual revenue. It now operates worldwide with more than 15,000 employees and almost $7.7 billion in revenue.
Donahoe has been with eBay since February 2005, coming from Bain & Company, where he was worldwide managing director since 1999. He is president of eBay Marketplaces, which generates more than 70 percent of the company’s global revenue.
For the full year, eBay had $7.7 billion in revenue, up 29 percent from almost $6 billion in 2006. Net income, which includes a $1.4 billion writedown of Skype's value announced in October, was $348 million, or $0.25 per share, down from $1.13 billion, or $0.79 per share, in 2006. On a pro-forma basis, net income came in at $2.11 billion, or $1.53 per share.
Rajiv Dutta, PayPal's president, has been named eBay executive vice president and will also replace Donahoe as president of eBay Marketplaces. Scott Thompson, PayPal’s CTO, will take over as PayPal president.
Meanwhile, Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, will step down and retire from the company at the end of the year. Lorrie Norrington, currently president of eBay International, will become president of eBay Marketplaces Operations and assume Cobb's responsibilities, eBay said.
EBay expects that in 2008 net revenue will range between $8.5 billion and $8.75 billion, earnings per share in the range of $1.27 to $1.31 and pro-forma earnings per share in the range of $1.63 to $1.67.
For 2008's first quarter, eBay expects net revenue between $2 billion to $2.05 billion, earnings per diluted share in the range of $0.28 to $0.30 and pro-forma earnings per share in the range of $0.37 to $0.39.
Vista SP1 due out in next few weeks, sources say
The wait is nearly over for the first service pack for Windows Vista, according to sources close to Microsoft.
Microsoft has said the highly anticipated service pack would be out in the first quarter of this year, but some say it could be available in the next few weeks, more than a month before the quarter ends on March 31.
A Taiwanese news outlet Wednesday reported in a story that Vista SP1 would be released Feb. 15, but "that date is as good as any other," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "For all we know, they could make it available tomorrow."
Through its public relations agency Wednesday, Microsoft declined to comment on the Feb. 15 date beyond reiterating the software would be available in the first quarter. Still, several sources who work closely with Microsoft said a mid-February release is not unlikely, and they expect the software to be out before the end of March.
Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis for the NPD Group, said that analysts have heard Feb. 15 as the target for SP1, but it's not something Microsoft would confirm publicly to give itself time to make adjustments in case of negative feedback on the current release of the software.
Microsoft released Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) in December, but then refreshed that software in a public release earlier this month.
Several Microsoft partners said they could not confirm Feb. 15 as the date for SP1's release, but said they expect the software soon for a number of reasons.
One of those is the strength of the release candidate, said Brian Randell, a senior consultant with MCW Technologies in Los Angeles. He has been using the SP1 RC and it's stable and running well so, "I can't see why [the final release] wouldn't be out soon."
Microsoft's hesitancy to give a firm date for SP1 means the company is confident it can get the final release out on time, said Andrew Brust, chief, new technology for consulting firm twentysix New York. However, he agreed with NPD's Swenson that the company wants to give itself room for last-minute changes. "They are not ready to promise anything beyond Q1," he said. Brust is a regional director of Microsoft partners and works closely with the company.
Many believe the SP1 milestone is the one that will bring about a new wave of adoption for Vista, especially among business customers that have been awaiting the service pack's release before updating employee desktops. The combination of SP1 and Windows Server 2008, due out on Feb. 27, is expected to bode well for Vista adoption in the enterprise and medium-sized business sectors.
One date Cherry said Microsoft probably won't release SP1 is the next Patch Tuesday, Feb. 12. Patch Tuesday refers to the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft sends out software patches and updates via its automatic updating services.
"Hopefully, they would keep the release of monthly patches separate from the release of a service pack," Cherry said.
Microsoft has said the highly anticipated service pack would be out in the first quarter of this year, but some say it could be available in the next few weeks, more than a month before the quarter ends on March 31.
A Taiwanese news outlet Wednesday reported in a story that Vista SP1 would be released Feb. 15, but "that date is as good as any other," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. "For all we know, they could make it available tomorrow."
Through its public relations agency Wednesday, Microsoft declined to comment on the Feb. 15 date beyond reiterating the software would be available in the first quarter. Still, several sources who work closely with Microsoft said a mid-February release is not unlikely, and they expect the software to be out before the end of March.
Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis for the NPD Group, said that analysts have heard Feb. 15 as the target for SP1, but it's not something Microsoft would confirm publicly to give itself time to make adjustments in case of negative feedback on the current release of the software.
Microsoft released Vista SP1 Release Candidate (RC) in December, but then refreshed that software in a public release earlier this month.
Several Microsoft partners said they could not confirm Feb. 15 as the date for SP1's release, but said they expect the software soon for a number of reasons.
One of those is the strength of the release candidate, said Brian Randell, a senior consultant with MCW Technologies in Los Angeles. He has been using the SP1 RC and it's stable and running well so, "I can't see why [the final release] wouldn't be out soon."
Microsoft's hesitancy to give a firm date for SP1 means the company is confident it can get the final release out on time, said Andrew Brust, chief, new technology for consulting firm twentysix New York. However, he agreed with NPD's Swenson that the company wants to give itself room for last-minute changes. "They are not ready to promise anything beyond Q1," he said. Brust is a regional director of Microsoft partners and works closely with the company.
Many believe the SP1 milestone is the one that will bring about a new wave of adoption for Vista, especially among business customers that have been awaiting the service pack's release before updating employee desktops. The combination of SP1 and Windows Server 2008, due out on Feb. 27, is expected to bode well for Vista adoption in the enterprise and medium-sized business sectors.
One date Cherry said Microsoft probably won't release SP1 is the next Patch Tuesday, Feb. 12. Patch Tuesday refers to the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft sends out software patches and updates via its automatic updating services.
"Hopefully, they would keep the release of monthly patches separate from the release of a service pack," Cherry said.
Skype glitch leaves some users at risk from video bug
Some Skype users were left vulnerable to a possible worm attack Wednesday after company technicians failed to disable a buggy component of the network.
Skype pulled the plug on its "Add Video to Chat" feature Tuesday after security researcher Aviv Raff reported that it suffered from a serious vulnerability. An attacker could create a self-copying worm program that could be used to install malicious software on victims' machines and then go on to infect other Skype users.
"Add Video to Chat" lets users pick videos from two sites -- Dailymotion.com and Metacafe.com -- and add them to their Skype chat sessions.
Skype blocked access to these sites Tuesday after Raff's disclosure, effectively disabling the feature.
But because of a misconfigured Skype proxy server, some users were still allowed to access the Metacafe videos, leaving them vulnerable to an attack, said Raff, who had been in discussions with Skype engineering staff over this issue.
Because Raff has not publicly released his exploit code, the oversight probably doesn't pose a serious security risk for most Skype users, Raff noted.
Skype expects to patch the underlying vulnerability sometime next week, said a spokeswoman for Metacafe. That's later than previously expected. On Tuesday, Metacafe said that a patch was due early Wednesday morning.
Metacafe believes it's unlikely that an attacker could successfully exploit the flaw in a widespread attack, but with Raff's proof of concept code, a Skype user has to simply click on a maliciously crafted Web link in order to be infected.
According to Raff, Skype uses a Windows Internet Explorer (IE) component with an inappropriate security setting. Instead of rendering HTML from the Internet with the more secure "Internet Zone" security setting, Skype uses IE's "Local Zone" security setting, usually reserved for more trustworthy content.
Skype representatives did not return calls seeking comment for this story.
Skype pulled the plug on its "Add Video to Chat" feature Tuesday after security researcher Aviv Raff reported that it suffered from a serious vulnerability. An attacker could create a self-copying worm program that could be used to install malicious software on victims' machines and then go on to infect other Skype users.
"Add Video to Chat" lets users pick videos from two sites -- Dailymotion.com and Metacafe.com -- and add them to their Skype chat sessions.
Skype blocked access to these sites Tuesday after Raff's disclosure, effectively disabling the feature.
But because of a misconfigured Skype proxy server, some users were still allowed to access the Metacafe videos, leaving them vulnerable to an attack, said Raff, who had been in discussions with Skype engineering staff over this issue.
Because Raff has not publicly released his exploit code, the oversight probably doesn't pose a serious security risk for most Skype users, Raff noted.
Skype expects to patch the underlying vulnerability sometime next week, said a spokeswoman for Metacafe. That's later than previously expected. On Tuesday, Metacafe said that a patch was due early Wednesday morning.
Metacafe believes it's unlikely that an attacker could successfully exploit the flaw in a widespread attack, but with Raff's proof of concept code, a Skype user has to simply click on a maliciously crafted Web link in order to be infected.
According to Raff, Skype uses a Windows Internet Explorer (IE) component with an inappropriate security setting. Instead of rendering HTML from the Internet with the more secure "Internet Zone" security setting, Skype uses IE's "Local Zone" security setting, usually reserved for more trustworthy content.
Skype representatives did not return calls seeking comment for this story.
International growth boosts Symantec earnings
With strong international sales and growth in its services business, Symantec reported earnings Wednesday that beat analyst expectations.
Excluding charges, revenue at the security and storage company grew 15 percent year over year, to US$1.53 billion for the period ended Dec 28. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $1.45 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Financial. Earnings were $0.33 per share, ahead of the analyst estimate of $0.28 per share.
Symantec's international revenue -- which represents more than half of the company's business -- grew by 21 percent year over year, Symantec said. The Europe, Middle East and Africa region was the fastest-growing, with revenues up 26 percent from the previous year. Revenue in Asia grew by 19 percent, the company said.
Service sales totalled just 6 percent of Symantec's revenue, but they grew by 40 percent from the previous year.The company's consumer and enterprise security businesses grew by just 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Symantec's data center management group saw sales jump 11 percent over the same period.
Symantec raised guidance for its full fiscal year 2008, which ends March 28. It now expects revenue to be in the range of $5.90 billion to $5.94 billion, with earnings per share between $1.24 and $1.26. Analysts had been expecting annual revenue of around $5.79 billion with earnings per share at $1.16, according to Thomson.
The company's shares leapt more than 7 percent on the results in after-hours trading, reaching $16.40 late Wednesday afternoon.
Excluding charges, revenue at the security and storage company grew 15 percent year over year, to US$1.53 billion for the period ended Dec 28. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $1.45 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Financial. Earnings were $0.33 per share, ahead of the analyst estimate of $0.28 per share.
Symantec's international revenue -- which represents more than half of the company's business -- grew by 21 percent year over year, Symantec said. The Europe, Middle East and Africa region was the fastest-growing, with revenues up 26 percent from the previous year. Revenue in Asia grew by 19 percent, the company said.
Service sales totalled just 6 percent of Symantec's revenue, but they grew by 40 percent from the previous year.The company's consumer and enterprise security businesses grew by just 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively. Symantec's data center management group saw sales jump 11 percent over the same period.
Symantec raised guidance for its full fiscal year 2008, which ends March 28. It now expects revenue to be in the range of $5.90 billion to $5.94 billion, with earnings per share between $1.24 and $1.26. Analysts had been expecting annual revenue of around $5.79 billion with earnings per share at $1.16, according to Thomson.
The company's shares leapt more than 7 percent on the results in after-hours trading, reaching $16.40 late Wednesday afternoon.
As US spectrum auction opens, questions linger
One of the major questions as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission kicks off a multibillion-dollar spectrum auction Thursday is whether the auction will produce a winning bidder that will challenge telecom and cable-based broadband providers with a national wireless broadband network.
Other questions will also be answered in coming weeks as the auctions, for 62MHz of long-range, high-speed spectrum, unfold. Will Google or another bidder buy enough spectrum to launch a "third pipe" broadband network? Will any bidders step forward and pledge to build a nationwide broadband and voice network for emergency response agencies?
The bids to watch in the 700MHz auctions are for the C block, a 22MHz band of spectrum broken up into 12 regional licenses, and the D block, 10MHz of auctioned spectrum paired with another 10MHz set aside for a combined national commercial/emergency response agency network. Startup Frontline Wireless, one of the primary backers of the public-private model for an emergency responder network, announced in December that it had ceased operations.
"The pull-out of Frontline leaves the whole D Block auction up in the air," analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates said in an e-mail. "There is no way to know if a last minute group will come on board. While the goal of establishing a universal network for public safety/security is a laudable goal, it is not the most lucrative area from a pure business perspective, so it is not clear how much demand there might be or who might step up to the plate to make this work."
The FCC may have made a mistake in adopting the plan by Frontline, a company with former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt as its vice chairman, said Carlyn Taylor, a senior managing director in business consultancy FTI's corporate finance practice.
"I'm not sure how well [Frontline's plan] hung together from a financial standpoint," Taylor said. "I'm not sure anybody else is going to try to do what Frontline says they were going to do. There doesn't seem to be anybody else with a similar approach."
If any other company bids on the D block, it will be much less than the FCC would have received without the national public safety network build-out rules, Taylor said.
But the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), the nonprofit group of emergency response agency representatives that controls the public safety portion of the spectrum, said earlier this month it continues to support the FCC plan for the D block. The FCC should "do all that it can" to advance the public-private partnership meant to bring about the nationwide public safety broadband network, said Harlin McEwen, the PSST's chairman, in a statement. "While it would not be appropriate for the PSST to comment on any potential bidder’s strategy, we want to restate our enthusiasm for and commitment to what the FCC has done."
In the C block, the FCC required that winning bidders operate under open-access rules, meaning the winning bidder must allow any legal devices to connect to the network and allow customers to access any legal Web content of their choosing. Google, which pushed for the open-access rules, has pledged to bid at least US$4.6 billion for the C block, and the FCC later set that figure as the minimum price it will accept.
FCC rules prohibit potential bidders such as Google from commenting on their spectrum plans in the run up to the auction. Bidding is anonymous, but the FCC will release some information about the auctions at its auction Web page.
But several wireless industry observers have suggested that Google may not want to win the C block spectrum. Google, by getting the FCC to adopt the open-access rules and by pushing Verizon Wireless and AT&T to open up their current wireless networks to outside devices and applications, has already accomplished much of what it has wanted, Taylor said.
"I think it's fairly widely believed that [Google] doesn't really want to be the actual carrier," Taylor said. "That doesn't mean they still wouldn't buy spectrum and then work with somebody else who's a carrier."
A subcontracting arrangement with a wireless carrier would make sense for Google, she said.
Blair Levin, a telecom analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., also doubts Google will be a major player in the C block bidding. With the U.S. stock markets tanking in recent weeks, Google may not want to spend $10 billion to build a national network, he said, referring to the estimated cost.
Before the FCC set the auction rules in July, Google had also inquired about the legality of selling spectrum on a wholesale basis. The FCC ruled that such a plan would be legal.
In addition to the current wireless giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless, other companies to watch are the cable television providers, satellite TV providers and handset maker Qualcomm, Taylor said. Qualcomm and cable provider Cox were among the 214 bidders approved by the FCC this month.
Look for wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to bid defensively, she said. "If the traditional mobile carriers really are the final winners of most of the spectrum, then nothing interesting happens," she said. "They don't want to see some major new entrant coming in."
Falling stock prices on Wall Street may discourage some competing bidders, with the auction coming at "precisely a bad time" for investment in a new nationwide network, Taylor said. But these auctions may be the last chance for a third nationwide broadband network, she added.
The 700MHz spectrum band carries wireless broadband signals three to four times farther than some higher spectrum bands, making it perfect for long-range broadband networks. "If you're going to build a green-field network from scratch, you want to build it at low megahertz like this," Taylor said. "If anybody was seriously considering launching a fully new competitor ... from scratch, this is the chance. There isn't going to be another one, probably."
Other questions will also be answered in coming weeks as the auctions, for 62MHz of long-range, high-speed spectrum, unfold. Will Google or another bidder buy enough spectrum to launch a "third pipe" broadband network? Will any bidders step forward and pledge to build a nationwide broadband and voice network for emergency response agencies?
The bids to watch in the 700MHz auctions are for the C block, a 22MHz band of spectrum broken up into 12 regional licenses, and the D block, 10MHz of auctioned spectrum paired with another 10MHz set aside for a combined national commercial/emergency response agency network. Startup Frontline Wireless, one of the primary backers of the public-private model for an emergency responder network, announced in December that it had ceased operations.
"The pull-out of Frontline leaves the whole D Block auction up in the air," analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates said in an e-mail. "There is no way to know if a last minute group will come on board. While the goal of establishing a universal network for public safety/security is a laudable goal, it is not the most lucrative area from a pure business perspective, so it is not clear how much demand there might be or who might step up to the plate to make this work."
The FCC may have made a mistake in adopting the plan by Frontline, a company with former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt as its vice chairman, said Carlyn Taylor, a senior managing director in business consultancy FTI's corporate finance practice.
"I'm not sure how well [Frontline's plan] hung together from a financial standpoint," Taylor said. "I'm not sure anybody else is going to try to do what Frontline says they were going to do. There doesn't seem to be anybody else with a similar approach."
If any other company bids on the D block, it will be much less than the FCC would have received without the national public safety network build-out rules, Taylor said.
But the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), the nonprofit group of emergency response agency representatives that controls the public safety portion of the spectrum, said earlier this month it continues to support the FCC plan for the D block. The FCC should "do all that it can" to advance the public-private partnership meant to bring about the nationwide public safety broadband network, said Harlin McEwen, the PSST's chairman, in a statement. "While it would not be appropriate for the PSST to comment on any potential bidder’s strategy, we want to restate our enthusiasm for and commitment to what the FCC has done."
In the C block, the FCC required that winning bidders operate under open-access rules, meaning the winning bidder must allow any legal devices to connect to the network and allow customers to access any legal Web content of their choosing. Google, which pushed for the open-access rules, has pledged to bid at least US$4.6 billion for the C block, and the FCC later set that figure as the minimum price it will accept.
FCC rules prohibit potential bidders such as Google from commenting on their spectrum plans in the run up to the auction. Bidding is anonymous, but the FCC will release some information about the auctions at its auction Web page.
But several wireless industry observers have suggested that Google may not want to win the C block spectrum. Google, by getting the FCC to adopt the open-access rules and by pushing Verizon Wireless and AT&T to open up their current wireless networks to outside devices and applications, has already accomplished much of what it has wanted, Taylor said.
"I think it's fairly widely believed that [Google] doesn't really want to be the actual carrier," Taylor said. "That doesn't mean they still wouldn't buy spectrum and then work with somebody else who's a carrier."
A subcontracting arrangement with a wireless carrier would make sense for Google, she said.
Blair Levin, a telecom analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., also doubts Google will be a major player in the C block bidding. With the U.S. stock markets tanking in recent weeks, Google may not want to spend $10 billion to build a national network, he said, referring to the estimated cost.
Before the FCC set the auction rules in July, Google had also inquired about the legality of selling spectrum on a wholesale basis. The FCC ruled that such a plan would be legal.
In addition to the current wireless giants AT&T and Verizon Wireless, other companies to watch are the cable television providers, satellite TV providers and handset maker Qualcomm, Taylor said. Qualcomm and cable provider Cox were among the 214 bidders approved by the FCC this month.
Look for wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to bid defensively, she said. "If the traditional mobile carriers really are the final winners of most of the spectrum, then nothing interesting happens," she said. "They don't want to see some major new entrant coming in."
Falling stock prices on Wall Street may discourage some competing bidders, with the auction coming at "precisely a bad time" for investment in a new nationwide network, Taylor said. But these auctions may be the last chance for a third nationwide broadband network, she added.
The 700MHz spectrum band carries wireless broadband signals three to four times farther than some higher spectrum bands, making it perfect for long-range broadband networks. "If you're going to build a green-field network from scratch, you want to build it at low megahertz like this," Taylor said. "If anybody was seriously considering launching a fully new competitor ... from scratch, this is the chance. There isn't going to be another one, probably."
US FTC settles with company over Ethernet patent claims
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has settled a complaint against a company that owns patents to a widely used Ethernet standard, saying the patent owner was attempting to collect huge license fees despite a prior commitment to the contrary.
The settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions, or N-Data, will protect computer users from higher prices and ensure competition, the FTC said in a news release.
N-Data, in 2003, had obtained two Ethernet patents from Vertical Networks, a spin-off of National Semiconductor. N-Data attempted to collect larger patent license fees than National Semiconductor had negotiated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standards body, back in 1994, the FTC said.
National promised the IEEE that if the group adopted a standard based on National's NWay technology, National would offer one-time licenses of US$1,0000 per company to computer manufacturers and sellers of products using the IEEE standard. But N-Data and Vertical Networks had begun collecting license fees "far in excess" of $1,000 per company, according to the FTC complaint.
N-Data obtained the patents knowing about National's commitment, and realizing the computer industry had become committed to the standard, the FTC said. N-Data refused to comply with National's commitment, and it began demanding royalties after it became expensive and difficult for the industry to switch to another standard, the FTC said in its complaint.
The settlement bars N-Data from enforcing the patents unless it has first offered the patent license based on the terms offered in 1994.
In addition to higher prices, consumers would be hurt by N-Data because the company's actions would cast doubt on the reliability of standards-setting agreements, the FTC said. "The cost of ignoring this particularly pernicious problem is too high," the commission majority wrote.
Vertical Networks, which ceased operations after it turned the patent over to N-Data, had estimated that more than 70 percent of the world's Ethernet port shipments used the NWay Ethernet patents. In early 2002, Vertical Networks set letters to more than 60 companies demanding additional licensing fees, according to the FTC complaint.
NWay technology allows two devices at opposite ends of a LAN link to exchange information and automatically configure themselves to optimize their communication, a process sometimes called autonegotiation. Standardizing on a single autonegotiation technology allowed devices made by different manufacturers to work with one another and with different generations of Ethernet equipment.
N-Data, based in Chicago, didn't immediately respond to a request for comments on the FTC settlement.
The FTC voted 3-2 to approve the settlement. N-Data violated federal law by engaging in unfair methods of competition, the FTC said.
FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras voted against the settlement, saying the majority didn't establish an unfair method of competition. "The novel use of our consumer protection authority to protect large corporate members of a standard-setting organization is insupportable," she wrote in her dissent.
The settlement with Negotiated Data Solutions, or N-Data, will protect computer users from higher prices and ensure competition, the FTC said in a news release.
N-Data, in 2003, had obtained two Ethernet patents from Vertical Networks, a spin-off of National Semiconductor. N-Data attempted to collect larger patent license fees than National Semiconductor had negotiated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a standards body, back in 1994, the FTC said.
National promised the IEEE that if the group adopted a standard based on National's NWay technology, National would offer one-time licenses of US$1,0000 per company to computer manufacturers and sellers of products using the IEEE standard. But N-Data and Vertical Networks had begun collecting license fees "far in excess" of $1,000 per company, according to the FTC complaint.
N-Data obtained the patents knowing about National's commitment, and realizing the computer industry had become committed to the standard, the FTC said. N-Data refused to comply with National's commitment, and it began demanding royalties after it became expensive and difficult for the industry to switch to another standard, the FTC said in its complaint.
The settlement bars N-Data from enforcing the patents unless it has first offered the patent license based on the terms offered in 1994.
In addition to higher prices, consumers would be hurt by N-Data because the company's actions would cast doubt on the reliability of standards-setting agreements, the FTC said. "The cost of ignoring this particularly pernicious problem is too high," the commission majority wrote.
Vertical Networks, which ceased operations after it turned the patent over to N-Data, had estimated that more than 70 percent of the world's Ethernet port shipments used the NWay Ethernet patents. In early 2002, Vertical Networks set letters to more than 60 companies demanding additional licensing fees, according to the FTC complaint.
NWay technology allows two devices at opposite ends of a LAN link to exchange information and automatically configure themselves to optimize their communication, a process sometimes called autonegotiation. Standardizing on a single autonegotiation technology allowed devices made by different manufacturers to work with one another and with different generations of Ethernet equipment.
N-Data, based in Chicago, didn't immediately respond to a request for comments on the FTC settlement.
The FTC voted 3-2 to approve the settlement. N-Data violated federal law by engaging in unfair methods of competition, the FTC said.
FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras voted against the settlement, saying the majority didn't establish an unfair method of competition. "The novel use of our consumer protection authority to protect large corporate members of a standard-setting organization is insupportable," she wrote in her dissent.
Falling phone sales hit Motorola Q4 results
Motorola's mobile-phone business continued to lose its signal in the fourth quarter, dragging the company's revenue and profit down.
The Schaumburg, Illinois, company has had trouble coming up with a phone to match the success of its original Razr, which is now several years old and does little for the company's bottom line. Motorola's Mobile Devices unit had sales of US$4.8 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $7.8 billion a year earlier, and the division lost $388 million compared with profit of $341 million in last year's fourth quarter.
Stronger results with enterprise and home-network products eased Motorola's pain, but the company still reported a steep fall in profit for the quarter and a loss for the full year 2007. In the fourth quarter, Motorola had net income of $100 million and earnings per share of $0.04, down from $529 million or $0.25 a year earlier. The company lost $49 million or $0.02 per share for the year. Companywide, revenue in the quarter fell to $9.6 billion from $11.8 billion a year earlier.
The outlook for the current quarter is no better. Along with Wednesday's earnings report, Motorola forecast a loss of between $0.05 per share and $0.07 per share, excluding charges associated with its cost-reduction initiatives and other items.
"The recovery in Mobile Devices will take longer than expected and there is a lot more work to be done," CEO Greg Brown said in a prepared statement. The company's "primary focus" is to improve profits and enhance its mobile products, he added. Motorola is also focused on reducing costs and took several steps to make the Mobile Devices business more efficient, he said.
Once locked in a struggle with Nokia for cell-phone sales leadership, Motorola had fallen to third place behind Samsung by last year's third quarter. Last May, when it introduced the Razr's successor, called the Razr2, the company said it hoped the new device would cut losses. But tough times have continued in the face of Apple's iPhone and other high-profile competitors, and in late November, CEO Ed Zander was replaced by Brown.
Fourth-quarter sales were up in both the Home and Networks Mobility group, which makes set-top boxes and wireless infrastructure, and in Enterprise Mobility, which benefitted from Motorola's acquisition of Symbol Technologies early last year. The home business saw sales rise 11 percent to $2.7 billion, though its profit fell to $192 million. Profit in the home business soared to $451 million from $323 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, while sales were up 35 percent to $2.1 billion.
In midday trading Wednesday, Motorola's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were down $2.32 to $10.00 amid a generally weak day on Wall Street.
The Schaumburg, Illinois, company has had trouble coming up with a phone to match the success of its original Razr, which is now several years old and does little for the company's bottom line. Motorola's Mobile Devices unit had sales of US$4.8 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $7.8 billion a year earlier, and the division lost $388 million compared with profit of $341 million in last year's fourth quarter.
Stronger results with enterprise and home-network products eased Motorola's pain, but the company still reported a steep fall in profit for the quarter and a loss for the full year 2007. In the fourth quarter, Motorola had net income of $100 million and earnings per share of $0.04, down from $529 million or $0.25 a year earlier. The company lost $49 million or $0.02 per share for the year. Companywide, revenue in the quarter fell to $9.6 billion from $11.8 billion a year earlier.
The outlook for the current quarter is no better. Along with Wednesday's earnings report, Motorola forecast a loss of between $0.05 per share and $0.07 per share, excluding charges associated with its cost-reduction initiatives and other items.
"The recovery in Mobile Devices will take longer than expected and there is a lot more work to be done," CEO Greg Brown said in a prepared statement. The company's "primary focus" is to improve profits and enhance its mobile products, he added. Motorola is also focused on reducing costs and took several steps to make the Mobile Devices business more efficient, he said.
Once locked in a struggle with Nokia for cell-phone sales leadership, Motorola had fallen to third place behind Samsung by last year's third quarter. Last May, when it introduced the Razr's successor, called the Razr2, the company said it hoped the new device would cut losses. But tough times have continued in the face of Apple's iPhone and other high-profile competitors, and in late November, CEO Ed Zander was replaced by Brown.
Fourth-quarter sales were up in both the Home and Networks Mobility group, which makes set-top boxes and wireless infrastructure, and in Enterprise Mobility, which benefitted from Motorola's acquisition of Symbol Technologies early last year. The home business saw sales rise 11 percent to $2.7 billion, though its profit fell to $192 million. Profit in the home business soared to $451 million from $323 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, while sales were up 35 percent to $2.1 billion.
In midday trading Wednesday, Motorola's shares on the New York Stock Exchange were down $2.32 to $10.00 amid a generally weak day on Wall Street.
FCC auction draws repeat entrepreneurs
A handful of people who bid in the disastrous C-Block PCS auction in 1996 plan to participate in the upcoming 700MHz contest, despite warning signs indicating the potential for similar troubles.
Like the earlier auction, the 700MHz auction is set to occur in a faltering economy, presenting challenges to license hopefuls needing cash. Yet, just like that ill-fated auction more than 10 years ago, an oddball collection of participants plan to bid, this time including the Missouri Farmers' Union, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Disney.
The C-Block PCS auction was infamous because it was designed not just for companies with access to billions of dollars, but for entrepreneurs interested in getting into the wireless industry. Postal carriers, lawyers and doctors quit their day jobs and invested their savings, confident that U.S. Federal Communications Commission incentives would help them make it big.
But the auction turned into a debacle. Of the original 255 bidders, 89 emerged with licenses and only a handful of them actually started businesses. The rest went bankrupt, sold their licenses for pennies on the dollar or returned them to the FCC in an amnesty program.
Take Vince McBride, an approved bidder for the upcoming 700MHz auction who lives in San Diego and has won and lost in several auctions. "There are ups and downs but I keep trying," he said.
McBride was a postal carrier who sunk his life savings into the PCS auction in 1996. A series of lawsuits delayed the auction and then the award of licenses. During that time, Wall Street soured on the wireless market and license winners, who bid prices sky high based on attractive payment terms set by the FCC, struggled to finance their wins. McBride got lucky and returned his licenses to the FCC for little loss.
Then the FCC reauctioned licenses and McBride won a new one, which he managed to sell for a nice profit. But in a subsequent reauction he won another license that was later repossessed by the FCC, which was forced to give it back to the original winner after a series of lawsuits.
McBride's sometime partner Scott Reiter, an emergency room physician who splits his time between Santa Monica and the Philippines, has had a similar series of wins and losses in FCC auctions. He too plans to bid in the upcoming auction. Reiter won a few licenses back in 1996 and shortly after got a few good offers from operators interested in buying them.
"I got greedy, basically," he said. He held out for better offers, which didn't come, and eventually had to sell his licenses at a loss.
Reiter was undeterred, though. He entered the 2002 auctions for 700MHz licenses, back before there was a solid deadline for when TV broadcasters had to vacate the spectrum. He bought licenses in three markets, later selling the spectrum for a nice profit to AT&T.
"When I bought that spectrum, it went up in value like crazy," Reiter said. McBride also won 700MHz licenses then, later selling them to AT&T. They both agreed with AT&T not to disclose the purchase price.
Bidders are currently in a quiet period during which the FCC forbids them to discuss their plans for the upcoming auction. But some of them say that because this time around there is a fixed date for when the spectrum will be available to buyers -- 2009, after the TV broadcasters must vacate it -- the value is easier to gauge than in the previous 700MHz auction. However, it may be difficult for some bidders to get credit these days, which could help keep prices down, they say.
While many of the individual bidders insist they intend to build networks if they win the spectrum, many likely have other plans. "I think many of them want to buy and resell it," said Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst with ABI Research. A look at the result of the earlier 700MHz auctions, which distributed what's thought to be less valuable portions of the band, could be spurring big dreams for bidders.
Aloha Partners, one of the biggest winners in those auctions, sold its licenses to AT&T for US$2.5 billion late last year. Aloha spent over $40 million at the auctions but also later bought licenses from other companies for undisclosed amounts. It is thought to have made a handsome profit.
While much attention has been focused on the billions that big companies like Google had to put up to enter the 700MHz auction, some of the licenses could go for quite cheap, which could be attracting some of the individuals hoping to turn around and sell the licenses for a profit. Some licenses in small markets require as little as $10,000 in an up-front payment, Manjaro said.
Still, for bidders with bigger aspirations, the sinking economy will likely harm their efforts, unless they already have secured funding. The recent collapse of Frontline Wireless, a company created by luminaries in the wireless industry to win 700MHz licenses, has raised concern among other bidders. "They had a really strong team of players and for them to not be able to secure the money shows the impact of the economy," Manjaro said.
One difference in the rules for this 700MHz auction compared to previous contests that could affect individuals who participate is that bidders will be anonymous. That could cut back on potential collusion, a problem that many have said plagued previous auctions.
Another auction change, however, likely works against the smaller players. This time, license winners have just four years to build out a portion of their networks. That's a relatively short amount of time for smaller winners to raise money and build a network.
A number of other license winners from the C-Block PCS auction are also approved to bid in the upcoming auction. Bill McKell, CEO for Horizon Chillicothe Telecom, an Ohio telecommunications provider, is on the list. His company was one of the first winners from the C-Block PCS auction to launch a network, but later it returned the licenses to the FCC.
These previous bidders seem prepared to go ahead with this auction despite warning signs that the market might not work in their favor, just like in the PCS auction from 1996. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin recently acknowledged that poor economic conditions could impact the auction because bidders might struggle to raise capital.
But these smaller bidders must be gamblers. "Sometimes you get lucky," McBride said.
Like the earlier auction, the 700MHz auction is set to occur in a faltering economy, presenting challenges to license hopefuls needing cash. Yet, just like that ill-fated auction more than 10 years ago, an oddball collection of participants plan to bid, this time including the Missouri Farmers' Union, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Disney.
The C-Block PCS auction was infamous because it was designed not just for companies with access to billions of dollars, but for entrepreneurs interested in getting into the wireless industry. Postal carriers, lawyers and doctors quit their day jobs and invested their savings, confident that U.S. Federal Communications Commission incentives would help them make it big.
But the auction turned into a debacle. Of the original 255 bidders, 89 emerged with licenses and only a handful of them actually started businesses. The rest went bankrupt, sold their licenses for pennies on the dollar or returned them to the FCC in an amnesty program.
Take Vince McBride, an approved bidder for the upcoming 700MHz auction who lives in San Diego and has won and lost in several auctions. "There are ups and downs but I keep trying," he said.
McBride was a postal carrier who sunk his life savings into the PCS auction in 1996. A series of lawsuits delayed the auction and then the award of licenses. During that time, Wall Street soured on the wireless market and license winners, who bid prices sky high based on attractive payment terms set by the FCC, struggled to finance their wins. McBride got lucky and returned his licenses to the FCC for little loss.
Then the FCC reauctioned licenses and McBride won a new one, which he managed to sell for a nice profit. But in a subsequent reauction he won another license that was later repossessed by the FCC, which was forced to give it back to the original winner after a series of lawsuits.
McBride's sometime partner Scott Reiter, an emergency room physician who splits his time between Santa Monica and the Philippines, has had a similar series of wins and losses in FCC auctions. He too plans to bid in the upcoming auction. Reiter won a few licenses back in 1996 and shortly after got a few good offers from operators interested in buying them.
"I got greedy, basically," he said. He held out for better offers, which didn't come, and eventually had to sell his licenses at a loss.
Reiter was undeterred, though. He entered the 2002 auctions for 700MHz licenses, back before there was a solid deadline for when TV broadcasters had to vacate the spectrum. He bought licenses in three markets, later selling the spectrum for a nice profit to AT&T.
"When I bought that spectrum, it went up in value like crazy," Reiter said. McBride also won 700MHz licenses then, later selling them to AT&T. They both agreed with AT&T not to disclose the purchase price.
Bidders are currently in a quiet period during which the FCC forbids them to discuss their plans for the upcoming auction. But some of them say that because this time around there is a fixed date for when the spectrum will be available to buyers -- 2009, after the TV broadcasters must vacate it -- the value is easier to gauge than in the previous 700MHz auction. However, it may be difficult for some bidders to get credit these days, which could help keep prices down, they say.
While many of the individual bidders insist they intend to build networks if they win the spectrum, many likely have other plans. "I think many of them want to buy and resell it," said Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst with ABI Research. A look at the result of the earlier 700MHz auctions, which distributed what's thought to be less valuable portions of the band, could be spurring big dreams for bidders.
Aloha Partners, one of the biggest winners in those auctions, sold its licenses to AT&T for US$2.5 billion late last year. Aloha spent over $40 million at the auctions but also later bought licenses from other companies for undisclosed amounts. It is thought to have made a handsome profit.
While much attention has been focused on the billions that big companies like Google had to put up to enter the 700MHz auction, some of the licenses could go for quite cheap, which could be attracting some of the individuals hoping to turn around and sell the licenses for a profit. Some licenses in small markets require as little as $10,000 in an up-front payment, Manjaro said.
Still, for bidders with bigger aspirations, the sinking economy will likely harm their efforts, unless they already have secured funding. The recent collapse of Frontline Wireless, a company created by luminaries in the wireless industry to win 700MHz licenses, has raised concern among other bidders. "They had a really strong team of players and for them to not be able to secure the money shows the impact of the economy," Manjaro said.
One difference in the rules for this 700MHz auction compared to previous contests that could affect individuals who participate is that bidders will be anonymous. That could cut back on potential collusion, a problem that many have said plagued previous auctions.
Another auction change, however, likely works against the smaller players. This time, license winners have just four years to build out a portion of their networks. That's a relatively short amount of time for smaller winners to raise money and build a network.
A number of other license winners from the C-Block PCS auction are also approved to bid in the upcoming auction. Bill McKell, CEO for Horizon Chillicothe Telecom, an Ohio telecommunications provider, is on the list. His company was one of the first winners from the C-Block PCS auction to launch a network, but later it returned the licenses to the FCC.
These previous bidders seem prepared to go ahead with this auction despite warning signs that the market might not work in their favor, just like in the PCS auction from 1996. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin recently acknowledged that poor economic conditions could impact the auction because bidders might struggle to raise capital.
But these smaller bidders must be gamblers. "Sometimes you get lucky," McBride said.
Mozilla says that flaw could lead to data leak
Mozilla is working to fix a browser flaw that could give attackers unauthorized access to data on a victim's machine.
The problem is similar to other data leakage flaws found in the open-source browser, according to researcher Gerry Eisenhaur, who first reported the problem on Saturday.
Eisenhaur has posted sample code that reads the contents of a Mozilla Thunderbird preferences file, but he believes that attackers could get access to more information with variations on his attack. "It's possible to load any JavaScript file on a victim's machine," he wrote in his blog posting. "This looks very interesting and may have bigger potential, but for now, it's just another information disclosure [flaw]."
"It could become something more if there was an application that stored sensitive data inside JavaScript files," he said via instant message. "Some plugins have been known to store usernames and passwords."
"Its also just a powerful way to do recon," he added.
Hackers have discovered a number of flaws in recent months that take advantage of the way that browsers pass information between different components within the Windows operating system. Some of these URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) protocol handler flaws have led to serious security problems for both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
This latest flaw affects only certain Firefox add-ons, such as the Download Statusbar or Greasemonkey, which store scripts in a fashion that lets them be discovered on the hard drive, said Window Snyder, Mozilla's security chief in a Wednesday blog posting.
Firefox is investigating the issue and has rated it as a low-severity problem, she said.
The problem is similar to other data leakage flaws found in the open-source browser, according to researcher Gerry Eisenhaur, who first reported the problem on Saturday.
Eisenhaur has posted sample code that reads the contents of a Mozilla Thunderbird preferences file, but he believes that attackers could get access to more information with variations on his attack. "It's possible to load any JavaScript file on a victim's machine," he wrote in his blog posting. "This looks very interesting and may have bigger potential, but for now, it's just another information disclosure [flaw]."
"It could become something more if there was an application that stored sensitive data inside JavaScript files," he said via instant message. "Some plugins have been known to store usernames and passwords."
"Its also just a powerful way to do recon," he added.
Hackers have discovered a number of flaws in recent months that take advantage of the way that browsers pass information between different components within the Windows operating system. Some of these URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) protocol handler flaws have led to serious security problems for both Firefox and Internet Explorer.
This latest flaw affects only certain Firefox add-ons, such as the Download Statusbar or Greasemonkey, which store scripts in a fashion that lets them be discovered on the hard drive, said Window Snyder, Mozilla's security chief in a Wednesday blog posting.
Firefox is investigating the issue and has rated it as a low-severity problem, she said.
IBM buys complex-event processing vendor for SOA
IBM said Wednesday it is expanding its broad SOA (service-oriented architecture) portfolio with the acquisition of AptSoft, a maker of business event processing software.
AptSoft's products will sit in IBM's WebSphere line. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Also known as complex event processing (CEP), business event processing is seen as a key technology driver for the next generation of SOA. The software analyzes vast amounts of system events in real time, searching for trends and anomalies -- "complex events" -- that may impact the business, and triggers a response process if one is found.
For example, the technology could be used by an online gaming site to spot malfeasance among the torrent of transactions that occur each second, or by a trading firm to track minute changes in stock price activity among various markets, IBM said in a statement.
IBM executives are planning to reveal more about the acquisition during a conference call Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time.
Other companies in the CEP/BEP market include Tibco and Streambase.
AptSoft's products will sit in IBM's WebSphere line. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Also known as complex event processing (CEP), business event processing is seen as a key technology driver for the next generation of SOA. The software analyzes vast amounts of system events in real time, searching for trends and anomalies -- "complex events" -- that may impact the business, and triggers a response process if one is found.
For example, the technology could be used by an online gaming site to spot malfeasance among the torrent of transactions that occur each second, or by a trading firm to track minute changes in stock price activity among various markets, IBM said in a statement.
IBM executives are planning to reveal more about the acquisition during a conference call Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time.
Other companies in the CEP/BEP market include Tibco and Streambase.
Dell, Microsoft team up on (Red) PCs
Dell will sell special crimson-red versions of its XPS line of computers to raise money for AIDS treatment programs in Africa, the company confirmed Tuesday.
Dell is working with Microsoft on the project, which is expected to be announced later this week during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wrote Lionel Menchaca, digital media manager at Dell.
Sales of the computers will benefit (Red), a project started by U2 singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, chairman of the Africa-focused charity Debt AIDS Trade Africa.
Companies such as Motorola, Apple and the clothing retailer The Gap have released (Red) versions of their products. Proceeds from the sales go to The Global Fund, a health organization focusing on AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Dell will offer the XPS M1530 and M1330 notebooks and the XPS One desktop under the (Red) product line. The PCs will run Microsoft's Vista Ultimate (Product) Red, according to Microsoft.
The Global Fund will receive US$50 for every laptop sold, enough money for four months of antiretroviral medication. Every desktop sold will net the fund $80, according to Microsoft.
Dell is working with Microsoft on the project, which is expected to be announced later this week during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, wrote Lionel Menchaca, digital media manager at Dell.
Sales of the computers will benefit (Red), a project started by U2 singer Bono and Bobby Shriver, chairman of the Africa-focused charity Debt AIDS Trade Africa.
Companies such as Motorola, Apple and the clothing retailer The Gap have released (Red) versions of their products. Proceeds from the sales go to The Global Fund, a health organization focusing on AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Dell will offer the XPS M1530 and M1330 notebooks and the XPS One desktop under the (Red) product line. The PCs will run Microsoft's Vista Ultimate (Product) Red, according to Microsoft.
The Global Fund will receive US$50 for every laptop sold, enough money for four months of antiretroviral medication. Every desktop sold will net the fund $80, according to Microsoft.
Phishing kit pits wannabe scammers vs. pro fraudsters
In a twist, security researchers have discovered a group of hackers who are exploiting a new category of victims -- aspiring Internet scammers.
A Moroccan group called "Mr. Brain" is offering free phishing kits on a Web site hosted in France, said Paul Mutton, Internet services developer at Netcraft, a security company in Bath, England.
The software packages make it easy to quickly set up a fraudulent Web site mimicking a known brand in order to trick people into divulging credit card details or bank account numbers. Templates for spam e-mail are also included, targeting brands such as Bank of America, eBay, PayPal and HSBC.
Mr. Brain's Web site lists the kits and what kind of details each one is capable of collecting, such as usernames, passwords or Social Security numbers. Netcraft posted screenshots on its Web site.
But what the aspiring scammer doesn't know is that the phishing kits are designed to send any sensitive information that's collected back to e-mail accounts controlled by Mr. Brain, Mutton said.
"Obviously, that's why they are offering this stuff for free," Mutton said. "I was impressed by it."
Mr. Brain hides the special e-mail function in a blend of PHP scripts, one of which is encrypted, Mutton said. Just in case someone decrypts it, Mr. Brain has written at the top of the file "Don't need to change anything here. Created by Mr. Brain Morocco Team."
The scheme seems to be targeted at new phishers, Mutton said. Mr. Brain benefits since other wannabe scammers shoulder the cost and risk of finding an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to host the phishing site, Mutton said.
"Essentially, they're exploiting all these novice phishers -- basically getting them to do all the hard work," Mutton said.
It's difficult to tell without further research how many of the free phishing kits linked with this latest scam are live on the Internet, but Mutton said Netcraft noticed one earlier this month targeting Bank of America.
"Clearly, these are actively being used in phishing attacks," Mutton said.
A Moroccan group called "Mr. Brain" is offering free phishing kits on a Web site hosted in France, said Paul Mutton, Internet services developer at Netcraft, a security company in Bath, England.
The software packages make it easy to quickly set up a fraudulent Web site mimicking a known brand in order to trick people into divulging credit card details or bank account numbers. Templates for spam e-mail are also included, targeting brands such as Bank of America, eBay, PayPal and HSBC.
Mr. Brain's Web site lists the kits and what kind of details each one is capable of collecting, such as usernames, passwords or Social Security numbers. Netcraft posted screenshots on its Web site.
But what the aspiring scammer doesn't know is that the phishing kits are designed to send any sensitive information that's collected back to e-mail accounts controlled by Mr. Brain, Mutton said.
"Obviously, that's why they are offering this stuff for free," Mutton said. "I was impressed by it."
Mr. Brain hides the special e-mail function in a blend of PHP scripts, one of which is encrypted, Mutton said. Just in case someone decrypts it, Mr. Brain has written at the top of the file "Don't need to change anything here. Created by Mr. Brain Morocco Team."
The scheme seems to be targeted at new phishers, Mutton said. Mr. Brain benefits since other wannabe scammers shoulder the cost and risk of finding an ISP (Internet Service Provider) to host the phishing site, Mutton said.
"Essentially, they're exploiting all these novice phishers -- basically getting them to do all the hard work," Mutton said.
It's difficult to tell without further research how many of the free phishing kits linked with this latest scam are live on the Internet, but Mutton said Netcraft noticed one earlier this month targeting Bank of America.
"Clearly, these are actively being used in phishing attacks," Mutton said.
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