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.
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