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There are rumors that Microsoft is planning some massive layoffs in the middle of January. The way the company is handling questions can only lead you to think that any reports have some basis in truth.
You can't have an industry without income, and the smaller the income, the smaller the industry. By that measure, anyone with something to lose in the technology industry should be nervous when looking at the revenue generation front. It's grim -- a lot more so than many companies are openly admitting. Ironically, that isn't all bad, because we're in the middle of seeing a massive rightsizing of spending, companies, and expectations.
A messy high tech court week at the end of the year includes Apple and Psystar having at each other; Platte River Associates president Jay Leonard pleading guilty to hacking charges; a Department of Justice restraining order against Microsemi; Verizon winning $33.15 in a cybersquatting case; ADAPTIX suing Sprint and Clearwire; Cygnus Systems suing Google, Apple, and Microsoft for patent infringement; RIM suing Motorola over interference in hiring; and Psion suing over use of the term 'netbook,' which it had trademarked.
Sirius XM got approval from shareholders for a reverse stock split and now is working on a plan to issue over 108 million new shares of stock. The latest financial moves by Sirius are necessary, given a stock price that's a little over a dime a share, potential Nasdaq delisting, $193.6 million in convertible bonds maturing in February as part of about $1 billion in loan repayments next year, and not enough cash. But there's a big question as to whether any of this will pull the company out of its death spiral.
Shortly after posting about HP's latest 10-k, I received an email from an HP internal PR person who wanted to talk about "a few points" with me. Apparently the company didn't like my take on its declining R&D spending and wanted to spin it as not being a decrease at all. Here's what they said and how I pointed out that whether they liked it or not, R&D spending there was dropping, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue.
Hasbro drops suit against Scrabulous; Siemens settles Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecution and SEC suit for ten figures; SAP largely unsuccessful in getting parts of Oracle suit dismissed; Australia says that companies can deliver legal notices via social networks; Kodak to get ITC to investigate LG and Samsung for alleged patent infringements; U.K. slams EA ad; Apple sued over Apple TV; and Polaroid files for bankruptcy because of "apparent fraudulent acts" by its parent company.
HP released its 10K for fiscal year 2008 last night. Here are some highlights from a first digging into the document, including more efficient operations over the last two years, at least by some measures, and potential financial weaknesses going forward. They should be of interest to shareholders, competitors, customers, and vendors alike.
Amazon charged with playing Scrooge to U.K. employees; AMD has new cheap dual-core chips, but rumored to plan on additional layoffs in January; a lot of businesses are looking to let employees use Macs; and Apple comes out with critical security OS updates and Microsoft sees more attacks on vulnerable Internet Explorer.
Yahoo said Wednesday that it will make its user logs anonymous within 90 days as it ups the ante on data retention policies. In a statement (Techmeme), Yahoo said it would also make user data on page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks anonymous as well as its user logs. The only exception...
Steve Jobs absence from Macworld's keynote this year is being taken as a sign. What signal Apple is actually sending is debatable, but some analysts are taking a strong hint that the company is ready to transition leadership. Apple said Tuesday that it will end its relationship with Macworld af...
I had already scratched CES off of my January calendar but was starting to book meetings for MacWorld, leaving time open for the Steve Jobs keynote speech, of course. But now that Jobs is sending in a second-stringer for the big spotlight event, I'm starting to wonder if I should even bother to sh...
November PC sales slowed in November, but haven't fallen off a cliff due to strong notebook and netbook unit growth, according to NPD data. NPD has released its PC sell-through stats and November unit growth was 6 percent from a year ago compared to 10 percent in October. While that growth isnâ...
When an industry is feeling an economic pinch, you can feel it in the advertising. Yes, the amount of ad spending drops, as has been obvious in reports from those who track it. But the quality of the advertising itself begins to change, as companies try to close the business they need and fear won't appear. The signs are all over high tech at the moment, as all manner of organizations and companies wind up, trying to win over consumers by offering prices and terms that telegraph varying degrees of desperation.
Technology continues to be a powerful force for transforming business, when used wisely and correctly. Here is a list of the top 10 visionaries and executives who made the biggest contributions for the year. 10. Bill Gates, Microsoft At the end of June, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates stepped down f...
Apple and AT&T ask a New York court to dismiss one of the lawsuits over iPhone 3G performance; Psystar tries shifting tactics in its countersuit against Apple's copyright infringement action; Yahoo changes executive severance plan as part of ending a shareholder lawsuit; Intel fights a fine from the Korean Fair Trade Commission; and the Free Software Foundation sues Cisco for alleged copyright infringement.
