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| | | October 19, 2003
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Sunday, October 19, 2003 |
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Despite a gloomy Sun, brightness in Silicon Valley
The earnings season showed strong performance of the technology sector in the last quarter.
 Chip giant Intel beat Wall Street expectations, posting a profit of $1.7 billion, or 25 cents a share, on revenue of $7.8 billion. Analysts' predicted a profit of 23 cents a share. During the third quarter, Intel raised its guidance on two occasions, citing better-than-expected PC sales.
More from: CNET News.com | CNN Money | Computerworld | CRN | Reuters
Analysts were not impressed, however, with IBM's results as Big Blue reported a profit of $1.02 per share, in line with its earnings target. Sales fell slightly short of projections, but going further, IBM said that the economy appears to be stabilizing and sees a need for 10,000 additional positions for skilled workers.
More from: CNET News.com | InternetNews.com | Reuters | The Washington Post
Apple topped forecasts with a profit of 12 cents a share as net income grew to $44 million. Buoyed by strong sales of PowerMac computers and iPod portable digital audio players, Apple predicted a revenue increase to $1.9 billion for the current quarter.
More from: CNET News.com | CRN | eWeek | InfoWorld | International Herald Tribune | The Washington Post
Sun wasn't a bright spot yet again. For the tenth consecutive quarter California-based Sun Microsystems posted a net loss of $286 million, or 9 cents per share, citing quality issues that delayed its server shipments, intense market environment and strong competition.
More from: CNET News.com | Comuter Business Review | Computerworld | The Mercury News | The Register
SCO gets rating and cash
The SCO Group has dropped its plans to invoice corporate Linux users. The Utah-based software maker which claims Linux is an unauthorized derivative of the UNIX operating system suspended its previously announced intentions to bill major companies for running Linux servers and desktops. SCO also announced it is giving users until October 31 to take advantage of the group's promotional Linux intellectual property (IP) licensing program. After that period expires the current prices will be doubled.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank increased SCO's rating to 'buy', after two analysts projected the company's stock price could soar to $45 a share in case of success in the litigation campaign against Linux. Deutsche Bank acknowledged the investment is highly-risky, but could be significantly profitable.
BayStar Capital seemed to agree. The equity firm invested $50 million in SCO, which the company vowed to spend on software development and, secondarily, on legal fees in its ongoing lawsuit against members of the open-source community.
More from: CNET News.com 1 2 3 | Computerworld | eWeek 1 2 | InformationWeek | InternetNews.com 1 2 | NewsFactor | SearchEnterpriseLinux.com
Windows hears iTunes
With a splashy media event in San Francisco, Apple blasted into the wider digital music world with the Windows version of its iTunes Music Store. Joined via live videoconferencing by music legends Bono, from Dublin, and Mick Jagger, from London, Apple CEO Steve Jobs with his well-known hyperbolic marketing speech told a crowd of enthusiastic journalists and record labels' executives iTunes is the best Windows jukebox ever released.
The iTunes application for Windows has the same look and feel of the Macintosh variant, but some Windows 2000 users were swift to call it far from perfect. Reports about system failures after installation quickly surfaced and Apple acknowledged it had received reports about isolated incompatibilities.
The Windows world is challenging for Apple. Although many agree iTunes is the most consumer-friendly option, the computer maker's music store ubiquity in the Mac realm will face ever-growing competition from major players in the Windows market. Roxio's Napster is scheduled to finally launch at the end of the month, while Amazon.com, Dell, Sony and other major companies plan to play the game.
Interestingly, senior Apple executives cooled down some of the hubbub. Since its launch earlier this year, the iTunes Music Store has been working at a loss, although it is expected to turn to profitability in the short to medium term. Indisputably, however, Apple has been benefiting strongly from stellar sales of its iPod digital music player, largely driven by iTunes' tight integration with the device.
More from: CNET News.com 1 2 3 | E-Commerce Times | MacCentral | The Motley Fool | NewsFactor |
Reuters | The Washington Post | Wired News
In Other News...
VeriSign is selling its .com and .net registrar unit Network Solutions to an Arizona-based venture capital firm for approximately $100 million. The company, however, will not give Pivotal Private Equity control over the registry that controls top-level domain names.
MSN has extended its contract with Overture Services through June 2005, ending speculation that Microsoft may be looking for alternatives to the Yahoo! subsidiary. Overture provides the software giant's portal with targeted paid links from its base of over 100,000 advertisers.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is preparing a second wave of 204 lawsuits against individuals the trade group claims illegally downloaded music files from peer-to-peer networks. The RIAA is offering users to settle with the industry before officially filing the suits.
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