Corporate & legal

Reports: Oracle planning more online software

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources and a document it reviewed, reports that Oracle is developing a set of online software offerings--seven new products, to be exact--in what could signal a shift in focus from traditional software to software as a service.

Reuters later confirmed the Journal report, also citing an unnamed source who was not authorized to publicly discuss the plan.

The online software is being developed to help customers "handle marketing and product management as well as a product targeted at the insurance industry," the Journal writes, citing the document. No word, however, on … Read more

Cable's numbers don't add up for metered billing

For an industry that's supposedly struggling to keep up with customer demand for more bandwidth, the nation's two largest cable operators seem to be doing pretty well.

This week Comcast and Time Warner Cable each reported strong earnings, in spite of the fact that Time Warner has said recently that it needs a new business model to handle growing broadband demand.

Comcast beat analysts' expectations and increased profits 5.4 percent to $778 million. Time Warner Cable's profits fell 32 percent, but this was mostly due to costs associated with the split from its former parent company, … Read more

Motorola continues to bleed amid rotten economy

Motorola continued to lose money during the first quarter of 2009 as shipments for wireless handsets declined amid the ailing economy.

The company was already in pretty bad shape when the global economy started to tank last year. And since then, things have continued to get worse. Without any cool new handsets and with dropping demand from customers, Motorola's troubled handset business continues to drag the company down.

During the first quarter, which ended April 4, Motorola reported that shipments of cell phones fell about 46 percent to 14.7 million compared with the same quarter a year before. … Read more

Companies plan for possible swine flu pandemic

Following the outbreaks of SARS and Avian Flu earlier this decade, Sprint Nextel has taken the threat of a global flu pandemic very seriously. And in 2005, the company created a special group within its Emergency Incident Management team to plan what to do in such an emergency.

Late last week, when the World Health Organization started alerting the international community to the threat of the swine influenza that originated in Mexico, Sprint's four years of planning came into action and Sprint has been working through its checklist of actions. On Friday, it started posting information and updates on … Read more

RealDVD case centers on copy questions

In the Motion Picture Association of America's fight against RealNetworks' DVD-copying software, testimony focuses on the details of how easy it is for people to copy DVDs--and how many times they can do it.

RealDVD judge again boots public from courtroom For the second time in three days of court hearings, the federal judge presiding over RealDVD dispute bars public to protect "trade secrets." (Posted in Digital Media by Greg Sandoval) April 29, 2009

Is RealDVD dispute really about a DVD jukebox?CNET snaps photos of RealNetworks' "Facet," a prototype DVD player that copies and … Read more

Redmond roundup: Company files EU response

Microsoft met a deadline this week to respond to European Commission charges that its inclusion of a browser in Windows violates antitrust laws there.

In January, the European authorities filed a new complaint with a preliminary finding that Microsoft had broken the law by bundling a browser into Windows.

Microsoft's response was not made public and the company did not offer a comment, but it's fair to say the company disagrees with the finding.

The stakes are high. In addition to potential fines, Microsoft has noted in regulatory filings that European authorities may seek to force Microsoft to include rival browsers … Read more

SAP software revenue skids in first quarter

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines

SAP's first-quarter software revenue--an indicator of maintenance and services health--skidded 33 percent due to a "difficult operating environment" and a tough year-ago comparison. Meanwhile, SAP altered its maintenance pricing plans to allay customer concerns.

SAP on Wednesday reported first-quarter net income of 204 million euros, down from 242 million euros a year ago. Revenue was 2.39 billion euros, down from 2.46 billion euros a year ago. SAP managed to hold software and software-related service revenue flat at 1.74 billion euros in the first quarter … Read more

Time Warner: AOL's revenue slide continues

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Time Warner's first quarter was weighed down by its AOL unit, which saw revenue fall 23 percent. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes reiterated that the company is looking for "the right ownership structure for AOL."

Here's why: AOL reported first-quarter revenue of $867 million, down 23 percent from a year ago. Subscription (dial-up) revenue fell 27 percent, and advertising sales declined 20 percent. Both declines were expected, and AOL noted that ad sales were weak in all categories (ad networks, display, and search).

Operating income for AOL fell 47 percent to $150 million, which included restructuring costs of $58 million. AOL also ended the quarter with 106 million average U.S. unique users. AOL's dial-up business had 6.3 million subscribers, down 2.4 million from a year ago and 570,000 from the fourth quarter.

… Read more

More apathy for a Dell smartphone

It's hard to tell if anyone is as enthused about the possibilities of Dell making a smartphone as Michael Dell.

He's been making periodic references to his company making "small screen" devices in the near future at public appearances for the last year. But the people who watch his stock and analyze his company's every move, appear incredibly underwhelmed by the idea of a Dell handset. Their apathy is notable since a) Dell's last handheld device was very popular with consumers and b) Dell hasn't formally announced anything specific.

While getting into the … Read more