Sybase Offers More Proof Software Is Doing Better Than Hardware In Downturn

January 28, 2009

Sybase reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday that added to the evidence that software is navigating the downturn better than hardware and computers.

The company said sales increased 3 percent to $305 million and new license revenue for its database software rose 38 percent. Overall license revenue was up 8 percent.

Database licenses grew 38% in the fourth quarter, John Chen said

Database licenses grew 38% in the fourth quarter, John Chen said

Net income came to $47 million.

Sybase joins companies such as IBM, VMware and Oracle (so far, at least) that have reported growth or relative stability in software sales.

Sybase CEO John Chen attributed the success to the company’s investments in its “unwired enterprise” strategy. The market is responding well to Sybase’s mobility and analytics technologies, he said in a statement.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Multi-Core Chips Multiplying Out Of Control

January 28, 2009

Multi-core chips for several years have delivered more performance than most software today can use.

Many multi-core chips outpace the capabilities of software

Many multi-core chips outpace the capabilities of software

To truly harness the power of chips that have more than two computing cores, software needs to break its tasks up into pieces that can be acted on in parallel, each by a different core.

It’s a performance gap Gartner sees increasing in the years to come. This from Gartner:

On average, chipmakers get double the number of processors on each new chip approximately every two years. With this doubling of processors and potentially more threads per core, a server with the same number of sockets for chips gets twice as many processors. In this way a 32-socket, high-end server with eight-core chips would deliver 256 processors in 2009. Two years later, with 16 processors per socket, the machine swells to 512 processors. Four years from now, with 32 processors per socket, that machine would host 1,024 processors.

“Most virtualization software today cannot use all 64 processors, much less the 1,024 of the high-end box,” said Carl Claunch, a distinguished analyst at Gartner. “There is a real risk that organizations will not be able to use all the processors.”

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Big Jump In Online Gaming

January 28, 2009

There has been a big increase in the number of Americans playing online games.

In the past year, the audience at online game sites jumped 27 percent to 86 million people, according to comScore. The growth is much faster than the 4 percent growth in overall Internet users, which comScore measured from December 2007 to December 2008.

More so, the time these gamers spent playing online climbed 42 percent.

Yahoo Games was the most visited site followed by EA Online and Disney Games. One hot site, Spil Games, saw traffic surge 268 percent.

Here are the top sites:

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Yahoo Sees Shift To Search Advertising As Display Is Down

January 28, 2009

Yahoo posted a large $303 million fourth quarter loss Tuesday as revenue slid 1 percent.

The popular Internet portal also offered a weak first-quarter outlook with sales and profits below last year’s results.

Search advertising grew as display fell

Search advertising grew as display fell

But the fourth-quarter results were better than what Wall Street expected and there were signs of strength in Yahoo’s beleaguered search operations.

Search revenue grew 11 percent (18 percent in the U.S.) while display advertising fell 2 percent. The shift from display, or brand, advertising to search began in the third quarter as companies stressed “performance” ads over brand awareness, said CFO Blake Jorgensen.

Advertisers are now cutting budgets and consolidating ad buys, he said.

Internet campaigns will hold up better during the downturn than off-line spending, but “online advertising has felt the same pressures,” Jorgensen said.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Plantronics Could Spin-Off Altec Lansing

January 28, 2009

The Californian headset maker is running out of steam.

As most companies, the Santa Cruz, Calif.-company is blaming the “worsening economic conditions” for its woes.

For its fiscal third quarter, Plantronics posted worse than expected results with revenues of $182.8 million and a net loss of $92 million, which includes a $117.5 million non-cash asset impairment charge.

The hardware maker had issues with all its businesses, from Bluetooth headsets, wired headsets and even its iPod/iPhone docking stations.

Plantronics’ oulook for the current quarter is even murkier with revenues in the range of $125 – $135 million and deeper losses.

To survive the headset maker might choose to sell its Altec Lansing business as it seeks “alternatives” for the money loosing division of PC speakers and docking stations products.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

iPhone 3G Boosts AT&T Subscribership, Revenues

January 28, 2009

The iPhone 3G continues to deliver growth, albeit at a slower pace, for AT&T despite subsidies cost, estimated at over $1.5 billion since the launch of Apple’s newest smartphone last July.

Out of the 2.1 million new subscribers last quarter, over 700 million were iPhone 3G activations, or over 30% of AT&T’s new subscribership.

For the end of December, AT&T reported a total of 77 million subscribers, compared to 72.1 million for Verizon sans the Alltel acquisition.

AT&T’s total iPhone activations over the last half of 2008 topped 4.3 million.

The iPhone still delivers a better ARPU – approximately 1.6 times higher at about $100- and significantly lower churn rates than AT&T’s overall subscriber base.

1 Comment | computers, news, wireless | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by TechPulse 360

Canon Sales, Profits Plunge; Will Swing To Red

January 28, 2009

Following other large Asian consumer electronics companies, Canon of Japan posted dismal financial results and predicts that the worse is yet to come.

For all of 2008, Canon’s net profit and sales both fell for the first time in nine years. Net profit for 2008 fell 37% to ¥309.15 billion ($3.4 billion), while sales dropped 8.6% to ¥4.094 trillion ($45 billion).

Canon’s finance is going to get worse before it gets better as it now expects to post a loss for the current quarter. For the entire year, Canon now predicts a fall in net profit (- 68%) and sales (-15%).

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Posted by TechPulse 360

SAP Axes 3,000 Jobs Despite Strong Earnings

January 28, 2009

Despite global recession, the world’s largest producer of business-software applications posted strong revenues and profits for 2008.

SAP said fourth quarter revenues increased 8 percent at €3.49 billion ($4.5 billion), as well as net profits – up 13 percent – at €850 million ($1.1 billion).

For the full year, the German software company posted total revenues of €11.6 billions ($15 billion)- a 13 percent increase – while net profit fell 2 percent to euro €1.89 billion ($2.45 billion).

However despite strong financial results, the Waldorf based-company plans to cut 3,000 jobs in 2009 and declined to give an outlook for the year, as large corporations are cutting IT investments, including software and services purchases.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Panasonic To Post $1.1 Billion Loss; The First In 6-Years

January 28, 2009

After LG, Samsung and Sony, Panasonic is the next large consumer electronics company to be hit by plunging consumer spending.

Japanese newspaper, Nikkei, reported today that Panasonic will announce a whopping $1.1 billion loss for its 2008 fiscal year, ending in March; the first in six years.

The world’s largest maker of plasma television already announced this week that it will close three factories in Asia; two in Malaysia and one in the Philippines.

Last April, the consumer electronics company was predicting an annual profit for the same period of over $2 billion! And in November, Panasonic cuts its net profit forecast to about $300 million.

Panasonic, which changed its name from Matsushita last year, is in the midst of acquiring smaller rival Sanyo for $9 billion.

Earlier this month, Sanyo announced that it will break even for its fiscal year – also ending in March – amid deteriorating economic conditions.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

New Monochrome Kindle On Feb 9th?

January 27, 2009
Amazon's newest ebook reader will be slimmer, brighter

Amazon's newest ebook reader will be slimmer, brighter

Kindle 2.0 is coming soon.

Amazon sent out invitations to the media today announcing a news conference on Feb 9th at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, hosted by its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos.

Speculations on the next generation’s Amazon’s e-book device abound. The new Kindle will be slimmer, lighter and brighter than the current out-of-stock $359 version. But no colour yet.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

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