DSG cautious after sales dip at PC World September 4, 2008 Nine months into the job, John Browett, chief executive of DSG International announced yesterday he was not foreseeing a “chance for recovery until 2010”, following a first quarter slump in the market. Like-for-like sales in the 16 weeks to 23 August fell seven per cent on the same period last year, led by 12 per [...]
Microsoft beware: Google is moving into applications September 4, 2008 When Bill Gates stood down from Microsoft earlier this year, he was hoping his legacy would be secure. Windows Vista, the product of more than six years labour, was supposed to cement the firm’s hold on the computer desktop while the $10bn it had spent trying to topple Google should have at least allowed it [...]
Alcatel calls former BT CEO to the rescue September 3, 2008 Alcatel-Lucent named its new management team yesterday, handing the task of turning round the ailing French-US telecoms equipment group to former BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen and French business grandee Philippe Camus. The world’s biggest provider of fixed-line telecoms networks has seen its market value drop more than 60 per cent in the 21 months [...]
Computacenter falls after tough conditions in UK August 29, 2008 IT services firm Computacenter yesterday cited poor performance in the UK as the reason for a 14.2 per cent dip in profits, hammering its shares which plunged by almost 13 per cent in early trading. A lacklustre set of numbers across the channel in France also hurt the firm, it said, reporting profit before tax [...]
By divesting in India, BT is robbing Peter to pay Paul August 28, 2008 The news that BT is considering the sale of its 31 per cent holding in Indian software services provider Tech Mahindra is sure to generate a flurry of interest from would-be bidders. Especially as private equity firms are struggling to deploy funds in India. But the fact that its stake is sure to be snapped [...]
Indian tech giant snaps up UK’s Axon August 26, 2008 Indian software services giant Infosys yesterday said it had agreed to buy the London-listed IT consultancy Axon in a deal worth £407.1m – the largest ever takeover of a technology firm by an Indian player. Infosys, India’s second largest software services firm, offered 600p a share for Axon, a premium of 33 per cent on [...]
Public spend boosts Logica August 15, 2008 IT group Logica yesterday upped its forecast for sales growth after an increase in IT spending in the public sector boosted first-half revenues by 6 per cent. Chief executive Andy Green admitted that the group was seeing a slowdown in financial services and consumer-driven sectors, but said other areas were holding up. Logica said that [...]
Publishers Beware: The bookworm’s iPod has arrived August 14, 2008 As as free publicity goes, you can’t do much better than getting your product compared to the iPod. That’s why Amazon will have been delighted earlier this week, when Citi analyst Michael Mahaney likened its e-book reader, the Kindle, to the world’s favourite gadget. Digital books have been around since the 1990s, but poor technology [...]
Blackberry on the up despite Apple iPhone August 12, 2008 The BlackBerry has cornered 10 per cent of the American mobile phone market for the first time, a research firm said yesterday – despite concerns about its ability to give Apple’s iPhone 3G a run for its money. Strategy Analytics said that BlackBerry maker RIM had increased its share of both the consumer and corporate [...]
Why lad’s mag websites are beating the media gloom August 6, 2008 After Michael Gove, shadow secretary for education, attacked lads’ magazines for their supposedly corrupting influence earlier this week, the industry needed a good news story. Yesterday’s announcement that the online version of IPC Media’s lads’ mag Nuts had doubled its audience in a year was just the ticket. In June, 1.4m unique users (web speak [...]