RIM hoping that new BlackBerry will bear fruit January 27, 2013 THE long-awaited next generation of BlackBerry smartphones will be unveiled this week, in a make or break moment for manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM). The Canadian company will unveil two new devices running BlackBerry 10, the first major overhaul to its software in years. The much-needed upgrade has been beset by technical delays while RIM [...]
Patent wars hit record high as tech firms fight January 27, 2013 THE GLOBAL technology patent wars hit a new high in 2012, with a record number of applications made for international computing patents. A flurry of costly court cases between smartphone and tablet companies such as Apple, Samsung and Nokia has upped the value of patents in the last 12 months, and this was responsible for [...]
Stocks roar back January 24, 2013 UK STOCK markets turned a corner yesterday after blue chip firms spurred the FTSE to its highest level in nearly five years, giving London its best start to the trading year since 1989. The FTSE 100 list of Britain’s biggest companies surged past the 6,200 mark to its highest level since May 2008, capping off [...]
Apple is left out in the cold after disappointing results January 24, 2013 APPLE saw more than $60bn (£38bn) wiped off its market value yesterday as investors bailed out of the company following a set of results that disappointed Wall Street. After the technology giant’s revenues for the last three months of 2012 missed analyst forecasts, shares fell by 12.4 per cent in New York to hit $450.50 [...]
Amazon buys voice tech firm January 24, 2013 Amazon said yesterday it had snapped up text-to-speech technology company Ivona Software, a sign that the world’s largest Internet retailer may be looking to develop more services similar to Apple’s Siri voice-based search product. Ivona’s technology already supports several features on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet computers, such as text-to-speech, said Dave Limp, who oversees the [...]
Microsoft profit dips in spite of new Windows 8 January 24, 2013 COMPUTING giant Microsoft yesterday posted a quarterly drop in profits, as slow sales of its Office software dragged down a positive start for its freshly minted Windows 8 system. Sales rose three per cent overall to $21.5bn (£13.6bn) for the three months ending December 2012, the company said last night, but profits slid to $6.4bn, [...]
Nokia hangs up on dividend to preserve cash January 24, 2013 NOKIA returned to profit in the final quarter of 2012, as sales of its Lumia smartphones finally picked up. However, the Finnish company said it would not be paying a dividend for the first time in over 20 years, as it struggles to preserve its cash pile. Following a cost-cutting plan that saw tens of [...]
Wall St inches higher despite Apple’s plunge January 24, 2013 THE smallest of gains gave the Standard & Poor’s 500 its seventh straight winning day yesterday, but the index failed to hold above the 1,500 line, restrained by Apple’s worst day in more than four years. Apple slid 12.4 per cent to $450.50 a day after it posted revenue that missed Wall Street’s forecast as [...]
The Debate: After Apple reported disappointing profits and sales, is it doomed to relative decline? January 24, 2013 YES Julian Birkinshaw Apple’s latest results were spectacularly good by any standard – except their own. The company has been hyped up so far, and for so long, that failing to meet expectations was almost inevitable. But the real problem for Apple is that now the top has been called, the markets are looking to [...]
FTSE 100 smashes through 6,200 barrier January 24, 2013 The blue chip index edged up in early trades, and smashed through the 6,200 barrier although disappointing results from US technology behemoth Apple weighed on sentiment. The company posted record profits last night, but warned of lower revenue growth in the coming months, which sent its shares down more than 10 per cent in after-hours [...]