Oracle profits up, database business weaker

The Oracle Corporation reported a 42 percent increase in quarterly profit on Monday, but growth in its flagship database business was weaker than expected, setting off a 4 percent decline in its share price.

The New York Times reports (21 March) that Oracle said it earned US$765 million, or 14 cents a share, up from US$540 million, or 10 cents a share, a year ago.

Sales in the period, which ended 28 Feb. and was the third quarter of Oracle's fiscal year, were US$3.47 billion, an 18 percent increase from US$2.95 billion a year earlier.

The newspaper reports that analysts had forecast revenue of US$3.5 billion for the quarter. Without the impact of the strong dollar during the last year, Oracle executives said the company's revenue would have increased 22 percent.

License sales for Oracle's database business increased only 5 percent from a year earlier, to US$827 million, disappointing analysts, who had forecast Oracle's database business would grow 9 percent, to US$853 million.

According to the NYT., Oracle's database business, a market in which it competes head-to-head with IBM., accounts for nearly 75 percent of the company's total revenue.

{mospagebreaktitle=Google offers financial search service}Google offers financial search service

Harnessing yet another data category to its search-engine prowess, Google is introducing a financial information service intended to compete directly with offerings from Microsoft, Yahoo and other sources, Google executives said Monday.

The New York Times reports (21 March) that Google said the service, at finance.google.com, would distinguish itself by providing stock charts with interactive qualities like those on its Google Maps service, allowing users to find deeper or specified layers of data by sliding the cursor.

The site will focus on current and historical data for both public and private companies, and following a Google practice for its new offerings, it will not immediately carry advertisements.

The newspaper reports that Google said the initiative grew out of a survey it conducted 15 months ago, asking its users what kinds of new services they would find helpful. The response was dominated by two themes: maps and finance.

Financial analysts said the service played to obvious Google strengths.

But, according to the NYT., Google faces a challenge in entering the extremely competitive consumer market for financial information against rivals like Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL and financial companies like Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab.

{mospagebreaktitle=Dell to double India work force}Dell to double India work force

Dell, the world's largest maker of personal computers, plans to double the size of its work force in India, to 20,000, and is looking for a site for its manufacturing unit in the country, the company's chairman, Michael S. Dell, said on Monday.

The New York Times reports (21 March) that Dell has four call centres in India, where the bulk of its 10,000 employees work, as well as software development and product testing centers.

The company plans to double its hardware engineering staff to 600 in a year, Mr. Dell said.

The newspaper says that the statement by Dell comes after similar announcements by Microsoft and Cisco Systems, which plan to double and triple their work forces in India.

{mospagebreaktitle=Microsoft working on mobile game device - report}Microsoft working on mobile game device - report

Microsoft is working on a handheld gaming device that will also play music and movies in a challenge to rivals such as Sony and Apple, the Mercury News said on Monday.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (20 March) that the software giant's new device will probably not hit the market for at least a year and possibly two, The Mercury News said, citing unidentified sources.

It will compete against popular gadgets like Sony's PlayStation Portable, which can play games, music and movies, and Apple Computer's iPod music players, the report said.

According to Reuters, The Mercury News said the project is being headed by vice president J Allard and other veterans of the team responsible for Microsoft's Xbox video game console.

{mospagebreaktitle=LG Elec hopes to win GSM market with "Choc" phone}LG Elec hopes to win GSM market with "Choc" phone

LG Electronics said on Tuesday it will start shipping its ``Chocolate'' mobile phone in Europe by early May, in an attempt to break through in the GSM markets where it lags far behind its direct rivals.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (20 March) that LG has already sold 300,000 of the chocolate-coloured slider models with touch-sensitive keypad controls in its South Korean home market since the launch in November.

LG is the fourth biggest handset maker worldwide, mainly as a result of its strong position in CDMA phones popular in the Americas. But in the market for GSM mobile phones which are used by two out of every three mobile subscribers, LG is only half the size of global No. 5 Sony Ericsson.

According to Reuters, LG wants to expand retail sales in GSM markets to get a better understanding of consumers wishes. Currently it sells almost all mobile phones through mobile operators and focuses on technologically advanced models rather than design phones.

{mospagebreaktitle=Cray unveils supercomputer integration plan}Cray unveils supercomputer integration plan

Cray said on Monday it plans to develop supercomputers that will integrate a range of processing technologies in a single platform.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (20 March) that Cray said that over the next few years its supercomputers will combine standard microprocessors, vector processing, multithreading and hardware accelerators in one platform that uses the industry-standard Linux operating system.

Supercomputers are large machines that can crunch huge amounts of data to simulate weather, analyse DNA and process other research-level tasks. They are used primarily by a few companies, governments and the military.

Reuters reports that Cray said its adaptive supercomputing approach means that the systems will be more flexible and won't need to be tuned specially for individual programs to get the best performance, the new approach will also help to cut costs and save time.

{mospagebreaktitle=MP3 used to measure inflation in Britain}MP3 used to measure inflation in Britain

Those who keep track of consumer spending in Britain are keeping up with changing tastes -- the MP3 digital music player has replaced the CD player on the list of goods used to measure inflation.

The Associated Press reports in The New York Times that the Office of National Statistics said more Britons now use MP3s than the once-popular personal CD player.

Dixons, a chain of electronics stores, said it sold an MP3 player every three seconds last Christmas season.

AP says that the statistics office also added flat-screen televisions, digital camcorders and Internet music downloads to its ''shopping basket'' of goods.

mospagebreaktitle=Mobile extras may not attract US consumers: survey}Mobile extras may not attract US consumers: survey

In the US., telecommunications executives are banking on big revenue increases during the next few years from new mobile phone services, but getting customers to pay more may not be so easy, according to a report released on Monday.

Reutewrs reports in The New York Times (20 March) that more than half of global telecoms executives said they see revenue increases coming from services such as music and video downloads, but more than a third of North American consumers said they would not pay a premium for them, according to the report by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP.

Reuters says that, further underscoring that point was that 20 percent of mobile device users said they would pay no more than 10 percent above their current bill.

About 44 percent of telecoms executives, meanwhile, expect revenue growth of at least 15 percent between now and 2007, spurred primarily by new offerings, new customers and more spending by existing customers, the report says.

Reuters says the report showed that mobile device customers are using their phones and other handhelds for an ever-increasing list of services beyond just making a phone call, including e-mail, internet access, photographs and video.

{mospagebreaktitle=Sirius satellite tops 4 million subscribers}Sirius satellite tops 4 million subscribers

In the US., Sirius Satellite Radio said on Monday it recently surpassed 4 million subscribers to its nationwide pay radio service.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (20 March) that Sirius, No. 2 in the nascent market to rival XM Satellite Radio, had previously said it ended 2005 with 3.3 million subscribers, an increase of 2.2 million, and expects to end 2006 with more than 6 million subscribers.

XM in February said it has more than 6 million subscribers and expects to reach 9 million by the end of the year.

According to Reuters, both services offer continuous sports, talk, and entertainment programming, including dozens of commercial-free music stations, all for about US$13 a month.

The report adds that Sirius' news follows agreements it struck on Friday with several music companies to allow their songs to be played on a new radio unit that can store songs for future playback.

{mospagebreaktitle=BellSouth to test Wi-Max, sells wireless as backup}BellSouth to test Wi-Max, sells wireless as backup

In the US.,BellSouth said on Monday it is looking at emerging wireless technology Wi-Max as a way to more cheaply provide high-speed web services in areas where its wired network is slow or has been damaged.

Reuters reports in The New York Times (20 March) that BellSouth, which recently agreed to be sold to AT&T, already sells city-wide wireless broadband services in five markets including New Orleans using a proprietary technology. It is looking at Wi-Max to lower costs and expand its subscriber base.

According to Reuters, the No. 3 US regional provider plans to test Wi-Max equipment in its labs in the coming months and expects to run a live network trial in the second half of the year. It said it has not yet decided whose equipment it would use for the tests.

Wi-Max, designed to blanket whole cities with high-speed wireless services, is expected to provide an improvement to Wi-Fi, the dominant wireless technology used in laptops today, which is confined mostly to places like coffee shops.

Reuters says that BellSouth, which offers wired high-speed internet services to 84 percent of households in its service area, could also use Wi-Max to offer fast Web services to customers in areas where it has not upgraded its wired network for high-speeds.