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| Once the preserve of youth, Indian IT staffing enters middle age Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 06:47 PM PST  By Aradhana Aravindan MUMBAI (Reuters) - The executive suite is not the only place that is greying in India's 40-year-old information technology sector. Staffing at Indian IT companies has long been characterized by what human resources professionals call a "classic pyramid", with hordes of junior-level staff at the bottom and a steep narrowing as it goes higher. Full Story | Top |
| Qualcomm faces prospect of record antitrust fines in China Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 06:11 PM PST  By Michael Martina and Matthew Miller BEIJING (Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc, the world's biggest cellphone chip maker, may be hit with a record fine exceeding $1 billion in a Chinese antitrust probe, raising the specter of harsh penalties for foreign firms facing an increasingly aggressive regulator. China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) initiated an investigation into Qualcomm last year and is currently holding talks with the U.S. company, which this month said it was still in the dark about the basis of the scrutiny. The probe and the potential fine - the amount of which could hinge on negotiations - come as the NDRC zooms in on information technology providers, especially companies that license patent technology for mobile devices and networks. Industry experts say the NDRC, the government's main economic planning body, is trying to lower domestic costs as China rolls out its faster 4G mobile networks this year. Full Story | Top |
| Yahoo's fourth-quarter revenue slides as ad prices dip again Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 05:10 PM PST  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's online ad prices slid again in the fourth quarter and Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant in which it owns a big stake, saw revenue growth decelerate from its recent rip-roaring pace. Yahoo's overall revenue fell 6 percent in the last three months of the year to $1.266 billion, marking four consecutive quarters of eroding revenue. "The core business is shrinking." Yahoo's efforts to revamp its slumping business have come to the forefront following Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer's decision to fire Chief Operating Officer Henrique de Castro this month, after only slightly more than a year on the job. The move marked the first major change of plans since Mayer took the helm in July 2012, and underscored Yahoo's ongoing challenge to rekindle revenue growth. Full Story | Top |
| AT&T CEO: met European officials, NSA affair affecting business Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:53 PM PST AT&T Inc Chief Executive Randall Stephenson met with several European officials last week to discuss the U.S. spying scandal, which is affecting the telecommunications company's business, he said on Tuesday. Some European reports had speculated that Stephenson's meetings in Europe were focused on AT&T ambitions to buy Vodafone Group Plc. Stephenson declined to comment on mergers and acquisitions beyond a statement AT&T made on Monday that it did not intend to bid for Vodafone. But he commented on the effect on his company's business after former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed widespread surveillance by the National Security Agency. Full Story | Top |
| AT&T subscriber growth misses estimates, shares fall Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:53 PM PST  AT&T Inc, the No. 2 U.S. mobile provider, had slower wireless subscriber growth in the latest quarter than Wall Street had estimated, sending its shares down 1.6 percent in late trade. AT&T also added fewer subscribers in the latest quarter than two big rivals, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US. Investors have been worried that AT&T could become embroiled in a mobile price war. No. 4 U.S. mobile service T-Mobile US has spent months directly marketing to AT&T customers while AT&T recently offered to pay T-Mobile customers to switch. Full Story | Top |
| Chipmaker Cirrus forecasts weak revenue; shares slide Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:48 PM PST (Reuters) - Cirrus Logic Inc, whose audio chips are used in Apple Inc's iPhones and iPads, forecast current-quarter revenue that missed analysts' average estimate, sending its shares down 5 percent after the bell. Shares of Cirrus Logic and other Apple suppliers closed lower in regular trading on Tuesday, after the world's most valuable technology company forecast weak revenue for the current quarter. Apple accounted for 82 percent of Cirrus Logic's revenue in fiscal 2013. Cirrus Logic forecast revenue of between $130 million and $150 million for the March quarter, lower than the $173. ... Full Story | Top |
| New York may offer virtual currency regulations this year Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:37 PM PST  By Emily Flitter and Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's top bank regulator on Tuesday revealed new plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year, saying the state may issue new financial services licenses tailored to virtual currencies. Benjamin Lawsky, New York's financial services superintendent, raised his idea for a "BitLicense" in a hearing a day after a prominent bitcoin entrepreneur was arrested on money laundering charges. "The first job is to get rid of money laundering," said Lawsky, speaking to panelists at the hearing whose panelists included the investor twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and the venture capitalist Fred Wilson. Full Story | Top |
| SunGard preps amendment to $4.24 billion credit to back spinoff Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 02:13 PM PST By Natalie Wright NEW YORK (Reuters) - Software and technology services company SunGard Data Systems Inc is preparing to launch Tuesday an amendment to $4.24 billion in loans to back the spinoff of SunGard's Availability Services business, sources told Thomson Reuters LPC. JP Morgan leads the deal. The amendment is in conjunction with SunGard's planned spinoff of the Availability Services segment, which provides disaster recovery, cloud services and IT consulting, as well as to make other changes to the credit agreement. The spinoff will be tax free. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook cites progress on low-power server technology Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 01:44 PM PST  By Noel Randewich SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - Facebook Inc's executive in charge of revolutionizing data centers on Tuesday lauded low-energy server technology that is expected to compete against heavyweight Intel Corp. The social networking firm's three-year push to help companies design better data center gear is gaining momentum and paying off with a range of cost-saving improvements, Open Compute Project head Frank Frankovsky told an industry conference here. He pointed to plans by some companies to launch server chips based on low-power technology licensed from ARM Holdings, whose technology is widely used in smartphones. Intel dominates the server market with its powerful Xeon processors and stands to lose if server chips based on a rival architecture catch on. It has launched its own low-power chips in anticipation of a move toward microservers by major Internet players like Facebook and Google. Full Story | Top |
| As Apple shares fall, Icahn buys another $500 million Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:59 PM PST  Hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn said he bought another half a billion dollars' worth of Apple Inc stock on Tuesday, signaling confidence in the iPhone maker even after it gave a disappointing revenue forecast for the current quarter. The investment, Icahn's third in Apple in less than a week, boosts the value of stake in the company to more than $4 billion. It was announced via his Twitter account as Apple's shares traded down about 8 percent following its quarterly report late on Monday, which renewed Wall Street's concerns about the maturing smartphone market. Icahn told Reuters in a telephone interview that the decline in Apple shares presented "a great opportunity" to add to his position. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. wireless group proposes TV channel-sharing pilot Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 12:33 PM PST  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. wireless industry lobby is proposing a pilot project to test how two television stations could share radio frequencies, hoping the practice catches on and broadcasters free up more of the valuable airwaves to be sold in an upcoming spectrum auction. The wireless association, CTIA, said on Tuesday it has found two stations in Los Angeles - KJLA and KLCS - interested in testing how they could send their video through the same radio frequency channel. Full Story | Top |
| Google Glass gets image makeover as launch nears Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 11:11 AM PST By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has unveiled a set of fashionable prescription frames and shades for its Glass Internet-connected eyewear in an image makeover to give it broader appeal before a mass launch in the United States later this year. Google also announced a deal with Vision Service Plan, the largest U.S. optical health insurance provider, that will allow consumers to get prescription lenses specially fitted to the device. A stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the side of a pair of eyeglass frames, Google Glass can record video, access email, provide turn-by-turn driving directions and retrieve info from the Web by connecting wirelessly to a user's cell phone. Google's website on Monday showed off a new selection of four different frames, in styles including "Bold" and "Curve", available for $225 each, and a couple of different sunglass shades for $150 each. Full Story | Top |
| Apple shares fall after muted iPhone sales Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 10:46 AM PST  Apple Inc needs a cheaper iPhone to keep pace with low-cost rivals, analysts said, after the company's smartphone sales fell short of lofty expectations in the holiday shopping season. Apple's shares fell as much as 8.8 percent on Tuesday, their steepest decline in a year, a day after the company's weak revenue forecast for the current quarter renewed fears about Chinese smartphone demand and a tepid global market. Activist investor Carl Icahn, who is waging a public campaign to get Apple to return more cash to shareholders, bought up $500 million worth of Apple stock - his third purchase of the same size in less than a week - to boost his total investment in the iPhone maker to more than $4 billion. At least 14 brokerages lowered their price targets on Apple, reflecting concerns that it was becoming harder to sell high-end phones as markets get saturated. Full Story | Top |
| Emerging market turmoil deals setback for Philips Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 07:05 AM PST  By Sara Webb AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Philips forecast a slow start to 2014 as it grapples with currency volatility in Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia and other emerging markets and weak orders for healthcare equipment. The turmoil in developing economies is a setback for the Dutch healthcare, lighting and consumer appliances company, which has reinvented itself since Frans van Houten took over as chief executive in April 2011. Philips had suffered from its exposure to stagnant or austerity-hit markets in Europe and the United States, while its TV, audio and video business had struggled for years to compete with low-cost Asian rivals. Van Houten has cut costs, sold weak businesses and targeted new products at emerging markets, sending Philips shares up nearly 60 percent in two years. Full Story | Top |
| Comcast in talks to license technology to Cox -sources Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014 04:04 AM PST Comcast Corp, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, is in advanced discussions about licensing its "X1" video operating system to Cox Communications, the third-largest cable operator, according to people familiar with the matter. Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts said on January 7 that the company is looking to license its latest cloud-based technology to other cable operators. Comcast has been in talks to provide Cox with a "white label" version of the product without using Comcast's Xfinity product name, two sources said. Full Story | Top |
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