Monthly Archives: October 2010
Microsoft net profit soars on record revenue
Microsoft quarterly net profit soared on record revenue as businesses continued buying new computers and gamers snatched up Xbox 360 videogame consoles.
The US technology titan said Thursday that it made a net profit of 5.41 billion US dollars on unprecedented revenue of 16.2 billion US dollars in the first quarter of its fiscal year.
The 51 percent surge in net profit amounted to 62 cents per share, besting Wall Street predictions. Microsoft stock rose 3.5 percent to 27.20 US dollars in after-hours trading.
“This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games,” said Microsoft chief financial officer Peter Klein.
Microsoft reported year-over-year growth in all its divisions. The technology giant said it continued to see a “healthy and sustaining” pattern of businesses buying new computers in a positive sign for the economy.
“We are seeing improved business demand and adoption,” said Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner.
Demand for Microsoft software offered as services in the Internet “cloud” also continued to grow, according to Turner.
Sales of Microsoft Xbox 360 videogame consoles were up 38 percent and the firm’s Bing search engine was gaining market share with the consummation of a partnership with Yahoo!.
Microsoft and Yahoo! reached an agreement last year which calls for Bing to eventually power searches at all Yahoo! websites.
The latest version of the Windows operating system that has been Microsoft’s top money maker grew in line with the overall personal computer market, with the software pre-installed on new machines.
China boasts world’s fastest supercomputer
China is set to trump the US to take the number one spot for the fastest supercomputer ever made in a survey of the world’s zippiest machines, it was reported Thursday.
Tianhe-1, meaning Milky Way, has a sustained computing speed of 2,507 trillion calculations per second, making it the fastest computer in China on a list published Thursday.
But it is also 1.4 times faster that the world’s current fastest ranked supercomputer in the US, housed at a national laboratory in Tennessee, according to the New York Times.
Tianhe-1 does its warp-speed “thinking” at the National Center for Supercomputing in the northern port city of Tianjin — using mostly chips designed by US companies.
The Tianjin Meteorological Bureau and the National Offshore Oil Corporation data centre have both started trials using the computer.
“It can also serve the animation industry and bio-medical research,” Liu Guangming, the supercomputing centre’s director, told state news agency Xinhua.
Microsoft’s Ballmer hypes smart phone, browser
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer pumped up unique features in the company’s new Web browser and smart phone software at a software developer conference Thursday, the company’s annual pep rally for people who will build programs for the Web, Windows computers and phones.
Ballmer is known for his onstage enthusiasm. This year, he joked with the crowd that he wouldn’t repeat the memorable “developer prance” of years past, when he loped around hollering, “Developers! Developers!”
Dean Hachamovitch, a top executive in Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer division, showed off how developers can program websites to take advantage of new features. Internet Explorer 9, which is in beta test form, uses more of a PC’s hardware to make pages load and run faster. A new version of the underlying code is being released for developers Thursday.
IE9, which is only available for computers running Windows Vista and Windows 7, lets computer users “pin” websites to the task bar at the bottom of the screen, creating a permanent shortcut that makes the site feel more like a desktop program.
Microsoft also unveiled some new apps — add-on programs that can be downloaded — for Windows Phone 7, its new smart phone software. One was a version of Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle e-book reader software. Microsoft’s app marketplace now has 1,000 approved programs and games; the first Windows Phone 7 devices go on sale in the U.S. in early November.
IDEA Cellular Promises 3G Services By Year – End or In Jan 2011
Following the announcement to launch 3G by TATA DoCoMo, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, IDEA Cellular the pan-India mobile service operator, today said that it will launch its 3G Mobile and Data services by end of 2010 and further rolls out will be done during first quarter of year 2011 across all the 11 telecom circles where it has 3G Spectrum.
Mr. Sanjeev Aga, MD, IDEA Cellular today said that “Idea Cellular was awarded 3G spectrum in 11 important service areas, where it is in the process of rolling out extensive 3G networks.
BSNL to float $3.5 bn tender
NEW DELHI: State-owned telecom company, BSNL, plans to float a $3.5-billion tender, a third of which will be reserved for public sector telecom equipment company ITI, an executive aware of the development told. The telco wants to procure equipment for 40 million GSM lines. BSNL is yet to decide if it wants to go in for a single contract or split it into two tenders for 20 million GSM lines over a two-year period, this executive added. This contract will provide the company with sufficient capacity till 2013.
“To take care of the long-term expansion requirements, BSNL has planned to expand its mobile network by a capacity of 20 million lines each in 2011-12 and 2012-13 ,” the telco said in its status report sent to the telecoms department earlier this month.
This will be in addition to the 5.5 million GSM lines tender the telco floated recently. BSNL had initially banned Chinese firms from bidding for this 5.5-million line contract to expand its mobile network for its north and eastern zones, but changed the rules later to accommodate firms such as Huawei and ZTE after the Centre allowed participation from Chinese companies.
Bharti, Aircel eager to buy Qualcomm business (India)
If sources are to be believed, Bharti Airtel and Aircel Cellular are interested in buying the yet-to-be-launched Indian wireless broadband business of Qualcomm, an indication that the scales are tilting in favor of the wireless technology being championed by the US-based cell phone chip maker.
As per the industry executives, India’s largest mobile phone company, Bharti Airtel, is primarily interested in Qualcomm’s airwaves and permits for Delhi, complementing the 3G frequencies it won in the circle earlier this year. Aircel, a unit of Malaysia’s Maxis Communications and the country’s seventh-biggest operator, has shown interest in the Mumbai and Kerala circles.
