- The economic slump brought another unwelcome first for the tech industry: Microsoft reported the first year-on-year revenue decline in its 34-year history. The news came a week after Google disclosed its first-ever sequential quarterly revenue decline, itself an important turning point for a company whose stellar growth overshadowed internet rivals for much of this decade. At least Apple has managed to avoid joining this unenviable list: the iPod dodged a widely-expected sales decline, the first in its eight-year history, thanks to strong demand for the touch.
- Time to bury another relic of the dotcom boom: Yahoo said it was closing GeoCities (though it didn’t explain why putting paid to the struggling web hosting service had required what it described as “careful consideration”.) It paid $3bn for the faded star a decade ago.
- As first reported by Cnet, Joost is ready to give up its fight to become one of the leading independent online video sites. Joost made the mistake of requiring users to download a software player to use the service, and a shift to browser-based technology came too late. The company also failed to win over movie and TV studios. It is now pursuing a sale to a cable or satellite company.
- In other earnings news: Throwing more fuel on the fire of Wall Street’s tech rally, Amazon.com reported an 18 cent advance in quarterly sales. Meanwhile, Juniper Networks, despite reporting a loss, claimed to have seen some stability return to its markets. Amazon’s shares rose another 2 per cent, taking its gains this year to 61 per cent, while Juniper jumped 8 per cent.
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