Motorola Inc. is expected to stage a major restructuring process involving cutbacks of thousands of workers, as it concentrates on forming a new mobile platform strategy. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company is chucking three of its mobile operating systems to focus on Windows Mobile, Android and P2K operating system, its proprietary Linux-based platform. Already 9,000 employees have been laid off since two years to save the company’s bottom line. The earning report for the third quarter was rather dismal for the company, as it reported a loss of $397 million or $0.18 per share, compared to a profit of $60 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier. Motorola Inc. is trying to revive the mobile handset business that hasn't had a hit since the all-metal MotoRazr flip phone, introduced in 2004. The company is also having a tough time as it competes against South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. to hold on to its No. 3 ranking.
Exxon Mobil Profits Soar on a Record Note, Fueled by Rising Oil Prices
Exxon Mobil Corp, the world’s biggest oil company, posted the highest ever US quarterly operating profit as its profits jumped by 58%, and its net income soared to $14.83 billion, in the third quarter. Record oil prices have more than made up for the largest decline in production in at least a decade, as the decline is cited to be the biggest since Exxon Corp. bought Mobil Corp. in 1999. Revenue jumped 35% to $137.74 billion amid the oil price surge; a tad lower than the second quarter's record $138.07 billion. But the company said that the production declined in the quarter, affected by hurricanes that hit the Gulf of Mexico in the quarter. Earnings at the company's US oil-and-gas production unit grew 74% despite a production drop of 8%. Additionally, US oil prices, which reached a record price of $147 per barrel in July this year, fell almost 60% in the next three months, about $118 a barrel, 40% more than its price, a year earlier.
Netflix, TiVo Announce Partnership to Enable Web Streaming
Netflix and TiVo have finally announced the long awaited partnership that has eluded them for some time now. Through the partnership first envisioned in 2004, existing Netflix subscribers who own the TiVo Series3, HD, or HD XL will be able to stream over 12,000 movies and TV shows through Netflix's online streaming service. The movies and shows will be directly streamed to their TV over a broadband Internet connection, with no additional charges beyond the existing Netflix and TiVo service fees. Netflix will place its “Watch Instantly” streaming-movie service on TiVo’s HD-compatible set-top boxes, advancing the industry’s goal of sending television shows and movies over the Internet to ordinary TVs, rather than relying on traditional cable and satellite networks for the same. Netflix and TiVo said they are planning to make the service available to all TiVo set-top box owners, this December.
