A digest of the top business and technology news stories from the past week.
Google sacks employee who leaked memo about raises
Following news that Google would handsomely increase employee salaries in a drive to retain their services, it has emerged that the employee who leaked the internal information has been let go by the corporation.
It was revealed that the search and online advertising giant would give all of its employees a 10pc salary increase for 2011 plus US$1,000 in cash, costing the company US$1bn a year for the raises, as well as a further US$20m for the cash bonuses.
Motorola sues Microsoft over 16 patent infringements
Motorola, which has recently been sued by Microsoft over patent violation involving smartphones, has hit back with lawsuits against Microsoft – alleging infringement of patents by a list of Microsoft software.
Motorola – under its subsidiary Motorola Mobility – has filed lawsuits against Microsoft for infringement of 16 patents by Microsoft PC and server software, Windows Mobile software and Xbox products.
Almost 50pc of Irish people will shop online this Christmas
Although Christmas spending throughout the Irish economy is set to fall 10pc this year, some 46pc of Irish consumers will be buying their presents online.
Irish consumers will spend on average 10.6pc less this Christmas, according to the annual Deloitte consumer survey of Christmas spending. The reduction in spending on this year’s festivities is considerably more than the European average of 2.5pc.
Ireland remains in second place in the European spending table behind Luxembourg, however, the average spend has now reduced by more than 30pc since 2008. The average spend per household in Ireland this Christmas will be €1,020. This is significantly higher than the average European spend of €590.
Speciality chains (24pc), hypermarkets (16pc), traditional department stores (14pc) and the internet (11pc) are the preferred locations for purchasing gifts this festive season.
Siemens announces €467m net loss in quarterly results
Siemens AG has announced a net loss of €467m in its fourth-quarter financial results.
The loss is significantly less than the previous year’s results, which amounted to €1.3bn.
The electronics and electrical engineering company also announced a fourth-quarter loss from continuing operations of €339m, while new orders rose orders rose 25pc to €23.47bn.
Cisco records US$1.9bn quarterly net income
Cisco has recorded a 19pc increase in sales and reported a net income of US$1.9bn in its quarterly financial results.
The networking company reported its first-quarter results for the period ended 30 October 2010, and reported net sales of US$10.75bn, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of US$1.9bn or US$0.34 per share, and non-GAAP net income of US$2.4bn or US$0.42 per share.
Smartphones and mobile broadband drive O2’s third quarter
Telefónica O2 Ireland added 5,400 new customers during the third quarter, according to its latest set of key performance indicators, which point to mobile broadband and smartphone devices as main growth drivers.
Blended ARPU for the first nine months of 2010 was €37.14 per month, down from €39.67 for the same period last year.
O2’s mobile broadband service continued to see sustained growth, with more than 160,000 customers currently signed up, it’s the highest ever level. A key initiative during Q3 was the launch of a new offer with HEAnet, whereby third-level students can avail of discounted mobile broadband from O2 for the academic year.
