Phone forecast calls for sales decline in 2009

By Scott Moritz

With clouds of economic gloom darkening the tech horizon, mobile phone sales - a former bright spot in the gadget world - look to be slowing.

Tech buyers went away early this fall, and as recession fears intensified, orders have continued to dry up.

There have been a number of ominous signs. First Cisco (CSCO) slashed its outlook and froze hiring. Then Wall Street analysts slashed Google's (GOOG) search ad sales MORE

Hewlett-Packard solid, Corning shattered

By Scott Moritz

It was a tale of two techs Tuesday. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) surprised Wall Street on Tuesday with a fourth-quarter earnings report that beat analysts' profit and sales targets. HP shares soared nearly 14% in early trading.

Meanwhile, glass maker Corning (GLW) warned of a sales shortfall in the current quarter as demand for its flat-screen TV and computer panels drops faster than anticipated. Shares fell nearly 12%.

HP posted preliminary adjusted earnings of $1.03 a share, which compares with MORE

Mark Cuban faces insider trading charges

By Scott Moritz

U.S. regulators on Monday charged Dallas Maverick owner and outspoken blogger Mark Cuban with using confidential information in 2004 to sell his stake in Mamma.com, a Montreal search engine now known as Copernic (CNIC). His sale of all 600,000 shares helped Cuban avoid a 10% dive in the stock, or about $750,000 in losses, the government contends.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban on Monday. No criminal charges were MORE

Google hits 3-year low on growth fears

By Scott Moritz

What was a little fuzzy last month has become clearer of late: The sagging economy is weighing on Google (GOOG).

Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell cited signs of weakness in search advertising - Google's biggest moneymaker by far -- in cutting his revenue growth target for the current fourth quarter from 4% to 1%.

Mitchell is the second analyst this week to lower estimates for Google. On Monday Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth called MORE

Nortel cuts jobs, shakes up management

By Scott Moritz

Nortel (NT) plans a major restructuring and another round of job cuts as demand for tech gear plunges.

The Toronto networking equipment giant said Monday it would trim 1,300 jobs on top 1,200 cuts previously announced. Nortel had 32,550 employees at the end of 2007.

The company also said four top executives, including its head of sales and its chief technology officer, would leave at year-end.

The news comes as Nortel posted third quarter MORE

Qualcomm hit by the slowdown

By Scott Moritz

Qualcomm (QCOM) joined tech's growing crowd of downward revisionists as the slumping global economy forced the company to slash its financial targets.

While the San Diego wireless chipmaker turned in a strong fiscal fourth quarter Thursday, Qualcomm like several tech giants - including Cisco (CSCO), Intel (INTC) and Apple (AAPL) - have lowered financial projections as business took a nose dive this fall.

Qualcomm posted adjusted earnings of $1.06 billion or MORE

Yahoo back in the game

By Scott Moritz

Yahoo (YHOO) moves back to the deal market as its controversial advertising partnership with Google (GOOG) is now dead.

As Fortune's Legal Pad blogger Roger Parloff outlined last month, the legal footing was never very solid as the No.1 and No.2 Internet advertisers explored plans to work together on search advertising efforts.

The plan was first introduced in June as Yahoo was trying to fend off an unsolicited takeover bid from MORE

All is not swell at Dell

By Scott Moritz

Dell (DELL) is trying unpaid vacations (for starters). 

The No.2 PC maker, already grappling with a massive turnaround strategy, is taking a closer look at expenses and has informed employees of a company-wide cost cutting plan that includes voluntary five-day unpaid leaves for everyone.

According to an internal memo confirmed by a company representative, Dell has frozen its hiring and is considering a range of cost-reduction plans.

In addition to the unpaid MORE

Verizon mulls heavily-discounted BlackBerry Storm

By Scott Moritz

Free. That's Vodafone's (VOD) recently-unveiled price for the hotly-anticipated touchscreen BlackBerry Storm from Research in Motion (RIM) in the United Kingdom.

In a sign of just how desperate phone companies are to lock customers in to lengthy contracts, Verizon's (VZ) wireless partner is willing to subsidize the Storm -- which sells for about $500 without a calling plan -- in order to lure subscribers in England.

Though a final decision has yet to be made, Verizon is MORE

Motorola delays breakup, cuts jobs

By Scott Moritz

Motorola on Thursday said its plan to break up into two companies is on hold, leading the head of its mobile phone business to outline a new plan for reviving the company's ailing handset business.

Part of the restructuring plan includes the loss of 3,000 jobs, most from the mobile phone division, a company representative confirmed.

Motorola (MOT), which reported third quarter earnings that beat profit estimates but missed sales targets, said the split up called for MORE