The European Commission said Monday that its investigation of Microsoft was continuing despite the antitrust settlement reached with the U.S. government last week.
The European Commission said in August it was investigating whether Microsoft (MSFT) was trying to damage rivals by embedding its proprietary audio and video software, Media Player, into its Windows operating system.
It said then it was combining this case, in which it issued a formal statement outlining its concerns, with a similar case covering Windows 98.
Asked whether the U.S. settlement would have any effect on the EU probe, spokeswoman Amelia Torres said: “It’s much too early to say. There might be certain features in the U.S. settlement which might or might not have an impact on the commission’s own investigation involving Microsoft.”
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Sprint’s network upgrade: In a $1.1 billion upgrade, Sprint will begin to transform its entire telephone network so all voice calls are transmitted in “packets,” resembling how data is moved on the Internet.
Nortel Networks is providing switch equipment and installation services for the four-year project.
The conversion will move 3.6 million of Sprint’s 8.3 million local lines from hard-wired circuits to a more flexible packet network, while cutting the number of Sprint’s main network switches from 125 to 32, said Mark Chall, Sprint’s vice president for packet networks.
The technology upgrade will allow multiple phone calls and Internet connections to share the same line. Sprint says it will make its network easier to maintain and enable future services like video conferencing and video caller ID.
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Alternative to VPNs: After stumbling through the dot-com debacle, Web browser pioneer Jim Clark is teaming up with old partner Jim Barksdale again, trying to recapture the success they enjoyed in their heyday at Netscape Communications.
Clark and Barksdale are reuniting as the lead investors in Neoteris. The startup says it can save companies money by giving their employees and suppliers access to corporate networks through Web browsers instead of more elaborate virtual private networks, or VPNs.
After spending 18 months developing its technology, Neoteris is unveiling its product line Monday.
Neoteris is “a nice alternative to the supreme headaches you get from using VPNs,” Clark said. “This may not be a pioneering market, but it’s going to be an instant market that grows rapidly.”
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Adult sites defraud customers: The operators of www.playgirl.com and several other adult-oriented websites agreed to pay $30 million to settle charges that they illegally billed thousands of customers for what were advertised as free services, the Federal Trade Commission said.
Crescent Publishing Group and 64 affiliated corporations also agreed to post a $2 million bond, and owners Bruce Chew and David Bernstein agreed to put up $500,000 each before continuing to operate the sites, the FTC said.
The FTC and the attorney general of New York accused www.playgirl.com, www.highsociety.com and dozens of other sites of getting visitors to provide credit card numbers to prove that they were old enough to view adult-oriented material. Although visitors were told that access to the site was free, they were then charged recurring monthly fees of between $20 and $90, the FTC said.
The $30 million will be distributed to consumers who have been defrauded by Crescent Publishing. If that proves impractical, the money will be divided equally between the U.S. Treasury and the New York state, the FTC said.
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Palm regains lead: Palm still faces stiff competition from its rivals, but it regained the lead in handheld device revenues, toppling Compaq Computer’s brief reign.
In a report to be released Monday, market research firm Gartner Dataquest said Compaq (CPQ) shipments worldwide in the third quarter dropped from 450,000 to 185,000, garnering it about $83 million in revenues. Palm (PALM) shipped 754,000 units, down from 890,000 the quarter before, and had about $200 million in revenues, Gartner said.
Palm has always remained the world’s leading vendor of personal digital assistants, but it lost the top spot in terms of revenue in the second calendar quarter as sales of Compaq’s rival iPaq devices — which are typically twice the price of Palm products — rose, according to Gartner.
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Rising profits for Nintendo: Nintendo said on Monday that falling prices for key components in its Game Boy Advance game console would boost its profits for the half year that ended in September.
The comments came after the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily said the game maker would likely report a 29 percent jump in group operating profit for the six months through September, to around 51 billion yen ($418.3 million). That was up from its earlier forecast of 45 billion yen.
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Layoffs at Sonera: Sonera will temporarily lay off about 1,400 of the 2,000 employees in a maintenance unit for fixed-line services because of poor demand and upcoming winter conditions.
The unit, Primatel, will lay off the workers for up to two weeks, Sonera said. The cutbacks will be in addition to the annual winter layoff of 280 employees for up to 90 days as frozen conditions limit the amount of work.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
