Hot Off the Wire – Exec shakeup continues at SAP; Google buys ask-your-friends site; Sprint picks Real Networks for ringtones, music; “mobi” domain gets a new owner.
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A roundup of the latest high-tech news from The Associated Press:
• Leadership changes continue at Germany's SAP
NEW YORK — Less than a week after the surprise resignation of its CEO, German software maker SAP AG said board member John Schwarz had resigned.
The company on Thursday also named a new chief operating officer.
The changes in leadership were announced by the newly installed co-CEOs, who took over after CEO Leo Apotheker resigned Sunday.
Last month, SAP, which develops programs for corporate payrolls, inventory management and accounting, said its fourth-quarter net income fell 12 percent to $995.3 million.
The company said Thursday that Gerhard Oswald, a board member since 1996 who has overseen the company's service and support business, would succeed Erwin Gunst as COO. The company said Gunst, who has had the job since 2008, stepped down for health reasons.
SAP did not give a reason for the resignation of board member John Schwarz. Messages left with SAP seeking comment were not immediately returned Thursday.
Schwarz joined the company in 2008, when SAP bought out Paris-based Business Objects SA, a software company he headed.
In a statement, SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner said, "We regret that John Schwarz has decided to leave the company."
SAP also provided a statement from Schwarz, saying, "My decision to leave gives me an opportunity to step back and think through how I can continue to contribute to an industry of which I have been part for 38 years."
• Google buys ask-your-friends site Aardvark
SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. has bought Aardvark, a free question-and-answer Web service.
Aardvark co-founder Damon Horowitz confirmed the purchase Thursday. He would not disclose financial details.
Aardvark was formed in 2007 by Horowitz and three others — two of whom are former Google employees. It lets users ask questions online that are routed to friends and friends of friends. The goal is to get relevant answers on any topic as quickly as possible. Users can ask questions through Aardvark's Web site, Twitter, over Google Chat or via e-mail. Aardvark had more than 90,000 users as of last October.
Buying Aardvark is the latest effort by Google to own more services — and capture more of people's online time — rather than just linking to other sites.
• Irish domain name company buys '.mobi' suffix
NEW YORK — An Irish company is buying a venture that was founded by leading technology and wireless companies and operates the ".mobi" Internet domain for mobile Web sites.
The company — Afilias — already owns ".info" and had been running ".mobi" and others under contract. Now by owning ".mobi" outright, Afilias gets an undisclosed annual fee for each of the nearly 1 million ".mobi" names registered.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
The ".mobi" suffix began operations in 2006 as a home for Web sites that are specially adapted for mobile devices and their smaller screens. The founders of the company that had owned the domain, mTLD Top-Level Domain Ltd., include Nokia Corp., Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and T-Mobile.
• Real Networks to manage Sprint ringtones, music
SEATTLE — RealNetworks Inc., a provider of streaming digital music technology, said Thursday that it will manage ringtones and full-track music services for Sprint Corp.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
A RealNetworks spokeswoman said the company is taking over from several vendors that performed different aspects of the services for Sprint. Customers who purchase ringtones, ringback tones — tones that callers hear — and music now will be using services handled by RealNetworks.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Copyright 2012 WRAL Tech Wire. All rights reserved.
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