1. AT&T appears ready to ramp up investment in its networks now that it has completed its purchases of DirecTV, Iusacell and Nextel Mexico. The carrier said it is still forecasting total 2015 capital expenditures in the $21 billion range, although it only spent $13.9 billion during the first three quarters. That leaves $7 billion for the fourth quarter, which will be split between AT&T’s wireless and wireline networks.
2. Microsoft shares shot up more than 10% this morning after the company beat Wall Street’s expectations with its fiscal first quarter results, released late yesterday. Microsoft said revenue from its cloud-based Office 365 software rose almost 70%, offsetting declines in other business segments. During its fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft said it would write off most of the value of the handset business it acquired from Nokia, and that roughly 7,800 jobs would be eliminated.
3. Alphabet also beat estimates and delighted investors with its quarterly earnings report, booking $18.6 billion in revenue last quarter while the company was still called Google. The company said more than half its search queries now come from mobile, but did not say how much of its revenue comes from mobile search.
4. Ruckus Wireless acquired privately held Cloudpath Networks for an undisclosed sum. Ruckus said Cloudpath, based in Colorado, pioneered secure Wi-Fi onboarding in 2006 and has since become a leader in certificate-based Wi-Fi security with its automated, self-service software. Ruckus CEO Selina Lo said the company will immediately integrate the Cloudpath software into its Wi-Fi portfolio, and that it will simplify Wi-Fi onboarding for both IT-provisioned devices as well as those that users bring into a workplace or school.
5. Facebook released a new version of its Appple iOS app after users complained the previous version of the app was draining their iPhone batteries. The company said the new version of the app addresses some of the issues that were causing problems, and it is continuing to work on issues related to background audio that continues after a Facebook user watches a video.
