At that time, we also recognized that we'd feel price pressure in PCs and hard-disk drives. And our expectations here were right on track as well. |
Based on everything we know today, we believe the current earnings-per-share consensus for the fourth quarter is reasonable. |
Based on where we stand today, we expect to make these estimates. |
He was our best friend. I think he was to everybody who he knew ? Best friend. |
I'd have to shovel first and go to the church, and I don't appreciate that. |
IBM's strategy is to deliver superior business value through the fusion of business and technology. |
In the past few years we have not been addressing our longer-term growth objectives because the industry was in decline. We felt it would be naive to talk about growth when we knew our customers weren't spending. But in 2003 we said that the industry had stabilized and I would characterize 2004 as a year when the IT industry will begin its next growth cycle. |
It was basically the progression of the swelling of the brain. EEE takes a few days to tell what it is. |
Let me just say once and again that we are proud of our accounting and disclosure practices. We hope this issue is behind us and we'd like to move on. |
Services now represent nearly 50 percent of IBM's revenue. |
That's the thing about money in the United States and worldwide. It's constantly circulating. |
The first quarter traditionally is the weakest period of the year for technology purchases, and many of our customers chose to reduce or defer capital spending decisions until they see a sustained improvement in their businesses. |
The Y2K lockdown was very real. It certainly impacted our largest customers. |
There was a lot of business in the pipeline, but we simply failed to close contracts. |
We believe that the recent changes to the 2002 revenue and [earnings per share] estimates for IBM better reflect the current realities of the marketplace. |