Office for Mac delayed to 2008

Pacific Northwest

Microsoft

Microsoft's forthcoming version of its Office software for Macintosh computers, facing quality issues, will not be released until early next year.

Craig Eisler, general manager of Microsoft's Mac business unit, said Wednesday that the company is aiming to have the package of word processing, spreadsheet and scheduling software available in mid-January 2008, around the time of the Macworld conference. Global availability is now scheduled for sometime in the first quarter of 2008.

Microsoft had been aiming to have Office 2008 for Mac available in the second half of this year.

Eisler would not identify any specific quality issues that caused the company to push back the release dates. "It was really across the board," he said, noting that there are several new features and file formats in this version of Office, which was made broadly available for PC users in January.

Boeing

India airline adds 3 jets to order

Jet Airways, India's largest private airline, has exercised options to buy three extended-range 777 jetliners, adding to an order it placed two years ago for 10 777-300ERs, the companies said Wednesday. The latest order is worth more than $790 million at list prices.

Separately, WestJet, Canada's second-biggest carrier, said Tuesday that it will buy 20 Boeing 737 jetliners. The deal is valued at about $700 million at list prices.

Boeing

Northrop dispute goes to court

Boeing, the second-largest U.S. defense contractor, has asked a court to force Northrop Grumman to participate in arbitration to resolve a dispute over a government contract to build satellites.

Northrop violated a so-called joint teaming agreement between the companies by deciding to build the main body of the satellite on its own instead of subcontracting the work to Boeing, according to a petition filed last Friday by Boeing in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The court filing didn't specify the nature or value of the contract. Northrop is the third-largest U.S. defense contractor. Lockheed Martin is the largest.

Nation / World

Northwest Airlines

Airline, union reach agreement

Northwest Airlines and a pilots union reached a tentative labor agreement after flight cancellations spurred, in part, by a lack of pilots dented second-quarter earnings by $25 million.

The accord with the Air Line Pilots Association has to be ratified by its members, the company said Wednesday. The union represents all 4,900 of Northwest's pilots. The pilots denied any excess absenteeism, citing a shortage of crews.

Qwest Communications

Net income more than doubled

Qwest Communications International said Wednesday its second-quarter net income more than doubled as the telecommunications company cut operating expenses by 4 percent, which offset lower sales. Qwestcontinued to add customers for its bundled packages of Internet, phone and television services while the number of traditional phone service customers fell 7 percent. Chief Executive Dick Notebaert, who is stepping down, said he expects an announcement on a successor soon.

Amp'd Mobile

Network shutting down

Bankrupt Amp'd Mobile was expected to shut down its 19-month-old network at midnight, sending customers to the buyer of the company.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Brendan Linehan Shannon in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday approved the sale of the company's primary asset, its base of 60,000 remaining customers, said Amp'd Mobile lawyer Steve Yoder. Most customers were young and unable to pay the hefty bills for downloading television shows on their mobile phones, he said. Prexar Mobile, an affiliate of Close Call America, bought Amp'd.

Airlines

Airlines agree to fines, guilty plea

British Airways and Korean Air each have agreed to pay $300 million in fines and plead guilty to federal charges that they colluded with other airlines to set ticket prices.

The fines are expected to be the first of several stemming from a probe into fuel-related fees that international carriers charged cargo customers and passengers — some as high as $110 per ticket.

Micron Technology

5% of work force may be fired

Micron Technology, the largest U.S. maker of computer-memory chips, may fire 5 percent of its global work force as the company tries to curb losses. Micron, which said last month it would trim about 10 percent of its 11,000 Idaho workers, is seeking additional cuts worldwide, a spokesman said. The company had about 23,000 employees before the reductions began, he said.

Manufacturing

Sector grew; expansion slow

While the U.S. manufacturing sector grew for the sixth consecutive month in July, expansion was the slowest since March, a survey said Wednesday. The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index registered 53.8 in July, down from 56.0 in June.

Compiled from Seattle Times staff, the Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News