Database and applications giant Oracle endured a further fall in both revenue and net income in its latest quarter. Revenues for the third quarter of 2002 fell 17% to $2.2 billion, compared with $2.7 billion for the same period in 2001. Net income dropped 13% to $508 million, down from $582.7 million the year before.

Licence revenue fell in both applications – traditionally Oracle's strongest growth area – and databases, where revenue dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter. Overall licence revenues (including new sales and updates) declined by 37% to $1.37 billion and at that rate will be down 20% for the company's full fiscal year to 31 May 2002.

Oracle executives were quick to blame the near-universal slowdown in IT spending for its continued slump in sales, but analysts at AMR Research say the lagging economy cannot take the blame entirely. "Recent economic conditions are certainly a factor in many technology vendors' earnings, but Oracle has to look at its recent execution as the main culprit," says AMR.