THE WRAP: Tech joins the rout

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This week the tech sector succumbed to the general economic rout, with stocks sliding across the board and staff cuts telecom firms and eBay.

eBay announced it would lay off 1,600 staff, while also laying out $1.3 billion on billing firm and two classified ad companies.

The US Labor Department reported that telecom firms cut 3,400 jobs in September. Computer and electronics hirings fell to zero from more than 5,000 in August.

SingTel blamed the economy for its hike in fixed-line rentals and call charges.

SAP's stock slid after it issued a third-quarter profit warning. Yahoo's stock hit successive new lows.

Silicon Valley VC Sequoia told its portfolio companies to prepare for tough times ahead.

On the upside, IBM beat Wall Street estimates. A report predicted global cellular penetration would grow from 50% to 80% in 2013 - but ARPU would fall by a third to $15.80.

Chip firm AMD split into two companies and took on an extra $6 billion in capital from two Abu Dhabi investment firms.

The Alibaba Group will invest 5 billion yuan ($733 million) to develop online auction group Taobao over five years.

Hong Kong regulator Ofta will sell off at least six wireless broadband licenses in the 2.3GHz and 2.5 GHz range next January.

Chinese government agencies ordered the three big telcos to share mobile towers and other infrastructure to avoid duplication.

RIM launched the BlackBerry Storm, its first touchscreen phone.

Google unwrapped Mail Goggles, aimed at stopping people sending email late at night that they would later regret.

Google also introduced in-game advertising, and with Yahoo agreed to a "brief" delay in the pair's online ad deal to allow the Justice Department more time to examine it.

Microsoft unveiled a loyalty program to drive traffic to its search engine. US users will be able to redeem "Search Perks" for music downloads , T-shirts or air miles.

Steve Ballmer promised a cloud version of Windows. Fujitsu is mulling the sale of its hard-drive business. Islamist terror groups are recruiting Indian IT engineers.

A US court temporarily shut down Real Networks' RealDVD service, which allows users to record material from DVDs.

An "irregularity" in the autopilot caused a Qantas jet to drop steeply en route to Perth from Singapore, injuring 74 people.

Telstra can't make up its mind about Australia's next-gen broadband tender.

Fake microchips from China are finding their way into US military equipment.

And former NSA staff said the spy agency listened in on the personal phone calls of US military officers and aid workers calling home from Iraq.