SAP, Market Lead Under Pressure, Says Oracle `Misleads' Clients

Doesn't look like these guys ever made-up.  Original Article on bloomberg.com

By Benedikt Kammel and Kenneth Wong

                        

      Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- SAP AG, under pressure from Oracle Corp. to maintain its top position in the business-management software market, said the U.S. company is ``misleading'' customers with comments about SAP's product strategy and acquisitions.         

      

Remarks from Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison yesterday ``continue to be inconsistent and misleading,'' Walldorf, Germany- based SAP said in a statement on PR Newswire. It's the first time SAP has directly responded to Oracle's comments on earnings.         

      

Redwood City, California-based Oracle spent almost $20 billion in two years to peel away at SAP's dominance. The German company, the biggest producer of software for functions such as billing and human resources, said in July software sales in the second quarter missed expectations and conceded it lost market share to Oracle and Microsoft Corp.