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German court bans some iPhone sales over Qualcomm dispute
A court in Munich, Germany ordered an injunction against Apple that will prevent the company from selling some iPhones in the country, Reuters reported. The decision comes as part of an ongoing legal battle between the iPhone maker and chip manufacturer Qualcomm. Apple plans to appeal the ruling, but the company will stop selling the iPhone 7 and 8 during the appeal process. Those devices, as well as other iPhone models, will continue to be sold through carriers and third-party retailers in the country.
Japan's flip-phone love affair continues, smartphone shipments fall
In an alternate universe where up is down and black is white, more feature phones get shipped year-on-year while its replacement, the smartphone, sees sales stall. That's apparently what happened in Japan last year though, according to MM Research Institute. For the first time in seven years, flip-phone shipments grew -- and grew by 5.7 percent to a hard-to-comprehend 10.58 million units. In the same year, smartphones units shipped fell 5.3 percent, down to 27.7 million. Flip-phones still make up a surprisingly large proportion of phone sales in Japan and it's actually the second year in a row that the market research firm has noted a drop in smart device sales. MM Research's Hideaki Yokota told Reuters: "Smartphones are also peaking in terms of functionality and they tend to last a long time as well, so there are fewer renewals."
iPhone is fifth most popular in China
Apple would like to see better numbers overseas, but China is proving to be a tough market for Western corporations to crack. All Things D is reporting that Samsung is still king of the hill in China, with Samsung products still earning triple the sales of the iPhone. China is the world's biggest mobile market, and Apple wants more than the 7.5% share it is getting there so far. And the bad news doesn't stop there: According to the latest reports,Apple's share is actually diminishing. Part of the reason Apple can't get the traction it wants is that it refuses to make a deal with China's largest telecom company, China Mobile Ltd. That's going to be difficult, because China Mobile wants a share of App Store revenues, and that's a non-starter for Apple. With the two mobile partners Apple currently has, it will never get access to more than about a third of China's active cellular users. Someone will have to blink to make a deal, but so far it is a staring contest, and Apple remains in fifth place in sales. Samsung, on the other hand, is on all three big networks in China, and is reaping the rewards.
Samsung's Q2 profit drops 26 percent due to sluggish TV sales, demand for phones explodes
You may or may not have noticed, but we're once again in the thick of earnings season, and today Samsung's in the hot seat. The company has reported that its second-quarter profit fell 26 percent year-over-year to 3.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion), largely thanks to underwhelming sales of flat screen TVs and, to a lesser extent, semiconductors. That's a shade worse than the whiz kids over on Wall Street were expecting, according to Bloomberg. In fact, the demand for televisions was so disappointing that it overshadowed what was actually an impressive quarter for the outfit's mobile division -- sales of feature and smartphones quadrupled year-over-year to 19.2 million units, putting the company on track to further narrow the gap with Nokia, the world's bestselling handset maker. All told, this balanced out to a modest growth in revenue -- an uptick of 2.9 percent to 39 trillion won ($36.7 billion).
Sony Ericsson's Q1 profit falls 48 percent on weak sales, low supplies
We knew Sony Ericsson's supplies were tight following the recent natural disasters in Japan, but in retrospect it's clear the phone maker was already having a rough quarter. The company released its Q1 earnings today, and reported that its profit fell 48 percent to €11 million ($15.8 million) due to weak sales -- a shortfall compounded by higher taxes and quake-related supply constraints. To be fair, at this time last year, the company earned money after a sweet tax benefit, so its profit wasn't completely built on strong sales. All told, it sold 8.1 million phones in the most recent quarter -- down 23 percent from the same period a year ago, though the average selling price for handsets ticked up 5 percent. In particular, smartphones accounted for 60 percent of the company's sales, though by the company's own estimate, it's only snagged 5 percent of global market share. And, it seems, Sony Ericsson's management team isn't getting too ambitious -- it forecast just a "modest" uptick in overall phone sales in 2011.
HTC says its growth in the US is 'faster than others'
This one's fairly light on specifics, but HTC CEO Peter Chou has given an interview to The Wall Street Journal where he dropped a few interesting tidbits, the most notable being that HTC's growth in the US is apparently "faster than others." Exactly what that translates to in actual numbers is unclear, but Chou did say that HTC expects to ship more than the 5.5 million to 6 million smartphones it shipped in the US last year. That growth is apparently due in large part to support from Verizon and T-Mobile, which Chou says "started treating us as their first-tier suppliers last year" and gave the company some "strong momentum." Chou also went on to confirm that HTC will be introducing six new models for China in partnership with China Mobile this year, and that it's aiming to ship four to five million units to China annually by 2011.
US handset sales droop in Q1, RIM rides into top 5
Unless you've been squarely camped out under an atypically large boulder the past few months, you aren't apt to be taken aback by this news. Sure enough, handset sales declined 22-percent in Q1 2008, though the industry did move some 31 million mobiles during the post-holiday quarter. It was noted, however, that smartphones comprised 17-percent of all mobile sales, which marks a 10-percent increase from the prior quarter. When taking a look at the top five handset manufacturers, you'll find Motorola shakily perched at the top (27-percent), while RIM slipped past Sanyo to grab the five spot with 5-percent. Check the read link for all the gory details.
