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Overall Mac sales up 21%, desktops up 74% year over year
There's probably a number of reasons why this might have happened (and we're sure you can come up with more than we can), but nevertheless, here you go: overall Mac sales are up by 21 percent in October and November since last year at the same time, according to Gene Munster (not pictured), analyst at Piper Jaffray. Desktop Mac sales are especially huge, with the rise as high as 74%, which seems like a typo next to MacBook and MacBook Pro increases of just five percent. In fact, those gigantic desktop sales, some reason, might actually be the reason behind the recent iMac delays. At any rate, no matter why, Apple is making a boatload on Macs this quarter already. Even without the bulk of the holiday season, the desktops were already flying off the shelves in huge numbers compared to last year.
Nokia posts $834 million quarterly loss, smartphone share down to 35%
Nokia just posted a net loss of 559 million euro (834 million dollars) for the third quarter -- its first quarterly loss in a decade according to the AFP. The loss comes after a reported 20% drop in sales and 1.17 billion euros in write-downs, mostly for impairment charges on Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia also said that its smartphone market share dropped to 35% versus 41% in the previous quarter. With fierce competition from Apple and RIM, and Palm just launching its Pre into Nokia's European stronghold, well, it's a good thing Nokia's branching out into untapped markets like single-core Atom-based netbooks. Read -- Smartphone slip Read -- First loss in a decade Read -- Nokia Q3 statement
Sony Ericsson posts $299 million Q2 2009 loss, PlayStation-integrated phone (probably Aino) coming Q4
The good news, if you want to call it that, is that Sony Ericsson's most recent quarter loss is not as bad as its epic $382 million tab prior, and at this point there's no talk of further en masse job cuts. That said, this new report isn't exactly sunshine, and the Q2 results show a 213 million Euro ($299 million) net loss. Product shipments were around 13.8 million, down 43 percent compared with last year. Some blame is attributed to the focus on mid-tier feature phones in lieu of a greater smartphone push -- SE says it's working to correct that direction, but its higher end devices won't hit until fourth quarter. One interesting note is that one of those late-year handhelds is said to "integrate with PlayStation," but before you get excited over the oft-rumored PSP phone, we'd venture to say it's more likely that description's referencing the Remote Play-supporting Aino. From what we can tell, there's no indication of what's in the cards to improve Q3, so we won''t exactly be surprised if the story repeats itself three months from now.
Sony Ericsson posts epic quarterly loss, adds another round of job cuts
Some good news, please, Sony Ericsson? Anything? Perhaps a surprise Idou ship date? You desperately need something to counter this dismal quarterly report you just dropped on a bad news-saturated public, showing a net loss of €293 million (about $382 million) in the three-month period ending March 31 -- more than €100 million more than the amount you shed in the quarter prior. Despite reassurances to the contrary, we suspect that neither Sony nor Ericsson are prepared to tolerate red ink out of their joint venture forever, and it doesn't help that you've put Android on the back burner indefinitely. What's more, we thought your staff might be able to exhale now that the "cost saving program" to curtail spending by €300 million by cutting 2,000 jobs is complete, but you've coupled the bleak report with the announcement of an additional 2,000 cuts. Your shipped units are off a staggering 35 percent year over year, to boot; maybe the "good" news -- and we're really reaching here -- is that your European rivals are sharing in your pain right about now. Chins up, guys, and get some quality product out of the labs.
Jagex looking strong for 2009
Jagex, the developer of the popular free-to-play browser based MMO Runescape, is looking very good as they enter into 2009 with two of their best quarters behind them and a brand new game ahead. RuneScape has already been hailed as the largest free-to-play game in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, featuring 1 million paying players and 5 million free players.Besides giving Blizzard a run for "which company could fill a pool with money and swim in it," Jagex is also preparing a brand new MMO game, set in the confines of science-fiction and giant robots. MechScape, as the project is currently known, will feature deeper gameplay than its fantasy cousin to target a brand new audience. MechScape will be based from RuneScape's technology and will feature graphics of a higher caliber than RuneScape HD. You can look for much more information regarding this project in our GDC interview with Jagex, releasing tomorrow.
AT&T reports fourth quarter earnings, things looking less rosy
Verizon managed to pull off an impressive 15 percent growth in revenue in the fourth quarter of the year thanks in large part to its wireless unit, but its closest rival -- AT&T -- didn't manage to come across the same good fortune. Contrasting to its strong Q3, reported earnings per share fell 10 cents in Q4 versus the year prior, making for a nearly 20 percent drop; on the upside, full-year EPS still rose from $1.97 to $2.16 on the strength of 2008's first three quarters. The last three months of the year saw some 1.9 million iPhone 3G activations, 40 percent of which were new to the carrier -- not bad -- and data revenues consider to shoot through the roof, rising another 51.2 percent. Might as well invest the revenue you do have into beefing up that data network now that you've got everyone hooked on it, eh, guys?
AT&T sees 232,000 net U-verse additions in Q3
In Q2 of this year, AT&T finally surpassed the half million subscriber mark with its fiber-based U-verse TV service. Now that Q3 has come and gone, it's proudly announcing that it saw a net gain of 232,000 customers over the past three months. As it stands, the provider has 781,000 paying U-verse TV users, and AT&T has personally confirmed to us that it intends on meeting or exceeding the goal of one million by the year's end. In other words, expect some serious sales pitches if you're residing in a U-verse TV area (and aren't already a sub).
Netflix sees 30% rise in profit, expects 500,000 Blu-ray subscribers
The current marketplace as a whole may be shaky, but while others are hanging their heads as they mumble about Q3 downfalls, Netflix is grinning from ear-to-ear. Citing lower subscriber costs, the rental outfit proudly announced a 30% increase in profits today while slightly reducing its Q4 revenue estimate. During Q3 2008, the company earned $20.4 million compared with $15.6 million a year ago while revenue rose from $294 million to $341.4 million. In related news, it also said that it "expects about 500,000 of its 8.7 million subscribers [to] be Blu-ray subscribers in the current quarter," meaning that around 5.7% of its customers would be voluntarily paying the $1 monthly premium to keep BD flicks coming. Good on you, Netflix.[Image courtesy of Flickr]Read - Netflix quarterly earningsRead - Netflix Blu-ray subscribers
Nokia's net income slips 30%, sales and market share slide too
Man, what a difference a year makes. Almost 12 months ago to the day, the suits in Espoo were celebrating with extreme joviality after seeing profits soar a whopping 85% to $2.2 billion. Today, those same folks (plus / minus a few) are hanging their heads along with just about every other mega-corp on the planet. As credit tightens and the economy slows around the globe, people have apparently decided that another shiny new Nokia probably shouldn't be numero uno on the priority list. To that end, Nokia saw its net income sink 30% to around $1.47 billion while sales slipped 5% and market share fell ever-so-slightly to 38% (from 40% in January). Granted, it's not like Nokia didn't warn us that this was coming, but we're sure that doesn't make things any easier to swallow for shareholders. At least the gift giving season is just around the bend, right? Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.[Via mocoNews]
Struggling Toshiba looks for help from LCDs, not Blu-ray
As with scads of other mega-corps attempting to keep their chins up while the global economy decides what it wants to do, Toshiba has announced that it is now forecasting a $468 million net loss in the first half of 2008. Interestingly, it's being reported that the firm is looking to its LCD HDTVs for growth as its chip business struggles, with plans to grab over 10% of the worldwide LCD TV market by 2011. For whatever reason, the outfit is still refusing to play ball with the lone remaining high-definition movie format, with Corporate Senior Vice President Yoshihide Fujii proclaiming that it has "no intention of adopting Blu-ray for [its] DVD players and recorders." Quite honestly, Tosh's refusal to go Blu is beyond the point of comic relief -- now, it's just downright perplexing.Read - Toshiba dips into the redRead - Toshiba counts on LCD TV growthRead - Toshiba again refuses to go Blu
North American TV shipments up 28% year-over-year, Samsung gets bragging rights
Despite the weakening economy here in the US and elsewhere, people are -- as predicted -- still showing interest in HDTV. Shortly after seeing what a nice Q2 the plasma sector had, DisplaySearch has revealed that TV shipments in general were way, way up in said quarter. In fact, North America saw the biggest year-over-year increase (28%) since the outfit started tracking TV shipments in 2004; then there's the 26% quarter-over-quarter growth, which is equally impressive. LCD TV shipments rose 52% compared to last year while PDP shipments shot up 34% in the same period, and it's safe to say that Samsung has the most to gloat about. It was the leading overall brand with shipments of its sets surging to a record 19.1% of all shipments in North America during Q2. Anxious to see who took the proverbial silver / bronze? Check out all of the stats in the read link below.
Australia's Foxtel nets 40,000 new subscribers since HD+ launch
Only a few months have passed since Australia's Foxtel launched its HD+ service, and judging by the numbers, Aussies are warming to high-def. The carrier just posted a 17% rise in revenue (up to $1.7 billion), and it's expecting the numbers to remain high as more consumers cave to the temptation of high-definition programming. Furthermore, 40,000 new users have signed on since the HD+ launch, and the average revenue per user has skyrocketed to nearly $85 per month "as a result of a higher take-up of additional services such as Foxtel iQ." There's no specific mention of additional HD channels, but given that bigwigs surely realize how critical they are to revenue growth, we can't imagine them not giving you folks a few more here shortly.
Softbank's operating profit climbs 8.1%, isn't good enough
Seen exclusively, an 8.1% rise in operating profit is pretty remarkable. But when you consider that rival NTT DoCoMo just posted a 41% boost in profits... well, you get the point. Unsurprisingly, Softbank was able to increase its profits by reducing the amount of subsidies it applied to phones -- which obviously led to fewer new handset sales overall -- but analysts were still perturbed by the amount of discounts it did hand over. Reportedly, the street was expecting operating profits to top ¥86.1 billion ($805.7 million), but the outfit wound up missing the mark by a cool billion yen ($9.36 million). As for the iPhone 3G influence? Gotta wait 'til next quarter, bub.[Via mocoNews]
Motorola manages minuscule profit, clings to bronze medal
It has been a solid tick since Motorola had a quarterly earnings report that it didn't just send over via the paper airplane method and run for the hills, but the most recent one was actually worth cracking a smile over. After moving more mobiles in North America than it expected too, shares shot up 13% and bullish analysts began to think that the worst was over. Chief Executive Greg Brown noted that Moto will be "adding substantially to its product portfolio" here in the near future, which will hopefully enable it to get a stronger grasp on the number 3 handset maker ranking. During the most recent quarter, the outfit shipped 28.1 million phones to just barely maintain its market share lead over LG, though it remains to be seen if it can keep this up. No pressure Moto, no pressure at all.[Via RCRWireless]
China Mobile soars past the 600 million subscriber mark, refuses to slow down
Just last April, we heard that China Mobile had acquired more subscribers than the entire population of the United States of America. 15 months later, it has doubled up on that figure. Yep, China Mobile has just broken the 600 million subscriber mark as the country as a whole added 53.5 million new wireless users from January to June. Consequently, fixed-line customers fell by 9.3 million to 356 million during the same window of time. So, what's the over / under on months before the carrier breaks the big 1 billion?[Via IntoMobile]
Matsushita profit soars 86% on the wings of high flat-panel sales
So Sony didn't do so hot this quarter, but that's not to say someone else can't have fun at its expense. Matsushita Electric just posted its most recent quarterly earnings, and needless to say, it's probably pretty stoked about the 86% rise in profit. According to reports, the majority of the credit goes to digital camera and flat-panel television sales, and even though sales actually decreased 4%, operating profit still rose 48% from a year prior. Good to see someone's making sure that flat-panels rule the consumer electronics roost in 2008.
NTT DoCoMo posts 41% profit increase on reduced handset subsidies
Go 'head with your bad self, NTT DoCoMo. Party on down 'til six in the morning, because you just posted a quarterly profit increase of 41%. What's to thank for such a remarkable boost? According to a Bloomberg report, the outfit's decision to "reduce handset subsidies to customers" enabled it to bring in more cash despite the fact that sales fell 1.1% in the same quarter. President Ryuji Yamada proclaimed that the "acceptance of the monthly handset payment plan by our users helped bolster profits in the quarter," and he also highlighted a "considerable decline in the cancellation ratio." Still, some analysts are uncertain if the telecom company can maintain the growth, with Deutsche Bank AG's Kenji Nishimura stating that the "increase in profit was merely caused by the change in the accounting." Snap DoCoMo, are you just going to take that?[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of Flickr]
Verizon has its own data success story in Q2 earnings
AT&T isn't having all the fun when it comes to subscribers' newfound love for data. Verizon has published the nitty gritty details of its second quarter earnings this week, revealing that data ARPU is up some 31.3 percent year over year -- undoubtedly a reflection on devices like the Glyde and XV6900 that are making email and quick visits to Engadget Mobile during morning meetings not just possible, but usably so. What's more, net adds totaled 1.5 million in the quarter, besting AT&T's 1.3 million -- not to say it needs to, considering the Alltel acquisition will end up giving 'em more than enough ammo to propel back into the number one spot, assuming that it ends up getting approved.[Via mocoNews]
DisplaySearch Q2 plasma results shows big growth, Matsushita on top
Oh, how quickly the mighty have fallen (again). Shortly after Matsushita dropped to third in plasma shipments in Q1, the outfit has leapfrogged both LG and Samsung SDI in order to claim the gold in Q2 2008. The outfit's revenue share skyrocketed from 29.4% to 36.8%, showing a 23% year-over-year improvement. Also of note, 1080p PDPs saw remarkable growth (54% year-over-year) this quarter, which were reportedly driven by sales of 46-inch models. Looking at Matsushita in particular, over 43% of its plasma shipments in Q2 were 1080p, and overall it "accounted for over 70% of all 1080p PDP shipments." Anyone taking bets on who comes out on top in Q3?
Palm's 10-K filing reveals smaller acquisitions, reads like a mystery novel
So Palm, what exactly have you been up to lately? Besides pumping out that tired, ho hum 800w, of course. The snoopers over at monoNews went and dug through your latest 10-K filing, and it seems as if that noteworthy Elevation Partners deal wasn't the only agreement you were wrapped up in during the past little while. As a matter of fact, we're seeing that during February of 2007, you "acquired the assets of two sole proprietorships [at a cost of $19.2 million] focused on mobile computing and media devices, one a developer of user interface environments and the other a developer of email software applications." Oh, and in October of last year, you "acquired substantially all of the assets [for $500,000] of a corporation focused on developing solutions to enhance the performance of web applications." Curiously, you nonchalantly failed to mention any names, but it's pretty clear that those new pick-ups weren't utilized in the last 16 months or so. [Via mocoNews, image courtesy of DayLife]
