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Keychron's Q1 keyboard is its most customizable yet
Customizable keyboards can get expensive, fast. The Q1 from Keychron proves that it doesn't always have to be a choice between price and quality.
Nintendo's sales can't keep up with last year's lockdown boom
No games company can compete with COVID-19.
Samsung's profits rose in Q1, but the chip shortage looms over Q2
Samsung's consumer electronics profits hit a new record high for Q1, but the company warned investors that sales will slow in Q2 due to component shortages.
Spotify now has 158 million Premium subscribers
It's slower growth after an explosive 2020, but one that Spotify was expecting.
Netflix's subscriber numbers fall off from 2020's boom
Netflix has 207 million customers, but only added 4 million in the last quarter.
Dropbox was profitable for the first time since going public
Dropbox brought in $455 million last quarter, an increase of 18 percent compared to the same period last year.
Roku has 29.1 million active users (and no profit)
Roku is finding that there are benefits to being the neutral player in the bloodthirsty wars for our hearts, wallets and streaming service subscriptions. The company's most recent financial figures show that it's possible to get ahead even when you're not backed by a big tech player like Amazon, Apple or Google. In the most recent quarter, Roku devices were used on an average of 3.5 hours a day, making it one of the most used devices in your home.
Spotify has 100 million Premium users
Spotify has 100 million Premium users, the company has announced in its most recent financial figures. In total, the streaming service has 217 million users, 117 million of which are enjoying the free, ad supported tier.
Twitter still has a growth problem
If you read enough of the news, you might think that Twitter (and its CEO) is laying dead in the water for all to see. But, in its most recent financial statements, the company is proudly declaring that it isn't dead yet, and may not be for some time. In the last three months, Twitter's user numbers rebounded and its operating income continued its slow, but steady, rise.
Netflix reaches 148 million subscribers, will test 'top 10' lists
The first Netflix earnings report since its latest price hike and the unveiling of competitors from both Disney and Apple is here. Last year at this time Netflix crossed the 125 million subscriber mark with its second biggest quarterly addition of subscribers ever. Now it has over 148 million subscribers around the world, and added 9.6 million in the last three months, more than the 8.9 million it expected.
Tesla: Model 3 production could hit 5,000 per week in two months
One of the major stories about Tesla's car business has been its struggle to build sufficient quantities of its Model 3 electric car. In a just-released earnings report the company said that prior to its most recent shutdown, it had managed to build over 2,000 cars per week for three weeks in a row for the first time, and anticipates it will manage 5,000 per week in two months. Following comments from Elon Musk that over-reliance on robots slowed production, the earnings report expanded on that angle. In certain production areas like "portions of the battery module line, part of the material flow system, and two steps of general assembly" it has "temporarily" dialed back automation in favor of semi-automated or manual processes. If it can hit its production goals, Tesla also claims that it can be profitable in Q3 and Q4 of this year. On an earnings call after the release, Musk specifically detailed a "Flufferbot" Tesla created to place fluff on a battery, before determining that humans were better at it and that the fluff wasn't necessary. He also chided journalists for coverage of Autopilot-related crashes, claiming that they shouldn't be writing about it, since, he said, it could lead to people turning off the feature and dying in a crash. Expect to see "quarterly safety statistics" from Tesla about the feature going forward. That people have died with the feature engaged did not come up. Musk also got tired of "boring" questions from investors and turned for a few minutes to crowdsourced questions from YouTube.
Twitter posts another profit and adds 6 million users
Three months ago, Twitter was able to tell the world that, for the first time in its 12-year life, it had made a profit. The company can now say that those good numbers weren't a blip, since it has now notched a first quarter profit of $61 million. That's down a little from the $91 million it made in the previous three months, but the news is good enough to get the champagne corks popping in San Francisco.
Netflix subscriber count hits 125 million
Netflix's first quarterly report for the 2018 financial year shows that after notching its most subscriber additions in Q4 2017 (8.33 million) it barely slowed down. Over the last three months, it added another 7.4 million subscribers (1.96 million of them in the US), its second-biggest quarter ever and enough to hit 125 million subscribers on the dot. The ongoing flood of new content certainly helps, including stunts like its Super Bowl Sunday release of The Cloverfield Paradox. Despite the response from critics Netflix still said: "the event showcased how a big branded film can be marketed and delivered to consumers instantaneously across the globe without a wait for the theatrical window." Meanwhile, the Spanish series Money Heist became its "most-watched non-English series on Netflix ever." As far as the controversy over eligibility for awards like Cannes, Netflix reiterated that it wouldn't do anything that would prevent viewers in France from seeing its films right away. While confirming that it will spend between $7.5 and $8 billion this year on content, there isn't much new to announce. Netflix touched on its expanded agreement with Comcast briefly, and while it didn't reveal bundle prices it said "We believe that the lower churn in these bundles offsets the lower Netflix ASP" so we'd expect some discount. It already as an agreement in the US with T-Mobile, plus Sky, Proximus and SFR Altice in Europe. The company has also posted the video of its earnings q&a call for the quarter. In it, content chief Ted Sarandos declined to comment on rumors Netflix is working on a deal with the Obamas, but shot down rumors of a 60 Minutes-like show, saying: "The move into news has been misreported over and over again." CEO Reed Hastings responded to a question about privacy and data issues like the ones Facebook is dealing with by saying he believes the company is "substantially inoculated" from them, and that he's glad they "built the business not to be ad supported" in opting for a subscription model.
Sony's turnaround strategy is working
When Sony nominated Kaz Hirai to lead the corporation, he laid out an ambitious strategy that he titled One Sony. Hirai identified three key markets where he wanted Sony to be a leader: digital imaging, gaming and mobile, with the trio pushed accordingly. Five years later, and Hirai's managed to hit two out of three targets, with Sony's most recent financial reports vindicating his plan.
Snap has struggled to gain users since going public
Three months ago, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. filed for its initial public offering, a milestone move for the now six-year-old ephemeral messaging app. In that report, it revealed some key information about its business: 158 million people use its product everyday and it had over $500 million in losses on $400 million in revenue in 2016. Well, it's now time for the company's first ever earnings report as a public company and, uh, it doesn't look too pretty.
Tesla says it's still on track to build the Model 3 in July
As customers holding pre-orders wait for the Model 3 to arrive, Tesla says everything is proceeding according to plan. In today's Q1 earning report (PDF), the company announced it's still on track to start production in July, and will be able to build up to 5,000 of the cars per week this year, with plans to scale production up to 10,000 per week next year. To service all those EVs (plus the ones already on the road, some of which will soon start to outlive their manufacturer warranties), it's massively expanding that department.
LG's smartphones are no longer hurting the company
It's a testament to how topsy-turvy the mobile world is that a company can make its seventh successive quarterly loss and still feel good. That's because LG's mobile division, which managed to burn almost 500 billion Korean won in the last three months of 2016, has managed to stem the flow of blood from its neck. In fact, in the first quarter of 2017, the division managed to lose just 200 million Korean won, or $176,206.
Twitter is gaining more users, losing less money
Twitter has updated us on the state of its business and, if you squint, you can almost see that things are picking up for the service. The company revealed that while revenues fell by $164 million, it managed to trim its quarterly losses down to just $62 million. By comparison, Twitter burned $167 million in the last three months of 2016 and $80 million in the same quarter last year.
Netflix expects to sign up its 100 millionth subscriber this weekend
Netflix's earnings report is out (PDF), and the nearly-worldwide video streaming company has seen its subscriber count creep up to 98.75 million (two years ago, it was at 59 million). To close the letter to investors, execs said they expect to cross the 100 million customer barrier this weekend, as they reorganized their data to deemphasize subscriber count in favor of revenue growth and operating margins. The company also reported that Dave Chappelle: Collection 1 is its most-viewed comedy special ever.
Sony's mobile division (sorta) makes a profit
Sony's most recent financial report is out and, if you squint, things almost look good for its moribund mobile division. Sony Mobile posted a profit of $4 million, which the company attributed to the fact that it's fired enough people to get its costs to break even. If you want to put a positive spin on things, it looks like a greatly-slimmed down phone business might generate just enough money to keep it going. Given that Sony's had to cover Mobile's losses with PlayStation's gains for the last few years, some executives may be reaching for the champagne.
