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Microsoft first-quarter income down 18 percent, still beats expectations
Microsoft just turned in its first quarter financial report card, and while the good vibes around Windows 7 launch haven't yet begun to fade, the numbers here aren't exactly cheery: revenue is down 14 percent from last year at $12.92b, operating income is down 25 percent at $4.48b, net income is down 18 percent at $3.57b, and earnings per share are down 17 percent at $0.40. Not wonderful, but it's better than analysts were expecting, and the stock is actually way up on the news. Adding in the deferred revenue from early sales of Windows 7 makes things look a little better still, with only a four percent decline in revenue and an eight percent increase in earnings per share, and the Entertainment and Devices Division -- home of the Xbox 360 and Zune HD -- is also a bright spot, increasing income from $159m to $312m on essentially unchanged revenue. Of course, the big test will actually be next quarter, after Windows 7 has really had a chance to make an impact -- we'll see if all these warm fuzzies translate into cold hard cash.
AT&T's third quarter earnings come up all roses
AT&T has come clean with its third quarter earnings today, and on paper, it seems like big ol' Number Two doesn't have much to complain about as far as cash flow goes. EPS comes in at 54 cents, 4 cents more per share than the consensus estimate; revenue was up from the prior quarter (though down a bit from the same quarter a year ago) and they clocked in 2 million net adds, 1.4 million of which were postpaid. That now leaves AT&T with a staggering 81.6 million subs, 6.7 million more than a year ago. Meanwhile, 4.3 million new phones were activated on the network -- 3.2 million of which were iPhones, AT&T's best quarter ever for iPhone activations -- which might actually be perceived as a bad sign for the company seeing how it stresses how heavily reliant it is on Apple's baby for customer conquests. Data continues to be a heavy focus with data-focused revenue up 33.6 percent from the same period last year, and for everyone's sake, we hope that every cent of that revenue is going right back into the network.
Apple reports fiscal Q4 earnings: $1.67b profit, Mac sales way up, iPod sales down, 'great new products' for 2010
Apple's fiscal Q4 2009 conference call is just about to begin, but the press release is already out and about. Wondering how Jobs and Company did? Precisely like you thought they would: they're making out like gangbusters over there. While the rest of the world slowly sees profits inching back up, Apple's relishing in $1.67 billion worth of net profit it pulled in from $9.87 billion in revenue. A year ago, the outfit managed to post a quarterly profit of "just" $1.14 billion, and we're also told that gross margin was up 36.6 percent. It should be noted that international sales accounted for a whopping 46 percent of this quarter's revenue, and Mac computer sales managed to shoot up some 17 percent compared to the year-ago quarter. In keeping with Apple's own acknowledgment that the standalone iPod is dying, sales of the iconic media player dipped 8 percent year-over-year (10.2 million units were sold), while 7.4 million iPhones were moved representing a 7 percent uptick from this period a year ago. Stevie J himself is quoted as saying that Apple is "thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter," and in case you haven't noticed, the holiday quarter hasn't even been completed yet. Oh, and if you were looking for bread crumbs as for what's on deck, chew on this: "We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010." Great new products, you say? Would one of them happen to include some sort of, say, tablet PC? Catch our updates after the break...
Wii Sports approaches 50 million copies sold
In a supplement to Nintendo's earnings statement yesterday, the company released some sales numbers for top-selling games in the last quarter. Four Nintendo products sold over one million copies between April and July, only one of which was a new release anywhere in the world during that time.Pokemon Platinum on DS, which came out in North America in March, right before the quarter started, moved 1.91 million copies in Q1, for a life-to-date total of 5.66 million worldwide. It was an even better quarter for the Wii's evergreens. Wii Fit sold an additional 3.6 million copies, bringing its LTD to 21.82. Mario Kart Wii sold 2 million, making its total 17.39 million. And Wii Sports sold an additional 1.91 million copies, bringing its total sales number to a ridiculous 47.62 million, including copies sold in hardware bundles.And that's why there's a sequel.Source (PDF)
Warhammer holds its ground with 300k subs
A minor note in EA's most recent earnings report revealed that as of March 31, 2009, Warhammer Online had over 300,000 subscribers, which is right about where it was at in December 2008. What's that we hear in the distance? I do believe it's the sound of thousands of haters and fanboys doing glorious forum battle.Three hundred thousand players is actually a pretty good number these days. In fact, CCP was extremely happy to announce hitting the 300k+ mark today, on EVE's 6th birthday. Most MMO analysts would probably say WAR is one of the top 5 subscription MMOs in Europe/North America.On the other hand, EA and Mythic can't be too happy about the current population situation since Mark Jacobs has made a couple famous remarks about population numbers in the past. The first is that WAR would be successful if it had north of 500k subscribers. The second is that 250k subscribers doesn't look too good to investors when you've made an initial investment of over $50M and have high maintenance costs. You might also want to factor in that Mythic started a recruit-a-friend program, free trial, and launched in Russia all during the period of the quarter being reported on.With Aion set for release in fall 2009, WAR may soon face some stiff competition on the PvP/RvR front. A lot may be riding on Mythic's new live expansion, The Land of the Dead set for release this summer.
Microsoft profits sink for the first time in 23 years
In a not totally surprising -- yet still kind of striking -- turn of events, Microsoft is reporting that its sales have fallen for the first time in 23 years. You read that right, 23 years. According to numbers that the company has just released, sales fell 6 percent year-over-year, while overall net income dropped a staggering 32 percent. Those numbers are significant, but what's more telling is where those losses are coming from. Namely? Netbooks. Apparently, in the midst of a global downturn consumers really are buying cheaper, especially when it comes to tech, which puts a fairly significant crunch on Redmond's bottom line. A CNN reports suggests that the presence of Linux on those devices has contributed to the hurt here, but it's more likely that the combo of a market still unwelcoming to Vista and the wide popularity of XP on the low-power systems has more to do with these dipping profit margins. Oh, and that general, awful market depression. Still, it should serve as some kind of wake up call to Microsoft that just being the biggest doesn't guarantee that the money will keep rolling in the way it has in years past -- clearly the big picture isn't as sharp as it's always been. Hey Windows 7 -- no pressure, right? Update: We've tweaked some language in the post that made the situation sound more dire than intended. Don't worry everyone, we know Microsoft isn't going anywhere. [Via CNN]
SWTOR might be EA's best chance at improving profitability
In a recent article on Gamasutra, Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz discussed EA's disappointing performance of late, blaming the software giant's "inability to develop hit core-gamer console titles". This has led to him significantly lowering his estimates for their 2009 earnings. The analyst's reportings are fairly doom-and-gloom, but he did mention A New Hope for the company: Star Wars: The Old Republic.EA acquired BioWare, the developers of SWTOR, back in October last year. Creutz is of the belief that EA has really messed up their console campaign this generation, and SWTOR could be the "best chance" they have to increase profitability -- that is, if it can hold its own against the reigning champ World of Warcraft. We have faith that BioWare will be able to bring out a quality MMO, and you couldn't ask for a better IP. It really all depends on how well the title will have to do to be of any use to EA -- obviously better than Warhammer Online, which did not even earn a mention in the analyst's report.
Verizon adds 233,000 net new FiOS TV customers in Q3, up to 1.6 million total
Man, this is just downright eerie. If you'll recall, AT&T managed to add 232,000 net U-verse subscribers in Q3. Lo and behold, its biggest fiber rival (that'd be Verizon) added 233,000 net new FiOS TV customers in the same quarter. Coincidences aside, Verizon's pretty proud of its current position in the market, now claiming 1.6 million FiOS TV subscribers and offering the service for sale to 8.2 million premises in the United States. Just for comparisons sake, the outfit only had 700,000 subs at the end of Q3 2007, and it added just 176,000 newcomers in Q2 2008. In related news, it also managed to acquire 225,000 net new FiOS internet customers, and with cable companies jacking up rates left and right, we wouldn't be shocked at all to see even more frustrated pay-TV users make the leap to fiber in Q4.
Both AT&T and Verizon see very positive Q3s
While many industries are going through a bit of a rough patch (to put things mildly), both AT&T and Verizon are soaking up the sun. Or maybe that's just the beaming glow being emitted from their respective Q3 reports. Either way, AT&T reported a 2.0 million net gain in total wireless subscribers on the coattails of 2.4 million iPhone 3G activations, while it notched a 50.5% uptick in wireless data revenues and saw overall wireless revenues increase by 15.4%. As for Verizon Wireless, it witnessed 1.5 million net customer additions (excluding the 630,000 customers pulled in from its Rural Cellular acquisition), and it noted that data revenues -- which now comprise over a fourth of all service revenue -- shot up 42.5% to $2.8 billion. For numbers galore explaining just how well the pair did this past quarter, mount up your reading glasses and hit the links below.[Via mocoNews]Read - Verizon Q3 2008 earnings reportRead - AT&T Q3 2008 earnings report
Sony's profits drop drastically this quarter, 'Spider-Man 4' needed badly
According to Sony's latest earnings report, the company's profits have dipped to almost half of what they were at this time last year. Analysts are citing a strengthened yen, the lack of a major Hollywood blockbuster like Spider-Man 3, and continuing issues with its mobile phone arm as core reasons for the slide. It's no surprise that the company is taking a hit, especially after the outrageously poor performance of Sony Ericsson, though the numbers reveal that even improved sales of the PS3 this quarter can't sustain losses from core businesses like Sony BMG and fluctuating currency rates. Looks like the champagne will have to stay in the fridge this quarter.
