financial

Apple suppliers had a very tough February

February is usually not a great month for the companies that supply Apple with its iOS and Mac device parts (Chinese New Year usually falls right in that month, and production in China always take a big downturn as people celebrate there). But this particular past February was especially bad, according to reports: Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White says that the suppliers for Apple that he tracks saw their sales data fall 31 percent over the past month, as compared to the usual 8 percent drop in past years. That makes for the worst February on record for Apple's suppliers, which may or may not soon have an impact on Apple. Now, with Apple's suppliers showing low sales data, that could mean more opportunity for Apple to step in with its big pile of cash and make sure that it has more components than ever to build new devices with, so it's not entirely clear that this will be a bad thing for the company from Cupertino. But of course Apple depends on these suppliers, and if they suffer increased economic pressure for any reason, Apple could experience consequences for its own business.

Apple's reality distortion field has assumed Wall Street

Despite robust profits, strong revenue growth and excellent brand awareness, reports predicting the downfall of Apple continue to make headlines. This paradox has many people shaking their heads, but analyst Ben Bajarin has a theory as to why Apple is slipping on Wall Street, even though it remains a market leader. Bajarin, writing for Time, argues that Apple's much-talked-about Reality Distortion field is alive and kicking and has taken up residence at Wall Street. Apple is the most profitable company, can't make enough products to meet demand and is the most admired by its peers. Yet Wall Street and media fanatics are claiming Apple is doomed. The reality distortion field is in full effect. Apple, Bajarin argues, is in a better position than its competitors and will continue to thrive. You can read his full analysis and rosy predictions for Apple in his post on Time's Big Picture opinion column.

Facebook finishes 2012 on a high note: Q4 revenue $1.585 billion, $64 million in net income

Facebook's Q3 earnings left something to be desired, as the social network posted a net loss. Zuckerberg and company have ended 2012 on a financial high note, however, as Facebook raked in $1.585 billion in revenue -- an increase of 40 percent year-over-year -- and net income of $64 million. The number of folks on Facebook also continues to grow, with its monthly active user count burgeoning to 1.06 billion as of December 31, 2012. Of particular interest is the breakdown of daily mobile vs. web users -- more folks used Facebook on phones and tablets than on the web for the first time in the company's history. Revenue generated from mobile isn't commensurate with the usage stats, however. Mobile advertising accounted for just 23 percent of the 'book's total ad revenue, though that is an increase from 14 percent in Q3, so that imbalance may not remain much longer. We'll be listening in on the earnings call and updating things here as more details are revealed, so stay tuned.

Apple's profit margin down, shares take a hit

We already know that iOS devices had a record-breaking quarter according to Apple's most recent earnings report, but that figure alone isn't enough to impress Wall Street. Unfortunately, while the company dodged a year-over-year loss in overall profit, the company's profit margin took a sizable hit, down 6.1 percentage points to 38.6% from a year earlier. This, combined with worries that current iPhone sales have flattened off considerably, helped to contribute to an after-hours hit to Apple's stock price. Currently, shares are down just over 10% (roughly 51 points) since trading closed.

Liveblog of Apple Q1 2013 Earnings Call

Apple announces Q1 2013 financial results

Apple has announced its Q1 2013 earnings. For the quarter that ended on December 31, 2012, the news is outstanding, with a record revenue of more than $54 billion and sales of more than 75 million iOS devices. In all, 47.8 million iPhones were sold in the quarter, as well as 22.9 million iPads and 4.1 million Macs. We'll be starting our liveblog at 4:50 PM ET here. Join us! Show full PR text Apple Reports Record Results 47.8 Million iPhones Sold; 22.9 Million iPads Sold CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple® today announced financial results for its 13-week fiscal 2013 first quarter ended December 29, 2012. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $46.3 billion and net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, in the 14-week year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 38.6 percent compared to 44.7 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter's revenue. "We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter" Average weekly revenue was $4.2 billion in the quarter compared to $3.3 billion in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold a record 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 37 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold a record 22.9 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 4.1 million Macs, compared to 5.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 12.7 million iPods in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple's Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable on February 14, 2013, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 11, 2013. "We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world." "We're pleased to have generated over $23 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "We established new all-time quarterly records for iPhone and iPad sales, significantly broadened our ecosystem, and generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever." Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2013 second quarter: • revenue between $41 billion and $43 billion • gross margin between 37.5 percent and 38.5 percent • operating expenses between $3.8 billion and $3.9 billion • other income/(expense) of $350 million • tax rate of 26% Apple will provide live streaming of its Q1 2013 financial results conference call beginning at 2:00 p.m. PST on January 23, 2013 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/earningsq113. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. This press release contains forward-looking statements including without limitation those about the Company's estimated revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, other income/(expense), and tax rate. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the effect of competitive and economic factors, and the Company's reaction to those factors, on consumer and business buying decisions with respect to the Company's products; continued competitive pressures in the marketplace; the ability of the Company to deliver to the marketplace and stimulate customer demand for new programs, products, and technological innovations on a timely basis; the effect that product introductions and transitions, changes in product pricing or mix, and/or increases in component costs could have on the Company's gross margin; the inventory risk associated with the Company's need to order or commit to order product components in advance of customer orders; the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain components and services essential to the Company's business currently obtained by the Company from sole or limited sources; the effect that the Company's dependency on manufacturing and logistics services provided by third parties may have on the quality, quantity or cost of products manufactured or services rendered; risks associated with the Company's international operations; the Company's reliance on third-party intellectual property and digital content; the potential impact of a finding that the Company has infringed on the intellectual property rights of others; the Company's dependency on the performance of distributors, carriers and other resellers of the Company's products; the effect that product and service quality problems could have on the Company's sales and operating profits; the continued service and availability of key executives and employees; war, terrorism, public health issues, natural disasters, and other circumstances that could disrupt supply, delivery, or demand of products; and unfavorable results of other legal proceedings. More information on potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results is included from time to time in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of the Company's public reports filed with the SEC, including the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 29, 2012, and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 29, 2012 to be filed with the SEC. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information, which speak as of their respective dates. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042. © 2013 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in thousands and per share amounts) Three Months Ended December 29, 2012 December 31, 2011 Net sales $ 54,512 $ 46,333 Cost of sales (1) 33,452 25,630 Gross margin 21,060 20,703 Operating expenses: Research and development (1) 1,010 758 Selling, general and administrative (1) 2,840 2,605 Total operating expenses 3,850 3,363 Operating income 17,210 17,340 Other income/(expense), net 462 137 Income before provision for income taxes 17,672 17,477 Provision for income taxes 4,594 4,413 Net income $ 13,078 $ 13,064 Earnings per share: Basic $ 13.93 $ 14.03 Diluted $ 13.81 $ 13.87 Shares used in computing earnings per share: Basic 938,916 931,041 Diluted 947,217 941,572 Cash dividends declared per common share $ 2.65 $ 0 (1) Includes share-based compensation expense as follows: Cost of sales $ 85 $ 63 Research and development $ 224 $ 160 Selling, general and administrative $ 236 $ 197 Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In millions, except number of shares which are reflected in thousands) December 29, 2012 September 29, 2012 ASSETS: Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 16,154 $ 10,746 Short-term marketable securities 23,666 18,383 Accounts receivable, less allowances of $119 and $98, respectively 11,598 10,930 Inventories 1,455 791 Deferred tax assets 2,895 2,583 Vendor non-trade receivables 9,936 7,762 Other current assets 6,644 6,458 Total current assets 72,348 57,653 Long-term marketable securities 97,292 92,122 Property, plant and equipment, net 15,422 15,452 Goodwill 1,381 1,135 Acquired intangible assets, net 4,462 4,224 Other assets 5,183 5,478 Total assets $ 196,088 $ 176,064 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY: Current liabilities: Accounts payable $ 26,398 $ 21,175 Accrued expenses 13,207 11,414 Deferred revenue 7,274 5,953 Total current liabilities 46,879 38,542 Deferred revenue – non-current 2,938 2,648 Other non-current liabilities 18,925 16,664 Total liabilities 68,742 57,854 Commitments and contingencies Shareholders' equity: Common stock, no par value; 1,800,000 shares authorized; 938,973 and 939,208 shares issued and outstanding, respectively 17,167 16,422 Retained earnings 109,567 101,289 Accumulated other comprehensive income 612 499 Total shareholders' equity 127,346 118,210 Total liabilities and shareholders' equity $ 196,088 $ 176,064 Apple Inc. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In millions) Three Months Ended December 29, 2012 December 31, 2011 Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of the period $ 10,746 $ 9,815 Operating activities: Net income 13,078 13,064 Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash generated by operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 1,588 721 Share-based compensation expense 545 420 Deferred income tax expense 1,179 1,456 Changes in operating assets and liabilities: Accounts receivable, net (668) (3,561) Inventories (664) (460) Vendor non-trade receivables (2,174) (1,206) Other current and non-current assets 413 (962) Accounts payable 6,145 4,314 Deferred revenue 1,611 1,296 Other current and non-current liabilities 2,373 2,472 Cash generated by operating activities 23,426 17,554 Investing activities: Purchases of marketable securities (37,192) (40,175) Proceeds from maturities of marketable securities 3,460 3,038 Proceeds from sales of marketable securities 23,002 21,472 Payments made in connection with business acquisitions, net (284) 0 Payments for acquisition of property, plant and equipment (2,317) (1,321) Payments for acquisition of intangible assets (138) (108) Other (52) (34) Cash used in investing activities (13,521) (17,128) Financing activities: Proceeds from issuance of common stock 76 91 Excess tax benefits from equity awards 404 333 Dividends and dividend equivalent rights paid (2,493) 0 Repurchase of common stock (1,950) 0 Taxes paid related to net share settlement of equity awards (534) (355) Cash (used in)/generated by financing activities (4,497) 69 Increase in cash and cash equivalents 5,408 495 Cash and cash equivalents, end of the period $ 16,154 $ 10,310 Supplemental cash flow disclosure: Cash paid for income taxes, net $ 1,890 $ 1,474 Apple Inc. Q1 2013 Unaudited Summary Data (Units in thousands, Revenue in millions) Q1'13 (a) Q4'12 (a) Q1'12 (a) Sequential Change Year/Year Change Operating Segments Revenue Revenue Revenue Revenue Revenue Americas $ 20,341 $ 13,810 $ 17,714 47% 15% Europe 12,464 8,023 11,256 55% 11% Greater China (b) 6,830 5,427 4,080 26% 67% Japan 4,443 2,367 3,550 88% 25% Rest of Asia Pacific 3,993 2,110 3,617 89% 10% Retail 6,441 4,229 6,116 52% 5% Total Apple $ 54,512 $ 35,966 $ 46,333 52% 18% Q1'13 (a) Q4'12 (a) Q1'12 (a) Sequential Change Year/Year Change Product Summary Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue Units Revenue iPhone (c) 47,789 $ 30,660 26,910 $ 16,645 37,044 $ 23,950 78% 84% 29% 28% iPad (c) 22,860 10,674 14,036 7,133 15,434 8,769 63% 50% 48% 22% Mac (c) 4,061 5,519 4,923 6,617 5,198 6,598 - 18% - 17% - 22% - 16% iPod (c) 12,679 2,143 5,344 820 15,397 2,528 137% 161% - 18% - 15% iTunes/Software/Services (d) 3,687 3,496 3,020 5% 22% Accessories (e) 1,829 1,255 1,468 46% 25% Total Apple $ 54,512 $ 35,966 $ 46,333 52% 18% (a) Q1'13 and Q4'12 spanned 13 weeks whereas Q1'12 included a 14th week. (b) Greater China includes China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. (c) Includes deferrals and amortization of related non-software services and software upgrade rights. (d) Includes revenue from sales on the iTunes Store, the App Store, the Mac App Store, and the iBookstore, and revenue from sales of AppleCare, licensing and other services. (e) Includes sales of hardware peripherals and Apple-branded and third-party accessories for iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod.

Join us for a TUAW liveblog of the Apple Q1 2013 earnings call

This afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer will host Apple's Q1 2013 earnings call to discuss the company's financial fortunes for the quarter ending December 31, 2012. As always, TUAW is hosting a liveblog of the event, during which we'll be providing commentary on the actual results, questions from the financial community, and how the results are likely to affect Apple's share price. The call is scheduled at 5 PM ET today and our liveblog will begin at 4:50 PM ET. If you're an IRC user, we'll have a chat room set up on server irc.freenode.net, chat room #tuaw so you can converse with the TUAW team and others. You can listen to a live audio stream of the event here. Due to the time at which the liveblog will begin, TUAW TV Live will not be broadcast this week. Please join us next week for live video streaming from Macworld/iWorld 2013 in San Francisco.

Gartner contradicts IDC, says Mac shipments up in Q4 2012

Last week, IDC estimated that Apple's sales of Macs in the holiday quarter of 2012 were down 0.2 percent year over year. Today, Gartner released contradictory numbers showing an actual growth rate of 5.4 percent from the previous year. The entire PC market showed a slump in sales from 2011, with numbers pointing to a 4.9 percent drop worldwide for all PCs sold during the quarter. Apple was third in terms of US PC sales in the Gartner ratings, behind HP -- which surprisingly saw a 12.6 percent rise in Q4 2012 in sales year over year -- and Dell, which took a 16.5 percent hit on sales in 2012. Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa believes that tablets are having a profound effect on PC sales, "not so much by "cannibalizing" PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs. Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC." All will be revealed next Wednesday on Apple's fiscal first quarter 2013 earnings call. TUAW will be providing a liveblog of the call beginning at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT on January 23. [via The Loop]

Apple taps Xerox's Luca Maestri as new corporate controller

Apple's adding a big name to the executive suites in March. Xerox Executive Vice President and CFO Luca Maestri has been named as the new corporate controller of Apple. Maestri will continue to work at Xerox through February 28 to "help manage the financial leadership transition." Maestri has been with Xerox for about two years, and was previously involved with finance positions at General Motors for over 20 years including stints as the CFO of GM Europe and GM Brazil. After that, he was the CFO of Nokia Siemens Networks. The corporate controller position at Apple reports to Senior Vice President and CFO Peter Oppenheimer, who previously had the job back in the 1990s. Maestri replaces former controller Betsy Rafael, and will establish financial policies and help the company make investment decisions.

Apple Q1 2013 earnings call scheduled for January 23

Following what appears to have been a busy holiday season for Apple, the company announced this morning that the the Q1 FY13 (first quarter, fiscal year 2013) earnings call is scheduled for January 23, 2013. The Wednesday call will occur at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT, after the close of the US stock markets for the day and just after the first quarter results are released to the press. TUAW is planning a liveblog for the call, the details of which will be posted as we get closer to the date.

Panasonic still has more fixed assets than Apple, needs to sell them to survive

Although they're both in broadly the same type of trade, Panasonic and Apple couldn't be organized more differently. Whereas Apple deals mainly with sub-contractors (and all the pros and cons that come with them), ailing Panasonic is a more traditional manufacturer with fixed assets worth $21 billion -- 30 percent more than Cupertino's. Many of these assets -- including land holdings, factories and even a 24-storey staff dorm in central Tokyo -- have the potential to become winter fuel as Panasonic strives to turn itself around, and it seems that's precisely what's about to happen. The company's chief financial officer has revealed to Reuters that he plans to sell off a billion dollars' worth of property by the end of March of next year, in order to reduce debt while maintaining the lifeblood of R&D. These must be painful decisions, but Panny is hardly alone in having to make them -- just look at Nokia and AMD.

Eddy Cue sells $8.76M in AAPL stock

Bob Mansfield recently sold 35,000 shares of Apple stock and now it is Eddy Cue's turn to cash in some of his holdings. According to a filling with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Cue sold off 15,000 shares of Apple stock for approximately US$584 per share. He walked away with $8.76 million from the sale, says a report in CNET. These shares are just a small portion of the Apple stock that Cue owns. The senior vice president of Internet Software and Services and several other Apple executives were each given a bonus of 100,000 restricted stock units in November 2011. This bonus was meant to keep the executives with the company for the next several years. The first block of these restricted stocks will vest in September 2014. [Via CNET]

The Soapbox: I demand to pay more for this!

Champions Online launched amidst a bunch of controversy. Admittedly, this was back in a time when we as a community had a much lower bar for controversy, but still, there were accusations and recriminations flying around like, well, superheroes. One of the chief complaints was that the game had a subscription fee, but it also had a cash shop right from launch. Scandalous! These days we don't blink too much at this sort of thing. Pretty much every game in the world has a cash shop now, and the rare exceptions are games that try to pretend it's something else. But there are still a lot of people who object to the idea, who would much rather have a subscription or nothing or see everything from the cash shop free to subscribers. I am not one of those people. In fact, I'm happy when a game goes into the free model or just opens up a cash shop of any stripe. The way I see it, there are some definite upsides to having a cash shop.

Bob Mansfield sells over $20 Million in AAPL stock

Apple Senior Vice President of Technologies Bob Mansfield sold 35,000 shares of Apple stock at a price of $582, netting him a cool $20 million. This financial transaction was detailed in a SEC filing spotted by MacRumors. Earlier this year, Mansfield sold another chunk of Apple stock for $12.5 million. Shortly after Mansfield sold his stock in February, the executive announced that he was retiring from his role as head of hardware and would serve the company in an advisory role. After a brief hiatus, Mansfield recently returned to lead a new Technologies group that was formed after the ouster of iOS chief Scott Forstall. This latest transaction does not mean Mansfield is ready to exit the company again. Executives regularly cash in stock they receive as compensation for their work at Apple. Mansfield also has incentive to stay at Apple as he is slated to receive another 150,000 shares that will be disbursed in two equal allotments with the first arriving in June 2013 and the second in March 2016. He also has 100,000 shares of restricted stock that'll vest in 2014. [Via MacRumors]

Analyst: Black Ops 2 sales a 'cause for concern,' downgrades Activision

Sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are on a trend to be down 15 percent from last year's launch of Modern Warfare 3, financial analyst Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee posits. Modern Warfare 3 sales were down 5 percent from the previous year's Black Ops, and if this scenario plays out again Bhatia calls it "a cause for concern" for Activision-Blizzard.Call of Duty as a franchise is responsible for up to 45 percent of Activision's earnings before interest and taxes, Bhatia says, justifying the concern clause. Average reviews of Black Ops 2 were lower than Modern Warfare 3's, and Black Ops 2 launched a week after Halo 4 but a week before Black Friday, meaning some customers may have waited to buy it, Bhatia says.Sterne Agee downgraded Activision's rating from "buy" to "neutral" and reduced 2013 estimates from $4.74 billion to $4.3 billion.All this is in spite of the fact that Black Ops 2 pulled in $500 million at retail on its first day, breaking records and surpassing Modern Warfare 3's $400 million, and is the UK's fourth largest launch ever.

THQ in forbearance agreement with Wells Fargo, CFO resigns

THQ is on the edge of a financial cliff, with its stock currently dangling around $1.25, market capitalization at $8.5 million, and corporate heads exploring financial strategies with a private equity broker. Now, THQ's Chief Financial Officer Paul Pucino has resigned, with no one named as his successor. Pucino took over the position from Colin Slade in 2009."We would like to thank Paul for his significant contributions over the past four years and wish him well in his future endeavors," THQ CEO Brian Farrell says.THQ is now in a forbearance agreement with Wells Fargo, valid through January 15, wherein Wells Fargo will continue to distribute loans to THQ. In a forbearance agreement, the lender (Wells Fargo, in this scenario) stops enforcing current or expected defaults, and the borrower uses the time to improve its financial situation or exit the relationship. It's a lot like time out, but for a corporation."We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Wells Fargo," Farrell says. "This agreement enables us to continue focusing on bringing our games in development to market. Meanwhile, we are evaluating financial alternatives that will transition the company into its next phase."THQ has also entered negotiations with a mysterious financial sponsor, and it expects these to conclude with "significant and material dilution to shareholders."

HP takes a $9 billion hit due to Autonomy 'improprieties', reports Q4 earnings down 7 percent

This sounds scarily like the $8 billion write-off that tainted HP's Q3 balance sheet, but the source of the company's woes is different this time. It's had to take a nearly $9 billion writedown on the value of one of its biggest assets, the British software company Autonomy, following the discovery of serious accounting "improprieties." These concerns cast major doubt over the $11 billion sum that HP coughed up to purchase Autonomy last year, and have a direct impact on both these Q4 earnings and the reported earnings for 2012. Nevertheless, fourth-quarter net revenue still hit $30 billion, which is a 7 percent fall year-over-year, or just a 4 percent fall if you're kind enough to factor in the effects of currency. Of that income, the company managed to clutch onto $2.3 billion as profit -- a 3 percent fall compared to the end of 2011. Speaking during the earnings call, CEO Meg Whitman stressed that HP remains "100 percent committed to Autonomy and its industry leading technology," and more generally described HP's turnaround strategy as a "multi-year journey" that "will not be linear."

Seeking Alpha: Apple could make $4 billion a year from Android sales

Apple's cross-licensing deal with HTC seems like a good idea just from the viewpoint that it keeps the two companies out of the courtroom for a decade. Now J.M. Manness, writing for Seeking Alpha, points out that the deal and others like it could be a complete windfall for Apple. The company could make about US$4 billion a year from sales of Android phones if it was able to sign similar deals with all manufacturers using Google's mobile OS. Between replacement smartphones and new sales, analysts believe that the smartphone market will be greater than 1 billion units by 2015. If Apple was to get an $8 per phone license payment from every Android manufacturer and Android phones were to pick up about half of the smartphone market, Apple would make $4 billion -- pure profit, of course, since there are no material or overhead costs associated with these payments. Manness notes that this ends up being about $4 in earnings added per share of AAPL and says that "even at Apple's current depressed P/E of 12.5 (roughly), this alone would add over $50 to the stock price." The only fly in the ointment for Apple investors is that so far, HTC is the only Android manufacturer that has agreed to a licensing deal. Samsung's mobile division CEO has publicly stated that the company has no intention of signing any such deal with Apple.

Bloomberg's App Portal brings its financial market terminals into the app store age

Monitoring financial data and trading stocks in the big leagues often means using a locked down Bloomberg terminal pre-loaded with sanctioned software, but now the platform has caught the app store bug. Starting today, stock market buffs will be able to purchase apps on the Bloomberg App Portal, which underwent more than a year of testing and has software from over 40 developers. As for revenue, Bloomberg's taken a page from Apple's book and will keep 30 percent of earnings made from sales on its storefront. Since a single console sets customers back $20,000 each year according to the Financial Times, we imagine $0.99 apps will be few and far between. It's unlikely that Rovio is going to barge into this app marketplace, so day traders will probably be busy playing stocks instead of Angry Birds. [Image credit: Perpetualtourist2000, Flickr]

Square Enix sales up, profits down in first half

After releasing its revised forecast for the first half of its fiscal year last week, Square Enix has announced the actual results (PDF). Surprise, surprise, the revised forecasts were right on the money, with the company reporting net sales of ¥61 billion ($760 million) for the six months ended September 30, an increase of ¥3.5 billion ($43.6 million) over the same period last year. As forecast, Square has posted a ¥5.4 billion ($67 million) net loss during the past six months, compared to a ¥3.7 billion net income during the same period last year.The company's performance is laid at the feet of lower than expected console game sales, development costs for mobile games and "sluggish" arcade machine sales and revenues. Last week's forecast specifically mentioned slow sales of "a major HD game title," presumably Sleeping Dogs, which launched in August.