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HTC announces Q3 2012 financials, net profit down again to $137 million
HTC has released its third quarter financials, with the same trend continuing from the last quarter: lower net revenue. The company said it gained NT$70.2 billion total ($2.4 billion), with pre-tax net income at NT$4 billion ($137 million), a nearly 50 percent drop from the $250 million it earned last quarter. All that is a far cry from its salad days last year, and the company will have to hope that its new Windows Phone 8X launch along with a new flagship One X+ will reverse its fortunes.
Acer scrapes $1.87 million in profit as it becomes world's third biggest PC maker
Acer rose a place to become the world's third biggest PC maker this quarter, with net profits rising to $14.48 million, up net profit a slender $1.87 million, down from $11.2 million last quarter. Despite the drop, it's the company's second positive period since it ended 2011 with a $212 million loss, but the financial crises in the US, Europe, China and Asia Pacific all hampering its recovery. Like many of its PC brethren, it's pinning hopes on Windows 8 to spark a buying frenzy, but thanks to tight margins, only expects profits to be "on par" with those it's just announced. [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Smartphones out-ship feature phones in Europe, Samsung leads the way
It was probably gonna happen sooner or later, but a new report from IDC confirms it: smartphones are now out-shipping feature phones in western Europe. According to the company's statistics, only 20.4 million feature handsets were shipped to the Old World during the second quarter of this year, representing a 29 percent decrease from Q2 2010. Quarterly shipments of smartphones, on the other hand, increased by 49 percent to 21.8 million units, marking the first time that they've surpassed basic phone orders. Smartphones also comprised 52 percent of all mobile shipments, which shrunk by three percent, collectively -- something IDC's Francisco Jeronimo attributes, in part, to Europe's brutal economic climate and Nokia's steep decline (see chart). On the OS front, Android once again came out on top within the region, thanks to a whopping 352 percent year-to-year increase in shipments, while Samsung controlled the manufacturing side, with 33 percent of the European market. You can find more IDC math in the full PR, after the break. [Thanks, Pauly]
In Iceland, constitutions are written on Facebook
Ah, Iceland -- home to the Blue Lagoon, Sigur Rós and, most recently, crowdsourced constitutionalism. With its economy still reeling from the 2009 financial crisis, the country has begun hammering away at a brand new constitution, and is asking its online citizenry for help. The draft is being prepared by a democratically elected, 25-member council, but any Icelanders with an internet connection can add their own suggestions, engage in online debates, or follow the proceedings in real-time on Facebook. All suggestions are moderated to weed out the really dumb ones ("FEWER VOLCANOES"), and those approved by the board will be directly added to the draft, due to be completed at the end of this month. It's a fascinating social experiment, but one that could probably only happen in a place where nearly 90 percent of all households have a broadband connection, two-thirds of the entire population is on Facebook -- meaning their politicians are always within poke's reach.
Recession roundup: Sony warns of $1.7b loss, other companies not doing much better
Evidence that the economy has been ground to a fine powder continues to pile up, and today's brought another batch of bad news. Tales of woe abound, but looming largest is Sony, which announced its 2nd quarter earnings yesterday, then warned today that they expect to post a $1.7 billion loss this year (though we've seen other reports that are now putting the number at well over $2 billion). Additionally, Samsung is expected to post a first-ever quarterly loss when it reports its earnings Friday, which are expected to run somewhere in the neighborhood of a $67.7 million net loss. Moving on, Seagate's also announced an unsuprising cut of about 6 percent of their workforce in Thailand. Finally, LG has reported a $487 million loss, while TomTom announced a "cost cutting program," meaning they're cutting about 7 percent of their global workforce. Seriously, does anyone have a light-hearted Dilbert strip or something to ease some of the pain? Sheesh.Read - Sony, Warning of Annual Loss, Escalates Cost-Cutting planRead - Samsung may report first ever quarterly lossRead - LG Electronics Posts $487 Million Loss Read - TomTom Cost-cutting programmeRead - Seagate to lay off up to 800 local workers
