Q4
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Nextar intros Q4-MD navigator, throws in MSN Direct free for a year
Nextar's not only introducing a sizable duo in its SNAP line at SEMA 2008, it's also introducing a navigator with MSN Direct support. The Q4-MD will boast a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, Tele Atlas maps covering all 50 US states along with Canada, access to 1.6 million points-of-interest, 2D / 3D map viewing modes, an SD card slot, MP3 player / JPEG viewer, USB connectivity and a rechargeable Li-ion battery. Most notably, you'll receive a free year of up-to-the-minute traffic reports, current / three-day weather conditions, news headlines, stock quotes and local event listings via the aforesaid MSN Direct service. Expect to see this one in stores for $329.99 in Spring 2009. Full release is after the break.%Gallery-35552%
Apple up 11 after Q4 conference call
Apple shares were higher by over 11 points in after-hours trading following a very positive Q4 conference call where the company announced a profit of $1.26 per diluted share. As we noted in our liveblog earlier, Apple posted a profit of $1.14 billion on revenues of $7.9 billion for the quarter. The company also said it had sold 2.6 million Macs, 11 million iPods, and 6.8 million iPhones in the three months ending September 27. It's safe to say we're past the 10 million mark for iPhone unit sales. Apple's margins for the quarter fell by a tenth of a percent from Q3 to 34.7 percent. During the Q3 conference call, Apple was careful to mention that margins would be lower for the quarter due to a new product announcement. That guidance was out of an abundance of caution, and executives noted that all new product announcements related to that margin guidance have been made. Apple's margins this time a year ago were 1.1 percent lower, at 33.6 percent. Steve Jobs himself was on the call, a rarity, and he crowed about how Apple sold more handsets than RIM did. He also mentioned Apple's significant cash reserves of $25 billion and lack of debt. The conference call made no mention of the exclusion of FireWire on new MacBooks, nor any confirmation that the Mac mini line could either be seeing a refresh or end-of-life.
Blizzard: Wrath will be out in Q4 2008
In an uncharacteristic display of candor, Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime confirmed during a conference call that the much-anticipated Wrath of the Lich King expansion will be released between October to December of this year. Shacknews quotes Morhaime saying, "we have said that it will be coming out this year," referring to earlier speculation stemming from a Vivendi press release. "I can tell you it's not coming in the July to September quarter," Morhaime states, and mentions that Beta testing "is going very well".The confirmation of any release date is uncommon practice for Blizzard, whose common response to such questions is "when it's ready." Apparently, Blizzard is confident that Wrath of the Lich King will be ready within the year. From the polish that can be seen in the current Beta, this doesn't seem far from the truth. In the same conference call, Morhaime also discussed competing MMOs, the status of ongoing development (that is to say, very little information), and how World of Warcraft has been refined as a game over the past four years.
Conan will start speaking Russian later this year
Funcom today announced a partnership with huge Russian developer/publisher 1C Company to localize Age of Conan for the Russian-speaking market. All text and voices in the game will be translated to Russian, and 1C will provide customer support and community services to the Russian community. There will also be a Russian server. This is all due in Q4 of this year.The English language version of the game has already been released in Eastern Europe, and it's done pretty well. All the marketing hype quotes in the press release stress that the game will be a massive success when available in the native tongue of the region. We're not going to make any predictions about that, but this is probably good news either way if your native language is Russian and you're already playing the game.
Palm announces Q4 earnings -- it's not as bad as you think
Palm continued to flaunt its almost inexplicable boost in health in an earnings call yesterday. According to reports, honcho Ed Colligan boasted of a 29 percent gain in smartphone sales year-over-year, largely in part to the stellar performance of the company's budget-priced (with contract) Centro. In light of the recent negative outlook from investors, retail store closings, a constantly delayed OS update, and fierce competition, it's a pretty impressive feat to not only stay afloat, but manage some small victories. Now if they can just deliver on those OS and device promises we keep hearing about, they may stay in this game yet.[Via Palm Infocenter]
