Q4
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Sprint posts best customer gains in five years
The decision to move to WiMAX instead of LTE will probably be second-guessed by pundits and investors for years to come, but regardless, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has emerged as one of the wireless industry's great comeback kids now that he appears to be succeeding in his goal of turning the carrier's tailspin right around. The latest victory comes in the form of Sprint's fourth quarter 2010 results, which reveal its largest subscriber gain since the first and second quarters of 2006 -- yes, 2006. Total adds were 1.1 million, though net postpaid adds were only 58,000, suggesting that prepaid services are the big push right now. Additionally, Sprint reported its lowest postpaid customer churn in the fourth quarter of any year in its history at 1.86 percent. On the downside, the company's still technically in the red, reporting an operating loss of $139 million on revenues of $8.3 billion. Overall, Hesse says they've got "momentum" heading into the new year, anticipating net customer additions in 2011. Give us an EVO 4G 2, Dan, and we might just be willing to agree.
Activision reports fiscal 2010 earnings, digital sales up 20%
Publishing giant Activision Blizzard has dropped some hard numbers regarding its business performance for its fiscal 2010 year, which ended December 31. The company reports net revenue for the year reached $4.45 billion, up from $4.28 billion in 2009. (Though revenue recorded in the fourth quarter alone was just $1.43 billion, down from $1.56 billion during the same period the year before.) The standout news is that $1.5 billion of annual revenue came from digital sales, which the company says are up 20 percent over 2009 -- and up 40 percent in Q4 alone. According to the report, digital-based revenue was "driven by increased sales of Activision Publishing's Call of Duty map packs and value-added services for Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft," which CEO Bobby Kotick attributed in part to "significantly enhanced user activity and engagement for our expanding online communities." Selling 1.4 million copies of the first Black Ops map pack on a single platform within 24 hours of its release is certainly what we'd call "user activity."
Redbox passed 30,000 kiosks in Q4 2010, but still missed financial expectations
Redbox may be a red-logoed stepchild compared to industry darling Netflix, but according to its parent company Coinstar's Q4 earnings call, it still managed to pass the 30,000 kiosk milestone, increase market share to 30 percent and grow DVD revenue by 38 percent to $319.6 million. Combined with blowing by one billion rentals back in September and avoiding a lawsuit with Fox, the news would have culminated in champagne and karaoke for Coinstar shareholders... except for one thing: new releases underperformed during the last quarter along with Blu-ray rentals. Coinstar CEO Paul Davis was quick to bolster investor concerns on the call, however, stating company management had taken "definitive steps to correct the issues" and was ready to "leverage the First-sale doctrine" -- which refers to a Supreme Court ruling limiting the control of copyright holders over the re-selling of its property -- should studios get sassy in future distribution negotiations. More updates on the company's streaming plans didn't materialize, though, so you'll have to chuck those dreams of instant rental gratification for a buck back in the deep freeze at least in the near term. Otherwise, hit up the source links below to ogle data tables to your heart's content.
IDC says 100.9M smartphones sold in fourth quarter, PCs outsold for first time
In case you had any lingering doubt that the smartphone is the new personal computer, just take a glance at IDC's new global smartphone sales numbers for the fourth quarter of 2010 where we learn that some 100.9 million units were pushed in the three-month period -- up a whopping 87.9 percent year over year. That figure compares to 92.1 million PCs sold during the same quarter, which, though a record for the PC industry, was left in the dust of the smartphone's stratospheric rise. This marks the very first quarter in history that smartphones have outsold traditional computers -- and considering the trajectories that both industries are in, we'd be surprised if they ever flip-flopped again. If anything, IDC and other analysis firms might need to readjust the nomenclature in their reports in a few years if (or when) convergence platforms like the Atrix 4G with its Laptop Dock start to gain traction. Of course, to Bill Gates and others, this technological cross-pollination comes as no surprise -- and really, who can argue with a handheld that's packing PC power? Update: It's also worth pointing out that IDC is still calling Symbian "the market leader" seemingly discounting Canalys' assertion that Android has overtaken Nokia's smartphone OS globally. Guess it all depends upon how your define "smartphone," eh?
Canalys: Android overtakes Symbian as world's best-selling smartphone platform in Q4 2010
One day somebody will write a book called "The rise and rise of Android" and this moment will be highlighted in bold. Canalys' latest smartphone sales figures show that Android phone makers managed to shift a cool 33.3 million handsets in the last quarter -- more than any other smartphone platform out there, including the previous leader, Symbian, which sold 31 million units. That's a mighty leap from the 20.3 million Android devices the stats agency estimates were sold in Q3 2010. Symbian itself grew from 29.9m in Q3 to 31m in Q4, but Android's pace of expansion has been so rapid as to make that irrelevant. Update: NPD's numbers are in as well, indicating that Google now has a 53 percent share in the US market, while Windows Phone 7 has managed to nab only two percent so far.
IDC: ZTE takes fourth in global cellphone rankings, leapfrogs Apple and knocks RIM out of top 5
You like numbers? Good, because it's the season and amid all these lovely financial reports we've been hitting there are some broader trends to look at. IDC has released its mobile phone report for 2010 and has concluded that, worldwide, the industry grew 18.5 percent over 2009, shipping a massive 1.39 billion units. That's nice and all, but check out this bit about ZTE. The manufacturer boosted its annual shipments by 94 percent, stealing Apple's recently-won fourth place position globally and, in doing so, knocking RIM straight into the dreaded "others" category. Can RIM make it back? Will Apple recover? Will Siobhan and Lucky ever reconcile their differences? Tune in next quarter to find out.
Samsung Tabulates 2 million slates, 80 million phones sold in Q4 2010, breaks revenue records
Score one for Samsung in its eternal struggle against South Korean nemesis LG. Whereas the Life's Good crew were licking their Q4 2010 wounds yesterday, Samsung's had the pleasure of announcing that the final quarter of last year helped it bust through all its previous fiscal records: total revenue ($139b), net income ($14b), and operating profit ($15.5b) all reached all-time highs. The fourth quarter's contribution was $2.7b in operating profit, 80.7 million mobile devices sold, 12.72 million flat panel TVs shipped, and two million Galaxy Tabs distributed to Android lovers yearning for some Froyo. That last number's pretty important as it shows the Tab's sales have almost doubled over the last month of the quarter -- it reached one million sales in early December -- indicating that there is indeed a hunger for slate-based computing. Oh, and if you're wondering what Samsung's planning for the future, there's a reminder that a device with a Super AMOLED Plus screen and a dual-core processor is coming to replace the Galaxy S in the first half of 2011. Good to know. [Thanks, Tascien]
Amazon celebrates its first '$10 billion quarter' in sales, finds Kindle books overtaking paperbacks
July 19, 2010 marked the day that Amazon's digital book sales eclipsed the sales of hardcover books, and it barely took half a year for those e-book sales to also overtake the sales of paperbacks. According to the ouftit's latest earnings release, "Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com." The company had surmised that this would happen by Q2 of this year, but it clearly went down a lot earlier than even it expected. Bezos and co. also sold through $12.95 billion worth of goods, representing The Jungle's first "$10 billion quarter." That came up to $416 million in net income, representing an eight percent uptick year-over-year. Of note, operating income slipped from $476 million in Q4 2009 to $474 million this year, with the unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates generating a staggering $18 million hit. When looking at 2010 as a whole, Amazon's sales were up 40 percent over 2009, with operating income rising some 25 percent to $1.41 billion compared to the whole of 2009. Speaking specifically of the Kindle, the company is now moving 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperbacks sold, but this obviously only takes into account the US book business. We're still no closer to finding out exactly how many Kindles have been moved, but we're told that "millions" of the third-gen model were moved in Q4 2010, and the Kindle Storeitself has over 810,000 books on its digital shelves. Head on past the break if you're thirsty for more, Sir Economist.
LG posts Q4 results, 2010 profit down 93 percent, cellphone sales down 15 percent
Nokia isn't the only one with bad news today. LG has posted its Q4 results and is taking this time to look back on what can only be described as a dismal 2010 overall. Fourth-quarter revenues were up 9.4 percent over the third quarter, but still resulted in a 246.4 billion won loss -- that's about $226.3 million. LG Home Entertainment sales were actually up almost 16 percent but still posted a loss thanks to cut prices and stiff competition. LG Mobile, meanwhile, saw an eight percent increase in sales over previous quarter, thanks to "strong" performance of phones like the Optimus One, but compared to 2009 sales are down 14.7 percent, a 15.2 percent drop for handsets alone. Looking for some cooler news? Air conditioning sales are up 50 percent!
AT&T posts Q4 financials, 2.8 million subscribers added, revenue up 2.1 percent year-over-year
AT&T's numbers are up, and they're good: $31.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, $653 million more than Q4 the previous year. 4.1 million iPhones and 442,000 tablets were put online by the company that quarter, helping to drive 2.8 million new wireless subscribers, 95.5 million total, and a boost in revenue per subscriber of 2.2 percent. That's $62.88 average per month per subscriber -- maybe ditching unlimited data is paying off. Additionally, the company posted its best ever Q4 wireless churn (subscribers switching carriers) of just 1.32 percent (1.15 percent postpaid), but we're thinking the launch of a certain smartphone on a certain competitor could possibly have that number increasing ever so slightly this quarter. We'll circle back in three months and see where things stand.
Qualcomm has best quarter ever, teases a host of Snapdragon tablets
If you've got a speedy Snapdragon in your smartphone, Qualcomm's the one to thank -- but considering the raw earnings figures shared yesterday, your dollars have applauded the firm enough already. Qualcomm reported record earnings of $3.35 billion for its first fiscal quarter of the year, up 25 percent since Q1 2010, and it raked in a nice fat $1.17 billion of that in profit, 39 percent more than last year. That's thanks to shipping 118 million of those Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chips that power mobile devices, as well as other ventures, and the company expects revenues to continue their upward bent as 2011 progresses -- thanks to new devices on the way. Qualcomm EVP Steve Mollenkopf told investors that "we currently have more than 150 Snapdragon devices in development, including more than 20 tablets," and that the dual-core 1.2GHz MSM8660 in particular was picking up steam, with over 60 devices slated to use the dual-mode chipset with HSPA+ and EV-DO Rev. B. What of a groundbreaking deal with Apple to power new iPhones and iPads? CEO Paul Jacobs wouldn't say: "We're happy to see the Verizon iPhone announcement since it's been the subject of intense speculation, but we have no other comments on that topic." Guess we'll have to wait and see.
Nokia smartphone market share shrinks to 31 percent, operating profit takes a beating too
Stephen Elop's first quarterly results as Nokia CEO have just come out, and while the company's still growing, others seem to be speeding ahead of it. Nokia's reporting its converged mobile devices (smartphones, to you and us) reached volumes of 28.3 million during Q4 2010, which is a neat bump from 20.8 million at the same time last year and 26.5 million in the previous quarter. However, in the context of the broader smartphone marketplace, that figure now amounts to only a 31 percent share, according to Nokia's own estimates, which is a major dip relative to its 40 percent slice in Q4 2009 and 38 percent in Q3 2010. Elop's perspective on the matter is as follows: "In Q4 we delivered solid performance across all three of our businesses, and generated outstanding cash flow. Additionally, growth trends in the mobile devices market continue to be encouraging. Yet, Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution. In short, the industry changed, and now it's time for Nokia to change faster." When your operating profit goes from €1.47b (€950m net) a year ago to €1.09b (€745m net) this year, the response should indeed be to change and to change fast. Nokia's still not disclosing sales figures of the N8, but given that this was the first full reporting period where the company's Symbian flagship has been on sale, it doesn't seem to have had quite the impact Espoo will have hoped for. Wanna try again with the N9? Update: Nokia's investor relations call has borne a few more interesting tidbits from the new man in charge. Elop is quoted as saying Nokia must "build or join a competitive ecosystem," with the latter verb in that sentence sure to renew discussions of why the Finnish company should / shouldn't switch to an OS such as Android or Windows Phone 7. We still think that'll be the very last resort over in Espoo, but Elop apparently believes Nokia has the brand recognition and operator relationships to make such a move if it wanted to. Which of course it doesn't. Or does it? Let's wait for Nokia's Strategy and Financial Briefing in London on February 11th -- Mr. Elop's expected to be a lot more specific about his company's roadmap going forward on that day.
Motorola Mobility reports robust growth in last quarter, but predicts difficult times ahead
Yes, we are deep in Q4 2010 financial reporting season, and Motorola's freshly independent Mobility arm is latest to step up and deliver its figures. Total revenue over the past three months reached $3.4 billion, marking a 21 percent increase year-on-year, net revenue from mobile devices was $2.4 billion, up by 33 percent year-on-year, and handset shipments were a seemingly healthy 4.9 million. That figure's disappointed Wall Street estimates, however -- the collective expectation, according to MarketWatch, was 5.2 million -- and the net profit of $80 million is barely (for a company of this size) in the black. More doom and gloom is cast by Motorola itself, which is predicting a difficult first quarter of 2011 that will end with the company losing between 9 and 21 cents per share in net terms. Ah well, let's try to enjoy the sunshine of Moto making money today and forget the rainclouds of tomorrow.
Netflix passes 20 million subscribers; focuses on ISP disputes, HBO, Facebook in Q4 results
Netflix just released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 and of no surprise to anyone who was paying attention last year it did quite well by passing 20 million subscribers, more than double its base at the start of 2009. However, per Biggie's Law mo money = mo problems, and it took the opportunity to respond, surprisingly sharply, to potential threats from its Hollywood content providers and the ISPs its Watch Instantly service streams over. News of note going into 2011? A huge focus on personalization including new integration with Facebook and a mention that Apple TV has already surpassed the iPad in viewing hours. It also showed off the one-click Netflix button on an unspecified (looks like Toshiba to us) remote and compared the "consternation" over its success to the rise of Fox as a broadcast network two decades ago. We'll hop on the earnings call in a few minutes for more details, check after the break for more of the details.
Apple's 'PC' shipments grow by 241 percent in iPad-inclusive Canalys stats
Canalys is a pretty well respected global stat-keeper and now it seems to be relying on that reputation to push through a pretty controversial message: tablets, such as Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, are PCs. "Accept new market realities," urges its polemic press release, before laying out global quarterly shipments that peg Apple as the world's third most prolific PC vendor (without tablets, Apple doesn't even break the top 5 according to IDC and Gartner). The company that was laboring with a mere 3.8 percent market share in 2009 has shot up to 10.8 with the aid of its 10-inch touchscreen device. Canalys' stance will inevitably be controversial, but then it's kind of hard to deny that machines like Samsung's Sliding PC and ASUS' Eee Slate make the distinguishing lines between tablets and netbooks look like a particularly technical form of bokeh.
AMD ships 1.3 million Fusion APUs, 35 million DirectX 11 GPUs, says it has 'momentum'
Hey, this interim CEO thing doesn't seem to be too hard at all. Thomas Seifert, the temporary solution to the problem created by Dirk Meyer's departure from AMD's top spot, has had a pretty comfy ride reporting the company's latest quarterly results. The pecuniary numbers themselves ($1.65b revenue, $375m net income) were tame and unexciting, but Seifert got to make a pair of juicy milestone announcements. Firstly, on the mobile and ever-so-efficient front, he noted that 1.3 million Fusion APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) have been shipped to partners since AMD started deliveries in November, and secondly, in terms of discrete graphics chips, he disclosed that the Radeon HD 5000 and HD 6000 series DirectX 11 GPUs have surpassed the 35 million units shipped mark. To give you some perspective on what that means, sales of Nintendo's bestselling Wii console are hovering somewhere around the same figure. So yes, AMD, your wagon has momentum, but shouldn't it have a driver too?
HTC profits leaping and bounding up, Peter Chou promises tablet and production expansion
HTC's fourth quarter of 2010 has gone exactly the same way as the first three: the company reports a 160 percent rise in profits (to $500 million) year-on-year and a 31 percent increase relative to Q3 2010. Total revenue for the final three months of last year rounded the $3.5 billion mark, having been a trifling $1.4 billion the year before. Company CEO Peter Chou sees no end to this dramatic growth, forecasting it'll remain in double digits through 2011, and he plans to match up to it by doubling monthly production capacity at HTC's Shanghai plant to two million handsets. If necessary, he says he'll even outsource manufacturing. Even more intriguing, however, is Chou's admission that HTC is strategizing an entry into the tablet realm: "It's a new market with many competitors, and we don't want to rush into it." Hardly a surprise, but good to have it from the horse's mouth.
Sony Ericsson ships 9 million Xperia Android phones, but latest earnings disappoint
Sony Ericsson has just made its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 official and the highlight, at least for milestone lovers like us, is the figure of nine million Android-based Xperia handsets shipped since the family's launch. Now, the language used here is important, as Sony loves to report shipments to retailers instead of actual sales, but it's still a pretty grand number of Xperia X10, X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro, and X8 handsets out and about in our big wide world. Hell, it's even more impressive when you consider that those phones have spent most of their lives riding the ancient Android 1.6 as their operating system. In terms of actual currency figures, however, SE has fallen short of expectations, reporting a moderate €35 million pre-tax profit for Q4, which the company is turning into a positive by noting that it marks its fourth consecutive quarter of being in the black. If the new crop of Xperia Androids are anything to go by, we can probably expect this habit to continue for a good long while.
Mama Mia! Majesco cooks up $2.1 million fiscal-year loss
Majesco Entertainment ended its last fiscal year (on October 31, 2010) with a $2.1 million loss -- which is better than the $6.6 million it flambéed the previous fiscal year. The financially troubled publisher is pinning its hopes in the new fiscal year (which began Nov. 1) on Crafting Mama, Babysitting Mama and Zumba Fitness, which has already sold a half-million units since its mid-November release. Majesco has also planted one of those money-growing trees: a Facebook game, Friends Cafe. With its focus on mass-market appeal, Majesco could well bake up some profits this fiscal year. We'll keep watch over its shoulder, though, mindful to leave a clear path to the fire extinguisher in case the money continues to burn.
Millienial Media report says Apple still top manufacturer and growing, travel apps busy last quarter
Millenial Media has released its final report of 2010 about advertising requests on its network, and Apple remains the king of mobile advertising on the network. For the last 15 months, Apple has been the top manufacturer, and ad requests on the network for Apple devices are still growing -- 12% from third to fourth quarter in 2010, and 14% over the entire year. iPad requests of ads specifically have jumped 280% in the last quarter. That doesn't mean Android is out of the running, however. Android beat out iOS in terms of impression shares, with a 46% network share as compared to iOS' 32% share. Android also took 55% of the revenue on the network, as opposed to 39% for Apple's devices. Verizon saw its share of impressions go up 2% in December, and it'll be interesting to see how that network's ad revenues grow with that new handset we've all heard so much about. Finally, Millenial says that ad requests on travel and vacation apps doubled in the last quarter of 2010, showing that users who were traveling and away from home still stayed connected to their mobile devices, using apps while on the road and on vacation. That's not too surprising since December is one of the busiest travel times of the year. What's interesting is how much travelers are depending on their smartphones for information and updates while out and about. This is a trend that will only increase next year as smartphones grow more and more ubiquitous. You can read the whole MobileMix report over here.
