q42012
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Sony's 2012 earnings show a net profit of $458 million, its first since 2008
We've already heard from Sony about the positive effects some of its recent moves like the sales of several of its buildings are having on its finances, and now the company is revealing its detailed results for the last year. Sony has managed a net profit of 43 billion yen ($458 million) in 2012, its first in several years and a good sign after it projected such optimism in last year's results. The most anticipated news is what it projects for 2013, a year where CEO Kaz Hirai has promised better integration between its products and of course, the PlayStation 4. Sony's forecast projects sharply improved sales next year, however it expects the operating income to remain flat with a net profit of 50 billion yen ($506 million). For the year, its TV sales were down 38 percent, reflecting the same drop in the market reported by competitors like Samsung and LG, as well as Sony's cutbacks to reduce its losses. In phones, the newly-consolidated Sony Mobile experienced an increase in sales thanks to the shift to smartphones, however the cost of its inclusion caused the division to lose money. Next year, it's anticipating sales of 42 million smartphones, up from 33 million. In the games division, Sony had a decrease in sales for the PS3, PSP and PS Vita of 12.2 percent from last year, although of course it's counting on the PS4 to turn that around. There aren't any numbers listed for next-gen, but it's expecting sales of PS3 hardware to drop to 10 million units from 16.5 million (including the PS2) the year before. We'll have to wait for the earnings call later this morning to hear more of the company's future projections, for now you can check the links below for the full details on its results.
Nintendo has another tough year, shipped just 390,000 Wii Us in the last quarter (updated)
While there's no shortage of 3DS iterations headed to the market, Nintendo is having a harder time selling its new Wii U. Profits for the year are also half of its own predictions, despite the fact that Nintendo reduced its rosy estimates in the interim. Net sales are down 1.9 percent over the last year, down to 635 billion yen, but most importantly the company has managed to turn its net income into positive figures, netting 7 billion yen over the last year, compared to a 40 billion yen loss the year before. Following its launch, Wii U sales have slowed substantially, with only 390,000 units sold since December (now totaling 3.45 million), while the 3DS continues to sell in healthier numbers, with Nintendo shifting 1.25 million handhelds in the same period. Focusing on the next year, the company maintains that it'll increase net income to 10 billion yen in the next twelve months, with a focus on selling "the compelling nature" of its gaming hardware, as well as pushing its 3DS more in foreign markets. The financial statement adds that the games maker plans to concentrate on "proactively releasing key Nintendo titles" starting the second half of this year "in order to regain momentum." Those key titles will have to hit hard, as certain competitors' new consoles are creeping closer. In related news, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is taking on a second role as CEO at Nintendo of America, today's report states. Current NoA figurehead Reggie Fils-Aime will stay on as COO, overseen directly by Iwata.
IDC: Android surged to 69 percent smartphone share in 2012, dipped in Q4
Few would doubt that 2012 was Android's year given how rapidly it grew, but it's good to have some context. IDC is more than willing to oblige. It estimates that Google's OS climbed from 49.2 percent of the smartphone space in 2011 to 68.8 percent in 2012. As we've seen in the past, though, most of that came from customers leaving embattled platforms, including a pre-BB10 BlackBerry and Symbian. Apple reportedly held its ground at 18.8 percent, while Microsoft appears to have turned a corner with Windows Phone by climbing back up to 2.5 percent. The fourth quarter results paint a slightly different picture. Android still had a comfortable 70.1 percent of share in IDC's reckoning, but it took a hit from 75 percent in the third quarter -- similar to what we've seen elsewhere, the iPhone 5 launch helped iOS claw back enough share to hit 21 percent. BlackBerry and Windows Phone weren't quite so rosy, although they also didn't have full quarters with new devices to offer. We'll have to wait for the first quarter of 2013 to finish before we learn of any true shakeups in the status quo.
Gartner: half of smartphones sold are Apple or Samsung, Huawei third for the first time
We saw last quarter that while mobile phone buyers were on the decline in general, smartphone sales were way, way up. That's how 2012 finished off as well according to Gartner, with cellphone purchases down 1.7 percent overall from 2011, but sales of higher-IQ models up 38.3 percent year-on-year. Samsung and Apple fared particularly well in the latter category for Q4 2012, making up over 52 percent of smartphones sold compared to 46 percent in Q3. Meanwhile, being embroiled in the odd security row didn't stop upstart Huawei from hitting the smartphone podium for the first time with 27.2 million handsets sold in Q4 2012, a 73.8 percent jump over last year -- but a distant third behind Samsung's 64.5 million units and 43.5 million for Apple. Meanwhile, Nokia dropped 53.6 percent from last year with 39.3 million units sold, though it's likely too soon to tell whether WP8 will boost it anew. Speaking of Redmond's Windows Phone ecosystem, it grew a modest 1.2 percent in Q4 to grab 3 percent of the market just behind BlackBerry, which tumbled 44.4 percent but stayed in third spot on 3.5 percent of devices. With new products now in the market, the two OSes will likely see a protracted battle for third spot over the next year, according to the survey outfit. Android widened its margin to control a whopping 69.7 percent share of the smartphone OS market compared to 20.9 percent for iOS, a bump of 87.8 percent over the quarter. Otherwise, your Badas, Symbians and others are battling for scraps, and will soon have certain new Linux-based predators to watch out for, to boot.
Canalys: Android was a third of all cellphone shipments in Q4
Despite regularly hearing how mobile platforms fare within the smartphone space, we rarely get a sense of their place in the wider cellphone universe. Canalys is stepping in with some context. It estimates that smartphones represented just under half of the total pie in the fourth quarter, giving bigger companies like Apple and Google some serious clout. Android accounted for 34 percent of all cellphones shipped, driven by Samsung as well as fast-growing Chinese backers like Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE -- all of whom were big reasons why smartphones made up 73 percent of Chinese phone sales in the same period. Apple took a smaller share of the worldwide arena at 11 percent, although it too was riding the Chinese wave to success. Limiting the scope to smartphones tells a mostly familiar tale. Android staked out 69 percent of the market, taking a 5-point hit as iOS jumped to 22 percent through the iPhone 5 launch. Samsung reigned supreme among individual smartphone makers, followed by Apple and Nokia. The rest are once again Chinese, as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo scooped up the next three spots. Whether or not regular cellphones are included, the message is the same -- if you haven't been building a popular flagship device or catering to buyers in Beijing, you've likely been left out in the cold. [Image credit: Jon Fingas, Flickr]
Sprint sells 2.2 million iPhones in Q4 2012 but sheds 1 million customers, $1.3 billion
Sprint announced its quarterly (and annual) results today, with overall revenues totaling $9 billion, up from the preceding quarter. Its wireless services formed $7 billion of that, but Hurricane Sandy was responsible for a $45 million hit to its bottom line. Sprint added that it's been able to sell 2.2 million iPhones, while its LTE network, launched last July, now handles more than 3 million connections. The network picked up 401,000 new post-paid subscribers in the process, but according to the figures, shedded 1 million existing ones from the Nextel part of the business. Its future owner, Softbank, was briefly mentioned in passing -- the Now Network received a $3.1 billion bond from the Japanese phone network for the merger.
Canalys: Apple hits 20 percent of PCs through iPad sales, HP up to second place
Canalys is still staking its market share estimates on the view that mobile tablets are as relevant to PC market share as desktops and laptops. If we accept that interpretation, Apple was easily on top of the heap during the fourth quarter. Combining iPads and Macs would give it 27 million computer shipments in the fall, or 20.1 percent of the 134 million computers that left factories -- the first time it would have had more than a fifth of the market. Not that Apple was the only one having a good time, however. HP reportedly took back second place from Lenovo by shipping 15 million PCs and claiming 11 percent of the market, while Samsung stepped into the top five for the first time at 11.7 million PCs and 9 percent share. The upswings may have masked deeper problems. Apple and Samsung benefited from the iPad mini and Galaxy Tab lines, but they, Amazon and other tablet makers were reportedly propping up the market. Canalys doesn't believe Windows 8 or RT moved the needle for demand, noting that laptop shipments were flat year-over-year where tablets surged 75 percent. It was a tough market for most conventional PC builders -- just ask Dell -- and there's no immediate signs that it will be any easier for them in 2013.
If an iPad's a computer, then Apple is the world's PC shipment leader
Is an iPad a portable media device? A tablet computer? Something entirely "post-PC"? The answer, of course, is "it depends who you ask." Let's go ahead and define the parent category for iPads (and other tablets like the Kindle Fire, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Google Nexus) as "mobile screens that run a touch-centric OS, don't ship with a hardware keyboard, are larger than a mainstream smartphone and don't offer telephony as a core feature." Call that a tablet, or a "pad" if you must to distinguish it from legacy tablet PCs and the potential fridge toasters of Microsoft's Surface devices. If that's the bucket we're talking about, some reasonable sales comparisons are available. The fourth quarter of 2012 saw Samsung ship 7.6 million pads, and Amazon shipped 4.6 million, according to a report released today by research firm Canalys. With Apple's reported sales of 22.9 million iPads, it's pretty clear who's leading the category. Canalys's report doesn't leave it at that, however. With a wave of the marketshare wand, the report combines 22.9 million iPads with Apple's reported sales of 4.1 million Macs in the quarter. Accordingly, the firm puts Apple's total PC sales at 27 million for the quarter, handily crushing second-place HP's 15 million units shipped. In fact, if you admit the iPad to the PC club, Apple's quarter put it above 20 percent of the global PC share for the first time. From October 1 to December 31, in that 13-week quarter -- given the looser, flatter, touchable definition of a PC that Canalys is proposing -- one out of every six PCs sold worldwide was actually an iPad. I wish to take nothing away from Apple's achievements with the iPad. Selling 23 million of anything is really rather tough, and a jar of salsa's a far cry from a device with an average selling price $150 higher than a ticket from New York to LA. But just because consumers may be choosing the iPad as an alternative to buying a laptop or a computer doesn't necessarily mean they should be counted as members of the same taxon. Both by form and function, the iPad and its fellow "pad" products should really be considered post-PC devices distinct from PCs and also from smartphones -- they don't require a keyboard or mouse, they don't run legacy Win32 or Mac apps, they don't usually make phone calls. And they surely don't sell the way PCs do. [via NYT Bits]
ARM sees 16 percent profit increase in Q4 2012, 21 percent increase in royalty payments
UK-based chipmaker ARM had yet another profitable quarter, announcing that the end of 2012 saw pre-tax profits of around $126 million -- an increase of 16 percent since the same period last year. Revenue totaled $262.8 million for Q4 and with a huge proportion of Android and iOS devices containing chip know-how from ARM, it continues to benefit from the smartphone boom. In fact, shipments of chips based on its processors totaled 2.5 billion in Q4 alone, while royalty revenue grew 21 percent year-on-year, thanks to successes with both its Cortex-A and Mali silicon series. ARM chief exec Warren East added that the company is "well positioned" to have a great 2013, too -- unless everyone stops buying phones all of a sudden.
IDC: iPad loses a little marketshare, still dominates global tablet sales in Q4 2012
While Samsung continues to claim the top spot in smartphone sales, Apple is doing the same with tablets. According to IDC, the iPad (in all its shapes) is still the most popular tablet -- by a long way. Apple claimed a 43.6 percent market share for the last quarter, shipping 22.9 million tablets. The iOS tablets lost 6.8 percent of the market share during the quarter, although this loss is substantially less than what IDC monitored earlier this year. Since the same period last year, that's an increase of 48.1 percent Apple tablets shipped, while total tablet numbers increased 74.3 percent in total. Samsung sidles into second place with all those different screen sizes shipping 7.9 million units and claiming a 15.1 percent market share -- since Q4 2011 that's a huge 263 percent year-on-year increase. Amazon (11.5 percent marketshare) ASUS (5.8 percent) and Barnes and Noble (1.9 percent) round out the top five, while other manufacturers were still able to claim 22.1 percent of total tablet sales -- presumably including Microsoft's Surface, whose effect was described as "muted". The full table of sales and marketshare is right after the break. (Update: IDC has released some corrected figures. We've adjusted our write-up above.)
LG's Q4 earnings show a narrow yearly net profit of $80.75 million, improved income for all divisions
The latest company to release its quarterly and year-end earnings report is LG, and the good news is that unlike last year's losses, it has managed to eke out a net profit of $80.75 million. Revenues overall were down six percent from last year, but its operating profit moved way up to $1.01 billion from $342.06 million for 2011. Its TV division also reported record sales and a full year profit of over $480 million, while the cellphone division's revenue for Q4 was the highest of the year as it shipped 8.6 million smartphones. So what's on deck for 2013? As you may have heard, Ultra HD and OLED to push the extreme high end of HDTVs along with ever more 3D and connected models for the mass market. For phones, we can expect successors to the Optimus G (more than the Optimus G Pro?) and L-Series, plus LTE phones for the masses in the F-Series as high speed data continues to spread throughout Europe and emerging markets. There's a few more numbers in the press release after the break if you're interested, hit the source link to check out the presentation slides.
Strategy Analytics: Android claimed 70 percent of world smartphone share in Q4 2012
Maybe it's easier being green than we thought. We suspected Android would do well in smartphone market share when Strategy Analytics had Samsung surging ahead in the fourth quarter of 2012, but the firm's newer breakdown of estimated share by OS shows an even larger jump for Google's overall platform -- from 51.3 percent in fall 2011 to 70.1 percent one year later. Apple was knocked down slightly to 22 percent, although it's mostly other platforms that took the bruising. Collectively, BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Phone and other platforms sank from 25.1 percent of the smartphone space in late 2011 to just 7.9 points as 2012 drew to a close. When just two companies' platforms make up 92 percent of smartphones, it's safe to call the result a duopoly, like Strategy Analytics does -- even if others aren't so content with the idea.
Samsung reports $8.27 billion in profits for Q4 2012
As Samsung predicted, Q4 2012 was another big one for the company with 8.84 trillion won ($8.27 billion) in operating profits, around double what it reported for the same period back in 2011. Overall revenue was also up, showing a gain of 18.5 percent from the same period last year for a total of 56.06 trillion won ($52.04 billion.) The company reported "strong" sales of tablets and smartphones, specifically calling out its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, which were last seen crashing through the 30 million and 5 million sold barriers, respectively. If you were hoping for a Galaxy S IV preview, it won't be found here, although Samsung expects demand for replacements and the expansion of LTE to drive sales, the anticipated seasonal drop in sales in Q1 suggests we won't see a new model right away. For its TVs, Samsung claimed overall demand was flat from last year, however a focus on higher end LED models drove higher profits. Samsung sees the 60-inch and higher market growing in 2013, however Q1 sales are expected to be slow before the new models are introduced. Samsung is also a major chip maker, and it reported weak demand for PC RAM, but growth in the server and mobile markets. Hit the source link to check out the PDF yourself or check out the press release after the break for more details. We didn't learn anything particularly illuminating on the conference call, however executives believe there are more surprises left in the smartphone market for innovative companies like Samsung -- take from that what you will.
AT&T lost $3.9 billion in Q4 2012, earned $7.3 billion profit for the year
American telecommunications giant AT&T announced its Q4 2012 financial results this afternoon, which reflect $3.9 billion in losses for Ma Bell's final fiscal quarter of last year. However, the company's also posting "record smartphone sales" of 10.2 million last quarter -- "the most by any US carrier," it claims. As it's Q4, the results for the full year are also in; AT&T revealed $7.3 billion in net income across the entirety of 2012. That's what we'd call a marked change from last year's losses. In terms of phones, AT&T activated 8.6 million new iPhone customers (16 percent of which were totally new to the company), up 1 million over 2011's Q4 and nearly double that of Q3 2012. No specific number is given on Android sign-ups, but AT&T's calling it the "best-ever sales quarter for Android smartphones" -- when those 8.6 million iPhones are subtracted from the overall Q4 2012 sales of phones (10 million), it's not looking so good for non-Apple built devices. On the U-verse front, the latest lifetime subscriber numbers reflect 8 million TV and high-speed internet users, with 192K joining in Q4 2012. Operating revenues just barely exceeded those of 2011, reaching $127.4 billion, offset by $114.4 billion in expenses (down $3 billion over 2011). Customer numbers also grew in 2012, by a healthy 1.086 million people, the vast majority of which are contract customers (approximately 70 percent). Needless to say, things seem to have gone pretty okay for AT&T in 2012, despite a rocky final quarter. Not too bad for the least loved mobile carrier in the US. Update: This post originally reflected $3.9 billion in profit for Q4 2012, when it should've reflected losses. Please excuse our error!
Netflix Q4 earnings show 2 million new customers streaming in the US, 6 million total internationally
In 2012 Netflix expanded streaming to a few new countries and attempted to undo the damage incurred by its failed Qwikster spinoff in 2011, and now it's final results for the year are in. Its streaming subscriber count is now 27 million in the US alone, with 6 million outside the country for a global count topping 33 million. Most notably, despite the expansion it still managed a profit of $8 million on $945 million in revenue. There's also a slew of original content on the way headed by Arrested Development and House of Cards, and its OpenConnect ISP program has now gotten a boost from high bitrate 1080p video and even 3D. Now that the Video Protection Privacy Act has been amended, Netflix also mentioned Facebook integration will be enabled in the coming months for US customers. If you're worried about it spamming your feed you may be able to relax however, since by default it will not auto post viewing activity, instead opting to let members "post specific titles they're passionate about." So what about the competition from Amazon, Redbox Instant and Hulu? According to Netflix's stats based on its 200 most popular movies and TV shows, none of the other streaming services offer more than 73 of them (check out a graphic after the break.) Regarding that original content, Netflix is already referring to the February 1st worldwide, full-season debut of Cards as a "defining moment in the development of internet TV." We'll keep digging through the numbers and tune into the investor call at 6PM for more information, until then hit the source link to check out the data for yourself.
Google announces Q4 2012 earnings: impressive revenues of $14.42 billion, excluding Motorola Home
Earnings season is swinging into high gear and today's big player is Google. The internet giant just announced its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012, and unsurprisingly it's still raking in the dough. For the three month period ending December 31st, 2012 the company pulled in $14.42 billion in revenue -- a staggering 36 percent increase year-over-year. That doesn't even include revenue generated by Motorola's recently spun off Home division, which would have pushed the total to $15.24 billion. 2012 also marked the first year that the company broke the $50 billion barrier for total revenues. Of course, bringing in all that money means nothing if you can't actually turn a profit. Good news for investors is that Google saw a net income of $2.89 billion this quarter, up from $2.71 billion the same time last year and $2.74 billion last quarter. Not surprisingly, a large chunk of that cash is coming from Google's own properties and advertising -- with Google-owned sites accounting for 67 percent of revenues and ads pulling in $12 billion on their own. Obviously, a vast majority of Big G's income is coming from the US, $5.99 billion in this quarter, but international markets are still hugely important for the company. 53 percent of its revenues came from overseas ventures, including $1.3 billion from the UK alone. Motorola Mobility, on the other hand, isn't faring so well. While pulling in $1.51 billion in revenue, the phone manufacturer lost $353 million as its new parent company continues to try to turn around the business. Whether or not Mountain View is succeeding is debatable as revenues continue to drop and losses increase for the beleaguered, former icon. There is a sizable war chest at its disposal however, as Google claims to have $48.1 billion in cash or its equivalent on hand. For more financial fun check out the PR after the break and check back here for updates from the earnings call this afternoon.
Verizon adds 'record-high' 2.1 million subscribers in Q4 2012, but still makes a loss
Verizon has just announced that the last quarter was its best yet -- in regard to subscriber numbers. Those 2.1 million new additions mean that Verizon can now lay claim to 98.2 million customers in total, while smartphones have now claimed an additional 5 percent of this base, up to 58 percent. Since its last report, Q4 consolidated revenues totaled $30 billion for the first time, although profits were hit by $135 million in damages from Hurricane Sandy as well as a one-time pension cost that meant the company took a charge of between $9 and 10 billion for the quarter. This made up a $1.93 billion loss for the carrier, which remained, unsurprisingly, upbeat. Verizon's FiOS internet and TV businesses added 144,000 and 134,000 customers, respectively. According to Verizon, its LTE network is now available to 273 million people and CEO Lowell McAdam is calling the last twelve months "a year of solid progress."
Intel posts Q4 2012 earnings: $2.5 billion in profit on $13.5 billion in revenue
Intel continues to rake in the dough, posting a quarterly profit of $2.5 billion on a total revenue of $13.5 billion during the final three month period of 2012. While those numbers are down slightly both sequentially and year-over-year, they're hardly disappointing. In a statement released alongside the financial figures, CFO Stacy Smith said the results were inline with expectations -- and they actually exceeded Wall Street Forecasts. To accompany its quarterly fillings, Intel also released its annual results, which do have some cause for concern. While revenues were only down 1.2 percent from 2011's $54 billion dollar haul to $53.3 billion, net income was down 15 percent, from $12.9 billion to $11 billion. The decline of PC sales has certainly effected the company's bottom line, as the PC Client group has seen revenue drop 6 percent to $8.5 billion year-over-year and its "Other Intel Architecture" division pulled in only $1 billion, a 14-percent falloff from Q3. One of the bright spots for the chip giant was its Data Center Group, which continues to grow at a steady pace, with revenues up 7 percent sequentially and 4 percent year over year. For more detailed financial fun hit up the PR after the break.
Nokia says Lumia smartphones did 'better than expected' last quarter: 4.4 million units sold
In the process of drawing up its quarterly results, Nokia has uncovered some good news to report. The manufacturer says its Lumia portfolio "delivered better than expected results" in Q4, selling 4.4 million units compared to just 2.9 million in Q3. The Asha series also did well, with 9.3 million units shifted. In the same breath, however, the company's accountants warn that Q1 of this year may not be so glowing, due to "seasonality and the competitive environment." All financial results are preliminary at this point -- we'll learn more more when the final report arrives in a couple of weeks.
Samsung estimates $8.3 billion in profits for Q4, brags about phone sales
What's the lion's share look like in sales numbers? About 500 handsets a minute, according to Samsung. The Korean hardware giant flaunted the sales estimate in its Q4 investors guidance, where it says it expects to see $8.3 billion in profits when the official earnings report drops later this month. That's just shy of double what it reported over the same period in 2011. Sammy contributes the growth to a plentiful supply of regional variants of handsets like the Galaxy S III and Note II, as well as high demand for its display technology. The streak may not keep forever though, according to Reuters, analysts are predicting a first quarter slump without a new Galaxy S phone for the spring. We'll have to wait for the full earnings release to see how things pan out, but it doesn't look like the firm will be hurting for cash any time soon.
