q42014
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Apple now ships more smartphones than Samsung, if you ask Gartner
When we last checked in on the battle for the top spot in the smartphone market, Apple and Samsung were neck and neck. If you ask Gartner, though, it isn't quite so evenly matched. The analyst group estimates that Apple managed to edge past Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2014, shipping 74.8 million phones to Samsung's 73 million. That isn't exactly a cavernous gap, but it's been a long time since any research firm unambiguously declared Apple the biggest vendor -- over three years, if you're wondering. Having said this, the changing of the guard isn't completely surprising. Apple had two brand new iPhones in the fall to goose its sales, while Samsung was grappling with both surging Chinese competitors (including chart rivals Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi) and a flagship phone that was getting long in the tooth.
Amazon put $1.3 billion into Prime Instant Video last year
Amazon may have surprised Wall Street by how much sales went up in the fourth quarter of last year ($29.3 billion, with a profit of $214 million), but for customers its Prime service is the big deal. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said Prime membership in the US grew by 50 percent last year, despite a price hike. That growth probably explains (and helps justify) the expanding number of services it's tacked on to what was originally just an offer of free / cheap shipping. According to Bezos, Amazon plowed $1.3 billion into Prime Instant Video alone in 2014, snapping up exclusives, content from HBO and creating award winning programming like Transparent. [Image credit: Shutterstock]
LG's phone sales are way up, but killing plasma TVs had a cost
LG is still trailing Samsung and Apple in total smartphone sales (and profits from them), but the company just revealed its financial data for the last year and has plenty to be happy about. It sold 59.1 million smartphones last year, up nearly a quarter from what it moved in 2013. The report didn't explain when we can expect the G Flex 2 in the US or leak what's in the next big G series phone, but said the company will "concentrate on improving its brand power, operating more efficiently, and focusing on selective key markets." Its TV business is doing well too, where profits grew 31 percent from last year to $482 million. Still, the company had a net loss in the last quarter of 2014 because of write-offs related to shutting down its plasma TV business as it ramps up Ultra HD and OLED.
Samsung looks for a boost as its smartphone sales keep slipping
Samsung's profits have been on an upward swing driven by several popular versions of its Galaxy smartphones, but 2014 is going into the books as an off year. It still posted a $4.88 billion profit in Q4, but for the year it was down 32 percent from 2013 and had the lowest profit since 2011, which can be traced to a drop in smartphone shipments. So what's the plan for 2015? Other than shipping more of those curved SUHD TVs we saw, it's focusing on phone sales in India and China, planning a "diversified portfolio with unique designs" of wearable devices and launching more new phones like the Galaxy A series. It's also focusing on its processor building business, and it seems more likely than ever that the next round of Galaxy phones will have Samsung CPUs inside instead of Qualcomm. That might not be enough to keep up with the Joneses Apple for the coming year, but it will have to do.
Facebook continues to rake in money from mobile as video views increase
While Facebook made waves last year with its investment in Oculus and WhatsApp, it continues to make most of its money from just plain ol' Facebook. And, in particular, from mobile. In the last quarter of 2014, the social networking giant made $3.85 billion. Of that revenue, about $3.59 billion was from advertising, and ads from mobile accounted for a whopping 69 percent of that. That means Facebook now makes almost two-thirds of its money just from mobile advertising. Facebook also posted its overall numbers for 2014, where it made $12.47 billion for the year alone. It marks the first time the company's made over $10 billion in a single year.
Netflix will have 'The Interview' streaming on Saturday
In the midst of Netflix's Q4 financial report (if you're wondering - it added the expected amount of subscribers this time, unlike Q3) it revealed a few things viewers will actually be interested in. First of all, it's going to have The Interview available for streaming to US and Canadian subscribers starting Saturday. That puts the Sony Pictures flick on streaming just about a month after its unconventional Christmas Day theater / video on demand launch that netted $40 million online, and ahead of its Blu-ray release February 17th. Also, its first movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny is scheduled to debut everywhere on August 26th, hitting "select" IMAX screens at the same time it premieres on Netflix. That's part of an original content push that will bring 320 hours of original series, films, documentaries and stand-up comedy to the service this year -- triple the amount it had in 2014 (bookmark the list of premiere dates posted here). As usual, Netflix is broadcasting its earnings call live on YouTube, and you can watch it after the break. Update (1/24): And here it is, now you can watch The Interview on Netflix.
AT&T took a $10 billion hit, but it's hoping you won't notice
In an extra-special Friday-night-before-a-holiday-weekend news dump, AT&T just announced that its Q4 results will include about $10 billion in charges. That includes a $7.9 billion "related to actuarial gains and losses on pension and postemployment benefit plans", plus a $2.1 billion charge for abandoning some copper lines it says it doesn't need anymore. Of course, you're probably already well into whatever your weekend plans are, so you'll barely even notice this happened once you get back to work on Tuesday -- which is just how AT&T hoped it would go. [Image credit: shutterstock]
Gartner: PC shipments have dropped 6.9 percent in Q4 2013, emerging markets to blame
Those tumbling PC shipments we've seen all year? They add up to a 6.9 percent year-over-year drop compared to 2012's Q4 numbers, according to Gartner. The group's latest totals puts PC shipments at 82.6 million units for Q4 2013, with the lions share coming from HP and Lenovo - though only the latter managed to grow its business during that period. Dell came in at a distant third, moving 4 million fewer machines than HP while maintaing a 6.2 percent increases in shipments since Q4 2012. The news seems grim for all but a select free companies, but at least it won't get any worse: Gartner says that most markets have bottomed out, and the losses mostly come from emerging Asia/Pacific markets where consumers first computing devices are typically smartphones and tablets, not traditional PCs. Despite predictions that the US market has reached its lowest point, analysts note that holiday sales were primarily dominated by tablets and mobile devices, though optimistically note that hybrid devices and lower cost notebooks could spur some growth in 2014. Eager to dive into all the nitty gritty numbers? Hit the source link below for Gartner's full report.
