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RIM earnings show strong revenue and growth, but weak guidance for the months ahead
Research in Motion just kicked out its year-end and Q4 earnings for fiscal 2011, and while things look fairly rosy for now, shares of the company have sunk around ten percent in after-hours trading. Why? Because even the greatest performance in the world can't ward off skeptical investors who are keyed in on guidance. The outfit reported expected revenues of around $5.2 billion and $5.6 billion, with earnings ranging from $1.47 billion to $1.55 per share. Sounds lovely, but not when you consider that analysts had expected those figures to be closer to $1.65 per share. That said, RIM did manage to ship 52.3 million BlackBerry smartphones, representing a 43 percent uptick over fiscal 2010. Furthermore, fiscal 2011 revenue shot up 33 percent over fiscal 2010 (landing at $19.9 billion), and we were given a confirmed ship date of April 19th for PlayBook. If you're looking for a breakdown in revenue for the quarter, you'll be interested in knowing that 81 percent was attributed to devices, 16 percent to service and just three percent to "software and other revenue." Based on what we've gathered from the earnings call, RIM understands that it'll be selling more lower-end devices going forward (during what it continually referred to as "a transitional period"), and it's expecting stronger revenue to come from software and services based around QNX. In fact, QNX (known as BlackBerry Table OS on the PlayBook) was pinpointed as being an OS for future "superphones," and while we heard a brief mention of the impending BlackBerry OS 6.1 release, it's fairly evident which platform the outfit is salivating over. If all goes well, we're told to expect some sort of RIM superphone in 2012, and while our instincts are telling us that just has to refer to a phone with a 4.3-inch display, no specifics whatsoever were given beyond the moniker. When referring specifically to the PlayBook, it was confirmed that WiMAX, LTE and HSPA+ versions were en route, and when asked about incoming 4G products, we were told that while no specific products could be spoken to (and that "no promises" could be made), there's a "super intense 4G effort" ongoing within the company. We also heard that BlackBerry OS 6.1 would be a "major upgrade," and even though no deets flowed from this call, we were assured that this "substantial" overhaul -- which will launch at some point this spring -- would be teased at BlackBerry World.
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.
Nintendo Q3 profits down 46 percent, slashes console sales projections
Call it an unfortunate coincidence but Nintendo just announced its quarterly numbers only minutes after Sony announced its new quad-core Cortex-A9 pumping PSP (codenamed NGP) and new PlayStation Suite for gaming on Android tablets and cellphones. So what's the damage? Well, to start with, Nintendo's Q3 (October to December) operating profits were down 46 percent (104.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion) compared with 192.3 billion last year) on account of weaker Wii and DS sales coupled with a continued strong yen. The house of Mario also slashed its annual sales expectations projecting 16 million Wii consoles (down from 17.5 million units) and 22.5 million DS handhelds (down from 23.5 million) sold through March. It wasn't all bad news though as Ninty maintained its annual operating profit forecast of 210 billion yen assisted by a projected 25% increase in Wii software shipments. Mind you, that's not chump change, but gone are the days of the Wii / DS one-two knockout punch on the competition. And with a full quarter to go before the 3DS is launched globally, we're not expecting any improvement to the bottom line until the next fiscal year.
Big cable loses 500,000 subscribers in Q3, we neglect to send flowers
Last quarter was the first time ever that US pay TV subscription rates were down. Now, according to GigaOM's calculations, big cable suffered another set back in Q3, waving goodbye to over 500,000 subscribers in total. Comcast was saddled with over half of the carnage and lost 275,000 customers, while Time Warner took a 155,000 subscriber hit. Charter Communications and Cablevision fared slightly better, but still added 63,800 and 24,500 respectively to the industry pit of despair. Naturally, the blame game for the poor numbers was aimed squarely at the weak economy and increased competition from over-the-top video providers. Before you call the undertaker away from his wrestling day job, though, remember that cable's traditional backstop is to raise prices for remaining customers -- vicious cycle, anyone? In fact, Comcast shared on its Q3 earnings call that average customer revenue rose by ten percent year over year to $136 a month. Charter's similarly jumped by nine percent to $126, and while Cablevision's didn't increase by the same rate, monthly revenue per customer still amounted to a whopping $149 a month. So whether the reason is cord cutting or simply hard times, it's hard to get worked up over self-inflicted wounds.
Garmin officially exits the smartphone business, reports mixed Q3 earnings
Based on our experience with relationships, we've learned that it takes two to tango. It also takes two to produce co-branded wares, and with ASUS already withdrawing (respectfully, of course) from the ill-fated Garmin-Asus smartphone partnership, this here is more a formality than anything else. That said, those worried that Garmin would try to loop in another handset maker in order to manufacturer yet another Garminfone that 3.4 people would consider buying can rest easy. In the company's Q3 2010 earnings, it confirmed that it is "winding down" its smartphone efforts, and rather than continuing on a path to doom and destruction, it'll be ramping up marketing efforts in the aviation and maritime sectors. As for quarterly results, the company did see net income rise to $279.5 million (up from $215.1 million a year ago), but shares fell as it issued a depressing outlook for Q4 amid weakening demand for standalone PNDs. Hate to say we told you so...
Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year
My, how a year changes things. Q3 2009 was a nightmare for mega-corps in terms of earnings, but things have definitely been on the up and up just 12 months later. After Sony pushed out a glowing quarterly report this morning, rival Samsung has done likewise. The company saw record breaking revenues of ₩40.23 trillion ($35.8 billion) as well as profits (₩4.46 trillion; $3.96 billion) in this most recent quarter, with Sammy crediting strong semiconductor performance for the bulk of its newfound fortune. A tip of the hat was also given to its mobile communications business, with the outfit moving a staggering 71.4 million phones during Q3 2010 (a 19 percent boost year-over-year). Reports are noting that between five and seven million of those were of the Galaxy S variety, and it's hoping to sell ten million of 'em before the close of this year. All that said, the firm isn't expecting an equally rosy Q4, noting that a strengthening won and heightened price pressures around LCD panels and DRAM could put a damper on skyrocketing profits. So much for taking a day to celebrate, eh? [Thanks, Rajendra]
Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years
After three years of record earnings, the mighty house that Mario built is reporting a net loss of ¥2.01 billion ($25 million) in the fiscal first half ending 30 September versus a profit of ¥69.49 billion a year earlier. In addition to the adverse affects suffered under a strong yen, Nintendo's sales for the first half of its fiscal year were down 35 percent to ¥363.16 billion due to lower demand for its Wii console. According to the Wall Street Journal, this represents Nintendo's first net loss in the fiscal first half in the last seven years. The future outlook is pretty grim too with Nintendo forecasting an annual profit drop to the lowest level in six years as Wii console sales decline for the second year in a row. Ouch.
Sprint fails to impress Wall Street with Q3 2010 earnings, still notches 644k net adds
Sprint certainly isn't out of the woods yet, but at least it's picking up customers from somewhere. The company's Q3 2010 earnings were ushered out today, and while its stock fell around ten percent on the news, a few silver linings were present. The carrier saw postpaid subscriber losses of 107,000, but that's an 87 percent improvement compared to Q3 2009. The CDMA network added approximately 276,000 postpaid customers during the quarter, 471,000 (net) prepaid subscribers and 644,000 total wireless subscribers from a net perspective. It also landed its second best postpaid churn result ever, but the bottom line still looks battered -- the operator announced a net loss of nearly a billion dollars ($911 million, if you're scouting specifics). Of course, phasing out iDEN should probably help things in the long run, but even its 4G advantage could quickly fade if (or more likely, when) Verizon gets its LTE act together next year.
Nokia reports improved earnings for Q3 2010, will still 'streamline' up to 1,800 employees out of a job
Nokia's quarterly results have just been made public and the company's devices plus services sector has actually improved its income relative to last year: €7.2b of revenue was collected over the past three months versus €6.9b in the same period a year ago. Operating profit has also pepped up, going from the previous €785m to €807m. You'd think this would augur well for Stephen Elop's beginning at the helm, but the new man in charge is also presiding over a fundamental restructuring of operations at Nokia, which is expected to result in the redundancy of up to 1,800 employees globally. There are no specifics to tell us who'll be losing out, but the aims are the boilerplate tasks of increasing efficiency, simplifying operations, and reducing time to market. Anyway, we doubt the great people of Finland will be pleased.
Steve Jobs drops knowledge on earnings call: calls out Google and RIM, says 7-inch tablets are 'DOA' (Update: complete Jobs audio!)
Steve Jobs hit today's earnings call with the power of words. In a tone that could be described as "righteous anger" or perhaps just "reppin," Steve launched into a five minute rant that hit hard against RIM's entire business model, Android sales numbers and software fragmentation, and the impending wave of Android tablets. With the iPhone surpassing RIM, Steve says that he "[doesn't] see them catching up in the foreseeable future." As for Android sales, Steve takes issues with the market share figures that are currently floating around, saying that 275k iOS devices were activated on average per day last month, compared to Android's most recent estimate of 250k per day -- though he does admit that Android outshipped iPhone in the June quarter, during the "transition" to iPhone 4. That wasn't Steve's only problem with Android, he takes major issue with the fragmentation and the onus he believes it puts on the user: "we believe integrated will trump fragmented every time." Oh, and 7-inch tablets? You're in for a bag of hurt. Steve pretty much outright killed any potential for 7-inch iPad rumors, saying that the software just isn't right for that size ("This size is useless unless you include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size."), and that users have no need for a pocket sized tablet when they already have a smartphone. He called the iPad's upcoming competition in the space "DOA." After he calmed down a bit, the call entered a Q&A period, where Steve was happy to point out that the iPad has already surpassed Macintosh in sales, and that it's going to affect laptop computers: "it's not if, it's when." We'll get a copy of the audio and put it up as soon as possible... like most CEO outbursts, this is not one to be missed. Hit up our liveblog of the call for a bit more context, and you can try the source link for Apple's stream of the entire earnings shindig. Update: We just ripped the first part of the call, which featured Steve's prepared remarks -- we'll have an edited version of the Q&A session in just a bit. Update 2: And here's an edited version of the Q&A with just Jobs's answers -- hit the source link for Apple's archive of the whole thing with Peter and Tim's answers as well. Update 3: And just for the completists out there, here's an MP3 of both segments combined.
AMD sees a tablet chip in its future, and an end to the core-count wars
AMD told us that it wasn't terribly interested in the iPad market, and would wait and see if touchscreen slates took off, but CEO Dirk Meyer changed the company's tone on tablets slightly after reporting a $118 million net loss (on $1.62 billion in revenue) in a Q3 2010 earnings call this afternoon. First revealing his belief that tablets will indeed cannibalize the notebook and netbook markets, he later told investors that he actually expects AMD's netbook parts to start appearing in OEM slates in the next couple of years, and that AMD itself would "show up with a differentiated offering with great graphics and video technology" when the market becomes large enough to justify an R&D investment. Elsewhere, AMD CTO of servers Donald Newell prognosticated that the number of individual CPUs on a chip won't go up forever: "There will come an end to the core-count wars," he told IDG News. Just as the megahertz race was eventually defeated by thermal restrictions, so too will the number of cores on a chip cease to increase. " I won't put an exact date on it, but I don't myself expect to see 128 cores on a full-sized server die by the end of this decade," he said. So much for our Crysis-squashing terascale superchip dreams, we suppose.
Intel reports record $11.1 billion revenue, brings home $3 billion in bacon
Looks like Intel's having its best quarter ever all over again: this time, the company's reporting $3.0 billion in profit on a record $11.1 billion in revenue. Chipzilla attributes the surplus to three percent increases in laptop and server chips sales respectively, but none to Atom-based netbooks -- sales of Atom chips actually decreased by four percent. That may be more than you needed or wanted to know about the booming processor business, but humanitarians will be pleased to know it's not all about the silicon; Intel also hired 1,300 new flesh-and-blood employees last quarter to keep the machines running.
Apple's Q4 earnings call will take place Oct. 18
Can Apple continue the string of unprecedented financial success? Will the 4th quarter of 2010 (ending tomorrow, September 30th) be even more successful than the 3rd quarter, now that the iPad has had time to dominate the market for three more months, and the iPhone 4 has overcome the negative "grip of death" publicity? We'll all find out on October 18th, when Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, and a rogue's gallery of tech analysts bring us the 4th quarter earnings call for Apple Inc. As usual, TUAW will be providing a liveblog of the event, complete with commentary by our staff of bloggers. The event usually starts about 5 PM ET, and we'll be sure to give you a heads-up as the day approaches. [via The Mac Observer]
Lenovo sees $54.9 million net profit in Q1 earnings, hits double digits in global market share
Look out, world -- Lenovo's on a serious tear, and it doesn't look to be stopping anytime soon. In the company's latest earnings report, it proudly announced its first-ever double digital market share of 10.2 percent. As if that milestone wasn't enough to make upper management grin, the outfit also nailed down just under $55 million in net income (a pre-tax income of $75 million) on sales of $5.1 billion. This quarter also marks the third in a row that it has been the fastest growing of the top five PC makers, and the fifth consecutive quarter that it outgrew the industry. Specifically, the outfit's PC shipments increased some 48.1 percent year-over-year, and consolidated sales for its fiscal Q1 saw an insane 49.6 percent uptick from last year. As of now, things are looking mighty rosy for Lenovo, and it just seems logical for the company to revive the Skylight in celebration. Who's with us?
Dell's Q2 2010 sees 16 percent increase in net income, flat revenue from Consumer unit
First with HP, and now with Dell. The PC maker (and occasional phone dabbler) posted its second quarter fiscal 2010 report, which actually gives a good perspective on the relative position of each company in the global PC market. Whereas the House that Hurd once ran reported a $30.7 billion revenue and $2.3 billion operating profit, Dell posted $15.5 billion (up 22 percent) in revenue and $745 million operating income. Like we said earlier, operating income shouldn't be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes. Looking at net, the company profited $545 million, up an impressive 16 percent year-over-year. Focusing on the Consumer unit, revenue was flat at $2.9 billion, while at the same time operating income incurred a $21 million loss. According to the press release, the company "remains confident that initiatives underway will improve operating margins for the segment." Is all this enough to quell irate shareholders? Chances are slim, but hey, it's a start.
HP reports Q3 2010 earnings, posts $2.3 billion operating profit
And to think -- that $2.3 billion figure might have been a few million higher if not for the absurd Golden Parachute that Mark Hurd will continue to float on for centuries to come. All jesting aside, HP published its Q3 2010 financials today, reporting a healthy $2.3b in operating profit (not to be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes) and a five percent increase year-over-year. All told, third quarter revenue was listed at $30.7 billion (an 11.4 percent uptick from last year), with a "record" amount of services signings. Interestingly, a whopping 63 percent of total HP revenue came from outside of America, though we're struggling to find any specific mentions of Hurd or Palm in the release (embedded after the break). We'll be checking in on the press call shortly -- we'll let you know if anything crazy goes down.
AT&T's bullish earnings report suggests iPhone exclusivity is almost over
You can tell a product ranks high in the public consciousness when something like this is news: AT&T's quarterly earnings report makes it sound like the telecom may finally lose its iPhone exclusivity deal. While a class-action lawsuit recently confirmed the handset was originally locked to AT&T / Cingular for a full five years, the company's Q2 SEC filing has the company making a considerable number of familiar excuses why AT&T's cellular business will thrive even "as these exclusivity arrangements end." While the iPhone isn't mentioned by name, it's hard to imagine sentences like "We believe offering a wide variety of handsets reduces dependence on any single handset" could refer to anything else -- but before you start defecting to Team Red, know there's nothing in there that suggests a date, much less proof of the fabled CDMA iPhone.
Motorola manages $162 million Q2 profit, turns that frown upside down
It's a good day here, because rather than poor 'ol Sad Moto we get to bust out Happy Moto, as Motorola has released some good news in its Q2 financial report. Earnings were $162 million, up from $26 million this time last year. That sounds like a big jump, but compared to overall sales of $5.4 billion you can see things are still rather tight -- especially since those sales were down from $5.5 billion the year before and all-important mobile device sales figures dropped six percent to $1.7 billion. Also, these numbers were boosted by a "significant legal settlement" valued at $228 million. Maybe intellectual property wasn't the only thing Moto got from RIM?
Verizon posts $198m net loss, picks up healthy amount of new wireless subs
Verizon Communications, the majority shareholder of Verizon Wireless, just tossed out its Q2 2010 earnings, and unlike the majority of the other big boys we've seen, this company actually lost money over the past few months. All told, the mega-corp posted a $198m net loss compared to a $1.48b net profit this time last year, but if you were to exclude "special charges" for a workforce reduction, Verizon as a whole would've seen net profits of $0.58 per share. When focusing strictly on mobile, Verizon Wireless managed to pick up 1.4 million net customer additions, which is 200,000 shy of the 1.6 million that AT&T recently picked up. What's crazy is that one carrier has the iPhone while the other doesn't, and it doesn't take the imagination of Peter Pan to figure out how those numbers would shift if Apple's smartphone somehow picked up a CDMA radio and headed over to Big Red. Other fun facts about VZW's second quarter include a 3.4 percent uptick in total revenues year-over-year, a 5.2 percent increase in service revenues and a staggering 28.3 percent boost in data revenues. With all that cash flowing in, is there really a need for these newfangled caps? Consumers say "no," but Sir Capitalism says "yes." Update: We've been pinged by Verizon and given some clarification to the awful mess known as filing quarterly reports in accordance with GAAP with varying shares of ownership. We also learned that Verizon Wireless added 665,000 new net wireless customers under contract in the prior quarter, whereas AT&T added 496,000 contract customers. It's pretty easy to make these numbers say whatever you want them to, apparently.
Intel has its best quarter ever, brings in $2.9b profit
Sure, smartphone and tablets might be the Next Big Thing, but desktop computing ain't dead yet -- just ask Intel, which just reported its best-ever quarter with a $2.9b profit on $10.8b in revenue. That's an increase of $445m in profit from last quarter and a whopping $3.3b from last year, all driven by record laptop and server chip revenue, as well as a 16 percent increase in Atom revenue. What's more, the average sale price of all those chips went up, and selling more chips at a higher price is always good for business. Intel's got a call to discuss these numbers in depth at 5:30PM ET, we'll let you know if we hear anything good.
