Earnings -- Engadget Mobile

earnings posts

Sprint slows (but doesn't stop) subscriber loss in third quarter

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 30th 2009 @ 4:10AM

Sprint's sort of the Motorola of the carrier world right now -- a once-great force in the industry that may or may not have recognized its shortcomings too late, and the drama is still unfolding before our very eyes. Its results for the third quarter of the year are a mixed bag, because on the one hand, it's nothing but red ink and fleeing subscribers -- but on the flipside, analysts seem to be pleased that the numbers are better than feared. Some 801,000 postpaid customers sought greener pastures in the quarter -- less brutal than the nearly 1 million lost the quarter prior -- and $478 million went flying out of the coffers; chief executive Dan Hesse says he expects customer retention to be a prettier (albeit still net negative) picture in the fourth quarter, so at least these guys are headed in the right direction and we imagine the Pixi will only help with that overall. The big question remains, though: will they turn it around in time to avoid a takeover?

Motorola posts small 3Q profit, picks new CFO

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 29th 2009 @ 12:49PM

For Motorola, any profit at all is a Good Thing right now, so we're sure there are a lot of smiling faces out in Schaumburg today on news that the company managed just a smidge of black ink in the third quarter. The Mobile Devices division specifically turned in $1.7 billion in revenue (about $100 million less than the quarter prior) and accounted for a $183 million loss, which was offset by wins in the company's other divisions ultimately resulting in $12 million in bankable profit. The company says that it expects to push fewer handsets in the fourth quarter as it scales back "unprofitable" devices in favor of its new Android-based gear -- which is just fine by us -- and yes, indeed, it still intends to split the company into two entities when the time is right. In the meantime, the company has announced a permanent CFO -- Edward Fitzpatrick, who was conveniently already appointed to the position on an interim basis -- putting to bed some of the drama to bed that's surrounded Paul Liska, who vacated the post months ago on bad terms. All told, the DROID and CLIQ launches have cast a rosy glow on Moto's current situation, so now it's time to put the nose to the grindstone and see if these guys can deliver financially through the end of the year.

Read - Earnings
Read - CFO announcement

AT&T's third quarter earnings come up all roses

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 22nd 2009 @ 1:06PM

AT&T has come clean with its third quarter earnings today, and on paper, it seems like big ol' Number Two doesn't have much to complain about as far as cash flow goes. EPS comes in at 54 cents, 4 cents more per share than the consensus estimate; revenue was up from the prior quarter (though down a bit from the same quarter a year ago) and they clocked in 2 million net adds, 1.4 million of which were postpaid. That now leaves AT&T with a staggering 81.6 million subs, 6.7 million more than a year ago. Meanwhile, 4.3 million new phones were activated on the network -- 3.2 million of which were iPhones, AT&T's best quarter ever for iPhone activations -- which might actually be perceived as a bad sign for the company seeing how it stresses how heavily reliant it is on Apple's baby for customer conquests. Data continues to be a heavy focus with data-focused revenue up 33.6 percent from the same period last year, and for everyone's sake, we hope that every cent of that revenue is going right back into the network.

Palm announces first quarter results: $164.5m net loss, 823k phones sold

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 4:51PM

Palm just announced its first quarter results -- the first to really include numbers from the Pre -- and they're positive (well, depending on how you look at things), with a $2.8m gross profit on $68m in revenue. Actually, that's a little low, since Palm uses the same sort of subscription accounting for the Pre as Apple does for the iPhone, so the unofficial numbers are higher: $100.6m gross profit on $360.7m in revenue. Still, we should point out that according to GAAP (you know, the rules that matter), the outfit had a net loss in fiscal Q1 2010 of $164.5 million, while the non-GAAP net loss was pegged at $13.6 million. Although Palm wouldn't include break out specific sales data, they did say that the "vast majority" of the 823,000 phones they sold in Q1 were Pres, so take that as you will. Oh, and if you were still holding out hope for more Palm WinMo phones, it's all over -- Palm is doing 100 percent webOS development from now on. (Shocker!).

Update 1: Rubinstein deftly sidestepped the question of why Pixi was launched on Sprint as opposed to another carrier, saying "They're a great partner and we're looking forward to a great holiday season."

Update 2: Asked about MOTOBLUR, Jon said "I don't know much about MOTOBLUR, but I think to build really great products, you have to control the entire experience -- you have to own the OS and the services around it."

Update 3: Jon just said "We're on a web schedule with updates -- you'll see a steady stream of updates and features."

Update 4: Revenue on accessories and anciliary products were "really very small, immaterial to overall trends." When pressed if it was in the low, single-digit millions, CFO Doug Jeffries emphasized, "very, very small."

HTC sees revenue falling due to "delays in product launches"

by Darren Murph posted Aug 3rd 2009 @ 2:28AM

HTC's been on somewhat of a hot streak here lately, but word on the street has it that the aforesaid outfit may not be able to ship all of its forthcoming handsets on time. A new Wall Street Journal report on falling revenue in the HTC camp notes that an undisclosed amount of delays, a larger-than-anticipated drop in contract orders and lower-than-expected sales in China could lead to drooping income in the short term, and some analysts are pointing out that the company's average selling price per phone is sliding due to looming Android competition from the likes of Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Aside from the Touch Pro2 that'll probably never, ever land on Sprint, HTC has about a gazillion other rumored handsets on the horizon, but it's hard to know for sure which "product launches" are expected to be stalled. So, is HTC secretly retooling a smattering of its handsets in order to stay one step ahead of SE and Moto? Or are old fashioned supply chain inefficiencies to blame?

Motorola posts $26m Q2 profit, promises cheap Android thrills, does a little dance

by Darren Murph posted Jul 31st 2009 @ 8:44AM

See that image there on the right? Yeah, it's a pretty drastic departure from the Sad Moto™ face that had become all too common when talking about the company's financials. Just a quarter after posting a dreadful $291 million loss, the outfit responsible for creating the RAZR and then doing nothing for half a decade is finally showing a profit once more. The Q2 numbers show an "unexpected" $26 million profit on sales of $5.5 billion, $1.8 billion of which came from the handset division. Of course, that very division managed to lose $253 million and see its global market share slip to 5.5 percent, but with a big bang from Android reportedly just months away, CEO Sanjay Jha ain't taking time to frown.

Just hours after the Verizon-branded Sholes smartphone surfaced, Mr. Jha was quoted as saying that two Android devices would be "in stores for the holiday season," with launches occurring on "two major carriers in North America and multiple carriers outside the US." He also noted that plans were in place to ship "several additional Android-based devices in the first quarter of 2010," but details beyond that were vague. So, is this the beginning of a new, happier Moto? Our aged copy of Photoshop certainly hopes so.

Read - Motorola's Q2 results
Read - Jha on future Android devices

Verizon reiterates it'll have the Pre -- early next year

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 27th 2009 @ 5:01PM

It's no secret that Verizon wants the Pre; in fact, as much as we're sure they'd like to be showing a corporate poker face, it's pretty obvious they want it badly given how swiftly it sought to take the wind out of Sprint's sails with comments around the time of the initial launch. Sprint's Dan Hesse moved just as quickly to quash the thought as best he could by publicly slamming his company's archrival, telling media that Verizon needed to cut it out with the assumptions that Sprint's exclusivity period was six months and reiterating that he'd have the Pre in his back pocket through the end of 2009. The obvious response from Verizon? Revise your language just a little bit and keep at it. Big Red is now saying that it'll have the Pre "early next year" in comments made during its earnings call today -- in other words, the very moment Sprint's exclusivity ends if Verizon has anything to say about it. From Palm's perspective, sitting pretty atop the States' largest carrier is a good place to be, so we're sure they're stoked to hear the depth of Verizon's interest -- not to mention that we've still got that Eos floating around somewhere.

[Via PreCentral]

Oh, by the way: July 26, 2009

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 26th 2009 @ 11:59PM

Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of mobile for the weekend of Saturday, July 25th, 2009:

A small Chinese firm by the name of Beyond Radio Technology is working on an Android phone that they claim to have had in the labs for 18 months now. Problem is, they've posted screen shots, and they're clearly QVGA -- an instant fail. [Via Cloned In China]
Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena app store is now accepting apps from developers. Paid apps must cost at least €3 (about $4.25), though freebies will also be allowed; free apps with ad support, however, will require some other form of agreement with Sony Ericsson. There are no submission fees or annual charges for devs, which is nice -- and interestingly, apps that are rejected will have a plan B in the form of official partner GetJar. Java and Symbian are being supported initially, with other platforms (ahem, Android) coming in the future. [Via mocoNews]
All of the intel in the field is now pointing toward an August 5 launch for the BlackBerry 8520 "Gemini" on T-Mobile, which confirms earlier suggestions.
Speaking of T-Mobile, the Samsung t659 -- codenamed "Scarlet" -- has been spotted in the wild. Unless you have a thing for 2 megapixel cameras, we wouldn't get too excited, but the presence of AWS 3G is always welcome.
The global number two manufacturer, Samsung, released its Q2 results -- and they're looking pretty solid. The company managed to push some 52.3 million handsets in the three-month period and said that it'll make good on previous guidance (and then some) of hitting 200 million shipments for the year. [Via mocoNews]
A poster over at the ever-trusty xda-developers has somehow managed to stumble upon themes for AT&T's upcoming Warhawk -- the carrier's version of the HTC Touch Diamond2 -- and they're looking mighty Windows Mobile 6.5-ish. [Via wmpoweruser.com and Fuze Mobility]

Sony Ericsson needs to raise 100 million euros to stay afloat, says CFO

by Laura June posted May 20th 2009 @ 4:31PM

Things haven't looked great for Sony Ericsson -- which reported its sales were down 50% during the first quarter -- for quite a piece of time now. Well, now Sony's CFO has admitted that falling demand combined with a "gap" in its product portfolio has created problems for the company. He also acknowledged that the company needs to raise about 100 million euros by the end of this fiscal year (March of 2010) to keep on trucking. Sony Ericsson is reportedly considering numberless cash-raising options, but no plans are yet set in stone. We wish them luck!

Virgin Mobile post earnings, gets a boost from new unlimited offering

by Chris Ziegler posted May 12th 2009 @ 12:29PM

Sound familiar? Ultra-cheap unlimited plans are doing well (in some cases, too well) for everyone that's offering them these days, and it seems that Virgin is no exception to the rule. Following the April 15 launch of its $49.99 unlimited plan, the company announced during its earnings call this week that it's seen a five-times-over boost in unlimited plan adds (yeah, bargain pricing will do that), which dovetails nicely with the MVNO's claim earlier in the year that the crappy economy really set it up for big wins in '09. Notably, the quarter saw income rise 301 percent year-over-year to $19.1 million while operating revenues rose 2 percent to $337.3 million, so things are looking up for these guys just months after financials were looking weak -- so strong, in fact, that they've revised their full year cash flow and earnings upwards. Does this mean we get new Helio gear soon?

[Via mocoNews]

Motorola posts $291 million loss in first quarter, mobile sales fall 45 percent

by Laura June posted Apr 30th 2009 @ 10:12AM

Motorola has spilled some very unappetizing beans with its first quarter results. The company missed its projected sales figure of $5.62 billion, posting $5.4 billion, $1.8 billion of which were in its handsets division. The cellphone space is where the company seems to be hurting the most -- sales were down 45 percent there -- though some projections had it faring worse than that. Overall, Moto's looking at a $291 million loss, or $0.13 a share, which, even in this economy, can't be the greatest of news.

ZTE assembling new business unit for "high-end telecom markets"

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 28th 2009 @ 8:02AM

ZTE is mirroring fellow Chinese manufacturer Huawei's surprising success in the face a crappy economy, posting an impressive 35 percent growth in revenue for the last quarter over the same period a year prior -- and profit wasn't far behind at 29 percent growth. Much of that success can be credited to major wins in the company's 3G infrastructure business, but that may not be the most interesting story to come out of the quarterly report; instead, we're curious to find out more about a new business unit ZTE's throwing together to cater specifically to the needs of "high-end" markets like the US and Europe. Historically, ZTE's bread and butter has been in the low end, but this could mean that the company's looking to move beyond its dwellings on the basic side of regional carriers' lineups -- and seeing how competition is always good, we say bring it on.

Huawei ignores downturn, grows profit in 2008

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 26th 2009 @ 8:34AM

"Loss" is a buzzword in the last couple quarters' worth of earnings reports from virtually every major manufacturer, but Huawei has somehow managed to operate in some bizarro La-La Land seemingly immune from the economic disaster unfolding around it. In 2008, the private Shenzhen-based firm posted an annual net profit of $1.15 billion, up some 20 percent from the year prior; it lost $776 million in the process due to the yuan's gains against the dollar, but that's still extraordinarily impressive. Interestingly, a majority of Huawei's business comes from outside China, suggesting that carriers around the world are looking outside traditional infrastructure suppliers like Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia Siemens to save a few bucks -- notably including Cox for its upcoming 700MHz buildout. 2009 might be a bit weaker thanks to soft demand in Europe, but still, they're predicting a whopping 29 percent growth in contract wins. Good to see some serious success in a down market, isn't it?

[Via mocoNews]

LG phone revenue up, but profit down

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 22nd 2009 @ 7:49AM

It's a tough operating environment for even the healthiest manufacturers right now, and LG's no more immune than anyone else -- or is it? Despite a dismal global economy, the Korean electronics giant and world's number three phone maker reported that it actually took in some 23 percent more revenue on phone sales over the same quarter last year -- a total of 3.92 trillion won (about $2.9 billion) -- though profit fell some 41 percent. Overall, phone shipments declined 7 percent to 22.6 million in the quarter, blamed in part on the perennial post-holiday decline, but saw strength through its midrange with models like the Cookie and KS360 (we're not sold on lumping those two in the same market segment, but whatevs). Perhaps the best news to come out of the quarterly report is that it expects 10 percent growth going into the current quarter thanks to a new concentration on upper-tier devices like the Arena, Viewty Smart, and GD900 along with message-centric phones like the Neon and Xenon. You know what'd really spur sales for ya, LG? A US release of the Viewty Smart... yeah, that's it.

[Via mocoNews]

Sony Ericsson posts epic quarterly loss, adds another round of job cuts

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 18th 2009 @ 8:44AM

Some good news, please, Sony Ericsson? Anything? Perhaps a surprise Idou ship date? You desperately need something to counter this dismal quarterly report you just dropped on a bad news-saturated public, showing a net loss of €293 million (about $382 million) in the three-month period ending March 31 -- more than €100 million more than the amount you shed in the quarter prior. Despite reassurances to the contrary, we suspect that neither Sony nor Ericsson are prepared to tolerate red ink out of their joint venture forever, and it doesn't help that you've put Android on the back burner indefinitely. What's more, we thought your staff might be able to exhale now that the "cost saving program" to curtail spending by €300 million by cutting 2,000 jobs is complete, but you've coupled the bleak report with the announcement of an additional 2,000 cuts. Your shipped units are off a staggering 35 percent year over year, to boot; maybe the "good" news -- and we're really reaching here -- is that your European rivals are sharing in your pain right about now. Chins up, guys, and get some quality product out of the labs.