Quarterly Earnings -- Engadget Mobile

quarterly earnings posts

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

Palm says licensing webOS "not a religious issue"

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 26th 2009 @ 12:25PM

http://www.engadget.com/media/2009/06/webos-clie-1.jpg

Palm had its quarterly results conference call yesterday and although CEO Jon Rubinstein and CFO Doug Jeffries kept a pretty tight lid on the future product talk, they did say that licensing webOS to third parties isn't "a religious issue for us." That's pretty vague, sure, but we can't help but immediately think back to the golden age of Palm OS, when licensees like Sony put out amazing devices like the Clie PEG-NZ90 that we've lovingly mocked up with a webOS screenshot above -- we're sure Palm's upcoming handsets will be interesting in their own right, but we'd love to see a manufacturer like HTC riff on webOS the way it's tweaking Android. Of course, Jeffries also said Palm has "no plans at this time to even talk about" licensing, so this is all just a pipe dream for now, but let's not ruin the moment, okay? Hit the read link for the full call transcript.

[Via GearLog]

Nokia's profits drop 90% in Q1 2009

by Darren Murph posted Apr 16th 2009 @ 9:24AM

So, there's good news and bad news here, and we're opting to go against tradition by dishing out the positive first. Nokia just pushed out its Q1 2009 results, and while many firms have been struggling to stay afloat, at least it managed to turn a profit of €122 million ($160 million). That said, it's still looking at a staggering 90 percent drop in profits compared to its first quarter of 2008, where it raked in a mind-boggling €1.222 billion ($1.6 billion). Not surprisingly, sales were also down 27 percent to €9.28 billion ($12.2 billion) from €12.7 billion ($16.7 billion). Of course, Nokia's far from being alone in having to showcase less-than-beautiful Q1 numbers, but in reality, the damage could've been much worse; in fact, shares of the company's stock inched up by 8 percent following the reveal, as many had feared an even more significant decline. All in all, Nokia's still holding strong to a 37 percent market share worldwide, and if CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has anything to do with it (hint: he does), things should be on the up and up here soon.

[Via BBC]

RIM selling gobs of BlackBerrys, profits just so-so

by Darren Murph posted Feb 12th 2009 @ 2:09PM

Just under a week ago, we found that RIM had sold its 50 millionth BlackBerry, and while that's all fine and dandy, Wall Street only cares about what you've done for it lately. Thus, traders were none too pleased to hear Research In Motion suggest that its fourth fiscal quarter earnings would come in at the low-end of expectations despite anticipating a higher-than-forecast number of new subscribers. So, what's it all mean? In simple terms, it appears that RIM's making less off of each phone sold, with Todd Coupland of CIBC Capital Markets surmising that the firm may simply be selling more of its lower-priced devices. And honestly, that makes perfect sense given the economy. Still, we can think of much, much darker places for RIM to be in than this, and these days, just coming out in the black is a victory.

[Via Wall Street Journal]

Vodafone reports 14 percent rise in revenue

by Darren Murph posted Feb 3rd 2009 @ 9:39PM

Things may not be entirely awesome for most operators these days, but at least Vodafone's making some cash in this cash-strapped market. According to its most recent quarterly results, the outfit has notched a 14 percent increase in revenue, which was helped by the weak pound and exceptional sales in India. More specifically, it realized sales of £10.47 billion ($14.9 billion) compared to £9.16 billion ($13.06 billion) a year prior. Also of note, Voda was thanking data revenue profusely, as said category rose over 25 percent on an organic basis. Nevertheless, the good news prompted it to raise its expectations for the next quarter, which ain't happening too often these days. All the minutiae is parked in the read link.

NTT DoCoMo sees 16% uptick in nine-month operating profit

by Darren Murph posted Jan 30th 2009 @ 5:11PM

Given just how poorly most every other ~~carrier~~ company has been doing, we can't imagine the suits at NTT DoCoMo frowning about this. The Japanese wireless carrier has just outed its earnings for the nine months ending December 2008, and while the tail end was expectedly less-than-awesome, the nine month snapshot wasn't too shabby. Net income slipped 30 percent in October to December to $1.01 billion compared to $1.45 billion in the same window a year earlier, but a 16 percent increase in net profit (from $4.2 billion to $4.8 billion) was realized in the April to December '08 time frame. Moving forward, the company noted that its ongoing strategy was to "cut back on handset subsides and put the savings toward reducing tariffs had helping the company to retain customers" -- a mantra that was shared a few months earlier. For those hungry for more data points, give that read link a poke.

Carphone Warehouse sees retail sales rise 13%

by Darren Murph posted Jan 18th 2009 @ 2:29PM

Who says everyone has to report bum quarters these days? The Carphone Warehouse -- which is only Europe's largest, most recognizable independent mobile phone retailer -- has just reported that retail sales during its most recent quarter were up 13 percent to just over £1 billion ($1.48 billion). Moreover, its connections were up 3% to 3.7 million and subscription connections rose 3% to 1.3 million, though revenues of its TalkTalk Group were down slightly (2%) to £347 million ($514 million). Still, bigwigs at the firm aren't ignorant to the market, noting that "weaker trading conditions" are likely to continue, and thus, affect future numbers. Still, we'd say these guys deserve a round of golf claps for just breaking into '09 in the black.

[Via mocoNews]

Sony Ericsson posts $247 million Q4 loss, isn't looking forward to Q1 2009

by Darren Murph posted Jan 16th 2009 @ 1:59PM

Sony Ericsson's had a rough couple of months (along with just about everybody else), and things certainly aren't looking any more stellar in Q4. The outfit has just posted a fourth-quarter drop in net income of €187 million, or just south of $248 million. That figure becomes all the more striking when you consider that it showed profits of €373 million in the same period last year. As expected, the company blamed the "global economic slowdown" for the contracting demand, though it did say that the previously announced €300 million cost savings initiative was still on track. President Dick Komiyama noted that he still sees "continued deterioration in the market place in 2009, particularly in the first half," giving us all reason to believe that similar sadness will be emitted from its Q1 / Q2 2009 reports. Still, we'd argue that things could turn around quick, fast and in a hurry if it figures out a way to get Android onto a shipping handset. We all know SE's got the design angle down -- toss a decent OS on there and you've got a winner.

[Via mocoNews]

Nokia and Motorola dominate China's smartphone market

by Darren Murph posted Dec 16th 2008 @ 8:01PM

Really, it's not even fair. A recent look at Q3 2008 smartphone sales in China has found that together, Nokia and Motorola encompass around 90% of all handsets sold in the nation (real ones, we presume). The CCID Consulting report also points out that Nokia's share alone is a dominating 69.3%, with its wide range of choices spanning from low-end to ultra-luxurious helping it to hook consumers from all walks of life. Picking up the silver is Moto with a respectable 19.9%, while Dopod snags the bronze with just 4.7%. Overall, handset sales in China were practically flat from Q2, which -- in today's world -- isn't particularly awful. For the number lovers out there (you know who you are), check the read link for even more statistics.

[Via mocoNews, image courtesy of SymbianWebBlog]

The Man can't hold HTC down as it sees highest revenues ever

by Darren Murph posted Dec 9th 2008 @ 2:32PM

For the vast majority of mobile makers, the past few months have been ones they'd love to forget. For HTC, it could actually throw a party in remembrance. The outfit responsible for the Touch Pro / Diamond, Touch HD and T-Mobile G1 (among others) has reportedly witnessed its revenues skyrocket to a record high of around $528.6 million in November, which is up nearly 11% sequentially and 22.1% on the year. Oh HTC, just think how much higher that figure would be if you'd loose the Touch HD on US soil...

[Via WMPowerUser, image courtesy of CNET]

Palm's preliminary quarter-end results show drooping revenues, bleak outlook

by Darren Murph posted Dec 2nd 2008 @ 8:54AM

Remember when we used to write about Palm in order to talk about its devices and / or operating system(s)? Man, those were the days. Now, it just seems like one sadness-filled report after another, and just days after hearing that it would be cutting an undisclosed amount of employees in order to trim operating expenses, in comes even more doom and gloom courtesy of its preliminary Q2 (fiscal year 2009) results. The company is expecting to record revenues ranging between $190 million to $195 million, far short of the $331 million Wall Street had been counting on. The shortfall was blamed on "a difficult economic environment [which had] greatly intensified the negative impact on product sales." Of course, the visionary Ed Colligan (CEO) still maintains that by reducing its cost structure it can "launch next-generation products as planned," but seriously, why should we believe that line now? Time to put up or shut up, Palm.

[Via CNET, image courtesy of PalmFocus]

Samsung warns that the handset market ain't what it used to be

by Darren Murph posted Nov 25th 2008 @ 4:01PM

Echoing sentiments 'round the globe is Samsung, who evidently understands that Q4 and beyond will be much tougher for handset makers than in quarters past. According to spokesman James Chung, "the actual global market growth on a unit basis could come short of [Samsung's] initial forecast for 9% growth (in 2008)," and "as for next year, it is possible that the market could post a single-digit or even negative growth." Of course, it's not like any other cellphone maker has it too much easier, but for folks wondering if Sammy had some kind of magical elixir for generating positive numbers, we hate to say it doesn't.

[Via RCRWireless]

Virgin Mobile USA posts 8% subscriber growth, $4.1 million net profit in Q3

by Darren Murph posted Nov 15th 2008 @ 7:03AM

Hey, who says everyone loses during tough times? After Virgin Mobile USA crawled through a miserable Q2, things are looking up for the recent acquirer of Helio. The outfit reported 821,491 gross additions to its subscriber list, which marks a respectable 8% year-over-year increase. Furthermore, the company somehow managed to amass a Q3 net profit of $4.1 million, which contrasts starkly with the $7.4 million loss that it posted a year ago. The only down news of the day was that its average revenue per user in the third quarter fell 2% from a year earlier to $20.19, but given that its Q4 forecast shows it notching a revenue increase from 6% to 9%, we suppose it's all good in the neighborhood.

[Via RCRWireless]

Deutsche Telekom shakes economic woes, reports "good" Q3

by Darren Murph posted Nov 9th 2008 @ 11:43AM

We can't recall the last time a mega-corp informed the public that it had a "good" quarter (as in, it literally described the quarter as "good" in its headline), but we can't help but chuckle at this one. Deutsche Telekom has done what few other companies have managed to do of late, and that's post an impressive Q3. Even in a "difficult market environment," net income was up €0.6 billion ($775 million) to €0.9 billion ($1.16 billion) compared to a year ago, and it managed to snag 670,000 new T-Mobile USA customers all the while. As with most other carriers these days, DT also found lots of income flowing in from data usage; total data revenue (excluding messaging) was up 28.3% to a whopping €639 million ($825 million). For number crunchers and optimists alike, tap the read link for more material you're sure to love.

[Via mocoNews]

Sprint posts Q3 net loss of $326 million, sees 1.3 million subs leave

by Darren Murph posted Nov 7th 2008 @ 10:45AM

Sprint's year just keeps getting worse. After losing over 900,000 customers last quarter while posting a $344 million loss, the company insistent on advertising with faux soap operas and in black and white (and yellow) is hanging its head once more. During Q3, the carrier saw 1.3 million net subscribers head for the exits, and it also reported a loss of $326 million. According to CEO Dan Hesse, Sprint "has yet to turn the corner," warning that the process of turning things around would be gradual. Moving forward, the company expects gross additions to "stabilize," while the turnover rate is apt to remain at around 2.15%. In related news, the provider's stock price has sunk around 60% in the past six months, and while that's surely bad news to shareholders, not many other mega-corps out there are doing tremendously better.

[Via The New York Times]