Is RIM really the UK's top-selling smartphone vendor? That was the message the company put out earlier this week, announcing that "the latest results from data firm GfK show that BlackBerry was the No.1 selling smartphone in the British market for the second year running. It continues to dominate the market, grabbing 26.3% of December sales and averaging 27.7% through 2011."
This seemed a remarkable set of statistics for a company which has (meanwhile) been seeing US share drooping, according to another research company, Nielsen, which said that its share of the US smartphone market there dropped below 6% in December.
It's even more remarkable because GfK is famously protective about its figures; companies aren't meant to hand them out, and especially not to use them for public competitive comparisons. The company reckons that it covers about 80% of the consumer space - but doesn't try to measure sales in the enterprise or business space.
Is RIM really the UK's top-selling smartphone vendor? That was the message the company put out earlier this week, announcing that "the latest results from data firm GfK show that BlackBerry was the No.1 selling smartphone in the British market for the second year running. It continues to dominate the market, grabbing 26.3% of December sales and averaging 27.7% through 2011."
This seemed a remarkable set of statistics for a company which has (meanwhile) been seeing US share drooping, according to another research company, Nielsen, which said that its share of the US smartphone market there dropped below 6% in December.
It's even more remarkable because GfK is famously protective about its figures; companies aren't meant to hand them out, and especially not to use them for public competitive comparisons. The company reckons that it covers about 80% of the consumer space - but doesn't try to measure sales in the enterprise or business space.
Amazon.com on Tuesday announced its Q4 2011 financial results for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011. While not breaking out the numbers of devices sold (no surprise, as the company has never done so) Amazon.com said that Kindle sales increased 177 percent year-over-year.
Those numbers include the Kindle e-book readers and the Kindle Fire Android tablet.
Net sales increased 35 percent to $17.43 billion, up from $12.95 billion in Q4 2010. However, net income decreased 58 percent to $177 million or $0.38 per diluted share for the quarter, compared to net income of $416 million, or $0.91 per diluted share, in Q4 2010. That is a drop of 57.5 percent from the year-ago quarter.
However, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected the company to report earnings of $0.19 per share for the quarter, so Amazon.com doubled that estimate.
That said, Amazon.com has now seen its net income drop in each of the last four quarters. Income fell 32.8 percent in Q4 2011, 7.7 percent in the second quarter and 72.7 percent in Q3 2011.
Among the highlights of the quarter were:
The number of Amazon Appstore customers nearly tripled from Q3 2011 quarter
App downloads were more for the single quarter, Q4 2011, than all of the previous quarters combined
Those wondering if Amazon.com can pull off a Netflix rival should note: the number of videos purchased or rented from Amazon Instant Video and the number of Amazon Instant Video customers both more than doubled year-over-year in Q4 2011, with the number of Prime Instant Video streams increased nearly 300 percent from quarter to quarter.
Kindle Fire is the No. 1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product across Amazon.com since its introduction 17 weeks ago.
Amazon.com's forecast for Q1 2012 was as follows: net sales are expected to be between $12.0 billion and $13.4 billion, representing between 22 percent and 36 percent growth year-over year. The decline in income is expected to continue, with operating income expected to be between a loss of $200 million and a profit of $100 million, representing between a 162 percent decline and a 69 percent decline compared with Q1 2011.
Samsung suffers German court setback in Apple battle
Fri, Jan 20 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Apple juggernaut regains warp speed with new pilot
What’s bad for publishers is great for readers
Related Topics
Stocks »
Markets »
Media »
Basic Materials »
Cyclical Consumer Goods »
Industrials »
Technology »
Telecommuncations Services »
Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:52am EST
* Apple US mkt share doubles to 44.9 pct -Kantar
* Google Android share slips to 44.8 pct -Kantar
* ARM, Imagination, Dialog rise around 4 pct
* Apple to take smartphone crown from Samsung
By Tarmo Virki
Jan 25 (Reuters) - Suppliers basked in the reflection of Apple's glowing results on Wednesday after the company's gold standard iPhones and iPads flew off the shelves over the holiday sales season.
Apple's forecast-beating fourth-quarter figures late on Tuesday helped it to beat Google's Android as the largest smartphone platform in the United States and to regain the world's largest smartphone maker spot from Samsung .
Apple's results were spearheaded by sales of the iPhone 4S, which is packed with technology from British chip designer ARM , said analyst Nick James at Numis.
Apple accounts for about 10 percent of ARM's technology revenues, and for about 35 percent of graphics and video chip designer Imagination's technology revenues, he said.
Apple has posted its fiscal Q1 earnings for 2012, which are for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. Unlike fiscal Q4 2011, which saw Apple have a rare miss of analysts' estimates, Apple had a record quarter, with record sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs.
The company's revenue was a record $46.33 billion, up 73 percent year-over-year. Apple also posted a record profit, of $13.06 billion (or $13.87 per share), up 118 percent over fiscal Q1 2011.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected sales of $38.91 billion. It was a welcome change from last quarter, fiscal Q4 2011, when for the first time in 32 quarters, Apple failed to meet analysts' estimates.
In terms of iDevices, it was a solid quarter, with one exception. Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, up 128 percent year-over-year. The company sold 15.43 million iPads during the quarter, which was a 111 percent unit increase over fiscal Q1 2011. It also sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase year-over-year.
The lone poor performer were iPods, which dropped 21 percent year-over-year, to 15.4 million units sold. That, however, is a continuing --- and expected --- decrease, as more end users gravitate away from stand-along music players.
International sales accounted for 58 percent of the quarter's revenue.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline."
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO added "We are very happy to have generated over $17.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter. Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50."
Apple stock was down $7.00 to $420.41 or 1.64 percent in Tuesday trading. The stock has leaped to $453.80, up $33.49 or 7.97 percent in after-hours trading, at the time of this writing.
Target has confirmed plans we reported on earlier: it's teaming with Apple to open 25 "store-within-store" outlets in locations that won't support a standalone Apple store.
25 locations is a small start, as Target has more than 1,760 U.S. locations. It's also still unclear if the locations will expand the availability of Apple products. Target sells iPads, iPods and iPhones, but no Mac hardware. It's still unclear if the retailer will begin to sell that, as well, or how the "store-within-store" outlets will be laid out.
The announcement followed up another unrelated announcement by the retailer, "The Shops at Target" concept. Items from boutiques will be sold in Target on its its website starting in May. The first collection will be from The Webster, The Candy Store, PolkaDogBakery, Cos Bar and Privet House.
A new collection will then be sold in the fall.
Both of these announcements come on the heels of somewhat disappointing holiday sales figures.
Target's December sales at stores open at least a year rose just 1.6 percent, which compared poorly to expectations of a 3.1 percent increase among analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters. Last week, Target also warned that its fourth-quarter profit would be lower than it had previously estimated.
Hacker Takes Credit for Wave of Cyber Attacks on Israel
Published January 06, 2012
| FoxNews.com
Print
Email
Share
Comments
AP
JERUSALEM – A hacker claiming to be Saudi is taking credit for the wave of thefts in Israel over the past week, Reuters reported.
A hacker posted credit card information of thousands of Israelis on the Internet, credit card companies said Tuesday, in what appeared to be a politically motivated attack concerning Israeli officials.
The hacker has identified himself as OxOmar and said he is part of a Saudi Arabian hacker team. Reuters reported that in a post on Thursday the hacker said he had leaked information about more than 400,000 Israelis and said the "Jewish lobby" was hiding the scale of the attack.
Related Stories
Belarusian Government Tightens Its Control Over Internet
Cyberworm Gobbles Up 45,000 Facebook User Logins
The Israeli Ynet news website said the hackers called the cyber attack a "gift to the world for the New Year" that they hoped "would hurt the Zionist pocket."
They claimed to have compromised 400,000 credit-card holders, but Israel's central bank said only about 15,000 active cards were affected.
Cyber expert Gadi Evron told The Associated Press that it would be almost impossible to verify the attackers were Saudi.
Evron, who once oversaw security for the Israeli government Internet provider, said the attack was "nothing special" technically and was mundane, given the millions of credit card numbers stolen online daily.
Loud statement ... the F-15 fighter jet. Photo: Reuters
HONOLULU: Fortifying one of its key allies in the Persian Gulf, the Obama administration announced a weapons deal with Saudi Arabia on Thursday, saying it had agreed to sell F-15 fighter jets valued at nearly $US30 billion to the Royal Saudi Air Force.
The agreement, and plans to press ahead with a nearly $US11 billion arms deal for Iraq, is evidence of its determination to project American military influence in an oil-rich region shadowed by a threat from Iran.
Though the White House said the deal had not been accelerated to respond to threats by Iranian officials in recent days to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, it comes as tensions with Iran have deepened and the US has withdrawn its last soldiers from Iraq
Australia's batsmen have been under fire since getting skittled for a second innings 47 in their recent test in Cape Town against South Africa, but Clarke has shielded them with a sturdy defence many would rather see used on his own wicket. -Photo by ReutersMELBOURNE: Australia close out the year on a high after their rousing 122-run victory over India in the first test in Melbourne, but might hope their batsmen have underlined “I shall not throw my wicket away cheaply” at the top of their New Year resolutions.
A brilliant performance from Australia’s raw pace attack with bat and ball gave Michael Clarke’s team a shot of confidence heading into the second test in Sydney, but also glossed over their batsmen’s continuing woes.
Barring half-centuries from debutant Ed Cowan, Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey, the specialists lost their wickets quickly and in bunches, reprising a disturbing trend of collapses in recent tests against New Zealand and South Africa.
To add insult to injury, those further down the order not paid to score runs put them in the shade at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Pacemen James Pattinson and Peter Siddle scored 100 runs in the test, more than opener David Warner, number three Shaun Marsh and skipper Clarke combined (76).
Warner, who scored a century in the previous test against New Zealand in Hobart, fell back to earth when he appeared to confuse the India match for a Twenty20 fixture, losing his wicket with ill-chosen swipes in both innings.
Free whitepaper – IBM System Networking RackSwitch G8124
Samsung has opened a new offensive in its ongoing patent dispute with smartphone arch-rival Apple.
Fresh claims, filed in Germany, charge Apple with violating a pair of patents relating to the implementation of the WCDMA 3G telecom standard and another two patents relating to smartphone utilities, one of which involves the display of emoticons.
"(Samsung) made four more claims; two are standard-related patents and the other two are utility patents. And a court said it would make these claims separate from the April lawsuit," a Samsung spokesman told Reuters.
A German regional court in Mannheim dealing with the separate but related lawsuit over 3G handset tech, filed in April, said on Friday that it expected to publish a judgment in this case on 2 March.
The scores are even so far in the bruising smartphone-tablet patent battle between Samsung and Apple. An Australian court lifted a ban on the sale of the Galaxy Tab fondleslab in the country in late November. However Samsung suffered a setback days before this when a Paris court refused to block sales of Apple's iPhone 4S in France.
Earlier this month a US court rejected Apple's bid to get an early ban on the sale of Samsung products in the country. ®
Recent Comments