Sharp’s Galapagos media tablets landing December 10, costing quite a few Yen

Sharp’s evolutionary tablets are coming, people. It’s just that they’re coming to Japan and they’re not going to be terribly affordable when they do arrive. The Kin maker has just revealed a December 10 launch date for its Mobile and Home Galapagos models — a 5.5-inch slate with 1024 x 600 resolution and a 10.8-incher with 1366 x 800 resolution, respectively — pricing them at ¥39,800 ($474) and ¥54,800 ($653) for the Japanese market. As usual, direct currency translations are inadvisable, but if you must have a price comparison of some sort, the larger Galapagos model (equipped with an 8GB microSDHC storage card) costs ¥4,000 less than Apple’s 32GB WiFi-only iPad. Of course, the big differentiator in Sharp’s mind will be the e-bookstore and content ecosystem it’s working so hard to create for these Galapagos terminals — the value of which has yet to be determined.

Sharp’s Galapagos media tablets landing December 10, costing quite a few Yen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change Apple’s iPod nano (2010)?

Without question, Apple’s latest iPod nano is its most interesting one yet. And considering that it’s the first nano with a color, multitouch LCD slapped onto it, it’s also one of the most multifaceted. The engineers in Cupertino certainly cut away from the nano’s past in order to create this new shuffle-like form factor, and it’s expectantly drawn quite a bit of heat from both side. Now, let’s say you were allowed inside the Apple lairs, and told that you could revamp the nano in any method you pleased. Aside from figuring out if it would blend or not, how would you go about tweaking the new nano? Enlarge the device (and thus, the screen) just a bit? Throw a second display on the rear for kicks and giggles? Throw in a pair of Bluetooth headphones? Talk to us in comments below.

How would you change Apple’s iPod nano (2010)? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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

Garmin officially exits the smartphone business, reports mixed Q3 earnings originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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]

Continue reading Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year

Samsung notches record profits, aims to sell ten million Galaxy S phones this year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

Nintendo posts half-year net loss, a first in seven years originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 05:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

Sprint fails to impress Wall Street with Q3 2010 earnings, still notches 644k net adds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T clocks up 2.6 million net new wireless subscribers, bigger profits in Q3

AT&T’s balance sheet just keeps looking happier and happier every quarter. In spite of the company’s somewhat questionable hardware choices — such as picking the ugly option from both Samsung‘s and LG‘s Windows Phone 7 platters — it now proudly boasts a total of 92.8 million active wireless service lines. This comes off the back of a 2.6 million net subscriber gain over the third quarter of 2010, a record for this period of the year. Churn, or the rate at which people left AT&T, was also at at its best ever for the quarter, coming in at a lowly 1.32 percent, while postpaid integrated device (read: smartphone on a contract) activations reached above the eight million mark. Total net profit was $12.3 billion, thanks to the sale of Sterling Commerce and a one-off tax adjustment, but in cashflow terms the company made $4.0b in the quarter. That’s a lot of dinero, no doubt aided by Q3 being the first full reporting period after the iPhone 4’s launch, we just wish some of AT&T’s other phones weren’t quite so unappealing.

Continue reading AT&T clocks up 2.6 million net new wireless subscribers, bigger profits in Q3

AT&T clocks up 2.6 million net new wireless subscribers, bigger profits in Q3 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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.

Continue reading Nokia reports improved earnings for Q3 2010, will still ‘streamline’ up to 1,800 employees out of a job

Nokia reports improved earnings for Q3 2010, will still ‘streamline’ up to 1,800 employees out of a job originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 06:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple introduces 11.6-inch MacBook Air, available today for $999

Hoo boy, our tipster was spot on with this one, Apple’s adding an 11.6-inch sibling to its newly redesigned 13.3-inch MacBook Air. It’ll have a dual-core 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (upgradeable to 1.6GHz on the more expensive model), 1366 x 768 resolution, and a $999 starting price for the 64GB SSD model, with the 128GB version setting you back $1,199. It carries over the aluminum unibody construction from the 13-incher, along with the same 2GB or 4GB DDR3 RAM options and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics, but has to settle for a briefer 5-hour battery life. Full PR and Apple’s first ad for this new hotness both await after the break.

Update: We’ve got our very first hands-on pictures with the new machine. Enjoy!

Continue reading Apple introduces 11.6-inch MacBook Air, available today for $999

Apple introduces 11.6-inch MacBook Air, available today for $999 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video)

Apple asked itself what would happen if an iPad and a MacBook Air “hooked up.” Benefits from the iPad? “Instant on… great battery life, amazing standby time… solid state storage… and it’s thinner and lighter.” It’s 0.68-inches thick at its thickest, 0.11-inches at its thinnest, and weighs 2.9 pounds (the old MacBook Air was 0.76-inches thick and weighed 3 pounds). Naturally, Apple is going unibody construction here, with one of those big new glass trackpads. They’re also sticking with a 13.3-inch screen, running at a 1440 x 900 resolution (with an 11.6-inch “little brother” to boot). There’s SSD storage, a 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor (the same ones available on existing MacBook Airs, apparently), GeForce 320m graphics, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple says its new “more stringent” battery life tests offer 7 hours of “wireless web” and 30 days of “standby.” Prices start at $1,299 for 128GB and $1,599 for 256GB of storage; they’re available today.

Be sure to check out our complete live coverage right here!

Continue reading Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video)

Apple’s new MacBook Air (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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