Hasta La Gadget!

Though Samsung’s financial quarter announcements this week showed the company to be kicking up a storm (metaphorically, of course), with the Galaxy S 4 family of devices on the market today, shares fell internationally at word that analysis projections were not met. This sort of thing isn’t unheard of, but to the lay person, it’s not the easiest thing to make simple sense of. Why, if Samsung’s quarterly profits are up 47% compared to this quarter last year, are investors spooked enough to kick down shares 4% in the Seoul stock market?

You’ll find The Guardian quoting analyst CW Chung from Nomura Financial Investment in Seoul speaking on how “because of the marketing costs, the telecommunications business was probably weaker than expected.” Meanwhile Bloomberg quotes analyst Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics saying “Apple is suffering from iPhone fatigue, while Samsung is suffering from Galaxy fatigue.”

The latter quote was issued before earnings were sent out publicly by Samsung while the same source has Byun Han Joon, a Seoul-based analyst at KB Investment & Securities Co., speaking after the fact:

“It sharply missed the market expectation, and that worries me. The market was initially concerned about the third- and fourth-quarter results, but today’s news raises questions if the earnings are already in bad shape.” – Byun Han Joon

This analyst speaks on the idea that what Bloomberg quotes as a “58.6 trillion-won average of 38 estimates” as concerning when compared to Samsung’s actual sales at 57 trillion won in this most recent quarterly results report. Estimates appear more important right this minute than the fact that sales ramped up from 47.6 trillion won this same quarter a year earlier – that’s no bump to scoff at.

And know this – final results haven’t even been announced yet in full. Today’s report from Samsung is only a preliminary report on their full financial Q2 2013 results which will be announced on July 26th. It would seem instead that the company is only preparing the world for their full report which will appear on July 26th.

You’ll find more information on what Samsung spent is money on this newest quarter in SlashGear’s first story on the company’s day, there speaking more on the stock drop when it was just 3% where here final numbers for the day set stock at 4% lower than at the beginning of the day.

There is indeed a supposed “slow down” that could be attributed to smartphone fatigue. Samsung’s mobile business continues to grow, but down to 4-percent above the quarter before this one rather than the 8-percent of that quarter compared to the one before it.

Samsung will be kicking out somewhere around 20 million Galaxy S 4 unit sales with 100 million units being eyed for the all-time unit sales record – eventually, that is. And it’s Jung Sang-jin, a fund manager at Dongbu Asset Management, (owner of Samsung shares) quoted by Reuters, that puts the situation in a rather clear light:

“Is Samsung’s smartphone story now over? Not quite yet. It’s growth is indeed slowing due largely to disappointing sales of the S4. Yet I think Samsung has some exciting stuff up its sleeves. The problem is no one is sure whether these products can really wow investors and consumers.” – Jung Sang-jin

Encouraging enough for you? We’ll see how the market reacts when Samsung actually truly does announce their real final numbers later this month.

Samsung’s Q2 2013 shows investors value analysis over record profit is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After filing for a trademark for “iWatch” in several countries, including Japan, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, and Turkey, Apple may have a bit more trouble filing for the same trademark in other countries such as the US, UK, and China, mostly because “iWatch” has already been trademarked in these countries.

A smartwatch company in the US, known as OMG Electronics, has already trademarked the name, but they ultimately ended up failing when they couldn’t raise the necessary funds on Indiegogo to create an “iWatch.” As for the UK, the trademarked name is used for a monitoring smartphone app (get it?). In China, iWatch trademarks are currently invalid, but “iWatching” isn’t, and if Apple ended up trademarking “iWatch” in China, it could be enough for legal action.

However, it seems Apple shouldn’t have too much of an issue gaining these trademarks in the US and UK, but China will be a bit more difficult to obtain, as Apple has had to some tough times in the past dealing with trademarks in China. For instance, the Chinese company that owned the “iPad” trademark essentially blackmailed Apple into paying more money than originally settled upon.

We’ve been hearing a lot of talk about an upcoming smartwatch from Apple, but not a lot of solid evidence until recently, when Apple filed for the “iWatch” trademark in several countries. We still have to know what to expect in the rumored smartwatch, but it’ll most likely run iOS and do nifty tricks like bring up notifications, and possibly act as a second display of sorts.

In the end, there will indeed be a trademark war between Apple and a few companies who own the “iWatch” trademark, but the Cupertino-based company will most likely come out as the victor if they cough up enough money for the rights to the name. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how it plays out in the next few months.

VIA: Electronista

Apple iWatch trademark war ahead is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The former president of Microsoft’s Windows division, Steven Sinofsky, has struck a retirement deal with the company. We reported back in November that he was on the way out, with sources surfacing soon after claiming that his sudden departure was over refusal to name him CEO Ballmer’s successor. Reportedly, the retirement agreement has been in deliberation since late last year.

The information was given by Microsoft, which published a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. According to the agreement, Sinofsky will receive approximately $14.2 million in stocks that were previously issued while being required to certain obligations to Microsoft, with legal aid being specified as one of them.

Likewise, per the retirement deal, Sinofsky is not allowed to enter in competition with his former employer, nor can he encourage any current employees to leave the company for a different one. There are other provisions said to have been previously agreed to, as well, but Microsoft did not reveal what provisions are.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Microsoft stated: “This agreement provides a number of important considerations for Microsoft, including a commitment that Steven will continue assisting with intellectual property litigation until January 1, 2017.” In addition, according to the spokesperson, Sinofsky’s retirement deal is similar to what employees who worked for a minimum of 15 years and retire after 55 years of age receive.

Back in December, Sinofsky took on a teaching job with Harvard’s Business School, an announcement the former Windows boss made on Twitter with a hashtag referring to it as a sabbatical. His work there dealt with product development. In addition, he’s worked at penning journal pieces on the same topic. His non-compete agreement with Microsoft is over at the end of 2013.

SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft forms retirement deal with former Windows president Steven Sinofsky is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After raking in over $3.3 million on Kickstarter for a new game from indie developing studio Double Fine, the company is coming back to its backers begging for more money to make an even-better game than originally pitched. The only problem is that the game is already late, so backers and gamers alike aren’t in the best mood to begin with.

Broken Age, which was originally titled Double Fine Adventures, is taking a new approach, with the developing studio deciding to break the game up into two parts that will release separately. Game developer Tim Schafer and company think that this will create a better experience for gamers, but they need for money from backers, as well as more time to develop the game.

In a Kickstarter update to backers, Schafer said that “even though we received much more money from our Kickstarter than we, or anybody anticipated, that didn’t stop me from getting excited and designing a game so big that it would need even more money.” Of course, at that point, we guarantee that anyone reading rolled their eyes until they got stuck in the back of their heads.

The new plan is that Double Fine will release a refined version of the first half of Broken Age through Steam’s Early Access service at some point in January of 2014. This is expected to generate enough income to continue working on the second half of the game series, while sales from other Double Fine games will also contribute to production costs.

It’s definitely an odd situation to be in, especially for a company who raised $3.3 million when they really only wanted a measly $400,000, and they’re still asking for money and time to complete the game. Hopefully a mutiny doesn’t form over the changed plans, but we know how sensitive gamers can be. What are your thoughts?

VIA: Engadget

SOURCE: Kickstarter

Double Fine requests more money from fans for already-late Broken Age is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like Samsung is shaking things up executive-wise as the company has announced that Gregory Lee will be stepping in as President of Samsung Telecommunications America. Lee was previously Samsung’s president of the company’s southeast Asia headquarters for the past three years. Former president Dale Sohn will be moving to South Korea to be the executive adviser to Samsung’s mobile CEO JK Shin.

This change in executive roles will take place immediately, and we’re not sure why abrupt changes were made, although Samsung could just be looking for a fresh perspective, and making some changes to its leadership positions could prove that to be an effective move. With Sohn advising CEO Shin, we could see some interesting new things from Samsung in the US soon.

Before he was president of Samsung’s southeast Asia headquarters, Lee served as the head to the company’s Global Marketing Operations at Samsung’s headquarters in Korea. Samsung says that Lee’s expertise “in marketing and innovative operations” will allow him to “continue to build” Samsung’s success and mobile business initiatives.

As for Sohn, he served as Samsung’s US mobile president for seven years. During that time, Samsung topped the charts in smartphone sales in the US, as well as delivered tremendous success with the company’s line of Galaxy S smartphones, with record sales for the Galaxy S III, and an on-track record pace for the Galaxy S 4.

VIA: Engadget

Samsung names Gregory Lee as US mobile president is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.