Apple’s TV business still consists only of an over-the-top streaming media box, and not a proper TV set despite longstanding rumors that kind of hardware was on the way – but it’s showing impressive growth nonetheless. The company sold approximately 10 million Apple TV units last year, according to estimates based on figures Apple CEO Tim Cook offered up at the annual Apple… Read More
Ballmer and Co. have been tight lipped when it comes to Surface sales figures, but they’ve just opened up a little to Uncle Sam. An SEC filing reveals that the first-party tablet raked in a total of $853 million in revenue between its debut and June 30th, the end of the firm’s fiscal year. To put that in perspective, the cash Microsoft managed to rake in is eclipsed by a $900 million hit it took through Surface RT inventory adjustments. To make matters worse, the company spent more on advertising for Windows 8 and Surface ($898 million), than its tablet brought in. Though details on how many slates have shipped or sold are still MIA, price drops make us suspect that those numbers are still too modest for Redmond’s taste.
Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft
Via: WinBeta
Source: SEC
In a Chinese press release we just received, phone maker Xiaomi has just announced that it generated a revenue of CN¥13.27 billion or about $2.16 billion in the first half of 2013. This easily exceeds the company’s CN¥12.6 billion or $2.05 billion revenue from the entirety of 2012, so things are already looking good ahead of the annual event on August 16th, when multiple products are expected to be launched — including a TV that got leaked last month.
CEO Lei Jun said that this is partly thanks to the 7.03 million Xiaomi Phones his company sold within the same period, and the release also praised the popularity of the Xiaomi Box plus various other accessories, such as the new in-ear headphones launched recently. In addition to that, Xiaomi now has 20 million users from around the world as of end of June, 14.22 million of which come from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The latter two became part of Xiaomi’s larger scope in April this year, with Hong Kong using the classic online retail model, and Taiwan doing the same but also selling devices through a partnership with local carrier Far Eastone.
Despite the surprising good announcements, Lei reminds his team at today’s celebration party to “forget about the results, they’re not the most important,” and that “only making products that make users scream can bring in long-term value.” The real challenge now is to tap into the more exotic markets, and Xiaomi has previously expressed great interest in Europe. Good luck with that, Lei!
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Lenovo’s just announced its Q4 and full year 2012/13 financial results, and it’s touched new highs on the two most important indices. It earned $127 million on $7.8 billion in revenue for the quarter and $34 billion for the full year, both records for the company, while netting $635 million in profit for the full year — another all-time high. The only sore spot for Q4 was Lenovo’s laptop business, which dropped two percent over last year to $4.2 billion, but that’s a far milder plummet than many PC makers saw — thanks to a 74 percent revenue growth in China. Otherwise, desktop PCs held flat for the company at $2.4 billion during an otherwise down period, and it held firm as China’s number two smartphone manufacturer, seeing shipments grow at 206 percent year-over-year, double the average rate. It remains to be seen if Lenovo can continue to buck the downward PC trend that’s continued unabated with the release of Windows 8 — but if not, maybe we’d finally see some of its smartphones over here.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Lenovo
Source: Business Wire
Instead of reaping the rewards of putting out a lovely new flagship, HTC has just reported its lowest ever profit — a mere $2.8 million in unaudited net income — during the first three months of this year. That compares to $173 million in the same quarter of last year, representing a pretty catastrophic fall of around 98 percent. Underlying revenue dropped by a third to $1.4 billion. The reason? The top-end smartphone on which the company’s fortunes currently rest, the HTC One, mostly missed its scheduled global arrival date in March due to manufacturing delays, so it effectively didn’t exist during the period in question. It has only just become available to pre-order in the US and won’t start shipping to customers until April 19th. At this rate, the HTC First — the manufacturer’s second big announcement of the year — might actually deserve its name.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
We can’t say AMD’s declining momentum was unexpected, but these results don’t necessarily have us excited about the future, nonetheless. For Q4, the company posted revenue of $1.16 billion, which is a 32-percent drop from the same period in 2011, netting a loss of 63 cents per share. For 2012 as a whole, the company’s revenue rang in at $5.42 billion — a 17-percent fall from the previous year, and a $1.60 loss per share. President Rory Read references evolution and diversification when discussing outlook, but it’s clear that the company needs to make some major adjustments before it can return to profitability. Let’s hope that AMD’s 2013 lineup, including the Temash and Kabini APUs, help to turn this company around. You’ll find full Q4 and 2012 earnings in the PDF at the source link below.
Via: The Next Web
Source: AMD (PDF)
Tesla’s shares are up 3.9 percent to $30.04 on Monday due to Q3 results that point to better things ahead for the Californian EV maker. The company recently reported revenues of $50 million for the third quarter alone, and is well on track to hit its target of $400 to $440 million by year’s end. In a letter to shareholders, Tesla credits production increase for the success, stating that it “successfully transitioned to a mass production car company, growing from manufacturing 5 cars per week at the beginning of the quarter to 100 cars per week by the end.” Indeed, it apparently delivered almost 350 Model S cars in Q3, and expects about 2,500 to 3,000 more of the shiny electric sedans to be sold in Q4, putting the company squarely in the black. We’re not sure if its newly launched Supercharger network has anything to do with the recent uptick in sales, but hopefully this means it’ll be able to pay off that DOE loan soon.
Filed under: Transportation
Tesla reports great Q3 results, expects to be cash flow positive by Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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British chip designer ARM has just revealed its accounts for Q3 2012 and they show a familiar pattern: namely, a double-digit rise in both revenue (up 20 percent to £144.6 million, or around $230 million) and pre-tax earnings (up 22 percent to £68.1 million). According to Reuters, the company is attributing its latest bout of success to making “further inroads” into growing markets like smart TVs and microcontrollers. Of course, all of this is stands in stark contrast to the traditional x86 PC world, where giants like Intel and AMD have been struggling with weak demand.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile
ARM posts healthy Q3 profits: up 22 percent thanks to smart TVs and other growing markets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sure, topping off a Model S in 30 minutes with a Supercharger is awfully handy, but production delays of the sedan will keep some future owners away from quick charge times — and most importantly — their cars for a little while longer. In a freshly published filing with the US Securities Exchange and Commission, Tesla revealed that it hasn’t reached its goal of producing 400 Model S vehicles a week, which places them four to five weeks behind their 2012 delivery expectations. To date, just 255 of the autos have rolled off the assembly line, 132 of which have made their way to new homes. According to the Palo Alto-based outfit, ramping up production has been slower than expected for a number of reasons, including supplier delays and taking a deliberately measured pace for quality assurance purposes.
Before the year draws to a close, Musk and Co. anticipate meeting their goal of churning out 400 cars each week, and a total of 20,000 by the end of 2013. Currently, the automaker has racked up around 13,000 reservations and thinks it’ll be working to fulfill even more throughout 2013. As a result of the manufacturing lag, the firm has slashed its revenue forecast by as much as $200 million, estimating it’ll rake in anywhere from $400 million to $440 million this year. In an effort to add cash to its coffers, the company is putting up roughly 5 million shares of stock for sale. Who’s buying, you say? Tesla mentioned its CEO Elon Musk is interested in putting down a cool million bucks.
Filed under: Transportation
Tesla behind on Model S production goals, aims for extra cash with stock sale originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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