Hasta La Gadget!

Stephen Elop’s first quarterly results as Nokia CEO have just come out, and while the company’s still growing, others seem to be speeding ahead of it. Nokia’s reporting its converged mobile devices (smartphones, to you and us) reached volumes of 28.3 million during Q4 2010, which is a neat bump from 20.8 million at the same time last year and 26.5 million in the previous quarter. However, in the context of the broader smartphone marketplace, that figure now amounts to only a 31 percent share, according to Nokia’s own estimates, which is a major dip relative to its 40 percent slice in Q4 2009 and 38 percent in Q3 2010. Elop’s perspective on the matter is as follows:

“In Q4 we delivered solid performance across all three of our businesses, and generated outstanding cash flow. Additionally, growth trends in the mobile devices market continue to be encouraging. Yet, Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution. In short, the industry changed, and now it’s time for Nokia to change faster.”

When your operating profit goes from €1.47b (€950m net) a year ago to €1.09b (€745m net) this year, the response should indeed be to change and to change fast. Nokia’s still not disclosing sales figures of the N8, but given that this was the first full reporting period where the company’s Symbian flagship has been on sale, it doesn’t seem to have had quite the impact Espoo will have hoped for. Wanna try again with the N9?

Update: Nokia’s investor relations call has borne a few more interesting tidbits from the new man in charge. Elop is quoted as saying Nokia must “build or join a competitive ecosystem,” with the latter verb in that sentence sure to renew discussions of why the Finnish company should / shouldn’t switch to an OS such as Android or Windows Phone 7. We still think that’ll be the very last resort over in Espoo, but Elop apparently thinks Nokia has the brand recognition and operator relationships to make such a move if it wanted to. Which of course it doesn’t. Or does it? Let’s wait for Nokia’s Strategy and Financial Briefing in London on February 11th — Mr. Elop’s expected to be a lot more specific about his company’s roadmap going forward on that day.

Nokia smartphone market share shrinks to 31 percent, operating profit takes a beating too originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix just released its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 and of no surprise to anyone who was paying attention last year it did quite well by passing 20 million subscribers, more than double its base at the start of 2009. However, per Biggie’s Law mo money = mo problems, and it took the opportunity to respond, surprisingly sharply, to potential threats from its Hollywood content providers and the ISPs its Watch Instantly service streams over. News of note going into 2011? A huge focus on personalization including new integration with Facebook and a mention that Apple TV has already surpassed the iPad in viewing hours. It also showed off the one-click Netflix button on an unspecified (looks like Toshiba to us) remote and compared the “consternation” over its success to the rise of Fox as a broadcast network two decades ago. We’ll hop on the earnings call in a few minutes for more details, check after the break for more of the details.

Continue reading Netflix passes 20 million subscribers; focuses on ISP disputes, HBO, Facebook in Q4 results

Netflix passes 20 million subscribers; focuses on ISP disputes, HBO, Facebook in Q4 results originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week in consumer electronics was full of culture. Or maybe it was full of color — we’re not quite sure what the difference might be, but there was a lot of weird / cool news in the CEO, handheld gaming, and tablet worlds. The point is, we’ve got another weird / cool podcast on our hands that you haven’t listened to yet and you need to take care of that, like, five minutes ago.

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, #1 Digitimes bestselling author Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Superstition

00:04:15 – Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence
00:10:22 – Apple turns in record Q1: $6b profit on $26.7b revenue, 16.2m iPhones sold
00:23:20 – Apple’s invested in a ‘very strategic’ $3.9b component supply agreement, but what is it?
00:25:10 – Asahi Glass introduces Dragontrail for consumer electronics, puts the Gorilla on notice (video)
00:25:48 – Larry Page taking over as Google CEO, Eric Schmidt will remain as Executive Chairman
00:35:30 – Google Voice now lets you port your own phone number, maybe (update)
00:44:53 – Exclusive: HP / Palm’s webOS tablets — pictures, plans, and more
00:45:42 – HP / Palm tablet to feature Touchstone dock, cloud storage, Beats audio and Tap-to-Share smartphone integration
00:49:30 – HP calls us out, implies it’s got even better scoops at February webOS event
00:53:20 – HP’s first webOS tablet may start shipping in March, fulfill longstanding promise
01:06:00 – Motorola Xoom launching February 17th at Best Buy (update: priced at $700)
01:06:22 – Motorola Xoom priced at $800 at a minimum, according to Verizon leak
01:14:52 – Nintendo 3DS coming to US March 27th for $249.99, Europe first on March 25th (video)
01:19:10 – Live from Nintendo’s 3DS preview with Reggie Fils-Aime
01:23:22 – Bloomberg: Sony PSP2 to debut next week, PlayStation Phone at MWC
01:23:47 – This fan-made PSP redesign is sexy
01:25:15 – PSP2 to be based on iPhone-esque PowerVR GPU, rival original Xbox in power?
01:27:52 – The Engadget Show returns next Sunday with Steve Wozniak!

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Engadget Podcast 230 – 01.24.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s fourth quarter of 2010 has gone exactly the same way as the first three: the company reports a 160 percent rise in profits (to $500 million) year-on-year and a 31 percent increase relative to Q3 2010. Total revenue for the final three months of last year rounded the $3.5 billion mark, having been a trifling $1.4 billion the year before. Company CEO Peter Chou sees no end to this dramatic growth, forecasting it’ll remain in double digits through 2011, and he plans to match up to it by doubling monthly production capacity at HTC’s Shanghai plant to two million handsets. If necessary, he says he’ll even outsource manufacturing. Even more intriguing, however, is Chou’s admission that HTC is strategizing an entry into the tablet realm: “It’s a new market with many competitors, and we don’t want to rush into it.” Hardly a surprise, but good to have it from the horse’s mouth.

HTC profits leaping and bounding up, Peter Chou promises tablet and production expansion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson has just made its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2010 official and the highlight, at least for milestone lovers like us, is the figure of nine million Android-based Xperia handsets shipped since the family’s launch. Now, the language used here is important, as Sony loves to report shipments to retailers instead of actual sales, but it’s still a pretty grand number of Xperia X10, X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro, and X8 handsets out and about in our big wide world. Hell, it’s even more impressive when you consider that those phones have spent most of their lives riding the ancient Android 1.6 as their operating system. In terms of actual currency figures, however, SE has fallen short of expectations, reporting a moderate €35 million pre-tax profit for Q4, which the company is turning into a positive by noting that it marks its fourth consecutive quarter of being in the black. If the new crop of Xperia Androids are anything to go by, we can probably expect this habit to continue for a good long while.

Sony Ericsson ships 9 million Xperia Android phones, but latest earnings disappoint originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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