We've already heard from Sony about the positive effects some of its recent moves like the sales of several of its buildings are having on its finances, and now the company is revealing its detailed results for the last year. Sony has managed a net profit of 43 billion yen ($458 million) in 2012, its first in several years and a good sign after it projected such optimism in last year's results. The most anticipated news is what it projects for 2013, a year where CEO Kaz Hirai has promised better integration between its products and of course, the PlayStation 4. Sony's forecast projects sharply improved sales next year, however it expects the operating income to remain flat with a net profit of 50 billion yen ($506 million).
For the year, its TV sales were down 38 percent, reflecting the same drop in the market reported by competitors like Samsung and LG, as well as Sony's cutbacks to reduce its losses. In phones, the newly-consolidated Sony Mobile experienced an increase in sales thanks to the shift to smartphones, however the cost of its inclusion cause the division to lose money. Next year, it's anticipating sales of 42 million smartphones, up from 33 million. In the games division, Sony had a decrease in sales for the PS3, PSP and PS Vita of 12.2 percent from last year, although of course it's counting on the PS4 to turn that around. There aren't any numbers listed for next-gen, but it's expecting sales of PS3 hardware to drop to 10 million units from 16.5 million (including the PS2) the year before. We'll have to wait for the earnings call later this morning to hear more of the company's future projections, for now you can check the links below for the full details on its results.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile, Sony
Source: Sony (PDF), Q4 2012 Slides
Just like last year, we're reporting on a revision Sony's making to its expectations for last year's profits, but this time around there's some positive news. According to Sony, selling some of the buildings it owns and a weakening yen have doubled its expected net profit from 20 billion yen announced in February to 40 billion yen ($403 million). The complete results will be announced May 9th, and despite Sony managing its first profit since 2008 investors are hoping to hear how it plans to keep the streak going with business gains next year. The PlayStation 4 is expected to headline CEO Kaz Hirai's plans for future products, we should hear just how optimistic Sony is about those prospects in a couple of weeks.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Sony
Via: Bloomberg
Source: Sony (PDF)
While there's no shortage of 3DS iterations headed to the market, Nintendo is having a harder time selling its new Wii U. Profits for the year are also half of its own predictions, despite the fact that Nintendo reduced its rosy estimates in the interim. Net sales are down 1.9 percent over the last year, down to 635 billion yen, but most importantly the company has managed to turn its net income into positive figures, netting 7 billion yen over the last year, compared to a 40 billion yen loss the year before. Following its launch, Wii U sales have slowed substantially, with only 390,000 units sold since December (now totaling 3.45 million), while the 3DS continues to sell in healthier numbers, with Nintendo shifting 1.25 million handhelds in the same period.
Focusing on the next year, the company maintains that it'll increase net income to 10 billion yen in the next twelve months, with a focus on selling "the compelling nature" of its gaming hardware, as well as pushing its 3DS more in foreign markets. The financial statement adds that the games maker plans to concentrate on "proactively releasing key Nintendo titles" starting the second half of this year "in order to regain momentum." Those key titles will have to hit hard, as certain competitors' new consoles are creeping closer.
In related news, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata is taking on a second role as CEO at Nintendo of America, today's report states. Current NoA figurehead Reggie Fils-Aime will stay on as COO, overseen directly by Iwata.
Source: Nintendo
Hon Hai Precision, also known as Foxconn Technology, has reported its earnings for the year and notched a net income of $3.2 billion according to the Financial Times. Most familiar as the manufacturing muscle behind Apple's iPhones, iPads and the like, the Taiwan-based manufacturer beat analyst predictions on high margins for those products. Its subsidiary, Foxconn International Holdings, is the world's largest cellphone maker and produces devices for companies including Nokia and Motorola, but suffered a net loss of $316.4 million. As a result, some are concerned about Foxconn's heavy reliance on Apple as a customer going forward. Still, the company is reportedly continuing a plan to increase vertical integration, by manufacturing the parts for devices and not just putting them together -- we'll see if anyone notices changes in the final product anytime soon.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
It's a hard time to be in the tech-retail sector, a fact that Best Buy knows all too well. The business has announced a fourth quarter net loss of $377 million on revenues of $16.7 billion. Incoming CEO Hubert Joly was upbeat despite the bad numbers, saying that the company's domestic sales helped offset its failures overseas. At the same time, Best Buy announced that founder Richard Schulze's attempted bid to buy back his company had failed, as the deadline for his offer expired at the end of February. As such, the company will now concentrate on turning a profit without any Apple store-style reinvention.
Filed under: Misc
Over a quarter of MetroPCS' customer base is now on LTE (26 percent), and the company made $1.3 billion in revenue for Q4 and $5.1 billion total in 2012 as a result, it said. Though revenue was down for Q4 over last year to $122 million compared to $215 million for Q4 2011, profits were up year-over-year by 10 percent to $824 million, and the company said it made a record $1.5 billion EBITDA (before taxes, etc.) The company attributes that in part to a 2.2 million LTE subscriber bump, an increase of 117 percent over Q3 2012, but indicated that it lost 93 thousand subscribers total over the same period. It added that churn (customers leaving to other carriers) fell to 3.4 percent, its lowest level ever. Meanwhile, the carrier said it's proposed Deutsche Telecom-backed merger with T-Mobile is moving along swimmingly with a definitive proposal filed yesterday. It anticipates "closing the transaction in early April" ahead of schedule, which it says would make MetroPCS "the leading value wireless carrier in the United States."
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: PR Newswire
Researchers at IDC have had their ears to the ground keeping tabs on shipments for specific types of devices, and now they've painted a bigger picture of the hardware battlefield in 2012. "Smart connected devices" -- a category which includes desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones -- saw a total of 367.7 million units shipped in Q4 2012, up 28.3 percent from the year before. In total, over 1.2 billion units were shipped last year, marking a 29.1 percent upswing from 2011. Naturally, tablets and smartphones drove the boost by carving out roughly 60 percent of the year's combined marketshare, while PCs and notebook shipments sank by 4.1 and 3.4 percent, respectively.
While Samsung and Apple each claimed crowns in specific gadget divisions, Sammy came out on top with smart connected devices in 2012 as a whole (and in Q4) thanks to a 20.8 percent marketshare, beating Cupertino by 2.6 percent. Lenovo finished in third place with a 6.5 percent slice, while HP and Dell trailed behind with 4.8 and 3.2 percent, respectively. IDC notes that Cook. and Co. could have come in a more distant second, but the debut of the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini pulled it out of a slump from earlier in the year.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Samsung
Source: IDC
Researchers at IDC have had their ears to the ground keeping tabs on shipments for specific types of devices, and now they've painted a bigger picture of the hardware battlefield in 2012. "Smart connected devices" -- a category which includes desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones -- saw a total of 367.7 million units shipped in Q4 2012, up 28.3 percent from the year before. In total, over 1.2 billion units were shipped last year, marking a 29.1 percent upswing from 2011. Naturally, tablets and smartphones drove the boost by carving out roughly 60 percent of the year's combined marketshare, while PCs and notebook shipments sank by 4.1 and 3.4 percent, respectively.
While Samsung and Apple each claimed crowns in specific gadget divisions, Sammy came out on top with smart connected devices in 2012 as a whole (and in Q4) thanks to a 20.8 percent marketshare, beating Cupertino by 2.6 percent. Lenovo finished in third place with a 6.5 percent slice, while HP and Dell trailed behind with 4.8 and 3.2 percent, respectively. IDC notes that Cook. and Co. could have come in a more distant second, but the debut of the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini pulled it out of a slump from earlier in the year.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Samsung
Source: IDC