Sony posts a net loss of $115 million for Q3, stays on track for full-year operating profit

Still-in-turnaround-mode Sony has reported its earnings for the October to December period, and has recorded a net loss of about 10.8 billion yen ($115 million). It did however improve its revenue to $21 billion as the yen weakened, despite slower sales of items like HDTVs and Blu-ray players. Key for Sony is that it managed an operating profit for the quarter of 46.4 billion yen ($496 million) and remains on track to make its business profitable in the next financial year.

Despite Sony's best efforts -- which include initiatives that you've heard about like its Triluminos HDTVs, PlayStation Mobile for tablets and phones, 4K and new software for the Vita -- it's cut sales targets in all of those divisions. Projected sales for TVs and cameras fell by 1 million units each, and portable game players by 3 million, as noted by Bloomberg. It's been a year since Kaz Hirai took the reins, and with his "One Sony" restructuring plan well underway and (what everyone suspects is) a PlayStation 4 event around the corner, 2013 is as important a year as the company has ever had. We'll check in for more info on the earnings call in just a bit, for now you can paw through all the numbers yourself in the slides and reports linked below.

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Source: Sony Q3 earnings (PDF), Slides

Sharp manages an operating profit in Q3, but forecast remains cloudy

Sharp manages an operating profit in Q3, but forecast remains cloudy

It's been a while since we had any good financial news for Sharp, so we'll start there. On an operating basis, Reuters and Nikkei report it managed to turn a profit for the October to December quarter of 2.6 billion yen ($28.5 million) -- more than analysts had predicted -- despite still recording a net loss of $398 million. That's not so bad when you consider the massive losses of a year ago, although questions raised last fall about the company's viability still remain. We'll see if a slew of new devices and partnership with Qualcomm are what the doctor ordered -- hopefully the #1 manufacturer of 60-inch and above HDTVs in 2012 can continue on long enough to put its 8K Super Hi-Vision TV in our living rooms.

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Source: Reuters, Nikkei

Toshiba’s 2012 Q3 makes $322 million net profit, sees a future in nuclear

Toshibas 2012 Q3 makes $322 million net profit, thinks its future is nuclear

Toshiba's latest numbers may not reach the dizzying heights of last quarter, but at least it's not back to filling out its spreadsheets in red pen. The company is announcing profits of $322 million from net sales of $14.9 billion. A big chunk of that change came from Tosh's "social infrastructure" division, which produces power plants, medical systems and radiation detectors -- while its home entertainment and computing divisions sat and watched profits continue to decline. Toshiba has maintained the cut-back forecast it made in October, expecting annual net profits to be around $1.2 billion, more than enough for it to send you a cute bug-eyed robot for your next birthday.

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Source: Toshiba (PDF)

Nintendo Q3 earnings show 3 million Wii Us sold, sales forecasts lowered again

Nintendo Q3 earnings report show

Nintendo's Q3 earnings report is out, and it's sold just over 3 million units of its new Wii U console (at a loss) along with 11.69 million pieces of software. The other big news is that it's adjusted sales forecasts downward -- again, after it announced they were being cut back in October. However, since the flagship console is sold at a loss, while Nintendo is predicting 17 percent lower revenue, its prediction for net income has actually moved up by eight billion yen ($87 million).

It's not all bad news however, as it's showing about $160 million in net income for the year, compared with last year's losses. The 3DS has jumped up to 29.84 million sold, while the original Wii is within shouting distance of the 100 million number. Need more numbers? Hit the source links to check out all the sales data firsthand.

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Source: Nintendo Q3 earnings (PDF), Financial Forecast adjustment (PDF)

Logitech Q3 earnings reveal plans to sell off Harmony remote, video security divisions

Logitech Q3 earnings reveal plans to sell off Harmony remote, video security divisions

The fiscal 2013 Q3 numbers from Logitech are in, and according to new CEO Bracken P Darrell, the "disappointing" results will require immediate action to turn around -- action that includes selling off its remote control (read: Harmony) and digital video security divisions. Logitech notched an operating loss of $180 million, on sales of $615 million. At this time last year, we were still looking forward to a refresh of the line which resulted in the Harmony Touch, but that does not appear to have turned things around. Harmony remote sales fell off by 55 percent based on units, although a focus on higher end devices like the new Touch meant revenue declined only 24 percent.

According to a slide in the presentation, after a strategic review, Logitech is focusing on tablet accessories, wireless speakers as well as keeping its lead in PC-related products. Other "non-strategic" products are also on the chopping block, and we'd have to think that includes video conferencing after yesterday's announcement. Current owners worried about potential support should be taken care of however, as a post by Darrell on the support forums indicates company will continue to provide support during the sale process and all current warranties are still in effect. There's no word about a possible buyer, but we'll be tuning into the earnings call tomorrow morning to see what additional information is revealed.

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Source: Logitech, Logitech Forum

RIM’s Q3 2013 earnings: $2.7 billion revenue, $114 million adjusted net loss, CIO to retire

RIM has just announced its earnings for Q3 2013 (the three months ending December 1, 2012 in non-RIM terms), including a five percent drop in revenue to $2.7 billion and an adjusted net loss of $114 million. GAAP net income from "continuing operations" was $14 million, though, or $9 million when taking into account the loss from discontinued operations, and it's also reporting a cash increase of about $600 million to $2.9 billion. In terms of devices, RIM says it shipped 6.9 million smartphones and 255,000 PlayBooks during the quarter, although it's again only talking in terms of devices "shipped," not actual sales to consumers. Along with the earnings, the company has also announced that its CIO, Robin Bienfait, has decided to retire, although RIM says she will stay on in an "advisory capacity to enable a smooth launch and seamless transition."

As for BlackBerry 10, CEO Thorsten Heins unsurprisingly reiterated that the company is all set for the January 30th launch date, and noted that more than 150 now completing technical acceptance programs for the first BlackBerry 10 products. The company also says it will be "significantly increasing its marketing spending this quarter" to support the launch of BB10, which it warns will contribute to a loss for the fourth quarter, as will the likely slowdown of BlackBerry 7 product sales as consumers hold off for BB10.

Update: During the company's earnings call, Heins confirmed that RIM's global subscriber base now stands at 79 million worldwide, which is a slight decline from the previous quarter but still an increase year-over-year. Not surprisingly, he says the biggest losses came from North America. RIM also confirmed on the call that its BlackBerry sell-through for the quarter was 8.4 million, or actually higher than the number of new devices shipped.

Continue reading RIM's Q3 2013 earnings: $2.7 billion revenue, $114 million adjusted net loss, CIO to retire

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Source: RIM

IDC: Samsung and Apple rule connected device share, those who snooze in mobile lose

IDC Samsung and Apple rule connected device share, those who snooze in mobile lose

Most market share studies are broken down by individual categories that don't tell the whole story of their successes and failures. IDC has stepped forward with a more holistic look that covers PCs, phones and tablets all at once -- and paints a very different picture. Samsung and Apple lead the pack in the third quarter of this year with an estimated 21.8 and 15.1 percent share each, based mostly on their mobile dominance. Lenovo's equal balance between its rapidly growing PC and phone businesses put it at 7 percent. It's those who haven't done well outside of PCs that have struggled: IDC is quick to point out that HP's exit from mobile left it at 4.6 percent and sinking fast, while it's commonly known that Sony has yet to enjoy a truly blockbuster hit with its Android-based smartphones or tablets. The situation is changing quickly, but the data shows that companies can't lean solely on traditional computers to thrive in the broader technology landscape.

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Source: IDC