Posted on 03 February 2012. Tags: money
Nikon posted its Q3 earnings report this morning, and there isn't a whole lot to smile about. The cameramaker had to swallow a one-off loss of ¥10.9 billion last quarter (approximately $143.1 million), due to widespread flooding that devastated its Thailand manufacturing plant, in October. Today's report comes just a day after Sony issued
similarly dire figures, which it largely attributed to last year's flooding, as well. For the third quarter ended December 31st, Nikon posted a ¥3.7 billion loss (about $48.6 million), compared with the ¥9.7 billion ($127.3 million) it saw in net profits over the same period in 2010. Operating profits also fell to ¥8.2 billion from ¥18.6 billion in 2010, while total revenue dropped from ¥253.8 billion in Q3 2010 to ¥215.4 billion, last quarter. The company remains optimistic about the future, though, forecasting net gains of ¥55 billion this year, coupled with an expected revenue of ¥925 billion. For the full report, check out the source links below.
Nikon posts Q3 2011 earnings, sees significant losses due to Thailand floods originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 03 February 2012. Tags: Internet, IT, money, News, Open Source
snydeq writes "Overall employment in tech is improving, but the certs you could once count on for a job or extra pay are losing their value, InfoWorld reports. 'Businesses no longer value what are increasingly considered standard skills, and instead are putting their money both into a new set of emerging specialties and into hybrid technology/business roles.'"
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Posted on 03 February 2012. Tags: money
The
OLED-infused future is fast approaching in Taiwan, where
AU Optronics today announced a "strategic alliance" with Japanese firm Idemitsu Kosan. According to AUO, the partnership will see both companies collaborate on new OLED displays and patents, with Idemitsu filling the role of supplier. Taiwan-based AUO delivered the following statement: "This will accelerate business growth in AUO's small-sized OLED displays for smartphones and tablets, which have emerged as a new growth area in the display industry, and that of large-sized OLED displays for TVs." There's no indication as to when we might see the first fruits of this alliance, but as AUO VP Paul Peng recently reminded us,
it may be a while.
Continue reading AU Optronics, Idemitsu Kosan announce 'strategic alliance' on OLED development
AU Optronics, Idemitsu Kosan announce 'strategic alliance' on OLED development originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 01 February 2012. Tags: money
Sony has just confirmed
Kazuo Hirai as its new CEO and President, validating
rumors that have been swirling for a few weeks now. Outgoing CEO Howard Stringer, meanwhile, has been appointed Chairman of Sony's Board of Directors. The Hirai era officially begins April 1st, while Stringer will assume his new role sometime in June (until then, he'll remain executive chairman). Today's announcement, coming a day before
Sony's earnings call, brings an end to more than a year's worth of
speculation, though Hirai's selection
hardly comes as a surprise, considering his recent string of promotions. In April, he was named
Executive Deputy President; five months later, he was
promoted to Sony Computer Entertainment Chairman. According to Stringer, in fact, Sony has been grooming Hirai since as early as 2009, when the Board began designing its succession plans. Kaz, he says, stood out from the crowd:
Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature. I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success. It was my honor to recommend him to the Board for the positions of President and CEO, because he is ready to lead, and the time to make this change is now.
Kaz, for his part, acknowledges that Sony is going through some "
challenging" times at this juncture, but credits Stringer with steadying the ship, and seems clear-minded about the future. "The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains," the 51-year-old
PSN architect explained. "The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony's diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways."
Click past the break for Sony's full press release.
Continue reading Sony confirms Kazuo Hirai as new President and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer
Sony confirms Kazuo Hirai as new President and CEO, replacing Howard Stringer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 31 January 2012. Tags: cash, money
T-Mobile is throwing some of its weight behind the
mobile payment movement this morning, becoming the first carrier to offer
Square credit card readers to a handful of retail outlets. Under the company's new campaign, stores equipped with T-Mobile smartphones will be able to use Jack Dorsey's readers to finalize transactions from the comfort of their palms. This should come in handy for cash-only businesses, in particular, as T-Mobile emphasized in its announcement today. It's all part of the provider's lineup of small business offerings, though not every retailer will be involved at launch. To see the full list of Squared-up outlets, check out the source link below.
Continue reading T-Mobile brings Square to select small businesses, does the mobile payment thing
T-Mobile brings Square to select small businesses, does the mobile payment thing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 30 January 2012. Tags: money
In the wake of a relatively
strong Q3,
Canon today unveiled a slightly less rosy earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2011. Net sales for the quarter reached ¥964.8 billion (about $12.6 billion), up from the ¥916 billion the company reported last quarter, but down about 9.7 percent from Q4 2010. Quarterly operating profit, meanwhile, rose 14.2 percent on the year, to ¥94.6 billion ($1.2 billion). Profit for the full fiscal year, however, declined by 2.4 percent to ¥378.1 billion (approximately $4.9 billion), compared with the ¥387.6 billion ($5.1 billion) Canon raked in for all of 2010. Net income, on the other hand, rose by nearly 14 percent over Q4 2010 (¥61.4 billion from ¥54 billion), but only 0.8 percent over the full fiscal year (¥248.6 billion in FY 2011, ¥246.6 billion in FY 2010).
Looking forward to 2012, the cameramaker expects net income to increase to ¥250 billion, which would mark the second straight year of less than one percent growth. This forecast is lower than what many analysts expected, though Canon based its projections on assumptions that the yen will continue to rise against both the dollar and the euro, making Japanese exports more expensive in Western markets. It was against this backdrop of disappointment that company president and COO Tsuneji Uchida announced his resignation today, effective March 29th. The 70-year-old Uchida will be replaced by 76-year-old chairman Fujio Mitarai, with Uchida slipping into an advisory role. Coming off a year that saw a devastating tsunami in Japan and supply chain disruptions in flood-ravaged Thailand, Canon underscored its cautious outlook for 2012, in a statement: "The future remains increasingly uncertain amid growing concern over a global economic slowdown." Find Canon's full report at the source link, below.
Canon announces middling Q4 2011 earnings report, president steps down originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 30 January 2012. Tags: money
In the wake of a relatively
strong Q3,
Canon today unveiled a slightly less rosy earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2011. Net sales for the quarter reached ¥964.8 billion (about $12.6 billion), up from the ¥916 billion the company reported last quarter, but down about 9.7 percent from Q4 2010. Quarterly operating profit, meanwhile, rose 14.2 percent on the year, to ¥94.6 billion ($1.2 billion). Profit for the full fiscal year, however, declined by 2.4 percent to ¥378.1 billion (approximately $4.9 billion), compared with the ¥387.6 billion ($5.1 billion) Canon raked in for all of 2010. Net income, on the other hand, rose by nearly 14 percent over Q4 2010 (¥61.4 billion from ¥54 billion), but only 0.8 percent over the full fiscal year (¥248.6 billion in FY 2011, ¥246.6 billion in FY 2010).
Looking forward to 2012, the cameramaker expects net income to increase to ¥250 billion, which would mark the second straight year of less than one percent growth. This forecast is lower than what many analysts expected, though Canon based its projections on assumptions that the yen will continue to rise against both the dollar and the euro, making Japanese exports more expensive in Western markets. It was against this backdrop of disappointment that company president and COO Tsuneji Uchida announced his resignation today, effective March 29th. The 70-year-old Uchida will be replaced by 76-year-old chairman Fujio Mitarai, with Uchida slipping into an advisory role. Coming off a year that saw a devastating tsunami in Japan and supply chain disruptions in flood-ravaged Thailand, Canon underscored its cautious outlook for 2012, in a statement: "The future remains increasingly uncertain amid growing concern over a global economic slowdown." Find Canon's full report at the source link, below.
Canon announces middling Q4 2011 earnings report, president steps down originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 27 January 2012. Tags: money
Freshly
anointed RIM CEO Thorsten Heins sat down with
Crackberry this week to discuss his vision for the future of BlackBerry, his thoughts on Android and, most strikingly, his recent comments about maintaining the status quo. Shortly after his appointment, Heins issued a video address in which he implicitly claimed that RIM doesn't need an overhaul. "If we continue doing well what we're doing, I see no problems with us being in the top three players worldwide in the next years in wireless," the exec said. At the time, we and many other observers
read this as a sign that the Heins era would look a lot like the Balsillie-Lazaridis era, but according to the new CEO, that's not the case. "I was talking about drastic or seismic changes," he clarified. "What I was trying to address was that there was some suggestion that RIM should be split up or should even be sold. My true belief is that RIM has the strength and the assets that we can really succeed in this market." Heins went on to claim that there's already "a lot of change" going on at the company -- citing the company's adoption of QNX as a prime example -- and that there's "no standstill at any moment here at RIM."
During the same sitdown, Heins also reiterated his belief that RIM shouldn't outsource its software needs to Android, because BlackBerry, in his view, is a hallmark of differentiation. "Just take a look where the Android OEMs are," Heins said. "Take a look at their recent announcements and what you will immediately see is there is just no room for differentiation because they are all the same." The exec acknowledged that RIM may be taking the road less traveled, but seemed confident in its ability to rise to the challenge -- even if there are some bumps along the way. "This is not baking cookies," Heins elaborated. "This is building high tech products. From time to time your aspirations and your development timelines hit some bumps in the road that were not foreseen."
RIM CEO Thorsten Heins clarifies comments on change, rejects Android speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 26 January 2012. Tags: Internet, money
After having already
acquired Napster here in the US, Rhapsody has taken its expansion one step further, with the acquisition of Napster International. Under the deal, announced today, Rhapsody will continue to offer Napster-branded services across the UK and Germany,
as promised, and will eventually migrate Napster subscribers to its own infrastructure in March, with existing personal libraries remaining intact (Napster is already live in the UK, but has yet to make its official German launch). The move will also bring changes to Napster users' mobile apps and web clients, with Rhapsody promising improved offline playback and enhanced library management tools "in the coming months." For more details, check out the full PR after the break.
Continue reading Rhapsody officially acquires Napster International, eyes European launch
Rhapsody officially acquires Napster International, eyes European launch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted on 26 January 2012. Tags: money
Microsoft and Nokia have historically been pretty tight-lipped about the value of their
Windows Phone partnership, but the cat leapt out of the bag this morning, courtesy of Espoo's
Q4 2011 earnings report. As
SlashGear's Chris Davies noticed, Nokia received about $250 million from Redmond during the fourth quarter of 2011, as part of the companies' "broad strategic agreement." Under the agreement, the manufacturer receives so-called "platform support payments" from Microsoft -- which, in turn, receives software licensing payments from Nokia. The $250 million Microsoft doled out last quarter is the first of these transactions. All told, Nokia expects the payments both to and from Microsoft to total "in the billions of US Dollars."
Microsoft paid Nokia $250 million to adopt Windows Phone, Q4 earnings report reveals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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