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Nokia Sold “Well Over” 1 Million Lumia Phones To Date, Posts €1 Billion Q4 Loss

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 04:54 AM PST

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Nokia earnings are out, and the contrast with Apple’s blow-out quarter results is astonishing. The Finnish phone maker, still the largest in the world by volume, reported a Q4 net loss of 1.07 billion euro, down from a 745 million euro profit in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The company’s smartphone sales decline paints an even bleaker picture: Nokia sold 19.6 million units in Q4 2011, down a whopping 31 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago (even though it’s up 17 percent from Q3 2011 thanks to somewhat decent Lumia sales).

Nokia says it sold “well over” 1 million Lumia devices to date (not just in Q4) and that it plans to bring the Lumia series to additional markets – including China and Latin America – in the first half of 2012. The billion dollar question: is this good enough for Nokia’s future to start looking bright?

Nokia needs it line of Windows Phone-powered smartphones to perform exceptionally well to turn the tide – right now they’re getting crushed by Apple and Android device makers in this particular, crucial game. As a Lumia 800 owner, I know Nokia can still make great devices, and that Windows Phone is in a good position to start competing. But that’s not enough to turn the Nokia ship around.

The company will need to kick up sales and marketing efforts a notch or two, enter more markets more quickly, attract more developers (to get more high-quality apps) and continue to improve the quality and appeal of its smartphone products more rapidly. To have a fighting chance, that is.

Reminder: Apple sold 37 million iPhones last quarter.

Nokia chose not to provide targets for 2012, saying this will be a ‘transition year’, “during which our devices-and-services business will be subject to risks and uncertainties”. Well, quite.

Also read:

The Not-So-Crazy Rumors About Microsoft Taking Over Nokia's Smartphone Division Resurface

Nokia Exec: iPhone, Android Handsets No Longer Appeal To Youth

AT&T Set Sales Records For Both iPhone And Android Devices In Q4 2011

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 04:44 AM PST

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AT&T this morning released its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011. Consolidated revenues clocked in at $32.5 billion, up 3.6 percent compared to the year-earlier quarter. Net income for Q4 2011 was $6.7 billion, or $1.12 per diluted share.

Zooming in on smartphone sales, it’s worth noting that AT&T delivered its best-ever quarter to date, hands down.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the company says it sold 9.4 million smartphones, nearly double the number sold in the third quarter and 50 percent more than the previous quarterly record.

This also led to 19.4 percent growth in wireless data revenues, the company said.

During the quarter, more than 7.6 million iPhones were activated, the “majority of which” were iPhone 4S, and AT&T says more than twice as many Android smartphones were sold last quarter compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. AT&T also said it sold 311,000 tablets in Q4 2011.

Daily Crunch: Cassette

Posted: 26 Jan 2012 01:00 AM PST

A Foothold For HealthTech: Ultra-Cheap Pacemakers

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:45 PM PST

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I read with great interest Vinod Khosla’s column two weeks ago that discussed the role of tech in healthcare. But as much as tech has to offer the healthcare institution, its effects are perhaps more reliably trackable in the actual medical devices field. A functioning “Dr. Algorithm” would be great – but a “tricorder” device, like that being chased by this X-Prize? That would be something else.

Until these pie-in-the-sky projects come to fruition, though, more modest advances, but which nonetheless save lives, will be made. Medtronic, a major med-tech company, is hoping that the next big thing will actually be small and cheap: a pacemaker for developing countries.

It’s a little different from the “innovation” we’re used to seeing in startups and software, because improving on a medical technology requires significantly more resources and cash than, say, improving on social photography. Such big-money industries aren’t invulnerable — SuVolta is going right up against the likes of Intel — but generally there is pressure from within to keep things fresh, and that suffices to advance the industry.

Medtronic isn’t one of the little guys, but they are taking a fresh tack. They recognize that the development of cheaper versions of existing devices (hearing aids, pacemakers, dialysis machines) no longer means producing a lower-quality component. Consider a mobile phone being given away for free at a store. It’s the budget option now, but it’s ten times as powerful and versatile as phones from five years ago. That same improvement comes about in other industries, and while often the result is better, more expensive versions of the same thing (fMRI versus single-MRI, for instance), it can also mean that the original can be made for significantly less money. Medtronic is hoping ~90% less.

CEO Omar Ishrak has been touting these plans at the World Economic Forum, and with luck he is just one of many who have dedicated themselves to the spread of technology downwards as well as upwards. Siemens and GE (Ishrak’s former employer) call it “frugal innovation,” and it’s things like basic amenities like light and clean water that are created through cutting-edge techniques but made available for microscopic prices — the only prices impoverished communities in rural Somalia or India can afford.

Ishrak hopes to double sales in developing countries over the next few years, and plans to produce a new generation of cheap and modern pacemakers as the first big hardware push. It’s something that can be developed and produce now, as opposed to Dr. Algorithm, who must navigate through a morass of regulations, public distrust, and beta versions. Both will eventually be important, but the devices are definitely coming first. They may not revolutionize the industry, but bringing the industry to the rest of the world in the first place is a necessary first step.

Show Your Love With These New iPad/Kindle Fire Cases From DODOcase

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 01:31 PM PST

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day, DODOcase released new special edition iPad and Kindle Fire cases. They cost slightly more than the standard versions with the Kindle Fire models costing $69 and then $79 for the iPad 2 versions. But nothing says love quite like a unique case.

The artwork for the Love Me case comes courtesy of Curtis Kulig, famed street artist (watch here). DODOcases already dripping with sex appeal. This model ups the ante with Kulig’s signature brand done up in gold writing on either a red or black case.

The Vintage Love case features an ornate gold design for an antique feel, which is furthered by the DODOcase’s signature bookbinding construction. Just like DODOcases traditional models, these are hand-made in San Francisco and are among the best iPad cases we’ve tested.

Click to view slideshow.


Kickstarter: Cassette, A Documentary About, You Guessed It, Cassettes

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 12:06 PM PST

cassette

Those of our readers old enough to remember the 90s will almost certainly recall cassette tapes fondly. The clacky little tapes and their creaky cases have more or less disappeared from the world, and no surprise: they were fragile, limited, and sounded pretty bad.

But they were also hugely empowering, and helped produce in an age of comparative consumer powerlessness the same feeling we take for granted today: that we should be able to copy, lend, and duplicate the content we’ve bought. Cassette is a documentary looking for a few bucks on Kickstarter that hopes to highlight cassette culture then and now.

Here’s the trailer:

Interestingly, the format appears to be having a minor renaissance: the manufacturer in the trailer describes a lull as CDs take over, but slowly his business returned. And elsewhere in the world, tapes are understandably more practical than CDs, MP3s, or vinyl.

Personally I think it’s a very interesting topic, though I hope they take a little time to look at the other tape-based devices that have been prominent: minidiscs, reel-to-reel, 8-track. Their failure as consumer items is part of the story as well. And more than other formats, the success and legacy of the cassette has as much to do with culture as it does with business or technology.

So far they’ve raised just under $8000 and are hoping to hit $25K. That’s pretty reasonable if it’s a feature doc and they already have their equipment. Unfortunately their deadline is coming up just in a couple days – but it’s making the rounds and if they don’t get their Kickstarter debut, maybe they’ll find the funding another way.

Apple Overtakes Exxon As Most Valuable Traded Company In The World… Again

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 10:05 AM PST

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It happened once before, in August, but that was due to a stock market collapse that left both Exxon and Apple well below their usual share price. This time, however, it would seem that Apple’s Q1 earnings call yesterday has led to a fresh spike on the stock market and what do you know?

Apple is once again the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, with a market cap of $414.83 billion.

Yesterday’s Q1 earnings call covered the period starting September 25, 2011 and ending December 31. That means it includes numbers for the iPhone 4S launch, along with any spike in sales during the holidays. Of course, anyone who’s following along knows that the next iPad will show its face pretty soon, leading Apple into what I’m sure will be another solid year.

Still, it’s a tough feat surging past Exxon as the company sells a commodity used by almost every country in the entire world, with a current market cap of $414.47 billion. Apple, on the other hand, sells computers, tablets, smartphones… you know, luxury items. That said, Apple isn’t quite in a place where it can maintain this lead for much longer.

On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal has rounded up new analyst estimates for the Cupertino-based company, and things are looking up with share price estimates ranging from $550 all the way to $666. Current share price for Apple is at $446, so hitting that goal anytime soon would be almost as mind-blowing as Apple’s Q1 results. Still, if Apple were to reach estimate share prices, its reign may last for much longer than expected.

As for the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, both markets remain relatively unchanged for the day. The Dow Jones is at 12,713 points, up .30 percent on the day, while the Nasdaq is at 2,807.41 points, up .75 percent on the day.

Update: After teetering back and forth around a market cap of $415 billion each, it would seem the Exxon has taken the lead this evening with a market cap of $418.06 billion, compared to Apple’s $415.13 billion.



Sprint Plans To Kill The BlackBerry PlayBook… Again

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 08:12 AM PST

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For the second time over the course of a year, it would seem as though Sprint’s ready to kill the BlackBerry PlayBook. A new version of the PlayBook OS is set to debut in February, but according to an EOL (End of Life) report out of SprintFeed, Sprint isn’t prepared for the wait. Not even for a week.

Of course, the WiFi-only PlayBook will still be available at various office stores like Best Buy and from RIM directly, but Sprint’s execution of the PlayBook marks the end of the product’s life on a carrier shelf.

At least for now. Rumors of a new BlackBerry PlayBook have been swirling around as of late, and just a couple days ago former CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed the existence of such a device. Still, it’ll likely be a while before PlayBook 2 hits the market and I’d be comfortable assuming that, even with the price cuts, RIM still has quite a few tablets it’d like to unload.

That said, getting the boot from Sprint likely isn’t great news over at Waterloo, but the good news is that it’ll hopefully be replaced by a tablet with a 1.5GHz processor, an NFC chip, and support for 42Mbps HSPA+.

Maybe specs like that will fare better.



Samsung Employee Leaks New Info On Future Galaxy Tabs

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 07:06 AM PST

Screen shot 2012-01-25 at 10.04.24 AM

I just love it when leaks come straight from the horse’s mouth. A leaky horse mouth, if you will.

Electronista is reporting that a Samsung product marketing manager by the name of Ryan Bidan has let slip a few details on the next Galaxy Tab or, potentially, the next iteration of the Galaxy Note.

According to the report, Mr. Bidan hinted at the inclusion of an S pen (the same stylus used with the Note), 3D gestures courtesy of the front-facing camera, and perhaps even some voice controls “in certain circumstances.”

Here’s the official quote:

I think a pen interface continues to make a lot of sense across a number of screen sizes, like the larger is more obvious of those. That's about as specific as I can be without announcing a product.

Samsung has been aggressive with its move into the tablet arena, offering a number of different-sized products with most of the same feature sets. In fact, if we include the Galaxy Note phablet, screen sizes range from 5.3-inches to 10.1-inches. The probability of a larger Galaxy Note, however, is pretty minimal since anything even slightly bigger would have a tough time fitting into a pockets — which is necessary if we’re to call it a smartphone.

That said, the S pen (along with the other reported new features) will likely be integrated onto a new Galaxy Tab, but which size has yet to be determined. Samsung has already released three 10-inch GalTab models, and two 7-inchers. So if I had to guess, I’d say you’ll likely find these new features on a 10-inch model before you see them anywhere else. If it goes well, perhaps Samsung will integrate the S pen elsewhere.

But we mustn’t forget that most tablets sold with a stylus haven’t done so well… yet. Then again, that isn’t really the fault of the stylus so much as it is other factors.

Remember, the stylus does have its perks, and if it doesn’t add much cost for Samsung, why not add the feature?