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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Samsung second quarter profit slides 18 percent (AP) : Technet

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Samsung second quarter profit slides 18 percent (AP) : Technet

Samsung second quarter profit slides 18 percent (AP)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 08:47 PM PDT

By KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer Kelly Olsen, Ap Business Writer – 15 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung's net profit slid 18 percent in the second quarter as weakness in semiconductors and liquid crystal displays countered the electronics giant's growing strength in smartphones.

Samsung, the world's biggest manufacturer of memory chips, LCDs and flat screen televisions, earned 3.51 trillion won ($3.33 billion) in the three months ended June 30, it said Friday in a regulatory filing. Samsung earned 4.28 trillion won the same period last year.

Samsung has suffered this year due to slack prices for electronic components amid oversupply and weak demand. Net profit slumped 30 percent in the first quarter amid declines in memory chip prices and reduced profitability in LCDs and TVs.

Second quarter sales at the Suwon, South Korea-based company rose 4.1 percent to 39.4 trillion won from 37.9 trillion won a year earlier.

Both operating profit and sales in Samsung's memory business fell as weak global personal computer sales suppressed demand for DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips used in the devices, the company said in a release.

Samsung's display panel business racked up an operating loss of 210 billion won as revenue dropped 9 percent from the year before as LCD prices fell.

The bright spot continued to be mobile phones. Revenues in the company's mobile communications business, which includes phones, rose 45 percent from the year before. Sales of mobile phones increased from the previous quarter on the back of the company's flagship Galaxy S II smartphone.

Samsung, which ranks No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland's Nokia Corp., has sold more than 5 million units globally of the updated smartphone since it went on sale in late April.

The company said it expects demand for mobile phones to increase 15 percent in the second half of this year "driven by consumers upgrading to smartphones."

Shares in Samsung, which announced results before South Korea's stock market opened, rose 1.1 percent to 846,000 won at about midday Friday.

Nintendo shares plunge after forecast, price cut (AP)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 07:36 PM PDT

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press – 1 hr 11 mins ago

TOKYO – Shares of Nintendo Co. shed a fifth of their value Friday after the Japanese video game giant posted a deep loss in the latest quarter, cut its full-year forecasts and slashed prices on its new 3DS handheld device.

The sell-off sent the stock down more than 20 percent to 11,190 yen as investors rushed to unload a company struggling to regain momentum. It opened the trading day ask-only, meaning the market was overwhelmed with investors wanting to sell.

Nintendo on Thursday posted a net loss of 25.5 billion yen ($324 million) in the April-June period, worse than the 25.2 billion yen loss a year earlier. For the fiscal year through March 2012, Nintendo expects net profit of 20 billion yen, down 82 percent from its previous outlook, on sales of 900 billion yen.

The Kyoto-based company blamed its lackluster sales on a dearth of hit titles for the Wii and 3DS, as well as a strong yen.

To fuel momentum, Nintendo decided it needed to dramatically drop prices just five months after it launched the 3-D version of its DS handheld device to high hopes. The move underscores how quickly the company's fortunes have turned since the Wii revolutionized the industry and flew off store shelves.

The 3DS will cost 15,000 yen in Japan starting Aug. 11, down from 25,000 yen. In the U.S., the price drops to $169.99 from $249.99 on Aug. 12. Nintendo does not set suggested retail prices for Europe but said it would lower wholesale prices by about a third.

"For anyone who was on the fence about buying a Nintendo 3DS, this is a huge motivation to buy now," Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in a statement.

The 3DS got off to a solid start when it launched but has since lost momentum. Analysts cite a lack of compelling content for the device and say consumers may now be waiting for Sony Corp.'s upcoming release of the new PlayStation Vita handheld, which will sell for $299 in the U.S.

Such a big price cut so soon after a product's launch is unprecedented for Nintendo, and it's likely to annoy the loyal fans who have already bought the device, said Eiji Maeda, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

It took almost three years for the company to lower the price on the Wii for the first time, and that was by $50.

"This shows that Nintendo feels it really needs to lift up the 3DS," Maeda said.

The Kyoto-based company also faces increased competition from smartphones and games on social networks, particularly among the casual gamers it targeted with the Wii. At a recent general shareholders meeting, President Satoru Iwata told investors Nintendo would not compete directly with smartphones by adding extra functions to the 3DS.

A strong yen hasn't made things any easier. About 80 percent of Nintendo's sales are from outside of Japan, making it vulnerable to currency fluctuations.

Sales during the quarter slumped more than 50 percent to 93.93 billion yen, leading to an operating loss of 37.71 billion yen.

Investors had already punished Nintendo's stock price this year, reflecting their anxiety about the company's health. But with Friday's tumble, Nintendo's stock price has fallen more than 50 percent this year compared with a relatively flat performance by the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average.

Macquarie Capital Securities downgraded its rating on the issue one notch to "Neutral" earlier this month. The 3DS has not lived up to expectations, and Nintendo's next major launch — the Wii U — won't arrive until mid-2012, analyst David Gibson said in his report.

"We believe the company's focus on doing both hardware/software, while noble, will ultimately limit their ability to be relevant in a 'smartphone in every pocket' world," he said.

Gibson suggests Nintendo needs to take "radical" steps, such as buying U.S. video game publisher TakeTwo Interactive Software and making its hit game "Grand Theft Auto" exclusive to the Wii U, which would attract core gamers to the platform.

For now, Nintendo is banking on the cheaper 3DS and new games to lure shoppers during the critical year-end shopping season. "Super Mario 3D Land" goes on sale in November, and "Mario Kart 7" hits stores in December.

The company bases its earnings on Japanese accounting standards.

Its new earnings projection is based on a revised exchange rate assumption of 80 yen to the dollar.

___

Follow Tomoko A. Hosaka at http://twitter.com/tomokohosaka

Motorola Mobility outlook disappoints (AP)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 04:40 PM PDT

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Jul 28, 7:40 pm ET

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the maker of cellphones and cable set-top boxes that split off from the rest of Motorola in January, is struggling to continue its turnaround and find a stable foothold in the world of smartphones and tablets.

On Thursday, it posted a loss for the latest quarter and forecast earnings for the current quarter well below analyst expectations, sending its shares down.

The Libertyville, Ill., company stayed optimistic about full-year results, but to reach its goals it has a lot of catching up to do in the holiday season.

Motorola shares fell 80 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $22.11 in extended trading after it reported its quarterly results. That's approaching $20.77, the lowest level since the company split from the old Motorola Inc. on Jan. 4. In the regular session, the company's shares lost 89 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $22.91.

Motorola shipped 4.4 million smartphones in the quarter, an increase from 2.7 million a year earlier. Some analysts were looking for a higher number to prove Motorola can hold its own against bigger competitors like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics.

Latin America and China were the bright spots, and sales of regular phones there helped Motorola ship a total of 11 million phones, representing the second year-over-year increase since Motorola's fortunes started a precipitous slide in 2006. Apple shipped 20.3 million iPhones in the quarter.

Motorola posted a loss of $56 million, or 19 cents per share, for April through June. That compares with a profit of $80 million a year earlier.

Excluding the costs of stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets, Motorola turned a profit of 9 cents per share, 2 cents more than analysts expected, according to FactSet.

Revenue was $3.34 billion, up 28 percent from $2.61 billion a year ago. That beat analyst forecasts for $3.14 billion.

For the third quarter, Motorola expects adjusted earnings to range from break-even to 10 cents per share. Analysts were looking for 27 cents per share.

CEO Sanjay Jha said third-quarter earnings would be held back by the delay of the Droid Bionic, Motorola's first phone for Verizon's new "4G" wireless data network; by lower prices and lower volumes of tablet computers; and by a seasonal slowdown in sales of set-top boxes.

Motorola launched its first tablet, the Xoom, in February. It hasn't come close to matching the popularity of Apple's iPad, and Motorola cut the price on it recently.

By the holiday season, Motorola will have at least one more 4G smartphone and two more 4G tablets, Jha said.

For the full year, Motorola expects earnings of 48 cents to 60 cents per share, implying fourth-quarter earnings of 37 cents per share to 59 cents per share. That range straddles the average analyst estimate of 47 cents per share.

Last week, Motorola shares jumped after activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he's pushing the company to squeeze profits from its vast patent portfolio. Icahn owns 11.4 percent of Motorola and successfully prodded the old Motorola into breaking into two parts to increase shareholder value.

Icahn was probably inspired by the pledge from a consortium that included Apple Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. to pay $4.5 billion for a collection of 6,000 patents from Nortel Networks, a bankrupt Canadian maker of telecommunications equipment.

Motorola has more than 17,000 patents on phone technology, or nearly three times more than Nortel, yet its market capitalization is just 50 percent higher than $4.5 billion. That raises the prospect of some well-heeled company or consortium snapping up Motorola for the sake of its patents alone, or that the company could me more aggressive about licensing it collection.

There's a scramble for patents by technology companies as they seek to shore up their litigation defenses. Nearly every maker of smartphones is suing another manufacturer over patents.

On Thursday, Jha said the company is already monetizing its patents "very well" over the past few years. But he's "not opposed" to more drastic measures of unlocking their value, he said in an interview, without giving any examples.

Korean scientists create glow in the dark beagle with an off switch (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 06:12 PM PDT

College students would give up sex to trade textbooks for ebooks (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 06:06 PM PDT

Find a Job in Social Media, Communications or Design (Mashable)

Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:22 PM PDT

Stephanie Buck Stephanie Buck – Wed Jul 27, 9:22 pm ET

If you're seeking a job in social media, we'd like to help out. For starters, Mashable's Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

[More from Mashable: HOW TO: Utilize Social Data More Effectively]

But we'd like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable's job boards are a place for socially savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what's good and new on our job boards:

Mashable Job Postings

Business Development Coordinator at Mashable in New York, NY.

[More from Mashable: 9 Excellent Celebrity-Powered Social Good Campaigns [VIDEOS]]

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Tech Reporter at Mashable in San Francisco, CA.

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Mashable Job Board Listings

Web Manager at STA Travel in Lewisville, TX.

Marketing Manager, Digital and Sponsorships at The Disney ABC Television Group in New York, NY.

Director Interactive Development at RDA in New York, NY.

Quality Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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ART DIRECTOR at gNET in Los Angeles, CA.

Analyst, Media Web Developer at CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield in Owings Mills, MD.

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Digital Marketing Manager at Elsevier in Waltham, MA.

Freelance Mobile App Developer at Greenpeace in Washington, D.C.

Business Development Associate at New York Post in New York, NY.

Product Manager, DLP & Search Applications at Everyday Health in New York, NY.

Digital Communications Manager (D00850) at Brown University in Providence, RI.

Project Manager at Giiv, Inc in Los Angeles, CA.

Sr. Information Architect at Local Wisdom. Inc. in Princeton Junction, NJ.

Email Marketing Manager at Warner Music Group in Burbank, CA.

Social Media Manager at MTVNetworks in New York, NY.

Human Resources at IMM (Intermundo Media) in Boulder, CO.

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Front-End Web Developer at Straight North in Oak Brook, IL.

Digital Strategist-Digital Marketing at The Clorox Company in Oakland, CA.

Designer/Front-End Developer at Raybec Communications in Ontario, Canada.

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Senior Web Developer (Wordpress / LAMP) at Liquor.com in San Francisco, CA.

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Sales & Marketing Internship at Quirky Inc in New York, NY.

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Mashable's Job Board has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out here.

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, YinYang

This story originally published on Mashable here.

No sexy girls please, China tells online game fair (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 08:53 PM PDT

– 9 mins ago

SHANGHAI (Reuters Life!) – Hemlines are a little longer at this year's annual online gaming fair in Shanghai, as companies take to heart a government directive against "vulgarity," a Chinese newspaper reported on Friday.

The ChinaJoy Expo, an annual online game showcase, is well-known for its "spicy girls" who dress up in hot pants and bras to dance and pose at company booths.

But a recent government crackdown on "vulgarity" in the online games sector is forcing the girls to cover up, the Shanghai Daily said.

"The length of my dress is longer than before," said Zhou, a model who has been a ChinaJoy showgirl twice.

The new policy prohibits costumes that show more than two-thirds of a showgirl's back and bans the girls from sticking printed logos on "sensitive positions" like over their breasts, the paper reported.

Some online games companies feared the change would lessen the attractiveness of the expo given that the girls are as much a draw for men as are the games on display, reported the paper.

"To be honest, I came here largely for spicy girls," said Xaiver Du, a college student and online gaming fan.

"I'm satisfied with the female models for this year's ChinaJoy ... I care more about them rather than only sexy clothing," Du said.

The government frequently launches campaigns against what it sees as obscene and base behavior -- including once banning "sexually provocative sounds" on television -- but to little apparent effect.

Scantily-clad women promoting drinks are a feature of many bars in cosmopolitan Shanghai and capital city Beijing, and pornography is widely available online and on pirated DVDs.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Daniel Magnowski)

Debt fight could bring more airwaves for broadband (AP)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 03:01 PM PDT

By JOELLE TESSLER, AP Technology Writer Joelle Tessler, Ap Technology Writer – Thu Jul 28, 6:01 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The debt ceiling battle could produce an unlikely winner: smartphone users.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's current plan would direct the Federal Communications Commission to auction off highly valuable radio spectrum to wireless carriers desperate for more airwaves. Companies such as AT&T and T-Mobile USA say they need more capacity to keep up as their customers increasingly use iPhones, tablets and other portable devices to handle mobile applications, online video and other bandwidth-hungry services.

The plan could generate critical revenue for a government spending beyond its means. Congressional budget officials estimate the auctions would raise $13.1 billion for deficit reduction.

Reid's proposal would also deliver a big victory to public safety officials: It would set aside airwaves and money for the construction of a nationwide wireless broadband network that would let police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers communicate with each other across agencies and jurisdictions.

"Spectrum auctions are a win-win-win," said Tim Doyle, a spokesman for the Consumers Electronics Association.

But the proposal still faces significant hurdles. For one thing, a competing debt ceiling plan from House Speaker John Boehner, which will be voted on Thursday, contains nothing on wireless spectrum auctions. Boehner's focus is on spending cuts, not finding new sources of revenue. What's more, Reid's proposal has run into major opposition from television broadcasters, which are under pressure to give up spectrum that would be sold to wireless carriers.

The haggling over wireless spectrum auctions comes as Congress rushes to try to agree on a plan to stave off an unprecedented U.S. default on its debt, which could have catastrophic consequences for the global economy. The Treasury Department has warned that the government will run out of money to pay its bills after Aug. 2 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling. Reid and Boehner are pushing competing proposals to lift the debt limit and slash spending.

No matter how the current fight plays out, many in Washington see spectrum auctions as an attractive way to chip away at the federal deficit.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Kaut, for one, says spectrum auction legislation has a good shot of passage in Congress — whether it is part of the current debt ceiling package, a deficit reduction measure down the road or even a stand-alone bill.

"You have wireless pressures, budget pressures and public safety pressures," Kaut said. "The forces are aligned."

Reid's proposal would give the FCC authority to auction off airwaves voluntarily relinquished by government agencies such as the Pentagon and television broadcasters with extra spectrum. It would allow broadcasters to share in the auction proceeds.

Congressional budget officials estimate those auctions would raise a total of $24.5 billion over 10 years. Reid's plan envisions $13.1 billion going to the Treasury Department to help narrow the federal deficit. The remainder would largely go to compensate television broadcasters that give up airwaves, cover the expenses of broadcasters and government agencies that move to different parts of the spectrum and fund the construction of the public safety wireless network.

Reid's plan, based largely on a Senate Commerce Committee bill, would also dedicate a highly contested piece of airwaves to that network. Such an "interoperable" network was a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission, and is becoming an urgent priority for lawmakers as the 10-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks approaches. The shortcomings of existing networks became apparent after the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, when emergency workers could not talk to one another because they were using incompatible — and sometimes antiquated — systems.

At this point, perhaps the biggest hurdle facing any spectrum auction proposal is opposition from television broadcasters reluctant to give up their existing airwaves. Dennis Wharton, an official with the National Association of Broadcasters, noted that many broadcasters fear being moved to different channels that would reach fewer viewers.

He added that many broadcasters want to use their existing airwaves to deliver television signals to mobile devices and to "multicast" more than one television signal at a time. Broadcasters worry that they could be moved to a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is less conducive to such broadcasts.

Wharton said that while the proposals in Congress are intended to be voluntary for broadcasters, those that want to hang onto their airwaves are concerned that they could face user fees and other government sanctions intended to force them to give up their spectrum anyway.

Ultimately, Wharton said, it will be viewers who suffer in the face of "incredibly shrinking free and local television."

Nintendo shares dive on crumbling profit outlook (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 07:41 PM PDT

– 1 hr 6 mins ago

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nintendo Co Ltd's shares plunged more than 20 percent on Friday, wiping off about $5 billion of the videogame maker's market value, after it slashed full-year profit forecast far below market expectations to the lowest level in 27 years.

Profits are set to shrivel after Nintendo was forced to cut the price of its 3DS handheld games device to try to jumpstart weak sales, just six months after launching the gadget that it hoped would replicate the success of the previous generation DS.

Shares of the Kyoto-based firm fell 20.2 percent to 11,150 yen by midmorning, after earlier hitting 11,100 yen, its lowest intraday trading level since May 2004.

Nintendo slashed its annual operating profit forecast in after-market hours on Thursday to 35 billion yen from an initial forecast of 175 billion yen. The new estimate is far short of the previous consensus of 154.9 billion yen based on 24 analysts' forecasts before the release.

JP Morgan cut its rating on the firm behind the Super Mario franchise from "overweight" to "underweight," saying the current situation was worse than feared and the outlook uncertain.

"The timing of the 3DS hardware price cut is surprising, given the major in-house software releases... We believe the 3DS will be a heavy weight on earnings over the medium term. The lack of a share buyback announcement is also disappointing," analyst Hiroshi Kamide said in a report.

HARSH COMPETITION

Nintendo cut sales forecasts for its Wii home games console and the previous generation DS handheld device. The Wii is facing harsh competition from rival Microsoft's Xbox, while many casual gamers are turning to devices like Apple's iPhone and iPad, rather than dedicated games gadgets.

Shares of Sony Corp also fell on Friday, a day after the Japanese consumer electronics firm slashed its outlook for TV sales and cut its full-year net profit forecast to 60 billion yen from 80 billion yen.

Brokerage CLSA cut its rating of Sony to "underperform" from "outperform" and lowered its target share price to 2,150 yen from 2,430 yen, saying the downgrade reflected "the stronger headwinds from LCD panel and TV overcapacity as well as the strengthening yen."

Sony, the maker of Bravia TVs, slashed its annual forecast for LCD TVs to 22 million from 27 million and warned that annual losses in the division might widen from the previous year.

By midmorning Sony shares were down 2 percent at 1,973 yen, while the benchmark Nikkei was down 0.1 percent ($1 = 77.800 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds, James Topham, Ayai Tomisawa and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Samsung quarterly profit falls, warns of tough outlook (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 08:26 PM PDT

By Miyoung Kim Miyoung Kim – 32 mins ago

SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics Co is relying on the booming smartphone market and its mainstay chips business to help it cope with its underperforming LCD display and TV units.

The world's biggest technology firm by revenue joins a host of global companies in warning that fragile consumer demand is battering sales of TVs, flat screens and computers.

"Samsung's earnings momentum will revive in Q3, but the recovery will not be strong because of weak economies in the U.S. and Europe," said Lee Dong-Jin, fund manager at KTB Asset Management." There are also no new IT applications that can drive demand as Apple's iPhone and iPad did."

Samsung warned of a challenging business outlook due to uncertain economic prospects. The biggest drain on earnings remains its loss making liquid crystal display business.

On Thursday, Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp also warned of weak TV sales, especially in the United States and Europe, following Philips and Corning Inc in highlighting anemic demand.

Samsung's shares edged up in early Friday trade. The stock has lost 5 percent over the past three months, lagging a 3 percent fall in the KOSPI.

The company boasts a market capitalization of $134 billion, bigger than the combined value of Sony, Nokia, Toshiba Corp, Panasonic and LG Display.

Samsung, also the world's No.2 maker of mobile phones, reported a 3.75 trillion won ($3.6 billion) operating profit for April-June, versus the consensus forecast for a 3.7 trillion won profit according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The result was broadly in line with Samsung's estimate earlier this month for an operating profit of between 3.5 trillion won and 3.9 trillion won.

Its operating profit compares with 2.95 trillion won in the preceding quarter and a record 5.01 trillion won a year ago.

Samsung's display business reported a second consecutive quarterly operating loss of 210 billion won, little changed from 230 billion won loss in the previous quarter.

"It will be difficult to boost earnings sharply in the third quarter as demand for memory chips and TVs will continue to remain depressed," said Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities. "Its loss-making flat-screen business will also report break even at best."

The operation vies for the top position with local rival LG Display. Each company has about one-quarter of the global market, which is grappling with oversupply and weak demand.

TELECOMS DIVISION GAINS

Operating profit from its telecoms division more than doubled to 1.67 trillion won from 630 billion won a year ago, helped by strong sales of a new version of its flagship smartphone Galaxy S.

Sales of the Galaxy S II have topped 5 million units since its launch in late April.

Samsung did not provide sales number of its handsets but said shipment rose by high single digit percent from the previous quarter's 70 million units.

The company is widely expected to close the gap with top-ranked Nokia, which sold 88.5 million handsets in the second quarter and may have overtaken the Finish firm and Apple to become the world's top smartphone maker, analysts said.

(Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and Anshuman Daga)

Facebook users only spend 10 percent of time on apps (Digital Trends)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 04:26 PM PDT

Caleb Garling Caleb Garling – Thu Jul 28, 7:26 pm ET

Facebook users are spending 27 percent of their time on their Newsfeeds, and only 10 percent on applications, a new study by ComScore reports. Other activities like viewing photos (17 percent) and other people's profiles (21 percent) accounted for significant amounts of time as well. With over 160 million members in the United States, these figures reveal interesting trends about roughly half the country's population.

The implications have a double edge. Facebook certainly knows where and how to target their users for offers and advertisements. However the Newsfeed, or Friend Feed, is a sacred place. To have corporate messages mixed in with friend's pictures and updates from a favorite baseball team will probably not sit well with the average user.

Also, these findings reinforce some of the skepticism around the massive valuations and investments Facebook has received: Most people simply use the site to check on their friends. That's it. Though time spent on Facebook accounts for 90 percent of all time spent on social networks, the notion that Facebook games, pages and applications would become a "new" Internet starts to seem unfounded.

Granted, members who play Facebook games are a very dedicated user base. Zynga, the site's biggest provider of games, disclosed that one percent of its users are responsible for 25 to 50 percent of revenue — calling them "whales," a la casino lingo.

But that is still a fragile customer base to lean on. If only 10 percent of the general population's time is spent on games and only one percent of that accounts for significant revenue, it's probably time to figure out newer ways to monetize your users — even if it means tampering creatively with the Newsfeed.

Nintendo shares tumble 20% on weak earnings (AFP)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 07:16 PM PDT

– 1 hr 31 mins ago

TOKYO (AFP) – Shares in Japan's Nintendo tumbled more than 20 percent Friday after it posted a first-quarter loss, cut forecasts and slashed the price of its 3DS handheld console less than six months after its launch.

Shares tumbled to 11,170 yen at 0120 GMT on the Osaka Stock Exchange to hit six-year lows, the day after the gaming giant booked a net loss of 25.5 billion yen ($327.9 million) for the April-June quarter.

Nintendo cut its forecast for the year to March 2012 to a net profit of 20 billion yen, 82 percent down from a previous forecast.

The company will slash the price of its 3DS handheld console, released in February, by 40 percent from 25,000 yen to 15,000 yen from August 11 in Japan, to be followed by similar cuts in foreign markets by September.

The 3DS, the Japanese firm's most important gaming device this year, was touted at its launch as the world's first video game console with a 3-D screen that works without special glasses.

But the Japanese gaming giant has struggled in the face of competition from smartphones and tablets such as Apple's iPhone and iPad onto which cheap or even free games can be quickly downloaded and played.

Just 710,000 units of the 3DS have been sold since going on sale.

In a note to clients, Nomura Securities said Nintendo needed to "radically change its tactics" to once again increase the size of its gaming population.

In June the company unveiled its Wii U, the follow up to the successful Wii that brought motion-sensing gaming to the mainstream.

But analysts fear that the new product may not be able to retain the audience first captured by the Wii as more gamers migrate to smartphones and social networking sites such as Facebook.

Nomura said it commended the "bold" move to slash the price of the 3DS, "as a way of regaining lost momentum and preventing the rot from spreading to the Wii U (which is scheduled for release in 2012)".

But analyst Yuta Sakurai added that the move "will nevertheless hit earnings harder than we had previously anticipated".

Groove Coaster leads iPhone Games of the Week (Appolicious)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 07:58 PM PDT

Verizon Wireless to pay $10 billion to parents (Reuters)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 04:01 PM PDT

– Thu Jul 28, 7:01 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Wireless plans to pay a $10 billion dividend early next year to its parents, Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) and Verizon Communications (VZ.N).

Vodafone will receive $4.5 billion, or $1 billion less than the amount the British company's chief financial officer, Andy Halford, had said he expected as recently as June 30.

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless service, said it would make the payout based on the stake held by each parent company. Vodafone owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, and Verizon Communications owns the rest.

Vodafone has not received a payout from Verizon Wireless since 2005, in large part because Verizon has focused on paying down debt.

Verizon, which controls the wireless unit, had recently signaled that it would be ready to pay a dividend in 2012.

There has also long been speculation that Verizon would try to buy out Vodafone's stake in the venture, although no deal has come to pass.

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

For The Record (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 03:50 PM PDT

– Thu Jul 28, 6:50 pm ET

For The Record: Thu.'s A4 story on DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV - News) gave the wrong date for its next earnings release. The company is scheduled to report Q2 results on Thu., Aug. 4.

Rumor: Pegatron gets iPad 3 contract, may see tablet in November (Digital Trends)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 06:49 PM PDT

Jeff Hughes Jeff Hughes – 1 hr 58 mins ago

The Internet is rapidly churning out Apple related rumors today. Along with the peeks at the iPhone 5, the iPad 3 is said to have switched contracts from Foxconn. Also, the popular tablet device's release date may have been narrowed down to this November.

According to a report by the Taiwan Economic News, the Taiwan-based Pegatron manufacturer has allegedly outbid Hon Hai for the iPad 3′s production. Hon Hai owns Foxconn and manufactures many of Apple's products including the iPad 2. The new iPad contract marks the second Apple order that Pegatron has snatched up—first breaking up Hon Hai's supply dominance with an order for 15 million iPhone 5 units earlier this month. For consumers, the new manufacturer will mean that Apple won't have such a hard time meeting demand.

The report notes that Apple has reportedly been looking for a way to decrease dependence on Hon Hai, perhaps due to the horrible May explosion in China's Chengdu factory which led to the injuries and even deaths of many workers. However, even if Apple switches iPad contracts to Pegatron, the parts supply chain won't be shaken up. Suppliers for iPad parts will stay the same including TPK Holdings (touch panels) Largan Precision (camera lens modules) and Simplo Technology and Dynapack International Technology (battery pack modules).

In a related tidbit found by BGR in the China Times—Apple will supposedly be launching the new iPhones in the second week of September and the iPad 3 release will follow in two months. The iPad 3 release has been delayed due to part shortage, though they are trying to get it out around Thanksgiving. The new iPad rumor may not have sturdy legs given that the iPad 2 was just unveiled March of this year.

Android Is Top Mobile OS, But Apple Leads in Devices (NewsFactor)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 11:14 AM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Thu Jul 28, 2:14 pm ET

Google's Android operating system now leads the U.S. smartphone market with a 39 percent share, followed by Apple's iOS (28 percent), and Research In Motion's BlackBerry OS (20 percent), according to Nielsen. However, for device makers, the firm's latest survey data from June clearly demonstrates that Apple remains the premier U.S. smartphone vendor.

HTC was second behind Apple with a 14 percent share, with handsets using Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system accounting for six percent. Android-based devices from Motorola ranked third with an 11 percent market share.

Android devices from Samsung Electronics accounted for eight percent of the U.S. market, with Samsung's Windows Mobile handsets used by two percent, according to Nielsen. However, Samsung appears to be on track to challenge Apple for the top slot on a global basis, according to Strategy Analytics.

"We are currently modeling Samsung to ship 18 million to 21 million smartphones globally in the second quarter of 2011," said Strategy Analytics Director Neil Mawston. "This compares with 16.7 million for Nokia and 20.3 million for Apple. The smartphone race has become a close three-way battle between Apple, Samsung and Nokia."

Emerging Market Growth

In Nielsen's May survey, 38 percent of U.S. mobile consumers said they owned smartphones. Moreover, 55 percent of the respondents who had purchased a new handset in the prior three months bought a smartphone -- up from 34 percent in the year-earlier period.

Still, Western Europe continues to lead other regional markets in smartphone penetration, which stands at more than 40 percent. On the other hand, Asia-Pacific is where smartphone makers have the biggest growth opportunities. While fewer than 20 percent of mobile users currently have smartphones in Asia-Pacific, Nielsen reported that nearly half the region's consumers intend to buy a smartphone in 2011.

Apple told investors last week that it had added 42 new wireless carriers and 15 new countries for the iPhone during the second quarter. However, the real sequential improvement was demand in emerging markets within Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific -- especially China.

"These are markets that Apple historically has not been as strong and we're really beginning to see the fruits of our labor in these markets," Apple COO Timothy Cook told financial analysts on a conference call.

Apple continues to experience very strong year-over-year iPhone sales growth in all of its operating segments, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said. "iPhone sales momentum in the Asia-Pacific region was particularly robust with sales almost quadrupling year over year."

Nokia's Smartphone Slide

During the second quarter, Nokia's smartphone shipments declined 34 percent year over year to 16.7 million units, which demonstrates just how quickly things can go wrong when a company doesn't understand the trends ahead of competitors or is too slow to react, noted IDC Research Manager Francisco Jeronimo.

"This can even get worse over the next quarters as Apple is rumored to launch a cheaper iPhone in September," Jeronimo said. "Nokia will continue losing market share until the new [Windows Phone 7] platform from Microsoft is fully deployed."

With Microsoft's Mango upgrade for Phone 7 now in the hands of smartphone manufacturers, Nokia will be able to launch its first Windows phones well in advance of this year's holiday shopping season.

"The key differentiator is the visual appeal of the platform," Hilwa said. "One of my favorite features is the application-updateable hubs that greet you at the home screen."

Oracle Acquires CRM Knowledge Provider InQuira (NewsFactor)

Posted: 28 Jul 2011 02:06 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Thu Jul 28, 5:06 pm ET

As the enterprise CRM battle continues to heat up, Oracle is countering the latest iteration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with a strategic acquisition. Just days after announcing Oracle CRM on Demand Release 19, the technology behemoth has snapped up InQuira.

InQuira is a provider of knowledge-management software that supports web self-service and agent-assisted service. The privately held company headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area boasts more than 85 blue-chip customers, including Yahoo, 3M, Sprint Nextel, McAfee, Nationwide, Juniper Networks, and Pitney Bowes.

"The acquisition of InQuira provides Oracle with a complete knowledge-management suite integrated with self-service support, online customer forums, and agent-assisted CRM," said Anthony Lye, senior vice president of Oracle CRM. "We expect InQuira to be the centerpiece for Oracle Fusion CRM Service. With InQuira, Oracle will provide an integrated suite of proven solutions that deliver a comprehensive and highly personalized experience for every customer, across all channels."

Innovative InQuira

Oracle sees a need for companies to provide a high-value, differentiated customer experience online and in the contact center. It's betting InQuira's solutions will improve customer service and satisfaction by helping them find more relevant answers to questions online or from a service agent guided by a scalable knowledge-management platform.

InQuira has proven its worth in the CRM marketplace with record-breaking growth in customers and revenue in 2010. In May, InQuira won the Technology Services Industry Association Recognized Innovator Award for innovation in knowledge management.

The company continues to push out new products, most recently InQuira On Demand, an on-demand subscription pricing-based version of its InQuira for Web Self Service and InQuira for Contact Centers. The offering includes packaged integration with leading CRM applications such as Oracle CRM on Demand.

"Knowledge-driven enterprise service, support and sales processes have become a 'must' in today's world of information overload and business complexity," said Mike Murphy, CEO of InQuira. "Investments in established technologies like CRM and new social channels add transactional capabilities but create new challenges for organizations to drive a consistent knowledge experience across multiple customer touch points."

A Multibillion-Dollar Market

All the activity in the CRM market this year is no surprise. In February, Gartner predicted the market would enter a three-year shake-up in 2011, as a number of key trends take hold, according to Gartner. Sales, marketing and customer-service technologies, projects and implementations will all see rapid changes over the next few years, the firm reported.

By 2013, spending on social software to support sales, marketing and customer-service processes is expected to exceed $1 billion worldwide. That compares with Gartner's forecast of more than $12 billion in spending on CRM software in 2012, and means that social CRM will encompass approximately eight percent of all CRM spending in 2012, up from about four percent in 2010.

"CRM is one of the big battlegrounds for business-solutions providers. It is one of the areas that's been heating up significantly," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "Companies are conceding that customer retention is a strategic focus during this time of tepid recovery because the cost of customer acquisition is so high. Companies are increasingly investing in advanced tools to serve customers. Clearly, Oracle is moving on that opportunity. And so are others."
at 10:02 PM

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