Vendor News

Flat Q3 2011 Sales for Sony Ericsson

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Sony Ericsson Q3 2011 unit shipments decrease by -9% Y-oY, reaching 9.5M units while sales total €1.6BN, remaining "essentially flat year-on-year" (from €1.59BN in Q3 2010) according to the company's Q3 2011 results.

Sony EricssonQ3 2011 shows improvement for the company-- even if profits total €0, it's an improvement from posting -€50M in losses in Q2 2011.

The company also announces it will shift its entire portfolio to smartphones during 2012, since smartphone sales account for more than 80% of company sales so far (with total Xperia martphone shipments to date reaching 22M). 

Sony Ericsson estimates it has a 12% (in volume) and 11% (in value) share in the global Android smartphone market, and "maintains its forecast for modest industry growth in total units in the global handset market for 2011."

Meanwhile no news appears (as of time of writing) regarding rumours of Sony planning to pay for full control of the mobile joint venture, kicking Ericsson out in the process. 

Go Sony Ericsson Q3 2011 Results

Go Rumour Watch: Sony Wants Ericsson Out of Joint Venture?

Rumour Watch: Sony Wants Ericsson Out of Joint Venture?

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The Wall Street Journal reports Sony plans to pay for full control of mobile joint venture Sony-Ericsson-- kicking Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson out and integrating smartphone, tablet, handheld gaming and PC businesses in the process. 

Sony EricssonThe 50-50 joint venture was created in 2001, and is currently the 6th biggest mobile vendor in the world. It achieved early success by porting Sony brands (including Walkman and Cybershot) to mobile devices, before losing mobile market share to both Nokia and Apple. 

Meanwhile the long-planned "Playstation Phone," the Xperia Play, fell flat on launch with sales remaining relatively low. 

Analysts at JP Morgan estimate the deal could total more than $1.3 bilion-- depending on agreements between the 2 companies over Ericsson patents. 

Sony and Ericsson decline to comment on the story by the time of writing. 

Go Sony Itches to Return to Mobile Arms Race

Amazon: a Cheap Tablet to Kindle Online Sales

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IHS iSuppli reports Amazon will sell the new Kindle Fire tablet at a "razor-thin margin on sales" of both devices and digital content-- in order to promote physical product sales from the Amazon online store.

Kindle FireThe analyst estimates the Kindle Fire costs around $192 to make, with additional manufacturing expenses rising the total price to $209.63. The device itself will cost $199 on shelves.

While commentators say the Kindle Fire will make profit through digital content sales, iSuppli insists the Kindle Fire will actually "promote sales of the kinds of physical goods that comprise the majority of Amazon’s business"-- the physical products the online retailer generates profits from.

Thus, Amazon has a potential secret weapon-- an Amazon-only platform making online purchases easier (if not more customer-friendly) than ever, encouraging the online purchases of everyday goods.

IHS iSuppli also says the Kindle Fire has potential to become the no. 2 selling tablet on the market (following the iPad), even if it technically "represents an enchancement on the e-book reader."

Go Amazon Sells Kindle Fire at Low Profit Margin to Promote Online Merchandise Sales

Steve Jobs Dead at 56

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The undisputed leader of the computer, mobile phone, entertainment industries, Steve Jobs passed away yesterday at the age of 56.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011All the best eulogies were already written when he stepped down on Aug. 24th as CEO of Apple...and most of us knew the only reason he would walk away from Apple would be his own ultimate demise.

Steve wanted to changed the world and he did. Held up as the consummate businessman, ironically Steve actually was an anti-businessman...a cult legend who stood against much of the business culture. Frank Sinatra may have sung the song, but Steve Jobs really lived "I Did It My Way."

You heard a lot about his business life when he gave up Apple. Now you'll start to hear a lot more about Steve as a man. Now when his private life will be less guarded and admirers, deprived of his public persona, will seek further insight from his life.

Read more...

Is Palm on Amazon's Wish List?

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After throwing a burning gauntlet at Apple's direction in the tablet wars Amazon is going through negotiations to buy Palm from HP, at least according to VentureBeat. 

Amazon palmWe all know HP is willing to get rid of Palm-- after closing down the webOS device business (as part of the Great Garage Sale) HP is getting rid of any remaining TouchPads by selling them at low, low prices. 

The VentureBeat source insists Amazon is "the closest to finalising the deal."

The webOS purchase would make sense for Amazon-- powering the Kindle Fire is an Android version so heavily customised it's hard to tell where the "Android" is. By owning webOS, Amazon would further differentiate the Kindle brand from the rest of the Android market while being free to redesign the OS as it sees fit. 

Plus webOS remains a slick and competent mobile OS, despite HP's attempts at (mis)handling it. 

VentureBeat concludes Amazon will only sped "a fraction" of what HP originally paid for Palm back in 2010 ($1.2 billion). Either way, the tablet market continues going through fairly interesting routes. 

Go Amazon Has Palm in its Shopping Cart (VentureBeat)