Nvidia reports "record" results for Q3 2012, with revenues reaching $1.2 billion with 12.9% Y-o-Y (or 15.3% Q-o-Q) growth and $209.1 million profits.

The company attributes such growth to its "new growth strategies"-- namely non-PC offerings such as the Tegra 3 processor. Currently over 30% of Nvidia revenues come from non-PC chips as revenues for the Consumer Products division (includes the Tegra family) grow by 27.6%.

The Tegra 3 powers a number of smartphones and tablets, such as the Microsoft Surface and the Google Nexus 7. It is also ideal for non-mobile devices, such as game consoles and STBs.

The consumer GPU unit also sees revenue growth (10% Q-o-Q), thanks to lower Kepler-based product prices and growing notebook revenues.

In other words, Nvidia's gamble on mobile devices is proving to be a success and any company producing PC components should stand up and notice. Will PCs go the way of the dodo? Probably not, but mobile will only grow even further in importance.

Go Nvidia Q3 2012 Results

HP will not make a smartphone on 2013, Meg Whitman says at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo 2012-- instead, the company is "more concerned about the pads."

However HP should take on smartphones from 2014 onward, since Whitman also claims "...we've got to, I believe, have the full array of devices." Whitman gives no further details on the future smartphone plans, meaning the OS of HP choice (webOS? Windows Phone? Android?) remains a mystery.

Whitman already mentioned HP has mobile plans last September in an interview with Fox Business.

Will HP enter the smartphone race too late? Perhaps, but then again one can never really guess which route the crazy smartphone market will take...

Acer delays its Windows RT tablet roll out from Q1 to Q2 2013 as it decides to take a close look at the competition instead-- or more specifically, see how the Microsoft Surface will fare on the market.

"Originally we had a very aggressive plan to come out very early next year," Acer President Jim Wong tells Reuters. "But because of Surface... we are much more cautious."

The recent Surface launch was met with mixed (if generally positive) reviews from analysts and the specialist press.

The Acer move is hardly unsurprising, considering the cynicism shown by the company when it comes to the Microsoft take on tablets. Back in August 2012, CEO J.T. Wang declared the Surface will be "negative for the worldwide ecosystem," before imploring to Microsoft to "think it over."

Plenty of other companies have Windows RT devices in the works, including initial Windows RT OEM partners Lenovo, Asus, Samsung and Dell.

Acer is still working on Windows RT devices-- but first it will "watch" how Surface will do. "How is RT accepted by customers, how Microsoft is aggressive on RT and on Surface, we don't know... We want to see," Wong concludes.

Go Acer Delays Windows RT Tablets After Microsoft Moves into Tablets (Reuters)

Asus bucks the negative trend in Q3 2012 with tablet shipments reaching 2.3 million units and profits growing by 43% Y-o-Y to reach $230m, the highest quarterly profit in 4 years.

Gross revenues total $3.8 billion with 9% Y-o-Y growth.

The company attributes the positive results to the popularity of the Nexus 7 tablet as well as its portfolio of convertible devices (such as the Transformer Prime) and notebooks.

When it comes to the future Asus projects Q4 2012 tablet shipments to reach 2.6m, bringing total 2012 shipments to around 6.3m. It also predicts growth will continue throughout 2013, with CEO Jerry Shen saying "I think 10 million [2013 tablet shipments] is a conservative target."

According to Gartner Asus is also the vendor seeing the most growth in Q3 2012 when it comes to PCs-- 11.8% Y-o-Y, an exception within a market going through a global -8.3% Y-o-Y decline.

Go Asustek Earnings Show Unexpected Strength (WSJ.com, subscription required)