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Posts tagged phone
Big losses for Cell phone/handheld device manufacturers
33 years ago
The world has been hit terribly by the Global economic recession. The hit has been particularly hard for cell phone manufacturers that include big names like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorolla.
I am particularly concerned about Nokia – the fact that its sales have plummetted by 90% is alarming indeed.
Here, I have tried to bring to your attention these losses and what impact they may have on the telecom industry using news from various sources of quarterly reports coming from manufacturers.
I’ll begin with Nokia, followed by Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
Nokia
Nokia’s net profit falls 90 percent
If you were wondering how bad things have gotten for the mobile handset market, just take a look at Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phones.
The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent fall in first-quarter net profits as the global recession took a big bite out of demand for mobile devices.
For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Nokia said that net profits fell to 122 million euros ($161.3 million). A year earlier the company reported net profits of 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had expected the company to report net profits of about 306 million euros.
The company’s sales fell to 9.27 billion euros from 12.66 billion euros last year. This was also below analyst expectations, which were counting on sales of around 9.80 billion euros.
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson posts loss, plans to cut 2,000 jobs
STOCKHOLM – Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
The result was the third consecutive quarterly loss for the Sony Corp. and LM Ericsson AB joint venture, which reported a profit of euro133 million in the same period in 2008.
Sales in the January-March quarter tumbled by 36 percent to euro1.7 billion, from euro2.7 billion a year earlier.
Sony Ericsson attributed the sales drop to weaker demand for mobile phones, with distributors and retailers trimming inventories amid the economic slowdown.
Motorola
Motorola posts $3.6b loss as devices sales fall by 26 percent
Motorola reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.6 billion, or $1.57 a share, hit by falling sales, particularly in its mobile handset unit. Sales dropped 26 percent, sinking to $7.1 billion, and missing analyst expectations of $7.2 billion. Mobile Devices saw sales drop to $2.35 billion, a 51 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The operating loss was $595 million, compared to an operating loss of $388 million in the year-ago quarter. The struggling handset maker shipped 19.2 million handsets in the quarter, which it estimated gave it a 6.5 percent of the global market. It blamed the unit’s poor performance on the weakening economy and on “gaps in its portfolio.” Motorola also said it was suspending its dividend, and was embarking on a cost savings plan that aimed to save $1.5 billion in 2009. In another blow, Paul Liska, its chief financial officer, is leaving the company. SVP and corporate controller Edward J. Fitzpatrick has been named acting CFO until Motorola can find a replacement.
Other market players like Apple (net loss o f $69 million) and Palm (net loss of $841,000 approx.) have also reported losses over the first quarter.
Blackberry, however, seems to be gaining some ground with its demand rising, particularly in the Middle East and in South-Asian countries like Pakistan.
The mobile handset manufacturing industry does seem to be going through a really rough patch for now. Given the circumstances, there is not much hope for the immediate future but things might stabilize over the course of a couple of years, I hope.
Something that should is worrying for me as a Telecom professional is that this sharp drop in demand of handheld devices and cell phones will have a direct impact on service operators, but let us all hope for the best.
The market in Pakistan is promising indeed. There still is quite a lot of potential for growth here. Let us all hope for the best!
Nokia 5800 touchscreen
43 years ago
Nokia rattled the market with the launch of its first proper touchscreen phone, the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. The phone was first shown in the Hollywood blockbuster, “The Dark Knight”. Available in shades of Blue, Black and Red; the phone truly is lovely aesthetically.
I admit I have only seen it with a friend as yet, but I have gone through detailed reviews of the phone (pictorials, video’s and written reviews) and spoken to my friend about his experience with it.
One of the best features of this phone is Nokia’s experiment with SIM loading. Nope. It’s not under the battery anymore. You can conveniently load the SIM in a tab on the side, just like memory cards are loaded.
The phone has a big 3.2 inch screen with a 360 x 640 pixel resolution. So if you’re fingers are big (or small), Nokia has taken care of it. You can be sure you won’t run into trouble with using the touchscreen interface. The icons are bigger, better.
The Music features have been enhanced, you can slide the phone a notch upwards for the music controls, which makes the phone look even prettier. It has a new and improved Media player and it seems as if Nokia has not given up on its plans to dominate the music/media player market.
The phone is perfectly 3G compatible. Yes, we’re still waiting for these services in Pakistan but anyway. It’s a good plus if you’re a frequent traveller abroad. The Nokia 5800 Xpress music supports 3.6Mbps HSDPA (my final year project is on the deployment of HSDPA in Pakistan) with obvious GPRS and EDGE support for backward compatibility and for the fact that countries like Pakistan are still dependent on GPRS/EDGE. Bundled with Bluetooth and WLAN (Wi-Fi) services, the phone is a gem for data usage.
With the Nokia 5800 Xpress music, Nokia has also improvised its camera interface. You hit a button and you’re ready to play ith the view finder. A 3.2 mega pixel camera supported by a Carl Zeiss lense, I could’nt ask for more.
The phone is priced at around USD 600 and is not officially marketed and sold in Pakistan. It is available through what are known as ‘Grey Channels’ at varying prices from Rs. 36,000 to Rs. 41,000 without proper warranty support.
Hope to see it soon in Pakistan. If you are a user of the phone or have seen/used it or have read about is pro’s and cons. Do share.
Looks like 3G is on the Edge..
103 years ago
News was in from the beginning of the year that by the end of 2008 PTA will auction licenses for 3G. With the year coming to the end, we have not seen this happen. But now with a two-day workshop on 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) Network Planning, it looks like PTA has laid the foundation for licensing the 3G spectrum early next year.
The workshop was held in association with Qualcomm Inc, USA and Central Asian CDMA Forum at PTA headquarters, Islamabad from 4-5 December 2008.
Nokia ‘Achieve’ – Taking on the iPhone
63 years ago
by Ammar
in Technology
Nokia has unveiled plans (by releasing short videos) for a dual touch screen concept phone which may really give the Apple iPhone some tough competition.
The phone opens some what like the old Nokia communicator but does not have a keypad. Instead, both top and bottom screens are ‘touch’…
This is what Nokia states an example of what the new concept would ‘Achieve’:
Members of an architectural firm work feverishly together to win a competitive new project. Virtual teamwork is made effortless through smart wireless conferencing and remote presentations. Bluetooth audio ensures strong and clear communication. When mobile technology ascends to this level, we will achieve great things together.
Here’s the video released by Nokia:
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