Dec. 10, 2010 at 4:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Cell phones,
Consumer electronics,
Technology
By Reuters
Finland’s Rovio Mobile, known for its Angry Birds puzzle video game, unveiled on Friday payment software that gives mobile telecom operators a chance to win a share of booming app store business.
Mobile operators have struggled to grab a piece of the mobile applications market — worth $4.1 billion last year, according to research firm Chetan Sharma — as consumers pay with credit cards directly to Apple Inc or Google Inc.
Rovio said it would start to roll out its payment solution in early 2011 for Android phones sold by Finland’s top mobile carrier, Elisa, for purchasing additional features in Angry Birds. “This gives operators some revenue, compared to none. We are going to open it up to all other developers,” said Peter Vesterbacka, head of Rovio’s business development in North America. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha. (PRNewsFoto/Motorola, Andy Kuno)
Shares of Motorola fell 1.5 percent after it warned its cell-phone unit would post a loss in the first quarter, when key client Verizon Wireless is seen starting sales of Apple’s iPhone.
Analysts on Thursday cut their share price targets and earnings estimates for the company, which had only recently posted its first quarterly profit in years.
Motorola’s mobile chief and Co-Chief Executive Sanjay Jha flagged the loss during an investor conference late on Wednesday saying first quarter sales would involve a higher proportion of cheaper phones as the company looks to boost sales at U.S. operators such as AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA. Get the full story »
Nov. 24, 2010 at 10:04 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Retail
By Wailin Wong
A Sony laptop with a Blu-ray drive or a 50-inch Sanyo plasma television set could be yours for $500 on Black Friday if you’re willing to get up early, according to a Consumer Reports round-up of this weekend’s best gadget deals. Get the full story »
Nov. 15, 2010 at 11:54 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology
By Dow Jones Newswires
Comcast Corp. has unveiled an application for Apple Inc.’s iPad that allows its customers to watch videos, program their digital video recorders and more, as pay-television providers look to keep eyeballs on their offerings, whether in the home or not.
The cable- and satellite-TV business appears to have suffered its second consecutive quarterly subscriber decline during the summer, fueling concerns about the prospect of online video disrupting the media and entertainment industry’s most lucrative and dependable revenue model.
With its iPad application, Comcast joins a growing list of video streaming products from big-name media companies, including Dish Network Corp., Netflix Inc., Hulu and ABC, trying to catch the attention of a new generation of consumers, looking for content they can stream from the Internet to their new portable media devices. Get the full story »
Nov. 10, 2010 at 11:49 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology
By Associated Press
Global smart phone sales nearly doubled in the third quarter, and Apple is now one of the top five bestselling manufacturers.
Research firm Gartner says cell phone manufacturers sold 80.5 million smart phones in the third quarter. It says nearly 1 in 5 of all phones sold is a smart phone. Get the full story »
Nov. 9, 2010 at 2:27 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Retail
By Reuters
Consumers will spend more this holiday on electronics than they have in each of the last 17 years, with laptops and Apple’s iPad topping wish lists, a leading industry trade group said Tuesday.
The average consumer will spend $232 on electronics gifts from TVs and MP3 players to cameras this year, up 5 percent from last year, according to a holiday phone survey of 1,003 U.S. adults conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association. Get the full story »
By Wailin Wong
(Motorola)
Motorola is launching a new Android-based smart phone for globe-trotting executives later this month at Verizon Wireless.
The Droid Pro, unveiled Monday, is the latest device in Verizon’s Droid line-up, its portfolio of premier Android-based smart phones. Motorola has been an important maker of Android devices for the carrier and its other phones for the Droid line include the Droid, the Droid 2 and the Droid X.
The Droid Pro is designed for business users and comes with QuickOffice, a mobile software suite for editing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. The phone also has a physical keyboard and is global-ready, meaning it is compatible with wireless service in different countries. Motorola said the device can tap into voice service in more than 220 countries and will have data coverage in more than 200 countries. Get the full story »
By Reuters
Shares in Research In Motion slipped more than 3 percent on Friday morning as investors fretted the BlackBerry smartphone’s stranglehold on corporate communications was being eroded by rival devices. Get the full story »
Nov. 4, 2010 at 11:17 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Earnings
By Reuters
Circuit protection products maker Littelfuse Inc. posted quarterly results that beat Street expectations, helped by the strong performance of its electronics unit, but said it saw sales slowing down in the fourth quarter.
The Chicago-based company expects fourth-quarter earnings of 75-85 cents a share, on revenue of $138-$145 million. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Visitors to a Stockholm hotel will be able to use mobile phones instead of keys to unlock the doors to their rooms. Assa Abloy AB, the world’s largest maker of door locks, has launched a pilot in which Clarion Hotel Stockholm will lend customers mobile phones with close-range radio chips, much like devices used for contact-less payments at gas stations. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Two boys play the Kinect for Xbox 360 at a Charlotte, N.C. Gamestop store, Oct. 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Caryn Bailey, a 32-year-old blogger and mother of two, is impressed with Microsoft’s new Kinect game-control system. But she already owns the Wii from rival Nintendo, and she’s not ready to shell out hundreds of dollars to switch.
That’s the challenge Microsoft Corp. faces as it begins selling the long-awaited system on Thursday ahead of the lucrative holiday season. To succeed, Kinect will need to exude the kind of iPad-like magic that defies frugality and gets people spending to experience something new, even as they cut back elsewhere in the uncertain economy. Get the full story »
Nov. 1, 2010 at 3:22 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Consumer news,
Retail
By McClatchy Tribune Newspapers
Wal-Mart shoppers wait in line on Dec. 21, 2009, at one of the retailer's stores in Ocoee, Fla., for Zhu Zhu toys. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT)
After last Christmas, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. turned to its customers to find out how it could improve toy shopping this holiday season.
Moms told the nation’s largest retailer not to push Christmas toys until after Halloween passed and to give them more, not just $10 specials.
That was a price Wal-Mart promoted early and big in 2008 and 2009 in toys, books and DVDs, starting price wars in early October the last two years. Get the full story »
Oct. 28, 2010 at 5:04 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Earnings,
Technology,
Updated
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
An app on the Motorola Droid X. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
Motorola Inc., reached a milestone Thursday as its mobile division reported an operating profit a quarter ahead of schedule, and the company said its smart-phone sales will near 14 million units for the year.
The company’s Mobile Devices unit reported operating earnings of $3 million on Thursday, versus a year-ago operating loss of $183 million. During the quarter, the company’s shipments of smart phones rose to 3.8 million and included 22 new products introduced this year.
Smart-phone shipments totaled 2.3 million units in the first quarter and 2.7 million in the second quarter. Analysts had expected ships to total about 3.7 million in the third quarter. The company said smart-phone sales will near the upper end of its previously announced guidance of between 12 million and 14 million units for the year. Get the full story »
By Associated Press
Federal regulators say Verizon Wireless has agreed to pay a fine of $25 million and at least $52.8 million in refunds to customers who inadvertently racked up data charges on their phones over the last three years. Get the full story »
Oct. 27, 2010 at 4:57 p.m.
Filed under:
Consumer electronics,
Technology
By Reuters
Apple Inc. said on Wednesday it expects its gross margin to fall in coming quarters, echoing earlier comments, as it sells a larger mix of products such as the iPad. Get the full story »
