Olympus forecasts £261m loss February 13, 2012 Olympus Corp, which is trying to recover from an accounting scandal that battered its balance sheet, forecast a 32bn yen (£261m) full-year net loss – dragged down by its ailing camera business. The loss estimate for the financial year ending 31 March, compared with a 3.87bn yen net profit in the previous year, highlights the [...]
Apple seeks Samsung injunction February 12, 2012 Apple has asked a California court to issue a preliminary injunction to block sales of Samsung’s new Galaxy Nexus smartphone, alleging the device infringes four Apple patents. The move marks another escalation of the legal battle between the world’s top two sellers of smartphones, with Apple re-focusing its arguments to account for Samsung’s rising position [...]
TECH TALK February 8, 2012 APPLE ITV PRICE AND SPECS LEAKED Apple hasn’t even come close to confirming there will be an Apple TV – dubbed iTV in the US – but that hasn’t stopped its specs and price being leaked. Retailer Best Buy carried out a survey asking its customers if they would be interested in a 42-inch, 1080p [...]
Phone maker HTC is facing tough future February 6, 2012 TAIWANESE smartphone maker HTC has yet to catch up with market dominators Apple and Samsung, posting expectations of a weak quarter ahead despite strong growth in fiscal 2011. The world’s number five smartphone maker said it expects revenues of 65bn Taiwanese dollars (£1.4bn) in the first three months of this year, down from T$101.42bn in [...]
Taiwanese firm is caught in pincer February 6, 2012 THE demise of Nokia happened in slow motion. Apple released its first iPhone in 2007 but it took almost four years before Nokia admitted it was “standing on a burning platform”. Even now, some believe Nokia’s new Microsoft Windows smartphone, the Lumia, could snatch the Finnish handset maker from the jaws of defeat (for the [...]
Panasonic lurching towards record £6bn loss February 3, 2012 Japan’s Panasonic Corp forecast a record net annual loss of £6.4bn, joining beleaguered rival Sony Corp in a sea of red ink, both struggling to fix their broken TV businesses and overcome criticism that they have lost their way. Panasonic, posting quarterly results, said it was headed for a loss of 780bn yen (£6.46bn) for [...]
Sony to lurch further into red February 2, 2012 TROUBLED electronics company Sony is set to make its fourth consecutive annual loss – the worst run in its 54 years as a listed firm – as the group yesterday upped its loss forecast from ¥90bn (£750m) to ¥220bn. Sony also slashed its previous operating income forecast of ¥20bn to a ¥95bn loss. The third [...]
Stringer set to step down as Sony chief February 1, 2012 WELSH-born Sir Howard Stringer is to step down as president and chief executive of Sony after a fifteen year run at the Japanese electronics company, to be replaced by Kazuo Hirai. Hirai, aged 51 and currently executive deputy president, will take Stringer’s seat on 1 April. Stringer – a rare foreign chief executive for a leading [...]
BlackBerry tops handset sales… sort of February 1, 2012 So, the biggest selling phone of last year was the… BlackBerry. It’s been a mixed year for… Wait… What? BlackBerry? Seriously? After a year that has seen global blackouts and gigantic writedowns – culminating in its co-chief executives stepping down last month – RIM has come out with a tub-thumping statement claiming to be the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 31, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES EU TO RULE ON DEUTSCHE BÖRSE AND NYSE MERGER The NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Börse tie-up today faces its day of reckoning in Brussels, as European Union commissioners are expected to sign-off a recommendation to block a merger that allegedly stifles competition. BAA SIGNALS END TO HOPES OVER STANSTED RUNWAY BAA has signalled [...]