Tag Archives: aapl

Sony posts huge mobile phone loss, cancels dividend

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai continues to play limbo with financial analysts. On Wednesday, he lowered the company’s earnings outlook for the sixth time since becoming chief executive in April 2012. Sony (SNE) said that it will take an impairment charge of 180 billion yen ($1.68 billion) for its mobile phone business in the September quarter, as that unit continues to struggle against Apple (AAPL), Samsung and others. The Japanese consumer electronics maker now expects to lose 230 billion yen ($2.15 billion) for the year ending March 31, compared with a prior forecast for a loss of 50 billion yen ($467 million). Sony also will forego paying a dividend for the first time since it went public in 1958, Reuters reported. Hirai pledged to return Sony to profitability in the next fiscal year. Sony also announced plans to cut about 1,000 of the 7,100 workers in its mobile phone unit this…

Apple TV leads Roku in hardware sales, trails in usage

Apple’s (AAPL) one-time hobby, Apple TV, is leaving Roku in the dust in sales of set-top boxes for streaming video. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose this week that the company has an installed base of more than 20 million Apple TV boxes. He said Apple has a “great interest” in the TV business as an area it could disrupt with new technology. “TV is one of those things that, if we’re really honest, it’s stuck back in the ’70s,” Cook said. “Think about how much your life has changed, and all the things around you that has changed. And yet TV, when you go in your living room to watch the TV, or wherever it might be, it almost feels like you’re rewinding the clock and you’ve entered a time capsule and you’re going backwards. The interface is terrible. I mean,…

Apple falls on China iPhone 6 launch delay

China, the world’s largest mobile phone market, might not get Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 6 and 6 Plus until 2015. The state-owned 21st Century Business Herald reported Tuesday that Apple might have to wait until next year to get approval for its new iPhones in China after failing to reach agreement with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this month, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Meanwhile, the country’s largest wireless carrier, China Mobile (CHL), says it is focusing more on selling cheaper smartphones that don’t require subsidies. This comes after China Mobile said it will cut $2 billion from the subsidies it uses to help consumers pay for high-end smartphones from Apple and Samsung. Apple stock was down 1.5%, near 100, in midday trading on the stock market today. China Mobile’s U.S. shares were down 2%, near 62. The news out of China shouldn’t be a major concern…