The HTC One has been incredibly well received since it launched last month, but the handset was just too late to have a positive impact on HTC’s profits during the first quarter. The Taiwanese company made just $2.8 million in profit during the three-month period, which is a 98% drop from the $152 million it saw a year ago.
Samsung has today announced its estimated earnings for Q1 2013, and it looks like the Korean electronics giant is set for another record quarter, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The company has forecast a 53% rise in profit to 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion) for the three-month period between January and March, driven by smartphone sales.
Ad impressions reached a record high during the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data from Opera’s latest State of Mobile Advertising report, with revenue to publishers more than twice that of any previous quarter throughout the year. The figures show that Android continues to increase its share of the market, but it’s got a long way to go before it topples iOS, which boasts a whopping 41.91% share.
LG has today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012, during which the South Korean company sold 15.4 million cellphones and saw a 2% increase in sales and revenue of $2.58 billion. 8.6 million of those devices were Android-powered handsets, with “premium LTE smartphones” like the Optimus G and the Optimus Vu 2 leading the way.
Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC failed to meet analysts’ estimates during the fourth quarter of 2012, posting an operating income that of just NT$600 million ($21 million). The average estimate from 20 industry analysts was NT$1.11 billion, according to Bloomberg — that’s almost double the figure HTC actually achieved.
Apple’s App Store has been the undisputed revenue king since its inception, however, its once enormous lead is now quickly shrinking. That leading edge over Android is an argument that’s becoming moot as the Play’s revenue continues to grow at a ravenous rate. According to App Annie, an industry leader in app store analytics and marketing, Google Play’s revenues have skyrocketed 311% in the last year, compared to the App Store’s more conservative 12.9%.
Google has released its Q1 2012 revenue earnings — and business is good! Revenue for Q1 2012 came in at $10.65 billion, up 24% from Q1 2011. Overall, the majority of revenue avenues saw growth despite Google’s willingness to explore risky projects. Google ended up with a hefty $49.3 billion cash on hand and looks to continue growing that stockpile as they move forward in the year. In the earnings call today, Larry Page talked mostly about their dedication to the long-term and points out how many of their projects don’t reach critical mass for quite a few years. For example, Larry points out that he’s been working on Android for 6 years and it wasn’t until the past 3 years that Android has begun to really explode.