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Sharp to sell 3G mobile phone in China soon: report
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Sharp Corp. plans to launch its first mobile phone designed for advanced 3G wireless technology in China next month, with other models to follow there by the end of the current fiscal year, according to a report Thursday.
Japan's Nikkei business daily reported that Sharp's (JP:6753 926.00, +22.00, +2.43%) (SHCA.Y 9.87, +0.27, +2.81%) first 3G handset, the Aquos, is expected to be sold for roughly 5,000 yuan ($732).
Sharp plans to release at least one handset model each for China Mobile Communications Corp. (CHL 49.09, -0.03, -0.06%) (HK:941 75.35, -1.75, -2.27%) and China Telecom Corp. (CHA 52.19, -0.61, -1.16%) (HK:728 4.03, -0.03, -0.74%) by the end of the fiscal year ending in March, according to the report.
Sharp is the only Japanese cellphone maker currently in the Chinese market, and now sells seven 2G handsets there, according to the report.
Sony Ericsson places 2010 handset orders with Taiwan makers
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Thursday 16 July 2009]
Sony Ericsson has placed ODM handset orders for 2010 with Taiwan handset makers after the company released orders for only two models to its production partners in Taiwan in 2009, according to market sources in Taiwan.
Under the new production contracts, Sony Ericsson will have Arima Communications and Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) produce at least two to three models, the sources indicated.
LGE switches handset order from FIH/Indigo to Arima
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 17 July 2009]
LG Electronics (LGE) has recently switched a dual-SIM handset order that was originally subcontracted to Foxconn International Holdings (FIH) and Taiwan-based Indigo Mobile Technologies for joint development, to Arima Communications because the FIH/Indigo team has decided to suspend development project, according to industry sources.
Indigo is a wireless device design service provider jointly set up by Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industries) and MediaTek and develops handsets based on MediaTek's platforms.
The suspension of the FIH/Indigo joint effort on the dual-SIM handset actually offers an opportunity for Arima to take up all LGE's ODM handset orders for 2009, said the sources, noting that Arima may produce up to 7-8 million handsets across 13-15 models for LGE in 2009.
BARRON'S TAKE
Easy Call on Nokia: Sell
By TIERNAN RAY
The wireless titan reports second-quarter results and dials down expectations, disappointing investors.
NOKIA (TICKER: NOK), the world's biggest cellphone maker, is once again getting a poor reception from investors for failing to excel in a market that it should dominate.
With an aging portfolio that's failed to capture the incremental demand for computer-like smartphones, the Finland-based firm this morning reported second-quarter results about as expected, but said its shipments will decline with the overall cellphone market this year and that it will make even less money than expected.
Nokia's American depositary receipts fell $1.98, or almost 13%, to $13.74 in early trading. At a forward multiple of 16.4 times this year's projected 84 cents -- a number that will doubtless come under greater scrutiny today -- Nokia shares may fall below $11.
Nokia's reported second-quarter sales fell 25%, year over year, to 9.9 billion euros, or $13.9 billion, in line with analysts' estimates, while profit of 15 European cents, or $0.21, was above analysts' 18-cent estimate.
That's the good part.
Nokia won't increase its share of handsets sold this year from last year's 39%, the company said, reversing an earlier forecast offered in April that it would increase share.
And Nokia now expects its operating profit margin on phones to be about in line with results for the first half of the year, at roughly 10% of handset sales. That's down from an expectation of "mid-teens" operating profit.
Fellow laggard Sony Ericsson fared even worse this morning, with sales
falling quarter over quarter, and indicated a similarly gloomy outlook. (See Tech Trader Daily, "Sony Ericsson: The Collapse Continues," July 16, 2009.)
Today's report takes Nokia all the way back to 2005-2006, when it was lagging growth of Motorola (MOT), which excited the world with the Razr. While Nokia crammed its phones with software programs, global positioning system (GPS) capabilities and video editing, Motorola dazzled with slick colors and designs.
As I wrote at the time, Nokia could eventually turn the discussion away from snazzy colors and back to the functions of a phone. (See Weekday Trader, "Nokia Will Be Back in Style," Oct. 23, 2006.)
The smartphone market was Nokia's game to lose, in other words. How humbling, then, for the company to see its buzz usurped by Apple's (AAPL) iPhone, Palm's (PALM) Pre smartphone, and the latest models of BlackBerry from Research in Motion (RIMM).
All those companies are increasing their unit sales, either off a small base, in Palm's case, or with follow-on successes in the case of the other two.
Nokia's sales of handsets in the second quarter, 103 million units, were 15% below the year-earlier period, following a 19% decline in the first quarter. Nokia says its share of the market will remain about flat as total unit shipments for the industry decline 10% this year.
In other words, there are too few cool phones in Nokia's portfolio to offset the overall market decline. Without adequate volume growth, Nokia's profit after the high cost of making and marketing complex phones heads down.
And it's not clear just how Nokia will offer more competitive products.
Its latest ballyhooed smartphone, the N97, was released to blaring house beats at a party in New York last month. It's an okay phone, but not as intriguing as what Apple, Palm, and RIM offer, and I expect it will sell the requisite millions of units then fade from memory.
With developing nations buying tons of phones given their lack of traditional infrastructure, Nokia should be cleaning up, thanks to its respected global brand, low average selling prices and superior distribution network.
But the trend is no friend. Last quarter, phone units in Asia-Pacific fell 17% year over year for Nokia and 42% in Latin America -- the same as the first quarter's decline.
It's easy to see where the stock's headed, however. The dark days of 2006 saw Nokia shares fetch a mere 13 times projected earnings.
Having ceded the field to Apple, Palm and RIM for the present, Nokia may again find itself at a 13 times price-earnings multiple, with far less hope in store than in 2006.
With cuts in estimates a certainty given the gloomy outlook, $11 is unlikely to be the floor for this stock.
RIM Pays $267.5 Million to Settle Patent Suit
By CAROLYN KING
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. agreed to pay $267.5 million to closely held Visto Corp. to end a long-running patent dispute.
In exchange for the payment, RIM will receive a perpetual and fully paid license on all Visto patents and the transfer of certain Visto intellectual property. The settlement is expected to be completed next week.
Visto is the parent of Good Technology, a mobile email provider that filed its patent suit against RIM in 2006. It is the second large patent payment from RIM, which in 2006 agreed to pay NTP Inc. $612.5 million to resolve a separate patent dispute.
RIM expects to expense the majority of the Visto payment as an unusual item in its fiscal second quarter, with the remainder being classified as an intangible asset.
UPDATE 2-Infineon reports higher Q3 sales, wireless profit
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* Sales rise quarter on quarter
* Wireless unit makes first profit in years
* Shares rise 8 percent
(Adds analyst comment, details on units, updates shares)
By Georgina Prodhan
LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Struggling German chipmaker Infineon (IFXGn.DE) reported a quarter-on-quarter sales increase on Thursday, lifting its shares and adding to improving sector sentiment after strong results from Intel Corp (INTC.O).
In preliminary fiscal third-quarter figures released on Thursday, Infineon Technologies AG said sales in the quarter to end-June were about 845 million euros ($1.2 billion), up 13 percent from the quarter to end-March but down 18 percent from a year earlier.
The companys' wireless unit made its first profit in years, and all other units apart from automotive were also profitable.
Infineon shares, already buoyed by reports of better-than-expected personal computer sales in the quarter just ended and an upgrade from DZ Bank, were up 8.3 percent to 3.385 euros by 1000 GMT.
Analyst Harald Schitzer of DZ Bank, who earlier upgraded the shares to "buy", said the results were better than expected.
"Due to quite good forecasts from Intel and other semi producers we expect a quite confident outlook from Infineon at the end of July," he wrote in a note.
Chipmakers have endured an extended slump in their cyclical business for over a year as consumers and businesses slashed spending on computers, mobile phones and other electronics and major world markets slid into recession.
Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, cheered investors late on Tuesday with results that beat market expectations, thanks to better demand for PCs than had been foreseen, especially in Asia.
Infineon's figures were released together with a prospectus for a 725 million euro rights issue, which confirmed U.S. activist investor Apollo Management LP may acquire just under 30 percent of the company in the process. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by David Holmes and Jason Neely)
new analyst coverage on IDCC website:
Arete Research Brett Simpson & Richard Kramer
Boenning & Scattergood, Inc. Michael Ciarmoli
Davenport & Company Bennett Notman & Jonathon Skeels
Hilliard Lyons Tom Carpenter
Think 20/20 Chris Versace
Apple will topple Nokia as the smartphone market leader by 2013, says Electronista, quoting a study by Generator Research.
Nokia currently leads the market with a 40% share. The study says that'll come down to 20% in four years, as Apple's market share rises to a third.
In this view, 2011 will be the year Apple matches Nokia's sales and ships about 77 million iPhones.
Why the confidence in Apple?
The combination of the iPhone and the app store, with each boosting the other's sales
The advantage of selling to a wider audience -- smartphone users and existing iPod users to whom it can market a hybrid of a smartphone and the music player.
Why the lack of faith in Nokia?
Nokia's cash cow is the budget devices market in developing countries, where the market is still growing -- As Electronista says, "the company doesn't have an actual financial stake in keeping smartphones at the top. The Finnish giant is likely to try and defend its territory but may be only half-hearted in funding its efforts as the smartphone business won't be where Nokia makes its true profits."
Slow response to competition -- It took Nokia a year and a half to come back with a device to compete with the iPhone, and launched another version -- the N97 -- just recently.
Will it be able to comptete with the iPhone app store? As Electronista notes, "The rapid expansion of the iPhone's App Store also pushed Nokia to launch the Ovi Store as a central portal for software despite running its N-Gage and music stores with modest success for considerably longer."
Apple: June Qtr iPhone Production 7M Units, Analyst Says
Posted by Eric Savitz
Apple (AAPL) iPhone production in the June quarter will be close to 7 million units, according to Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar, well above his previous forecast of 4.6 million. He says current production forecasts for the September quarter call for units to be modestly above 6 million, which would be down high-single-digits on a percentage basis both sequentially and year over year.
Kumar maintains his Buy rating and $170 target on AAPL shares.
Apple: June Qtr iPhone Production 7M Units, Analyst Says
Posted by Eric Savitz
Apple (AAPL) iPhone production in the June quarter will be close to 7 million units, according to Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar, well above his previous forecast of 4.6 million. He says current production forecasts for the September quarter call for units to be modestly above 6 million, which would be down high-single-digits on a percentage basis both sequentially and year over year.
Kumar maintains his Buy rating and $170 target on AAPL shares.
HTC expects 50% U.S. sales growth in 2009
HTC said it expects its U.S. handset sales to grow by at least 50 percent this year, a growth prospect far larger than the company's overall target. Jason Mackenzie, vice president of sales and marketing for HTC America, told Reuters that the U.S. sales growth over 2008 levels would represent sales of around 6 million phones this year. HTC forecasts a volume growth of 20 percent worldwide this year.
Infineon Technologies Raises Guidance For Third Quarter Financials
Neubiberg, Germany - June 25, 2009 - Infineon Technologies today raised the
guidance for the third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year.
For the current third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year Infineon now expects
a Combined Segment Result approaching break-even with revenues increasing
by a low-teens percentage sequentially. In addition, Infineon anticipates
free cash flow to be clearly positive and foresees a gross cash position
approaching Euro 850 million for the end of the quarter.
When the company originally provided the market with an outlook for the
third quarter of the 2009 fiscal year on 30 April 2009, Infineon expected
revenues to increase by about 10 percent sequentially with a negative mid
to high single digit Segment Result margin.
Nortel Networks Corp. has accepted a $650 million bid to sell the most lucrative part of its carrier networks division, together with a wireless research unit, to Nokia Siemens Networks, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
Toronto-based Nortel has struggled to sell off its assets since entering bankruptcy protection in January, as customers looked elsewhere for equipment upgrades and the value of its assets dropped.
The offer, known as a stalking horse bid, is subject to an auction to see if a higher bid emerges, as required by bankruptcy regulations.
A Nortel spokesman declined to comment.
Nokia Siemens, a joint venture of Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, is offering to buy the unit making a voice technology called CDMA, which is deployed by major U.S. carriers including Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. The deal could give Nokia Siemens the foothold it has long sought in the U.S., as it would acquire one of the largest bases of CDMA customers in the world.
Under the proposed deal, Nokia Siemens would also buy a 400-person research unit developing radio technologies for an ultra-high-speed broadband technology known as LTE. Verizon Wireless, Vodafone PLC and other major global carriers are planning to roll out the so-called fourth-generation technology in coming years.
Nokia Siemens, the world's second-largest maker of wireless network equipment by sales, after Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, wants to raise its chances of being selected as a supplier for LTE rollouts around the world. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone PLC, has selected two other suppliers for its LTE rollout but has left open the possibility of selecting a third vendor, if the vendor were willing to take over Nortel's CDMA business, according to people familiar with Verizon's thinking.
Nokia Siemens in March first made an unsolicited bid to buy large parts of Nortel's carrier networks division for $850 million. The current deal is more limited in scope.
The deal would involve the transfer of 2,500 Nortel employees to Nokia Siemens, which would establish a wireless research center in Canada, the people said.
Olddog,
Allow me to lean on you for a question related to the larger licensing issues.
I assume that there might be some reluctance on the part of management to sign a new license in the window that began shortly before the Nokia hearing and the filing of the judge's initial opinion. Their concern, I would assume, is Nokia requesting additional time to review the new license for FRAND (however baseless the issue) or to request additional post hearing submittals to address same.
Relative to the Samsung hearing and the initial determination date, were their any licenses signed in that window?
Apple did not announce this potential product on Monday.
The A in AT&T stands for Albatross
Commentary: Is Apple's exclusive partner weighing down the iPhone?
By Therese Poletti, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Author Sue Grafton has gone through almost the entire alphabet for titles of her murder mysteries that take place in Southern California. But her pithy, alphabet-inspired book titles can also be appropriate for mysteries in the technology world.
Some in Silicon Valley remain stumped by Apple Inc.'s ongoing exclusive distribution deal with the increasingly maligned carrier, AT&T Inc. Since Apple announced its new iPhone 3G S Monday, the griping among fans has been non-stop. Some are wondering again, as they did at the launch of the first iPhone, is AT&T an albatross for Apple?
For one thing, the S in the iPhone 3G S seems to stand for "Suspect," not "Speed."
The new phone goes on sale June 19. Apple claims it will be up to twice as fast as the current 3G iPhone, but I don't yet see how. It won't be taking advantage of AT&T's ballyhooed faster network because the network won't be ready. AT&T is not even starting to deploy its new network until many months after the phone is out.
Apple instead must be souping up the new iPhone with faster processors or other chips, along with its new 3.0 software. The phone now has additional processor-intensive functions, such as a more powerful camera, video recording and playback. Apple says in its spec sheet on its Web site that it tested its new iPhone 3G S over current 3G and WiFi networks.
When I asked an Apple spokesman what makes the new iPhone 3G S faster, he referred me to a video of Monday's keynote, which did not give technical details.
Completion in 2011
AT&T said in its press release on Monday that the new iPhone "will be compatible with High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology, which offers theoretical peak download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps (megabits per second), though actual speeds will vary as these capabilities become available. AT&T plans to begin deploying HSPA 7.2 later this year, with completion expected in 2011."
So if you buy the new iPhone 3G S for $199 now, it seems you are paying more for useful features in the phone, not the network. A compass, better camera with video capabilities and voice dialing or calling up songs from your iTunes playlist are among the big features. The version with a 32-gigabyte flash drive costs $299, and current iPhone owners who are not eligible for upgrades will pay even more for their phones.
Those thinking about buying the iPhone 3G S need to remember that they will remain on AT&T's current 3G cell network initially. That network sometimes still switches to AT&T's dreaded Edge network, which all users complain is as slow as molasses.
Trip Hawkins is the video-game pioneer whose latest startup company, Digital Chocolate, develops the most popular iPhone application at the moment - a free game called Roller Coaster Rush. When I talked to Hawkins at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference this week, he said if he sees his iPhone connect to the Edge network, he won't even play or demo a game. He just tries later.
No tethering yet
There were two other points of contention after Monday's announcements. AT&T was absent from the list of carriers worldwide that will immediately support a feature called tethering. This will let the new iPhone 3G S act as a sort of wireless modem for laptops. Apple showed a list of the initial 22 carriers around the world that will support tethering next week at launch; AT&T was conspicuously absent.
The grumbling and laughter in the crowd was unmistakable. An AT&T spokesman told MarketWatch that the telco giant will support this feature but he did not give a timeframe. AT&T is still figuring out how to price the service, among other things.
Apple also is finally offering MMS, for sending multimedia messages like photos and video, but AT&T won't offer that service until late this summer. Another mystery.
The amateur sleuth in me wants to know why Apple sticks with AT&T as its exclusive partner in the U.S.
A former Nokia executive told me recently that AT&T was probably the only U.S. carrier to agree to all of Apple's demands, including not allowing the AT&T brand on the iPhone hardware. Nokia has had a difficult time in the U.S. market, in part because Nokia does not want its phones branded with carrier logos.
Developers' perspective
But software developers tell another side of the story. When a customer buys an application in Apple's iPhone App Store, whether it's a game or car navigation software, it's simple to buy through an Apple iTunes account.
Apple's App Store is a direct contrast to shopping for applications on other cell phones, which feature games or applications that give carriers a big share of the revenue. The billing of these sales is also more convoluted, as each transaction is processed by the carriers, who take a cut of the sale. Consumers are billed separately by the developers.
With iTunes, the billing seems almost seamless, and the cost for whatever you buy in the App Store shows up as part of your monthly iTunes purchases.
"It's far and away easier than on any device," said Josh Parker, marketing manager for consumer electronics at Intermap Technologies Inc. , a Denver mapping company now developing software for the iPhone. The company's AccuTerra software offers detailed maps of national parks both for free and varying prices on the iPhone. It was named the best 3.0 application at Apple's Design Awards this week.
Apple fans have complained about AT&T since the first iPhone was launched two years ago. But that has not stopped all of them from buying the device. Apple has sold more than 20 million iPhones to date, and more than 1 billion applications have been downloaded from the App Store in just nine months.
There now is increasing rivalry among smart-phone developers, from the entrenched Research in Motion Ltd. , the brand new Pre from Palm Inc. and phones based on Google Inc.'s Android software.
All are eager to create the kind of ecosystem with the thousands of software developers that Apple has fostered. As competition gets more fierce, time will tell if Apple's exclusive AT&T deal is indeed an Achilles heel.
Spreadtrum up about 24% TODAY on huge volume. Could they be about to announce a new customer? Will IDCC benefit?
Analyst: The $99 iPhone will increase sales twofold
The price cuts Apple (AAPL) announced Monday on the MacBook and iPhone lines are “significant” and surprisingly aggressive, writes Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster in a note to clients issued after the WWDC keynote was over.
Historically, he writes, a 50% cut in iPhone pricing has increased demand twofold.
He’s referring to the last year’s cut to $199 from $399. That price reduction was actually accompanied buy a tripling of global unit sales (from 4.7 million to 15 million), but some of those sales were in overseas markets. U.S. sales in that period, he estimates, increased twofold.
The MacBook price cuts were more modest — between 5% and 15% — but make Munster “increasingly confident” in his near-term Mac estimates (2.2 million Macs in the third fiscal quarter; 2.4 million in fourth quarter, which ends in September).
The pricing on OS X Snow Leopard was even more aggressive; it’s scheduled to ship in September for $29 (for current Leopard users), as opposed to the typical $129 operating system upgrade.
Munster says he’s not worried about the impact on Apple’s bottom line, however. He notes that when Leopard shipped in 2007, the Mac user base was about 23 million. Today Apple announced that its user base has grown to 75 million active OS X users.
Munster, having predicted that Jobs would return to Apple by the end of June and not before, claims he is not surprised that the CEO was a no-show Monday.
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference runs until Friday
Expect to see more money coming from Infineon. Apple just lowered the price on the basic iphone to $99.
Data, given the need to declare a rate, is there a requirement for the user to pay the fee or is it still subject to the same gamesmanship we've seen in the past?
As a habit, I post news, not commentary. But this is a noteworthy exception.
Folks, buckle up!! It's going to be a bumpy road tomorrow. From the looks of all the 'I know more than you, so just let me help' advisors on Ihub and Yahoo tonight, tomorrow is going to be the shorts' last stand, what with Nokia just a few weeks away.
Put in sell stops? I don't think so.
That's what they're countin' on to cascade this puppy into the dirt. Until the SEC truly bans naked shorting, strap on your testicular protection. Tomorrow gonna' be a hell of a ride!!!
But the trend is our friend. Rising revenue and profits will get us our day in the sunshine for those with the patience and fortitude. And ignore the BS from your more verbose 'internet friends'. Knowing a good merlot is not a substitute for essential 3G patents.
We're almost to the end zone, grab your cup and keep runnin'. You've come too far to give up now.
“Baseband Processor Profile: Infineon Wireless Strengthens but is Over-Shadowed by Qimonda,” analyzes Infineon’s cellular baseband strategy, product portfolio, customer relationships, strengths and weaknesses.
Infineon realized a billion dollars in CY2008 revenue. The company has baseband and RF relationships with the top seven mobile handset vendors, a significant improvement over its position in 2005 when it had just one baseband customer. This report reveals that Infineon is positioning itself as a low-end baseband supplier to 2G, 2.5G and 3G markets while leveraging its RF transceivers and power management expertise. However, the company continues to struggle due to its DRAM memory subsidiary, Qimonda, which could potentially jeopardize Infineon’s long-term sustainability and make it vulnerable to takeover.
Stuart Robinson, Director of the Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics, commented, “Strategy Analytics believes that Infineon is differentiating itself from the crowded GSM chipset market by providing highly integrated and low-cost solutions. To date, however, the company currently lacks a complete product portfolio and has under-invested in multimedia, connectivity and application processor solutions.”
Sravan Kundojjala, Analyst, adds, “Strategy Analytics believes that Infineon could be a good partner to companies looking for RF expertise and baseband customer relationships.”
INFINEON intends to reduce its debt by purchasing outstanding convertible and exchangeable notes
The management board of Infineon Technologies AG (the 'Company') has resolved to solicit offers from the holders of the outstanding convertible notes of INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING B.V. and the outstanding exchangeable notes of INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES INVESTMENT B.V., each guaranteed by the Company, for the sale of such notes to the Company. The Company's solicitation of offers for the sale of these notes aims at the reduction of its outstanding debt.
The Company intends to use up to EUR 150,000,000.00 for the purchase of these notes, with the maximum purchase price for the exchangeable notes and the convertible bonds being 75% of the nominal amount. The Company will determine the final purchase prices upon receipt of offers pursuant to a modified Dutch auction process, so that all offers submitted at or below the final purchase prices will be accepted up to the aggregate of EUR 150,000,000.00. Within the framework of the auction process, the Company may exercise its sole and absolute discretion in determining the purchase prices and the number of notes to be purchased.
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. Announces $44 Million of New Financing
SHANGHAI, May 5 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRD, the "Company"), one of China's leading wireless baseband chipset providers, today announced that its Chinese subsidiary, Spreadtrum Communications (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., has received RMB 300 million (approximately $44 million) of new financing from a Chinese bank in the form of a fixed term loan.
The bank loan is unsecured and is for a term of 3 years. Interest on borrowings will be initially set at 5.4% annually, to be reset annually at the then benchmark applicable rate as set by the People's Bank of China. The interest on borrowings under this bank loan will be mostly covered by Chinese government subsidy funds.
"We very much appreciate and are excited to receive this nearly interest-free financing. This indicates the Chinese government's strong support and high confidence in Spreadtrum to develop semiconductor products in 2nd and 3rd generation wireless communications in the Chinese market. We plan to use our borrowings under the loan to increase R&D investment in our GSM and TD-SCDMA projects and to expand our IC operations in China. With our strengthened financial position, we are more confident in our ability to overcome the difficulties caused by the current worldwide economic and financial crisis and do not expect to need to raise additional funds in the near future," said Dr. Leo Li, president and chief executive officer of Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.
Proxy Statement Also Out -on IDCC website
More from Infineon:
the positive exception was wireless communications where the company achieved several design wins, in particular in the 3G and in the Ultra Low Cost (ULC) market segment. Customer LG for instance increased its order to several million units before the product, according to Bauer LG's flagship touchscreen handset model, was on the market. Other major orders came from Nokia which significantly expanded its supply relationship with Infineon.
The strong demand for wireless chips caused the company to return to normal work from the short time working scheme in its Dresden fab. "We currently do not plan to return to short time working scheme at this production line," he announced.
If you look on Qcom's after hours you will see the same pattern (low for the day) at the same time.
That short count predates the earnings and haircut.
Data,
I read it the same way my first time through. However, if read with the following:
Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung has agreed to pay us $400.0 million in four equal installments over an 18-month period to resolve the outstanding arbitration disputes involving Samsung's sale of 2G products, as well as the patent disputes over Samsung's sales of 3G products. then it would appear the seven million is in addition to the amount to be paid.
Speaking of scaling up...RIM says looking for 3,000 recruits to meet BlackBerry demand
By MarketWatch
Last update: 5:36 a.m. EST Feb. 16, 2009
BARCELONA (AFP) -- The maker of Blackberry phone handsets, Canada's Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM.T), said Monday it was recruiting 3,000 new workers to keep pace with demand despite the global economic crisis.
"We have grown our employees base by 50% in 2008. And we're still hiring and we plan to keep hiring. We have growth in our business," co-chief executive Jim Balsillie told AFP on the sidelines of an industry event.
"We hired about 4,000 people in 2008, currently we have 3,000 open jobs. We're still hiring a lot."
The optimism at Research in Motion contrasts with other makers of handsets such as Nokia Corp (NOK) , the world's biggest, which announced 1,200 job cuts late last year.
Japanese-Swedish group Sony-Ericsson has said it plans to slash 2,000 positions.
RIM reported a 66% rise in sales in September-November last year compared with the equivalent period of 2007.
"We're still seeing a wonderful momentum in Blackberry. We shipped our 50 millionth Blackberry" two weeks ago, Balsillie added.
The world's biggest mobile phone event, Mobile World Congress, opened in Barcelona Monday, which is expected to draw 60,000 industry insiders.
CCID Consulting: Review and Forecast on the Chinese Mobile Phone Chips Market
BEIJING, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- CCID Consulting, China's leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, and the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: HK08235), recently reviewed China's mobile phone chips market.
After a period of rapid growth over the past few years, the Chinese mobile handset chips market experienced a conspicuous decline in 2008. CCID Consulting predicts that the scale of Chinese mobile phone chips market is expected to reach RMB 110 billion, up by 6%, down to single-digit growth for the first time. In the coming years, the mobile phone chips market will rarely regain its explosive growth, as the mobile phone chips sector has entered the stage of flat growth from that of a rapid one.
Decline in handset production leads to lower demand of chips
The production volume of mobile handsets is the most crucial factor on the growth of chips market. In 2008, the number of manufactured handsets in China is expected to reach approximately 750 million, with the growth rate down to 8.6%, while the number of the so-called 'knockoff handsets' which have attracted so much of the industry's attention is around 150 million. The following are the several reasons why the production volume of mobile handsets in China decreased: Firstly, China has already become the largest production base for mobile handsets in the world, with several major suppliers including Nokia and Motorola having moved part of their production bases to China, and the annual decrease in the growth rate of mobile handset production will be an inevitable trend; Secondly, experience from the past years shows that the fourth quarter is the crucial period, a time when new technologies in the production of mobile handsets are released. However, due to a gloomy economic outlook and the shrinking of the global terminals market, the Chinese mobile handsets sector experienced a conspicuous decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with the same period over the past years; following the explosive growth in 2007, knockoff mobile phones witnessed no new breakthrough in terms of production volume in 2008, which had limited impact on driving the growth of the entire industry. Therefore, given the impact of various factors, Chinese mobile phone chips market experienced a drastic decline.
The rise of Taiwanese and mainland vendors
MTK remains the star of mobile handset chips market in 2008. With the constant expansion of MTK footprint, the competition landscape in mobile handset baseband chips market is undergoing quiet changes, from Infineon's acquisition of Agere, NXP's acquisition of Silicon Lab, to MTK's acquisition of ADI's handsets production lines and the merger of ST and NXP's wireless business. In the context of the withdrawal and consolidation of the traditional mobile handset vendors, the position of Taiwanese and mainland chip vendors has been increasingly enhanced. In terms of shipments, MTK accounts for 23% of the total market, with its target market focusing on domestic brands and knockoff handsets. In comparison, TI, with its partnership with international vendors and its advantages in smart phones and WCDMA baseband chips, accounts for 13% of the total market. In light of the growth in the recent years, TI's position in mobile handset chips market has been weakened significantly. In the meantime, TI is moving its focus of product development to the area of application processors. Qualcomm accounts for 12% of the market share through its monopoly position in CDMA field. Infineon, ST-NXP, Freescale and Broadcom, with their respective advantages, have all secured their positions in the baseband chips market. In addition, Spreadtrum, a domestic mobile baseband chips vendor which has gained popularity among domestic mobile handsets enterprises in the field of GSM and TD-SCDMA, is growing rapidly.
Lack of momentum in the market growth of multimedia chips and memory chips
In terms of application structure, baseband process modules, multimedia application and memory chips are still the top three application fields in the mobile handset chips market, accounting for 70% of the market share in all, of which baseband process modules accounting for 27% of the total market. Though there is fierce competition in the baseband chips market, with the increase both in the integration level of baseband chips and the proportion of high-end chips, there is no significant decrease in its average prices. The rise of multimedia chips market owes much to the popularity of multimedia functions in mobile handsets. However, in the wake of growth over the past years, multimedia applications such as MP3 and photo-taking have reached saturation while new applications have not sprung up. Meanwhile, with the continuous upgrading of the baseband chips' performance, a host of mobile phone solutions enable MP3 and photo-taking functions through baseband chips without additional processors. In this context, the market proportion of multimedia chips experienced a slight decline, accounting for 20% in 2008 according to projection. In terms of capacity, the storage capacity for unit handset increases significantly while its price decreases slightly. In the meantime, the ratio of memory product MCP is further increased. Therefore, there is a slight increase in the proportion of memory chips market, reaching 21% by estimate. Apart from these three major fields, the market of application processor chips for smart phones, though only accounting for 4.1% of the total market, is expected to have huge market potential as the proportion of high-end handsets continues to grow with the coming of 3G age.
Emerging applications to drive future market
Given the fact that China is the most important production base of mobile handsets in the world, the development of the global mobile handsets market will have direct impact on the growth of Chinese mobile phone industry as well as on the trend of Chinese mobile handset chips market. In light of the future development, given the impact of the current economic situation, the production volume of mobile handsets is expected to maintain its slower growth in China in 2009, which will in turn weaken its driving force for mobile handset chips market. GPS, mobile TV, Wifi and payment through mobile phones are all the potential application fields for mobile phone chips. With the reduction in chips costs and setup of relevant policy standards, these applications will gain in popularity among mobile phone users. CCID Consulting predicts that the new applications will become the major force in driving the development of chips market in the next two years.
Infineon set to sample low-cost 2G/3G/HSDPA platform in June
Peter Clarke
(02/16/2009 8:25 AM EST)
URL: http://eetimes.eu/germany/214301750
Infineon Technologies AG (Munich, Germany has said it developing a "platform" offering for fast mobile internet access along with "cost-optimized" 3G network connection, which is due to start sampling in June.
LONDON — Infineon Technologies AG (Munich, Germany has said it developing a "platform" offering for fast mobile internet access along with "cost-optimized" 3G network connection, which is due to start sampling in June.
The XMM 6130 platform includes a mixed-signal system chip, the X-Gold 613 with analog, baseband and power management functions, together with an RF engine, a reference design, a dual-mode protocol stack with a common software API layer and Infineon's user interface and application framework. Infineon said the X-Gold 613 is due to sample in June 2009 and will be available in volume quantities in the first half of 2010.
The Infineon XMM 6130 is due to support the data rates provided by 3G HSDPA. The platform is based on the X-Gold 613, an integrated 2G /3G digital and analog baseband plus power management functionality, manufactured in 65-nm CMOS technology.
The X-Gold 613 is Infineon’s first baseband dedicated to the low-cost entry 3G markets. The chip is designed for low-cost cellular phones and brings together an ARM11 processor core, multimedia features with dedicated interfaces for camera, display, USB, memory cards and the benefits of a 3G air interface. The device supports, together with Infineon’s low-cost 2G/3G RF transceiver, 3.6-Mbps modem functionality up to 3G dual-band and up to quad-band EDGE.
The XMM 6130 platform is set to follow on from the XMM 2130 platform, presented at last year's Mobile World Congress, which brought internet browsing, music and video, 3-megapixel camera, FM radio and messaging into the low-cost market, Infineon said.
"Having proven to be uniquely successful mobile phones are now for many the only means of gaining access to the Internet. With our XMM 6130 we help to bring cost effective 3G solutions to a mass market," said Weng Kuan Tan, vice president responsible for the wireless division at Infineon, in a statement.
An interesting article for those who beat the drum for the Board to purchase shares on the open market from the WSJ:
Bank of America: Can a $15 Billion Problem Be Solved by Buying 513,000 Shares?
Posted by Heidi N. Moore
Wednesday, Bank of America said CEO Ken Lewis and members of the bank’s board had bought BofA shares to show confidence in the bank’s future in the wake of revelations that write-downs at Merrill were more than $15 billion in the fourth quarter alone.
Well, that should do it.
Lewis and his compatriots purchased more than 513,000 shares of common stock Tuesday, as The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Fitzpatrick reported. BofA’s shares rose 31% Wednesday, fueled by a wider rally that also lifted Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and other financial stocks.
Lewis and company were taking a dog-eared page from the playbook of many beleaguered chief executives who want to signal confidence in their company’s future. Unfortunately, the history of such strategic stock acquisitions–or sales–in the credit crisis that began in mid-2007 is a failed one. The markets don’t want signs of confidence. They want actual confidence in a bank’s concrete ability to make good on its promises.
If, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, credibility is a series of small, successful gestures, bank executives must see that their gestures are being read by the markets as empty ones. Instead, insider buying now telegraphs executive overconfidence in a market that is almost limitlessly pessimistic.
Let’s look at just a few, brief examples. Last November Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his deputies bought 1.3 million Citigroup shares after the stock had fallen below $9. Pandit alone spent $8.4 million. But that didn’t prevent a deeper rout in the stock nor the need of an additional $301 billion in government backstops for Citi’s toxic debt. Oh, and the stock closed Wednesday at $3.67, and that’s after rising 31% on the day.
Directors at Wachovia snapped up hundreds of thousands of shares in October and early November, only weeks before the bank was shoved into an arranged marriage, first with Citigroup and then Wells Fargo. At Washington Mutual, the bank’s decline was presaged by a months-long buying spree by directors and officers–none of which persuaded investors or depositors of WaMu’s viability long enough to forestall an FDIC near-seizure and fire sale to J.P. Morgan.
Then there are the granddaddies of crossed market signals: Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings.
Billionaire Joe Lewis bought an extra $31 million of Bear shares to show faith in its future–just hours before the bank collapsed. And Bear itself planned two $2.25 billion bond offerings within weeks of each other and agreed to pay a rich interest rate of 7.05%, 2.45 points more than five-year Treasurys, not because it needed to but to show the market that it could raise money. It soon was forced into the arms of J.P. Morgan.
And Lehman bought back batches of its stock last summer even though regulators were urging Lehman to keep more money on hand to shore up its capital base. The showy buyback was designed to show the markets that the brokerage house was well-capitalized. But investors instead wanted proof of Lehman’s exposure to troubled assets and a plan to reduce them. By mid-September, Lehman was filing for bankruptcy.
The lesson? That investors believe that no one, including executives, know enough about the market these days to confidently predict all the factors that could affect the future of any company.
Today's release is very different verbiage than the language for LG, which was a model of clarity by comparison:
em 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement
On January 18, 2006, InterDigital Communications Corporation's patent holding subsidiaries (collectively, InterDigital) entered into a worldwide, non-transferable, non-exclusive, patent license agreement with LG Electronics Inc. (LG). The five-year patent license agreement, effective January 1, 2006, covers the sale, both prior to January 1, 2006 and during the five-year term, of terminal units compliant with all TDMA-based Second Generation (2G) standards (including TIA-136, GSM, GPRS, and EDGE) and all Third Generation (3G) standards (including WCDMA, TD-SCDMA and cdma2000(R) technology and its extensions), and infrastructure compliant with cdma2000(R) technology and its extensions up to a limited threshold amount, under all patents owned by InterDigital prior to and during the term of the license. Under the terms of the patent license agreement, LG is obligated to pay InterDigital three equal installments of $95 million, in the first quarters of 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. At the end of the five year term, LG will receive a paid-up license to sell single-mode GSM/GPRS/EDGE terminal units under the patents included under the license.
HTC revenues hit new high in October on launch of new models
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 7 November 2008]
High Tech Computer (HTC) saw its revenues grow 22.4% on year to hit a record high of NT$16.04 billion (US$489 million) in October buoyed by the launch of new models, including T-Mobile G1 phones, according to company data.
For the 10 months of this year, revenues reached NT$121.22 billion, up 30.8% from a year earlier period.
Despite growing uncertainty about the global economy, HTC has remained positive over its fourth-quarter revenue outlook, targeting a total of about NT$48 billion, according to sources at handset component suppliers.
The sources even pointed out that HTC is actually under a tight production schedule, with part of its shipments already being affected.
Samsung Overtakes Motorola In the U.S.
By SARA SILVER
Samsung Electronics Co. overtook Motorola Inc. as the leading vendor of handsets in the U.S. for the first time in the third quarter, according to data from Strategy Analytics Inc.
The South Korean company reached the milestone -- with 22.4% of the market compared with Motorola's 21.1% -- by offering carriers a full portfolio of devices, from high-end products such as the touch-screen Instinct to lower-end phones given free to customers who sign up with a particular carrier.
Motorola has struggled to produce do-everything phones for the high end of the market and to cut costs to stay competitive at the low end, as its midrange Razr loses steam.
"Motorola has lost half of its share since the height of the Razr two years ago, whereas Samsung gained traction with its broad portfolio across all major U.S. carriers," said Bonny Joy, senior telecom analyst at the Newton, Mass., research firm. "North America has emerged as the key battleground for smartphones, and without them you can't succeed here."
"We know the numbers are very close, and North America continues to be a priority for Motorola," said a Motorola spokeswoman.
The market-share shift comes during the run-up to the all-important holiday season, in which BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. is defending its lead in the highest end of the U.S. market, with 10.2% compared with 5.7% for Apple Inc's iPhone. Globally, iPhone 3G shipments allowed Apple to capture 6.9% of the world market in the third quarter, eclipsing RIM with 6%, according to Strategy Analytics.
Motorola's declining share ratchets up the pressure on the Schaumburg, Ill., equipment maker, which has dominated the U.S. market since it pioneered the cellphone in 1983. Its decision to halt the rollout of many products based on its own software platforms means its share is likely to shrivel through the end of next year, when it plans to release new devices based on software from Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
That puts LG Electronics Co. of Korea, with a 20.5% share, within striking distance of Motorola. The world's largest cellphone maker, Nokia Corp., which this year pushed to raise its U.S. sales, posted an 8.4% share, less than 10.8% a year ago.
Strategy Analytics said overall handset shipments increased 6% from the year-earlier quarter, despite the global financial crisis.
Write to Sara Silver at sara.silver@wsj.com
AT&T's Lurie to push wireless beyond cell phones
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Glenn Lurie, the executive who led AT&T Inc's (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) negotiations with Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for its exclusive U.S. iPhone deal, will now work on introducing wireless links in devices other than cell phones.
AT&T, the biggest U.S. mobile service, said Lurie would head a new organization in the company to help promote the inclusion of cellular links in everything from computers and digital cameras to car-navigation and entertainment systems.
U.S. service providers, which have long kept tight control over which handsets their customers use, have been promising to become more open amid pressure from search giant Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and as they look for ways to lessen their dependence on voice services with data services like mobile Web access.
As about 90 percent of U.S. consumers already have mobiles, Lurie said in an telephone interview with Reuters that future new subscriptions would have to come from wirelessly connecting previously unconnected devices.
"Where's the growth going to come from in our industry? It's really going to come from these new devices," said Lurie, who even expects dog collars to become connected.
"We're talking about potentially hundreds of different types of devices and many different models of how these devices are brought to market," he said.
The executive said that AT&T would see the first commercial products from the initiative in the first quarter. It plans to sell some AT&T-branded devices directly from its stores while others will go on sale at big box electronics retailers.
The executive did not name any potential partners and declined to comment on whether he was working to expand AT&T services to other Apple devices beyond iPhone. He also declined comment on whether the initiative could be impacted by the current economic slowdown.
AT&T's initiative follows moves earlier this year by No. 2 U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), to allow any third-party device to work on its network.
Sprint Nextel (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, has also said it expects to connect a wide array of consumer electronics devices on a high-speed wireless network it plans to build via a proposed venture with Clearwire Corp (CLWR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
But AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint all run networks using incompatible technologies, which require electronics makers to chose one standard or shoulder the cost of designing separate devices to support each one.
AT&T noted that its network runs on GSM, the most widely used wireless technology around the world. Verizon's network is based on CDMA, a standard that is popular in the United States, while the Clearwire network will be based on an emerging technology known as WiMax.
Lurie said that there would likely be more tight agreements between device makers and service providers like AT&T's agreement with Apple and that some devices would likely include chips that can connect to different types of networks.
Besides heading the emerging devices unit, Lurie will continue to run the company's national distribution business. (Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Bernard Orr)
sadly...I'm posting from the Westcoast.
Nothing like a meltdown to keep you energized.
HTC September sales up 30% on year
October 6; Michael McManus, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 7 October 2008]
HTC Corporation has reported September revenues of NT$13.7 billion, up 30% from the same period last year. For the third quarter of 2008, the company's total revenues reached NT$37.86 billion, representing 30.06% year-on-year growth.
The company also reported pre-bonus adjusted net income before tax of NT$ 9.4 billion, total net income of NT$ 8.4 billion, and earnings per share of NT$11.14. For its post-bonus adjustment, the company had total net income before tax was NT$ 7,846 million, total net income was NT$ 7,071 million, and earnings per share after tax were NT$ 9.36.
HTC's third quarter revenue were in line with guidance provided during last quarter's conference call. Nevertheless, September revenues were slightly affected by the delay of shipment due to a series of typhoons. The company remains optimitics it will achieve annual revenue growth of 20-30%, and close to the upper end of the target.
Kineto Wireless Receives Funding for FMC Solutions
Last update: 4:00 a.m. EDT Oct. 7, 2008
MILPITAS, Calif., Oct 07, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Kineto Wireless, Inc., the key innovator and leading supplier of FMC solutions for mobile operators, announced today that it has raised an additional $15.5 million in funding, including a strategic investment from Motorola as part of a broader commercial relationship with the company's Home & Networks Mobility business. Kineto's existing investors Oak Investment Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Venrock, Seapoint Ventures and InterDigital also participated in the funding.
Kineto's industry-leading FMC solutions enable mobile operators to extend voice, data and IMS services over broadband access networks, thus harnessing the power of the Internet to lower service delivery costs while improving mobile coverage and performance. Kineto's FMC solutions are currently enabling mobile operators around the world to deliver a number of new revenue-generating FMC services, including dual-mode handsets, femtocells, terminal adaptors and softmobile clients.
"Continued strong growth in UMA-based dual-mode handset and terminal adaptor deployments, combined with tremendous operator interest in femtocells, is highlighting the FMC imperative for mobile operators globally," said Rick Gilbert, president and CEO of Kineto Wireless. "We are delighted to have the support of a leader in the mobile industry such as Motorola as we continue to capitalize on our leadership position in the FMC market."
Motorola's Alan Lefkof, corporate vice president and general manager, Broadband Solutions Group, added, "Motorola has been a key contributor along with Kineto and other industry players in developing the technology standard for femtocells, and we look forward to building on the work we have begun with Kineto in order to implement this technology and enable operators to economically deploy femtocell solutions."
About Kineto Wireless
Kineto Wireless is the key innovator and leading supplier of FMC (fixed-mobile convergence) solutions for mobile operators. Kineto supplies software solutions to major mobile infrastructure and device vendors that enable the development of products compliant with the 3GPP UMA/GAN and upcoming HNB standards, including UMA network controllers, femto gateways, dual-mode handsets, femtocells, terminal adaptors and softmobiles. Kineto customers and partners include NEC, Motorola, Samsung, LG Electronics, HTC, Qisda, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Infineon, ST-NXP, Linksys, Ubiquisys and Netgear. For more information about Kineto, please visit www.kineto.com. For more information about FMC service deployments, products, and standards, please visit http://www.UMAToday.com.
SOURCE: Kineto Wireless, Inc.
Kineto Wireless
Steve Shaw, +1-408-965-0209
sshaw@kinetowireless.com
or
Engage PR for Kineto Wireless
Stephanie Look, +1-510-748-8200 ext. 225
slook@engagepr.com
or
AxiCom PR for Kineto Wireless
Richard White, +44-20-8392-4050
richard.white@axicom.com
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