bottom line

Nokia CEO Elop Lays Groundwork for New Strategy, Hints May Be Open to OS Switch

Ina Fried in Mobile on January 27, 2011 at 5:30 am PT

Ahead of a Feb. 11 investor meeting, Stephen Elop outlines his perception of the company’s strengths and weaknesses and the need to compete against powerful platforms. “The game has changed from battle of devices to war of ecosystems,” Elop said.

ITunes Video Rentals a $1 Billion Business by 2015?

John Paczkowski in Mobile on December 29, 2010 at 10:57 am PT

How big is Apple’s iTunes video rental business? In a research note today, Gleacher & Co. analyst Brian Marshall hazards a guess: Apple’s serving about 475,000 rentals a day and raking in upward of $60 million per quarter doing it.

Sprint Nextel Still Struggling to Keep Subscribers

John Paczkowski in News on February 10, 2010 at 5:57 am PT

Sprint hasn’t posted a quarterly net gain in wireless subscribers in longer than anyone would care to remember, and its latest quarter was no different. Reporting fourth-quarter earnings this morning, the carrier said it lost a net of 148,000 subscribers during the quarter.

Time Inc.’s Magazines Get Less Bad, With Some Help From People

Peter Kafka in Media on February 3, 2010 at 10:41 am PT

If you’re waiting for Apple’s iPad to rescue the magazine business, you may have to wait a very long time indeed. But the present-tense magazine industry–the ink-and-paper version everyone has left for dead–may be limping its way to a recovery.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo's Carol Bartz–Deal-Making: Incomplete

Kara Swisher in News on January 25, 2010 at 9:24 am PT

Sorry for the break in grading Yahoo’s Carol Bartz on her one-year anniversary as CEO. But BoomTown was swanning around the Sundance Film Festival in Utah this weekend, went partying with those boozy Hollywood types and ended up in Provo with the crazy gals from “The Runaways”! I wish! Actually, running away from issuing any grade for deal-making for Bartz is a pretty good way to put it. Because today, after much thought, I have to give the Yahoo leader an incomplete for deal-making.

Apple’s Tablet: A $2.8 Billion Business?

John Paczkowski in Mobile on January 25, 2010 at 5:20 am PT

We’re still a few days away from the presumed unveiling of Apple’s mythical tablet computer and already, analysts are trying to divine the impact the new device will have on the company’s bottom line. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky expects Apple to sell five million tablets in the product’s first year at market.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Financials: C+

Kara Swisher in News on January 15, 2010 at 11:48 pm PT

Yesterday, BoomTown began grading the performance of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, after she gave herself a B- for overall performance for the one year since she took over the troubled Internet giant. But I decided to be more specific, splitting the grades into five categories: Management, financials, product innovation, deal-making and moxie. For management, I gave Bartz an A-, which some thought was too generous and others thought should have been an A+. Which means, it was just about right! Today, let’s look at financials–by which I mean Yahoo’s fiscal performance and its stock price. In this regard, Bartz only gets a C++ (it’s a techie joke, get it?).

China Unicom: “iPhone Will Become China’s Best-Selling Smartphone.” We’re Just Not Sure When.

John Paczkowski in News on December 10, 2009 at 5:16 am PT

A month after the iPhone’s sluggish launch in China, sales seem to be picking up. Though it sold just 5,000 handsets during its first weekend at market, China Unicom, Apple’s carrier partner in the country, says it has now sold more than 100,000 units of the super-smartphone since it went on sale on Oct. 30.

Time Warner Gives Wall Street a Pleasant Surprise, but Has Bad News for Time Inc. Employees

Peter Kafka in Media on November 4, 2009 at 4:09 am PT

Yesterday, Viacom told Wall Street that its third quarter had been better than most analysts expected. Today Time Warner delivered a similar report: Revenue was on track, but cost savings improved the bottom line. That won’t help hundreds of Time Inc. employees who face job cuts this quarter. Meanwhile, the company can’t ditch AOL soon enough: It has already spent $100 million prepping it for a spinoff this year.