Groupon said it had revenue of $601.4 million, up eight percent, in the first quarter, and earnings of three cents. Those profits were in line with Wall Street expectations, but sales were better than the expected $590 million at the daily deals site.

The stock was up nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading to $6.21. Shares have risen 42.6 percent in the last six months, although that’s down 43.9 percent from a year ago.

There was no news of the search for a new leader for Groupon, which fired its CEO, co-founder Andrew Mason, in the quarter.

On a conference call later, co-CEO Ted Leonsis said that Groupon’s board had formed a search committee, but that it was “not in a hurry” to find a new company head.

But, in a statement, co-CEO Eric Lefkofsky said: “We are encouraged by our results, as our local revenues accelerated and our margins improved over the prior quarter.”

Anything up is good news for the suffering Groupon, which has been pilloried by Wall Street since its late 2011 IPO, although sentiment has improved since Mason’s ouster.

Gross billings, which is the amount consumers buy from Groupon overall, without subtracting payments to merchants, were up four percent, to $1.04 billion, on strong growth in North America. Sales were off internationally, though, by 9 percent.

International business, which has a bigger active customer base than North America, was the cause of much of Groupon’s declines, a problem execs have been trying to address with a new “One Playbook” strategy to consolidate systems.

On the conference call, COO Kal Raman called the situation “a tale of two Groupons.”

On a GAAP basis, Groupon had a loss of one cent, from two cents in the same period a year ago.

Groupon also said North American transactions on mobile devices accounted for 45 percent of the overall number, up from 30 percent last year, while email fell to less than 45 percent of the deals sold.

On a less happy note, Groupon said that its outlook for the second quarter would be below consensus.

Here’s the the Chicago-based Groupon’s official press release, as well as some tasty financial slides, so you can read it all for yourself:

GRPN

GRPN_1Q13_Earnings_Slides

Demand Media, the online content company, said it had earned nine cents on an adjusted basis in the first quarter, on revenues of $100.6 million, topping Wall Street estimates of eight cents on $99.6 million in sales. On a fully diluted basis, earnings were one cent a share, or $700,000, compared to a loss of two cents, or $1.8 million, in the three months compared to a year ago.

“Strong growth from our owned & operated content and media properties drove our Q1 results, highlighting the unique capabilities of our content discovery, creation and distribution platform. Further, we accelerated our paid content strategy with the acquisition of Creativebug, a premier online destination for arts and crafts instruction, which will provide our large eHow crafts audience with an expanded learning experience. In addition, we signed up over 400 resellers to our new gTLD tools and received more than two million expressions of interest for domains to be registered with new gTLDs,” said Richard Rosenblatt, chairman and CEO of Demand Media in a statement. “We are excited about the distinct long-term growth opportunities for both of our businesses.”

Demand’s eHow site seems to have driven a lot of the gains in the content area.

Demand shares rose in trading yesterday by close to two percent, to close at $8.58, also its stock is down 7.6 percent for the year.

The company did not mention the planned split of its registar and content business that it announced in the last quarter in the current results, which might be covered on the conference call the Santa Monica, Calif. company will have with analysts at 2 pm PT.

In its last earnings release for the fourth quarter, Demand said it was spinning off its domain registrar business from its media one in a bid to better clarify the company to investors.

Since it went public several years ago, there has been some level of difficulty for each part of Demand to easily explain itself to Wall Street, given the very different natures of its key — but very different — revenue units. In a statement at the time, Demand said that it was “our intent to spin off our registrar business and separate into two independent, publicly traded companies.”

The company noted that the two units “divergent strategic priorities and opportunities” would be better in the new configuration with a pure-play media company and domain services company. At the time, the company said the transaction was expected to take place in the next nine to 12 months, although it required a number of company and regulatory approvals to do the tax-free spin-off to create two different stocks.

In a different kind of transaction, Demand had talked a little more than a year ago to a private equity company about taking the company private. The effort was abandoned, in which Boston-based Thomas H. Lee Partners would have purchased Demand for a price of up to $1.2 billion, due to a number of challenges. Its current market valuation is now about $744 million.

Until we hear more about the spin-off plans from Demand execs, here’s the full release from Q1 to peruse:

1Q 13 FINAL RELEASE

The real story here is mobile (as always). The company’s mobile ad revenue accounted for 30 percent of the overall ad biz — a whopping jump from the 23 percent of mobile ad revenue raked in last quarter.

A good thing for the social giant, considering the company’s entire user base is slowly trickling over to accessing the site via mobile device. Monthly active users viewing the site on mobile devices came in at 751 million, a 54 percent jump year over year.

Scary at first, perhaps, for the Web industry as a whole, with all the companies in the Valley scrambling to make the move to mobile effectively. Now, optimistic as ever, Facebook continues to position it as an opportunity, not a liability.

Check out my notes from the company’s quarterly conference call earlier on Wednesday, starring CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg and CFO David Ebersman.

———————
1:55 pm PT: Gotta love the flute music. Holding patiently.

2:00 pm: About to start!

2:02 pm: Buncha standard legalese. Please hold for actual substance.

2:03 pm: First up, Mr. Zuckerberg.

2:04 pm: Zuck says he’s surprised how the growth keeps going even though there’s more than a billion people using the service.

Funny, considering the growth rate is slowing overall.

2:04 pm: FLASH — Zuck is super stoked on Facebook Home, the company’s recent mobile software release.

It’s great! Gonna be huge! Alas, we just released it and only a few phones can use it. So please hold for more awesomeness.

2:06 pm: Next up, Instagram. Zuckerberg also loving how great CEO Kevin Systrom is doing with the platform. 100 million users. Fantastic!

2:07 pm: Zuckerberg playing up how important Facebook Platform is to the company. Especially mobile apps from third parties.

“I think it’s clear now that we can create a lot of value for devs by providing identity,” he said. “We’re starting to see real revenue from mobile app installs.”

2:08 pm: Platform emphasis makes sense. Facebook really needs great content flowing through the news feed to keep you coming back and looking at it. That means cool-looking apps and stuff.

2:10 pm: Again, big emphasis on Home, Graph Search and the like as “long-term investments.”

In other words — THE MONEY FROM THESE PRODUCTS WILL COME LATER, Y’ALL.

2:11 pm: Time to Lean In! COO Sheryl Sandberg is on the call.

2:11 pm: Sandberg reiterating how awesome the shift to mobile is. We check our phones so often, that’s perfect for mobile ads!

Mobile ads biz doing great internationally — “particularly in Asia.”

2:12 pm: Sandberg, like Zuckerberg, is pushing the company’s mobile app install ads product. Basically a paid way to stick your app inside the mobile news feed. Click on it, and it’ll send you to the Google or Apple app store and have you download the app.

For what it’s worth, I’ve heard anecdotally that those ads do indeed drive significant downloads. Good ad product, it seems.

2:13 pm: Sandberg talking about the Atlas acquisition, which closed last week.

Big deal for ad measurement success. Basically it’ll be another way to show the ad folks that yes, your Facebook ads are worth it and no, don’t measure by clicks like you’re used to with your stuffy old Google ads!

2:15 pm: Sandberg, in a nutshell: FORGET CLICKS. We got way better ways to measure ad success.

2:18 pm: Sandberg feeling great on Q1, and still pushing the fact that it’s early days in the ads biz for Facebook. Keep on keepin’ on.

2:19 pm: Here comes CFO Ebersman.

2:19 pm: Mobile still huge in terms of who’s accessing the site. As we know.

2:20 pm: Crazy. Mobile-only users visiting Facebook on a monthly basis at 189 million users.

2:21 pm: Payments and fees revs were up year on year. Games in particular were up 12 percent.

Huh. Q1 saw a record number of people playing games on Facebook.

2:23 pm: Warning: Expenses are gonna swell. But we’ve been saying that for a while. Infrastructure, engineers, new campuses, new products — all of that costs money.

2:24 pm: So take note of that last thing Ebersman said.

Q1 had a record number of people playing games on Facebook, while Zynga’s contribution to that dropped by 37 percent. Other game developers are up 60 percent.

That’s a big deal. Larger diversification of the games and payments ecosystem.

2:29 pm: Growth and engagement geographically is up internationally, Ebersman says.

Mobile obviously responsible for that.

2:30 pm: A question about different screen form-factors.

2:32 pm: Zuckerberg: Sure, there will be more screens. Whether it be desktops, or phones, or “glasses … whatever the products are.”

“The big question for us is which platforms do we see growing the quickest?”

2:32 pm: “Ads during the first six or seven years of Facebook were just in the right-hand column.”

“Whatever the form-factors going forward…” we’ll get it right. –Zuck

2:35 pm: A question on Atlas: “As people are looking more holistically at all the ad spend they’re doing, they’re looking at everything leading up to that purchase — not just the last click.” –Sandberg

2:36 pm: So again, the Atlas buy is about more measurement than just the last click before buying a product. Offline influence, etc.

2:36 pm: Sandberg “increasingly encouraged” by SMBs around the world in their willingness to take up Facebook’s ad biz.

Hope so! That’s not really where the focus is right now, though.

2:38 pm: Sandberg really pushing the fact that tons of SMBs have Facebook Pages.

Still doesn’t help the little guys without massive followings break through to the news feed, though. We’ll see.

2:40 pm: Ooh, a video ads question!

Hope they don’t dodge it.

2:40 pm: Sandberg says video is a “really exciting area” — and advertisers can use Facebook’s existing embeddable video product in their ads.

Continuing to explore the area, Sandberg says, but nothing to announce today.

Shucks.

2:41 pm: Ah, a question about Instagram and monetization.

When you gonna slap ads on our pics, Sheryl?

2:41 pm: Zuck on Instagram: “They’re really doing well and growing quickly.”

Focus should be on community building. He’s optimistic on biz opportunity, but they aren’t slapping ads on anything just yet.

“They’re growing a lot faster now and were faster to get to 100 million than Facebook even was,” Zuckerberg says.

2:43 pm: Boring question, boring response.

Mobile mobile mobile.

2:44 pm: Two questions: Platform and Graph Search.

Zuckerberg is super happy with gaming ecosystem and how it’s doing, despite “Zynga,” whose growth ain’t great.

Ouch!

2:45 pm: Poor Zynga can’t catch a break.

2:45 pm: Zuck on platform (in my words): Please, dear god, developers. Give us your apps. Distribute them here.

2:46 pm: As far as Graph Search goes, repeat after me. Early. Days.

2:46 pm: “The launch wasn’t this point where we expected a ton of people to start using it. … real roll-out will start pretty soon.” –Zuckerberg on Graph Search

2:47 pm: Fun question from Mark Mahaney: Do the kids still like Facebook? I hear it’s not hip anymore.

2:47 pm: Ebersman: Facebook is awesome for everyone, regardless of age! And yes, kids still like Facebook.

Telling: Ebersman really emphasized Instagram’s influence with the young crowd.

2:49 pm: Funny. I asked my 12-year-old neighbor the other day which apps she used — she told me Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. (No Facebook!)

2:50 pm: Lotsa mobile app install ad buyers are new advertisers to Facebook.

Makes sense why Zuckerberg keeps making his call to arms for developers.

2:55 pm: “Owning our own data centers removes another party from the mix.”

Also lets them “build them exactly how we want them to look.” Best for efficiency, Ebersman said.

This in light of a recent announcement that Facebook would be building another data center in Iowa.

2:56 pm: Hmm. Sandberg advocates promoted Pages product to SMBs rather than other larger ad spend products.

Sort of a “no duh.” But I’m still not convinced the little guys are getting good ROI there.

3:00 pm: So, 3 percent of the payments revenue bump came from user-promoted posts and, to a lesser extent, Facebook’s Gifts product.

Hmm.

3:01 pm: And that’s a wrap, folks.

And it’s a slight miss on profits while coming in just above estimates on revenue: Profit of 12 cents per share on revenue of $1.458 billion. The Street’s consensus was 13 cents on revenue of $1.44 billion.

Canned quote from the CEO, ahoy. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the first few months of the year,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. “We have seen strong growth and engagement across our community and launched several exciting products.”

On to mobile ad revenue growth. Unless you’ve been asleep for the past two years, you know the world is shifting from desktop to mobile. So Facebook’s mobile ad revenue numbers are ones to watch.

Facebook’s mobile ad sales accounted for 30 percent of overall ad sales, compared to the fourth quarter of last year where it accounted for 23 percent of overall ad sales. Quite the jump — much larger than expected.

Also of note: Facebook’s monthly active and daily active user numbers. MAUs came in at 1.11 billion as of Q1 count, while DAUs were at 665 million. That’s compared to 1.06 billion and 618 million, respectively, at the end of Q4.

Just like we thought, mobile MAUs are still on the rise, coming in at 751 million, a massive 54 percent jump year over year.

Shares of Facebook were wavering up and down in afterhours at $27.15 at around 1:15 pm PT, down about .25 percent from close.

Yahoo turned in a first-quarter report that showed continued flat revenue, although earnings were up.

Here’s the liveblog of the conference call following the report, which starred Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who tried to explain how she planned to remake the Silicon Valley Internet giant to increase that weak revenue in its key display advertising and search units:

2:00 pm: I like that Mayer started on time, which many a Yahoo CEO did not in the past.

Still, there is no way she could easily explain away the revenue miss at the company in the quarter, which is due in large part to its ever-declining display advertising sales.

Thus, she used the metaphor of running to clarify the situation.

“Getting the company going at the rate we would like will take several years,” she said, describing turning Yahoo around as a “series of sprints,” including making it a great place to work.

The next sprint will be to create “beautiful products.” After that, the next one will be to improve user engagement. And then, presumably, “ultimately growth.”

2:08 pm: Mayer touted better employee collaboration, which she said has made Yahoo a more attractive place to work than ever before.

She also noted that Yahoo has gotten a lot of ex-Yahoos — which she called “boomerangs” — to return to the fold.

Mayer deftly did not mention the better earnings — largely due to cost and tax savings, as well as other financial manipulations and not sales efforts — since managing the business well is not the same as growing it.

But, let it be said: She and CFO Ken Goldman seem to be managing Yahoo very well, although Wall Street and others are expecting them to goose revenues.

2:13 pm: It is on to Goldman, who goes through the numbers, which Yahoo has already released.

Here’s a quick synopsis: Yahoo’s display advertising business is down 11 percent in the first quarter to $455 million, with the number of ads sold declining seven percent and the price per ad falling two percent.

As it did last quarter, search revenue did not save the day. It also declined 10 percent to $425 million, although it was up six percent when traffic acquisition costs were not counted in. While paid clicks were up 16 percent, price per click was down seven percent.

Employee count was down 19 percent, another expense savings.

Goldman is clearly a smart cookie, but there is a long road here from this to true revenue growth.

2:26 pm: Mayer underscored that immediately, noting that Yahoo has to meet the growth rates of competitors, such as Google and Facebook, behind which Yahoo badly lags.

“Make no mistake,” she said about that need, noting that improvements in its core properties, as well as mobile products, are key focuses for her to improve sales.

She said there was a respectable mobile growth in users in the quarter, although she declined to say just how much revenue Yahoo makes in mobile. (It’s not much yet, so that explains that.)

Partnering is also important to her, she said, working with companies all over the Internet space.

All will lead to better user engagement, and “with user engagement comes monetization,” she added.

We are on course, she concluded — presumably on what will likely be an exhausting sprint.

2:30 pm: Then, it was onto questions from analysts.

The first was about why there were declines in ad sales — via a plan to de-load pages of them or just not selling enough and declining page views.

It is a complex issue, due to various elements, from the move to mobile to waiting for product improvements to kick in with users.

There was then a question about partnering — which Yahoo has indeed been good at. That said, I sometimes wonder if the company were a bit less cooperative and more selfish, as its rivals always are, that it might be more successful.

Mayer still said she thinks partnering is a good thing.

The next question was whether Microsoft will continue to pay its revenue per search guarantees to Yahoo, as it has in the past when their search deal did not meet expectations.

From a “conservative point of view, there will be no renewal,” said Goldman, although he notes that Yahoo talks to Microsoft daily.

I’d like to hear that conversation!

2:38 pm: An obvious question then came about when the heck Yahoo will get its display business moving.

“It’s a sprint and it’s a chain reaction,” said Mayer, not precisely answering the question and using comparative metaphorical terms that were perhaps more awkward to hear today given the tragedy in Boston.

The next question was about adding more of a Google advertising relationship, a deal which would certainly up Yahoo’s revenue, although there have always been potential regulatory issues related to it.

Mayer pointed to a recent smaller ad partnership with the search giant, and “we occasionally explore new opportunities.”

What ho? (Hey, Nikesh, that’ll be me calling, so pick up!)

2:42 pm: Another question came about whether Yahoo could improve its search share, which has been declining.

Mayer, who is an expert in this area, said that search interface improvements will matter, although there are other ways of adding share too, such as closer relationships with browsers.

She was animated here, which was probably a good idea, given her COO Henrique De Castro seems to be swinging and missing in the display advertising arena.

Thus, the follow-up question was perfect, about the sales realignment that De Castro initiated that has caused a lot of internal distress at Yahoo.

Mayer said she thought that “this is the right thing to do,” although it’s not as clear if she really knows how jarring the change has been for the sales troops. Display ad sales are not her area of expertise, so she probably needs to get more up to speed on this critical issue.

2:48 pm: The usually tepid analysts kept pounding away on that issue, which Mayer answered by saying the decline is less of a decline than is had been previously. It’s faint praise, of course, but it’s a fair point.

Also of interest is whether Yahoo could create a mobile layer on top of Google’s Android as Facebook just did with its innovative Home software.

If you have been around as long as I have, you know that Yahoo once had an immersive app called Yahoo Go that came too soon and was ultimately executed badly, despite being a great concept.

Mayer did compliment Facebook on the good idea of Home, though, which was classy, since it is.

2:51 pm: There was then a question about Yahoo’s golden ticket of an asset — its large share of China’s Alibaba, which is kicking it in all aspects, especially related to revenue.

Would that Yahoo could inject some of that energy into its own core business.

Then came another important question: Does Yahoo have the assets to keep up in ad sales and technology?

“This will be an area of continued focus for us,” said Mayer.

The questions continued about mobile and pricing issues in search.

Mayer noted that although the company has no “direct monetization” from its weather and stock quote defaults on the Apple iPhone, it does provide leads to other parts of Yahoo’s offerings and is valuable for that.

As to increasing cost per clicks, she said that the gap has still not been closed with Microsoft on improving search monetization.

Which has to happen, obviously.

2:59 pm: Mayer was asked about the “next sprint,” which she said will be the fun part.

There will be version updates and more of a “cadence” that is presumably not glacial. She has certainly got to run faster, given how quickly Facebook, Google and many others are moving in comparison.

It would be fun if Yahoo could keep up the pace.

The last question was about Mayer’s strategy in search, including how to grow Web and mobile search.

Again, the search expert has a lot of good ideas.

Then, cleverly, Mayer summarized her Q1 earnings report in 140 words, via the engine it acquired from its recent $30 million purchase of Summly, versus her prepared script of 2,000 words.

I’m pleased with the continued execution I see every day — our teams have been working very hard, especially in Q1. As a result of these initiatives and many others, the talent is undeniable — today, more applicants want to work at Yahoo, and more employees are staying. These teams bring an incredible mix of engineering and technical talent, which will help us accelerate our efforts in mobile development and content personalization.

The teams are already moving quickly to amplify the entrepreneurial spirit that’s so prevalent at Yahoo right now. Designed to be more intuitive and personal, the new Yahoo experience is all about users’ interests and preferences. Yahoo is a consumer Internet company, and the consumer Internet is a growth industry. We’re on course to do what we said we would do — stabilize, and grow with the market.

But to summarize in even fewer words, using only my limited, non-$30 million, Twitter-schooled mental faculties: Yahoo is trying to race as fast as it can to keep up, but the results are still not in.

One of the main things that Wall Street analysts had been watching for in the first-quarter earnings for Microsoft today was how its current flagship Windows software business was doing in the lead-up to the release of Windows 8 on October 26.

A little cracked, as it turns out.

Investors had expected that the Redmond, Wash., software giant’s first-quarter earnings would be $16.4 billion, compared to $17.4 billion last year, and that earnings would drop to 56 cents from 68 cents.

Instead, Microsoft turned in quarterly revenue of $16.01 billion and earnings of 53 cents a share.

One big culprit was a decline in sales of Windows, which was impacted by the company’s deferral of revenue related to Windows 8.

Microsoft is making a big bet that the new operating system — a drastic change from previous versions — will boost sales of PC and other mobile devices, especially tablets. The once-dominant company is seeing big challenges from consumer interest in products that do not use Windows, especially from Apple and Google.

Thus, it is now wait and see, which made investors nervous. Microsoft’s stock was down over 3 percent in after-hours trading, to $28.58.

That’s no surprise given the news.

Said Microsoft:

“The Windows & Windows Live Division posted revenue of $3.24 billion, a 33% decrease from the prior year period. Adjusting for the impact of the Windows Upgrade Offer and pre-sales of Windows 8 to OEMs prior to general availability, Windows division non-GAAP revenue declined 9% for the first quarter.”

Windows had already seen a decline in sales of the key product, which was down nearly 13 percent in the last quarter.

Other divisions had mixed revenue results: Servers & Tools was up eight percent, the Business division had a two percent decline, the Online Services unit saw a nine percent rise and the Entertainment and Devices division was down one percent.

Here’s the full Q1 press release, as well as Microsoft’s financial statement and pretty slides (and I threw in the 10-Q for good measure). The company will have an earnings call at 2:30 pm PT about the results:

PressReleaseFY13Q1

FinancialStatementFY13Q1

SlidesFY13Q1

MSFT_FY13Q1_10Q

According to Fenwick & West’s latest Silicon Valley Venture Capital Survey, fundings in the second quarter of this year showed the highest valuation increases in more than five years.

Looking at 115 financings of tech and life sciences companies, in Q2 the well-known tech-focused law firm saw “up” rounds accounting for 74 percent, while “down” ones were 11 percent. Flat rounds were 15 percent.

That was a marked change from the previous quarter, which was 65 percent up, 22 percent down and 13 percent flat.

More importantly, it was the 12th consecutive quarter in which ups were ahead of downs.

Perhaps even more importantly, average funding prices for the quarter rose 99 percent, which is nearly double the 52 percent increase in Q1. Two big-ticket financings upped the Q2 number, which would have been 70 percent if they were removed.

Still, it is the highest amount increase since Fenwick began compiling the numbers in 2004.

Internet/digital media and software was the biggest beneficiary of the rise. Hardware was next, but life sciences and cleantech did not keep pace.

Fenwick said that VC fundraising is still lower than 2007 levels, noting that “venture capital continues to be a tale of two cities, where the Internet/digital media and software industries dominate other industries, and venture capitalists with proven track records can raise large funds but fundraising for others is much more problematic.”

The report, co-authored by Fenwick partners Barry J. Kramer and Michael J. Patrick, noted that Series B rounds were strong in the quarter, although the percentage of them has declined for three straight quarters, “perhaps indicating that companies are having difficulty securing Series B funding, but those that do are being rewarded with substantial valuation increases.”

Here’s the report for your personal perusal:

Q212_VC_Terms_Survey_Report _Spacing_

The videogame giant is also reconfirming its forecast for the year. Shares traded higher in afternoon trading, up 1.7 percent, or 18 cents, to $11.20 a share.

“It is a testament to the strength of the brand and the portfolio and platform,” said Ken Barker, EA’s interim CFO. “It’s not just one [brand], we are seeing growth in areas in like Battlefiled, and other areas we might be seeing weakness, but it is our diversity that is playing for us.”

For the quarter, EA reported non-GAAP net revenue of $491 million, which was below analyst expectations of $501 million. Non-GAAP diluted loss per share totaled 41 cents to beat expecations of 42 cents.

But Barker said non-GAAP net revenue was lower than expected because of revenue coming in from its Battlefield 3 premium service, which will now be recorded in the fourth quarter when consumers receive their final shipment of content. Barker said if that revenue were accounted for in the first quarter, it would have reported $528 million in revenue to easily beat expectations.

“That is high-margin and high-profit revenue,” he said. “We are really happy on this quarter and how it played out. We still have a long ways to go for the rest of the year, but our digital growth is doing really well.”

And, while EA may not have blown away expectations, it at least did not follow in the footsteps of its biggest social games competitor and report a big flop, like Zynga did last week.

One area that might not be a bright spot for the company is its huge investment in the massively multi-player online game, Star Wars: The Old Republic. In advance of the earnings release, the company announced that it would be shifting the game to a free-to-play model and away from a subscription model. Barker would not say how many subscribers the game attracted in the first quarter. At last count it had fallen to 1.3 million.

Other metrics:

• Over the past twelve months, EA generated over $1.3 billion in non-GAAP digital net revenue, and approximately two-thirds of its non-GAAP net revenue in the first fiscal quarter was in digital.
• FIFA Ultimate Team contributed over $30 million in net digital revenue in the first quarter.
• EA’s games and services for mobile phones and tablets have generated a 37 percent year-over-year increase in digital net revenue.
• This morning, EA announced that its new EVP and CFO will be Blake Jorgensen, who will join the company in early September 2012 to take over for Barker, who will continue on as chief accounting officer.
• The company’s monthly active users in social games increased to 41 million, up from 32 million in the year-ago quarter.
• When using GAAP accounting measures, the company said revenues totaled $955 million, down slightly from $999 million in the year-ago period. GAAP net income totaled $201 million, also down from the year-ago period when it reported profits of $221 million.
• EA also announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a program to repurchase up to $500 million of EA’s common stock.
• For the year, the company is expecting GAAP net revenue of $3.9 billion to $4.05 billion, and non-GAAP revenue of $4.10 billion to $4.25 billion.
• For the full year, it is also expecting GAAP basic loss and diluted earnings per share of 17 cents to a profit of 5 cents. Non-GAAP results are expected to total between $1.05 and $1.20 a share.

Earlier today, Demand Media turned a Q1 performance that beat expectations and also raised its outlook for the year ahead.

Revenue was $82.9 million, up 9 percent, compared to an estimate of $79.6 million. Earnings per share, adjusted for one-time costs, were seven cents, above the expected five cents.

You can read it all here in these lovely Demand slides:

Demand_Media_Q1 Supplemental Data FINAL

Not bad, given many investors have been down on Demand, for a variety of reasons, mostly centered on traffic pressure due to search algorithm changes on the all-important Google. The low stock price resulted in a deal, in which Demand recently almost went private.

So what does CEO Richard Rosenblatt have to say for himself about all this? Here’s a liveblog of the conference call with Wall Street analysts, taking place at 2 pm PT.

Earlier:

2:05 pm: The call started a little late, but Rosenblatt was quick at it, noting the news was a lot better than was thought.

Always a jaunty dude, he was jauntier than usual, if possible, throwing in a lot of terms like “growth,” “momentum” and “Those fiddling geeks from Google did not kill us, after all!” Okay, not the last one.

It was a strong performance, indeed, which is a cause for happiness, I suppose, and especially since Demand’s stock has been in the doldrums since it went public earlier this year.

Not Groupon bad, but that’s a moon crater.

“It was a strong performance,” said Rosenblatt. He gets to say that.

More on the specifics, which showed growth in pages views, engagement and such things on its flagship sites, such as Cracked and LiveStrong. Its juggernaut, eHow, is still recovering from the Google search changes, in an effort deceptively called Panda.

This was not a cuddly panda, but Panda Gone Wild.

2:18 pm: The CFO guy who just repeats the numbers in the press release. (This is the part where I go to the bathroom.)

2:28 pm: Back! Sorry I took so long, but I was getting a computer science degree. (You knew that Yahoo joke was coming!)

The CFO is still chitchatting, still positive about the year ahead and saying “growth” a lot.

2:30 pm: Time for Q&A!

The first is about the mobile arena and monetization there.

Important, but no one is anywhere on this, due to the fact that it does not monetize very well at this point in time.

Everyone has a smartphone now, but the advertising part of it is still a wee baby.

“The monetization will come later,” said Rosenblatt, pointing out the obvious, although he did note that Demand was focusing in it.

Whee! Get on it, Chief of Revenue Joanne Bradford (I know you work hard, but work harder)!

Now to video. More monetizable, obviously, and Demand has a lot of videos to offer, being one of the bigger content providers to YouTube.

I am now officially tired of this question. Next!

2:35 pm: Ooh, a future and direction question about eHow.

“How should we think about its utility in the world?,” asks the analyst.

You should think about it as a place to learn to boil an egg, which is what Rosenblatt mentions. Who doesn’t want to know how to boil an egg? And who doesn’t forget how long to do it, resulting in rubber balls or drippy messes?

These are the great queries of our day, people!

The next question is about “bullish” YouTube upfront last week, in which Google pretended to go Hollywood.

Google will never go Hollywood, by the way, since it requires charm and glamour.

Demand was not there, but it is all up on the YouTube channel thing.

And, why not, since Google is giving away dough to become Hollywood. (Not … gonna … happen … ever, but take the money, all you celebs!)

2:40 pm: Next question is about mobile, again. Quantify that, and when is it going to be big?

No one can say yet, but why not ask!

Still, Rosenblatt makes a college try (I wonder if he has a CS degree?), noting it is “happening fast.”

Another question on YouTube channels and then on registar business.

Rosenblatt and Google are apparently going to see if they can make a go of this thing! Like kids putting on a show in the barn! Let’s see if we can make something of this dang talented group of kids!

The questions never end. Wait, the analyst asks about All Things Digital and my story on their private equity deal!

I can check another one off my bucket list: Being mentioned on a Demand Media earnings call!

Rosenblatt cannot say much, but notes, “We have a duty as a public company to look at anything that comes across.”

Which means it’s true, though he might have taken a moment to compliment my scooptastic skills.

Sigh.

2:51 pm: I am bereft by the slight, but shall recover.

And now it is over, so it is back to boiling my egg.

Yahoo beat Wall Street estimates in its first-quarter earnings report today, with revenue of $1.08 billion and earnings of 23 cents. That’s a gain of 28 percent from a year ago in net earnings and 38 percent per diluted share.

Analysts had been expecting Yahoo to report revenue of $1.06 billion and earnings of 17 cents a share. But, as I reported earlier today, sources had indicated that the results would be on the upside.

Still, revenue was only up year over year by 1 percent — not exactly a great achievement, given exploding growth across the Internet industry. The real drag was the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, whose revenue was down 9 percent — which Yahoo attributed to the weak economy there — with its “contribution” down 27 percent. That region has been run by Rich Riley, who is now Yahoo’s sales lead in the U.S.

One interesting note: While display revenue was down, search revenue was up. And unique visitors to Yahoo were up 7 percent, which was lower growth than in previous quarters. The reason was declines in search and communications, with media up strongly.

Now, investors are hoping to get more clarity from new CEO Scott Thompson in a call at 2 pm PT about the overall strategy for the troubled Silicon Valley Internet giant, which just restructured its management again and also had layoffs of 2,000 employees.

Thompson has yet to articulate a specific plan beyond the broad strokes of media, commerce and data/platforms as Yahoo’s aim.

But there is a lot more to deal with and in detail, including figuring out its troubled advertising search partnership with Microsoft, the talks around selling off parts of the company’s lucrative Asian assets, Yahoo’s patent lawsuit against Facebook, how Yahoo is going to deal with activist shareholder Third Point’s possible proxy challenge and whether more layoffs beyond recent firings will be needed.

“In the first quarter, Yahoo!’s results came in at the high end of our guidance range and beat consensus on revenue and profits,” Thompson said in a statement. “We also made changes to resize the organization and establish a new leadership structure to quickly deliver the best user and advertiser experiences at scale.”

Until Thompson gives more deets on the earnings call, which I will be liveblogging, here’s Yahoo’s official press release and cool charts on the subject:

YHOO News 2012-4-17 General

YHOO_Q112EarningsPresentation

But this isn’t the first time Samsung has bet big on a radically different computing idea. Flash back five years ago when Samsung partnered with Microsoft on Project Origami, a bold bet that the industry could deliver a slimmed-down touch computer that cost less than a PC, was easier to use and had all-day battery life.

The effort eventually led to the introduction of Samsung’s Q1–however, the ultramobile PC ended up costing more than a laptop, had poor battery life and, because it had full-blown Windows at its core, was actually quite difficult to use without a keyboard and mouse.

Indeed, it was the same Jason Redmond that was at Wednesday night’s Series 5 launch event that helped lead Samsung’s marketing efforts for the Q1.

But while Samsung stuck with the idea for several revisions, even adding a slide-out keyboard and making other changes, Microsoft largely abandoned Origami and returned to making more traditional tablets.

And, after years of nibbling at the edges of the global PC market, Samsung is now one of the fastest growing global brands, selling lots and lots of traditional notebooks built around Microsoft’s traditional Windows operating system.

Of course, another company made a run at that idea of a $500 tablet with all-day battery life and instant-on capabilities. And Apple has managed to sell more than a few iPads.

Samsung’s Redmond acknowledges that the timing was probably off with the Q1 but insists that the world is ready for a product like the Chromebook.

This time around, Redmond says he’s aware that this might not be an overnight hit and he insisted both Google and Samsung are in this “for the long haul” regardless of what the initial demand is for the first crop of Chromebooks.

“It will grow over time,” he said. “We’re not looking for an immediate explosion in demand for these devices.”

Today, after Demand Media beat Wall Street expectations, its execs got on the horn with investors to explain how it plans to beat the Panda.

That would be the beastly name for Google’s rejiggering of its search algorithm, in order to rid search results of poor quality content.

Along with many other sites, Demand has gotten smacked by its raging paw.

Still, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company reported revenue of $79.5 million and six cents a share in adjusted net income.

Wall Street was expecting the company to report about $69.6 million in revenue for the three months, with four cents a share in adjusted profits.

On a GAAP basis, net loss per share was 13 cents compared to 94 cents a year ago.

Here’s the liveblog of the conference call:

2 pm PT: Demand’s investor relations dude came on and I immediately tuned out until CEO Richard Rosenblatt got on the line to talk about the results.

He was as perky as ever, launching right into the meat of the situation–how Demand was going to pretty up its offerings, such as a redesign of its flagship eHow site and its new editorial arrangement with another perky person, food lady Rachael Ray and the also perky fashionista/talk show lady Tyra Banks.

Gone will be user-generated content that Demand used to let people post at will on its eHow site that was, well, less than good.

As in, bad.

Instead, it’s “curation,” “editorial innovation” and feedback cycles.

We old-timers like to call that journalism and copyediting, complete with mean old editors who spiked said copy when it was crappy.

“Let me be clear,” said Rosenblatt, the Google changes did negatively impact Demand’s traffic. But Rosenblatt said the company dug into its content and has been improving it since.

2:17 pm: Now it was CFO Charles Hillard reading the results themselves. I am sorry, Mr. Finance Guy, but I can read it myself, so this is always the time in earnings calls when I check out and spend my time improving my content.

So when I heard words such as “stock-based comp,” I moved on to fixing all the typos that a very nice reader alerted me to, since I was writing too quickly.

Then, I briefly considered writing a high-quality post for eHow on how to write earnings and fix typos at the same time. I am that good.

2:30 pm: The CFO dude finished up and the Q&A with analysts started.

All Panda questions, natch!

Rosenblatt seemed calm, cool and collected.

“We think on this one, they did a very good job,” he said of Google’s search-fixing efforts, trying to soothe the savage beast. “We all continue to evolve.”

Which translated to: Google says jump and we say: “How high?”

Which is then followed by: “Please sir, can I have some more (traffic)?”

More Google algo change questions.

I suspect there is a new tactic afoot by Demand: Bore us into submission about the traffic devastation from Larry Page’s minions with endless questions about algo.

Finally, a question about mobile and international expansion. Apparently, Demand content is going to be translated into five different languages.

Yay! I am readying my version of “How to Boil Water” in French! (“Comment Faire Bouillir L’eau”!)

Mobile is going to be big too for Demand, which it is for everyone.

Then it was onto a question about improving content, including paying its writers more moolah, which would then eat into the Demand cheaper content business model.

I liked that question! I suddenly decided I was going to shift to a lugubrious post on the history of the Maginot Line in 132 parts!

Oops, Rosenblatt said the data has to show that the peeps want those longer pieces.

Back to the boiling water opus!

It’s on to some video questions and then back to search, as in diversifying away from relying on search to get traffic and premium prices for its advertising.

As in, how much are you going to cozy up to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg?

“It’s less about where traffic comes from and more about where they land,” said Rosenblatt, except you just know he sent a lovely floral bouquet plus a hefty selection of citrus to Zuckerberg’s new house in Silicon Valley right after Panda roared.

Rosenblatt deflected a lot of questions in this arena. “We still think that search is a fantastic way” to gain traffic, he said, making sure Google’s Page did not chomp off his hand as he courted his social networking nemesis at Facebook.

But as the old Kikuyu proverb goes: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

More likely, as Mary Chapin Carpenter sings: “Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug.”

We’ll see which is which for Demand in the quarters ahead.

Until then, here’s Carpenter performing her song, “The Bug”:

Demand Media handily beat Wall Street expectations in its first quarter results today, released after the market closed.

The company reported revenue of $79.5 million and six cents a share in adjusted net income.

Investors were expecting the company to report about $69.6 million in revenue for the three months, with four cents a share in adjusted profits.

On a GAAP basis, the net loss per share was 13 cents compared to 94 cents a year ago.

The decent results could boost Demand’s stock, which has been hit hard since Google launched “Panda,” an overhaul of its search algorithm to improve results and remove poor quality content.

In a conference call at 2 pm PT today, which BoomTown will be liveblogging, most will be paying more mind to what the online content company’s top execs–especially CEO Richard Rosenblatt–have to say about the impact of the updates from Google to Demand’s various Web offerings.

As a first strike, some of Demand’s execs briefed the media earlier today on efforts to improve the quality of its content–you can read the official press releases here on that and also here.

In them, Demand said it will remove some online posts that were substandard and created under a now-suspended writers’ compensation system. It said it is also improving reader feedback tools and adding more substantive stories to its sites.

Those are all good ideas, since Google’s tweaks have been chewing away at a range of Web sites–such as those owned by Demand–which rely heavily on search engine optimization to bring in huge traffic.

One big hit for Demand, due to Panda, has been to its flagship eHow site.

All the mishegas has hurt the Santa Monica, Calif., company’s stock. It’s down just over 30 percent since Demand’s IPO in late January, as bearish investors fret over the implications of Panda.

Still, in its report, Demand said its content and media revenue was up 72 percent to $51.9 million, compared to $30.2 million last year.

MicroHoo is funky!

At least according to Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz on the Silicon Valley search giant’s first-quarter earnings conference call about its recent financial performance.

Yahoo’s results showed a continued worrisome revenue growth stall, due in large part to a search advertising fall-off, and a still-turning turnaround.

Yahoo reported revenues of $1.06 billion, down six percent from a year ago, on net earnings of 17 cents a share, down 28 percent.

The results were essentially in line with Wall Street expectations.

2:03 pm PT: The call started right on time, as per usual. Maybe they can’t get search right anymore, but Yahoo execs sure know how to start an analysts’ confab.

Bartz started off the call, noting “overall, our turnaround is proceeding on schedule.”

Well, the schedule of a three-toed sloth, I suppose, but it’s on schedule!

Bartz is too smart, though, and quickly noted the problems with search revenue declines, related to its search and online advertising partnership with Microsoft.

Still, she then used the unusual term “funky comparisons” to dismiss the key issue.

But isn’t she the one who struck the funky deal with Microsoft that has resulted in these funky comparisons and these even funkier search advertising revenues?

Just askin’!

Bartz proceeded quickly to noting Yahoo’s advances due to technology improvements, which showed a doubling of impressions to big events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars.

It’s a good point, since Yahoo–for all its troubles–is still a huge traffic driver, including serving up 1.3 billion page views for the Oscars.

Bartz talked about monetization and said a lot of other stuff, but got to the finances quickly.

“Search was a mixed bag,” she said flatly. You can say that again–but not in a good way.

Bartz tried to put a good-news spin on it, but had to admit that “on the downside [Microsoft's] adCenter is not seeing strong RPS,” she said.

That’s revenue per search and a key number that Yahoo had thought would be better by now.

Bartz noted that the paid search markets internationally will be delayed until MicroHoo gets its act together.

Good idea!

2:16 pm: CFO Tim Morse took over to go through the numbers.

“We had good display momentum around the globe,” he said.

But search was, um, bad. It underperformed, but Yahoo had that guarantee from Microsoft to pay out, which Morse called a “financial floor.”

Morse pretty much read the press release from here on out.

2:24 pm: Bartz was back talking up the huge audience Yahoo has abroad. And it is true–the Yahoo brand is a golden one globally.

Also video consumption is up too, as it is across the Web, in terms of views and time spent. Yahoo’s “Primetime in No Time” got 500 million streams in the quarter.

Bartz turned to mobile, which is weak no matter what she said about the laudable Livestand. It’s one of many in a very competitive market.

Same for social, which Yahoo has essentially abdicated to Facebook. That said, Yahoo has tried to weave social within its myriad of sites and it gets it, especially compared to the socially awkward Google.

Bartz summed up that she hoped everyone gets that profitability and revenue growth were on track to get better, promising more at the investor day in May.

2:30 pm: Q&A time!

The first question is about display growth. It’s a softball, since display was up.

The next is about other revenue growth areas to come.

Bartz–who seemed not so prepped for such an obvious question–ticked off shopping, travel and uuuuuh….

Morse jumped in and talked about making internal connections, which I also did not understand.

An analyst then wanted to “dig into” search problems. I’d say it’s time to call in Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel!

Relative to RPS, Bartz acknowledged it was low and everyone was studying the issue. There is a plan, apparently. Again, Bartz was maddeningly vague.

I missed the next question and then it was back to search.

Bartz was not getting too specific about search, but would say video advertising was going to do well.

She did note that Yahoo expected a dip in Q1 related to search revenue, “but the dip went a little lower than we expected and lasted a little longer than expected.”

Bartz said she had recently sat down with Microsoft execs to go over the problems. How much would I have liked to have been a fly on that wall!

The next question was about video and it turns out Bartz loves the babbling babies too! I knew we had something cool in common.

The next question is about Japan and the possible deal to sell off Yahoo’s ownership of Yahoo Japan!

Morse said diddly, except “we continue to make progress.”

A question about display and possible content verticals.

Verticals Yahoo is interested in, according to Bartz: Entertainment, lifestyle, women, gossip.

“The things people really want to do, they want to disappear,” said Bartz, which was an interesting way of putting it.

Yet another question in what was beginning to feel like an endless call.

It was about Right Media, Yahoo’s advertising exchange. Cleaning it up, etc.

The next question is about communications, as in email.

Bartz even sounded bored and messed up a few words. “I’ve had too many Diet Cokes,” she joked.

Personally, I am considering disappearing into some content, since there is yet another question.

It’s–no surprise–an RPS question!

Funky!

Search guarantee payments from Microsoft are in place for another four quarters. Thank goodness.

Bartz got more detailed about the problems. There is some kind of prediction issue, which she said Microsoft is working on.

Now a local advertising question and its relationship with Facebook.

Bartz grabbed this one by the horns, noting you don’t have to run to the social networking powerhouse to get you a social ad!

It’s about branding with a social component. Which would be, um, Facebook, which was part of Yahoo’s Chrysler campaign referenced by Bartz.

A question about daily deals.

It’s growing, but more at Groupon and LivingSocial, which Morse does not mention.

Finally, the last question.

Another gigantic softball on engagement and Yahoo’s new content platform and some mobile deets query about whether Yahoo can make it there.

Bartz said she was working on it. As to content, Bartz said stats show big lifts.

“The good news is that it’s all in the right direction,” she said.

Up would certainly be good.

Yahoo announced its first-quarter earnings today, showing a continued worrisome revenue growth stall, due in large part to declines in search revenue from its partnership with Microsoft.

The Silicon Valley search giant reported revenue of $1.06 billion, down six percent from a year ago, on net earnings of 17 cents a share, down 28 percent.

The performance was essentially in line with Wall Street expectations, which had been estimating that Yahoo would report $1.05 billion in net revenue and earnings of 16 cents a share, after traffic acquisition costs (TAC) was taken out of its results.

That compared to revenue of $1.13 billion and 22 cents in earnings in the same period a year ago, results that were goosed by the sale of its Zimbra email asset to VMware.

Yahoo’s revenue growth drought was due largely to declines in its search advertising business, which fell 19 percent in the quarter from $440 million to $357 million.

Contractual guarantees paid by Microsoft, its search partner, masked even larger declines.

On a GAAP basis, search revenue was $455 million, a 46 percent decrease compared to $841 million for the first quarter of 2010.

Yahoo said display revenue ex-TAC increased 10 percent to $471 million, compared to $427 million for the first quarter of 2010.

It was a good performance, but by no means a barn burner, especially compared to Google’s 27 percent revenue growth year-over-year in its earnings last week.

Thus, it seems the turnaround efforts at Yahoo, much touted by CEO Carol Bartz, are still turning.

In a statement, she said:

“We are solidly executing toward our plan for returning Yahoo! to sustainable revenue and profit growth. During the quarter, we beat the midpoint of revenue guidance while continuing to deliver on the bottom line.”

As BoomTown had previously written, in the last quarterly call, Bartz had warned that MicroHoo had not grown yet into the beautiful swan expected in this ugly-searchling tale, noting that it might take until the second half of 2011 to see some prettier results.

Thus, Yahoo is right to focus on display advertising, an arena it dominates still, despite increasingly successful incursions from Google and Facebook.

Yahoo’s stock is certainly reflecting the worry, holding fast to its share price in between $16 and $17 for a while now. It closed today at $16.12, down 23 cents a share.

A year ago it was above $18.

The shares rose almost three percent in after-hours trading, though, to $16.57.

I will be liveblogging the conference call Yahoo’s top execs have with analysts, starting at 2 pm.

Until then, here’s the official Q1 earnings press release to peruse:

YHOO_Q111PressReleaseFinal

As Oppenheimer analyst Yair Reiner said in a note raising his target price on the company’s shares to $425, “It’s no surprise when Apple tops expectations, but it’s fairly rare to see it trounce Street’s targets on almost every line. Bottom line: big as Apple is, it shows no sign of slowing, not with the Verizon iPhone launching in 2Q11 and China growth accelerating to 400% year-over-year.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster raised his price target to $483 from $438, observing in a research note that this quarter was the first in three years in which Apple issued EPS guidance above Street consensus (10 percent ahead of the Street). “Apple’s vision for itself as a mobile device company has come to fruition,” he said. “[The company] guided the March quarter more aggressively than it typically guides the out quarter relative to the Street. We see this as sign that it is bullish on the prospect of the iPhone at Verizon.”

At Deutsche Bank, Chris Whitmore slapped a price target of $440 on AAPL. “Apple continues to show impressive growth despite its size and is well positioned to benefit from the confluence of three major product cycles, namely: iPad, Macs and iPhone,” he told clients. “These product cycles coupled with greater geographic expansion (Verizon iPhone, iPad 2, iPhone 5, China expansion, Carrier deals) increases our confidence in AAPL’s ability to continue to outperform.”

At Barclays, Ben Reitzes raised his target to $450 from $420 to account for higher unit sales across Apple’s product portfolio. His take on Q1: “This very strong quarterly report left no holes to punch in the fundamental story. We believe the above-consensus revenue and EPS guidance and new products to come bring potential for further upside. We continue to believe the company is in very capable hands with COO Tim Cook and the rest of the team.”

Raising his price target to $450 from $430, Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shope said essentially the same thing. “While the news of Steve Jobs’ medical leave may continue to add some headwinds to the share price momentum in the near-term, we continue to believe improving underlying fundamentals and the strength of Apple’s overall management team will counter this uncertainty. In addition to the strength of the December quarter and the recent Verizon iPhone release, we believe the next-gen iPad launch and the June iPhone refresh will serve as critical catalysts in the first half of 2011.”

UBS analyst Maynard Um ratcheted his price target up to $465 from $415, predicting what “could be the largest pre-order & sales ever experienced by Verizon Wireless for the iPhone” and continued success for the iPad. Said Um, “Though there has been increasing concern with regard to ramping competition, we see Apple’s ecosystem and ease of use as offering a more compelling value proposition than its competitors today and expect its tablet market share to more closely match its iPod market share in the mp3 player market rather than its share in the more fragmented smartphone market.”

And, finally, there was Ticonderoga’s Brian White, who took a “F@&k Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades” approach and raised his target price to a staggering $550. That’s about 60 percent higher than the price Apple shares have been trading at recently, a target that if the company were to hit, would value it at $506.6 billion. Said White, “Despite Monday’s news regarding Steve Jobs’s medical leave of absence, we believe it will be difficult to keep Apple’s stock from reaching new highs given the much stronger than expected quarter and outlook reported by the company.”

Bullish, or another word with a lot of the same letters? Hard to say. But as you weigh that question, remember this: This is the 33rd consecutive quarter in which Apple has beaten estimates. And this time it beat them by $2 billion.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is expected to begin shipping in the U.S. in Q1,” RIM said in an email statement.

And there you have it.

Meanwhile, the device is garnering mixed reviews at CES. After some hands-on time with it, Engadget described the PlayBook as “blazingly fast, comfortable to hold, and intuitive to use.” Gizmodo liked it as well, talking up its hardware, responsive display and UI. “RIM’s got something here that could really stand on top of the bajillion other crappy tablets that are going to launch this year,” the site concluded. “They just have to take it the rest of the way.”

Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison agreed. “RIM’s PlayBook strategy [is] exceptionally compelling— pending successful execution,” he wrote in a note from CES. “The company’s ace card in tablets is sure-fire security for IT departments who loathe adding another piece of client software to enterprise networks.”

But others, like Wedge Partners analyst and RIM bear Brian Blair, were not so impressed. Though he praised the device’s sturdy build and crisp screen, he slagged its lack of native email and calendar support.

“There is not a built-in e-mail program that we saw, nor is there a calendar: arguably the two most critical features of a Blackberry,” Blair said. “Calendar and Email are only available, if the PlayBook is “tethered” to a Blackberry. Short of that, users need to use the browser for e-mail and calendar.”

And, admittedly, that does seem silly. Unless you’re a CIO. In which case, you probably prefer to push data (and remotely wipe it, if necessary) from one device instead of two, and appreciate the gesture.

Still, Blair came away with the impression that the PlayBook isn’t yet fully baked, and to be fair, it isn’t–after all, this is a pre-release device.

“We know this is an early build and that bugs are being worked through over the next couple of months, but nearly every feature we tried on our demo unit was having problems,” he concluded. “The video player froze and the games wouldn’t play. The only thing that worked was the ‘Coverflow-like’ scrolling of the different applications, which the device did with ease.”

But as Blair himself observed, a lot can change in three months. And presumably RIM is doing its damndest to ensure that it does–before Apple debuts the iPad 2, which will undoubtedly become the new standard against which all tablets are compared.

In the meantime, here are a few PlayBook promo videos RIM released in conjunction with CES.

Today, the Web media staple is releasing, and demoing live onstage, its newest product–named Unifi.

The cloud media service automatically catalogs your collection (a la iTunes) and lets you stream it to any device, on demand.

Live Blog

11:35 am: RealNetworks CEO Bob Kimball and VP Peter Kellogg-Smith take the stage to introduce Unifi.

11:36 am: Kimball says Unifi is “a cloud media management service that treats every device as a first-class citizen.”

11:37 am: Now they are demoing the Web interface. This view is heavy on the album art, but separates out different devices you have synched–so you can see what you have on your iPad or your Android phone from the same device.

11:39 am: Now we are seeing albums playing on the network.

Interface merges media that’s on a device to the cloud. You can also pull content from one device to the cloud to another device.

So, if you have a song on your iPad, and were away from it, you could call the song to the cloud from your Android phone–as long as that device is on and connected.

11:42 am: Walt and Kara pounce on the DRM implications. The RealNetworks guys say they will respect the DRM rules, barring multiple copies when they apply.

11:43 am: Now they turn to photos.

11:43 am: The photo is snapped, and it uploads to the cloud, much like taking a picture inside DropBox.

There is a connection issue, but the intent is to show how the photo would quickly appear on all the connected devices.

11:45 am: Now they open iTunes and are showing how iTunes playlists are synched to the application.

The RealNetworks guys keep using the “librarian” metaphor for the process they use to organize the cloud-synched data.

11:47 am: They say the “librarian” only synchs things every five minutes, unless you force a synch. They say it is a processor-intensive application and so they “put her to sleep.”

11:48 am: Connection issues plague the demo, but the RealNetworks team says the service will be available in Q1 of 2011 and it will be freemium.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101207/dive-tech-realnetworks-unifis-media-in-the-cloud/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101111/air-pockets-force-cisco-ceo-to-turn-on-seatbelt-sign/ http://allthingsd.com/20101111/air-pockets-force-cisco-ceo-to-turn-on-seatbelt-sign/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:00:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=52351 Cisco’s shares took a beating yesterday and they’ll likely take another one today, now that investors have had time to ruminate on the company’s latest earnings, its guidance for the next quarter and CEO John Chambers’s forthright comments about it.

On a conference call with analysts, Chambers said Cisco expects revenue to grow by just 3 percent to 5 percent in the current quarter, compared to last year–not even close to the 13 percent Wall Street was projecting. “Our view on this guidance is, we’re disappointed,” Chambers said, adding that sales orders were below the company’s initial Q1 forecast by more than $500 million. “We hit a couple of air pockets,” he said. “We wish we‘d seen them coming.”

Air pockets. Interesting way to describe the challenges the company’s facing these days, which according to Chambers include everything from Cisco’s set-top box to the public sector, service providers and European businesses.

Sounds like Cisco’s flight this past quarter has been a bumpy one, but as Chambers observed, “When you hit an air pocket, that doesn’t mean that what you have been doing strategically is wrong.” I suppose it doesn’t. And keeping that in mind, Cisco will stay the course as it moves forward.

“We are going to power through what we believe to be some short-term challenges in the next several quarters,” Chambers said. “We also believe that the intermediate and long-term growth opportunities far outweigh the short-term challenges. With that in mind we plan to continue to invest in new markets and technology. It is realistic to return to a 12 to 17 percent growth goal in the not too distant future, assuming a return to a good economic growth.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101111/air-pockets-force-cisco-ceo-to-turn-on-seatbelt-sign/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101018/of-course-apple-beats-earnings-estimates/ http://allthingsd.com/20101018/of-course-apple-beats-earnings-estimates/#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 20:37:11 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=24755 First hit from Apple earnings: EPS of $4.64 and revenues of $20.34 billion. The consensus was $4.05 and $18.8 billion.

The Street won’t like guidance, though: Apple is predicting Q1 EPS of $4.80, below the $5.04 analysts were looking for. They will also sputter a bit on this number: Apple sold 4.19 million iPads, and the consensus was 4.7 million.

And then on the other hand, Apple sold 14.1 million iPhones last quarter, well above both the official 11 million consensus and the 13 million “what we’re really looking for” number.

Ominous/hopeful Steve Jobs quote: “We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”

UPDATE: Live earnings call coverage here.

Other numbers you care about:

Macs sold: 3.89 million.

iPods sold: 9.05 million.

Press release text:

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Record Mac, iPhone and iPad Sales
Highest Revenue and Earnings Ever

CUPERTINO, California—October 18, 2010—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2010. The Company posted record revenue of $20.34 billion and net quarterly profit of $4.31 billion, or $4.64 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $12.21 billion and net quarterly profit of $2.53 billion, or $2.77 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.9 percent compared to 41.8 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 57 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.
“We are blown away to report over $20 billion in revenue and over $4 billion in after-tax earnings—both all-time records for Apple,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPhone sales of 14.1 million were up 91 percent year-over-year, handily beating the 12.1 million phones RIM sold in their most recent quarter. We still have a few surprises left for the remainder of this calendar year.”
“We’re thrilled with the performance and strength of our business, generating almost $5.7 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2011, we expect revenue of about $23 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $4.80.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101018/of-course-apple-beats-earnings-estimates/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20100901/why-the-music-business-needs-a-new-itunes-or-something-universal-music-sales-profits-drop-again/ http://allthingsd.com/20100901/why-the-music-business-needs-a-new-itunes-or-something-universal-music-sales-profits-drop-again/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:28:35 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=23021 As Apple (AAPL) gears up for its music-themed event, a reminder of how the music business is actually doing: Not too well. At least if you use the world’s biggest music company as a proxy.

Universal Music Group just reported a sales increase of 2.8 percent in the last quarter. But if you adjust for currency fluctuations, the company, owned by France’s Vivendi conglomerate, saw sales drop 3 percent. Meanwhile, cash flow, measured via EBITDA, dropped no matter which metric you want to use –either by 9.9 percent or 17.3 percent.

The slightly good news is that Q2 was less bad for Universal than Q1: For the first half of the year, sales were down 5.4 percent (or 7.9 percent) and EBITDA declined by 24.6 percent (or 28 percent).

What happened? The same thing we’ve heard for the last decade, according to Vivendi’s press release: Digital revenues are up, but not enough to counter “reduced demand for physical product.” Perhaps an iTunes overhaul can help….

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100901/why-the-music-business-needs-a-new-itunes-or-something-universal-music-sales-profits-drop-again/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20100514/aol-to-wall-street-our-turnaround-is-going-to-be-really-slow/ http://allthingsd.com/20100514/aol-to-wall-street-our-turnaround-is-going-to-be-really-slow/#comments Fri, 14 May 2010 13:23:29 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=19471 AOL disappointed investors with a Q1 earnings report that missed low expectations. CEO Tim Armstrong doesn’t want that to happen again, so he’s bellowing as loud as he can: Don’t expect much from us anytime soon.

Yesterday Armstrong sent CFO Artie Minson out to Barclays Capital to repeat the message. It got through. Here’s analyst Douglas Anmuth noting that ad sales will be underwhelming for a while, even though the Web ad business is bouncing back:

Management was quick to point out that AOL’s overall display pipeline for the back half remains soft. Management indicated that it has booked roughly 60% as much inventory for the back half as it had booked at the same time last year–and that was in a softer overall macro environment.

On the plus side, pricing for the ads AOL (AOL) does sell are improving, which it can attribute both to the overall recovery and AOL’s focus on selling high-end inventory while dumping its low-cost stuff. Still, Anmuth says, “We do not expect the uptick in CPMs to offset the removal of low quality ads and the sales force dislocation in the near term.”

So lower those expectations, okay?

But not too much!

AOL also suggests that its new search pact, which will replace the one with Google (GOOG) that expires in December, will be a big deal. According to Anmuth, “Management is approaching the renewal as a broad strategic partnership for the company that has many potential outcomes. AOL mentioned mapping and local could be part of the deal and we wouldn’t be surprised if a display ad partnership was also included.”

Barclays thinks Armstrong’s recent hire of ad tech executive Alex Gounares from Microsoft (MSFT) means the deal could end up tipping to Redmond. Stay tuned.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100514/aol-to-wall-street-our-turnaround-is-going-to-be-really-slow/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20091023/graphilicious-the-microsoft-2010-q1-slides/ http://allthingsd.com/20091023/graphilicious-the-microsoft-2010-q1-slides/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:55:31 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=19887

Microsoft (MSFT) announced much better than expected results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010–led by strong Windows and Xbox demand and cost discipline.

While revenue and net income were down, the results were a major surprise given more lackluster estimates.

Here are the software giant’s slides on the financial results, which you can enjoy all weekend long, as well as BoomTown’s liveblog of the Q1 earnings conference call.

Thanks, Bill Koefoed!–but who are those smiley folks on the front slide?

Here are the slides:

FY10 Q1 Slides MSFT –

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091023/graphilicious-the-microsoft-2010-q1-slides/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20091023/liveblogging-the-microsoft-first-quarter-earnings-call-look-wall-street-no-hands/ http://allthingsd.com/20091023/liveblogging-the-microsoft-first-quarter-earnings-call-look-wall-street-no-hands/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:42:52 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=19858

Well, well, well, that financial imp at Microsoft–CFO Chris Liddell–pulled a fast one on Wall Street and turned in first-quarter earnings that blew away all estimates and even the whisper numbers.

While revenue and net income were down for the third consecutive quarter, they were not as bad as investors had expected.

Perhaps those Microsoft (MSFT) financial predictions were no good, but the results were a strong sign of recovery at the software giant.

BoomTown liveblogged the morning conference call with Liddell, which took place at 7:30 am PT–thanks for the Kiwi-laced wake-up call, Chris!

(You can see the financial slides of the Q1 performance here.)

7:34 am: “It might have been the bottom of the economic reset,” said Liddell in the opening. “I’m very happy.”

Still, Liddell, who has been a glum goose for many quarters now, could not quite do cartwheels, noting that the economy was “still challenging.”

He also still repeated his favorite term for the market, calling it: “The new normal.”

7:38 am: Other investor guy, whose name I always forget (and who is Bill Koefoed, by the way), got on and went through the numbers. He also sounded deeply relieved and noted that it looked pretty good out there.

Liddell returned and said Microsoft was “well-positioned” to exit the econalpyse stronger than competitors.

Not so bad, although he expected personal computer and hardware sales be weak still and was not promising anything.

The online and search and advertising partnership with Yahoo (YHOO) was also on track, said Liddell.

“In summary, I feel great about how we are executing,” said Liddell, who made sure to give credit to “cost discipline.”

It was nowhere near the strong performances of Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) recently, but allowed Microsoft some much needed breathing room.

7:51 am: Question time!

The first was about when the launch of Windows 7 would start bringing home the bacon.

The next was about “channel inventory build,” which was like asking Liddell to be a soothsayer. “Net positive,” he opined.

The third question was about costs from the transition of the Yahoo deal and the contribution.

Costs will up front and there will be a contribution in the “hundreds of millions.”

Next: The future of cost cuts.

“I see that as the journey that never ends,” said Liddell.

Memo to PR head Frank Shaw: Cancel the truckload of caviar for a big honking party in celebration of these results. Stat!

7:58 am: I missed one question, since it was so boring, as was the answer.

Then a good one came about the deployment of Windows in corporate environments and elsewhere.

“All of the feedback we get so far is positive,” said Liddell, not that he is bragging or anything. “The sales in retail, we are expecting to be very good.”

Another cost question, this time about whether more investments are coming in the years ahead.

No ramping back, thank you very much!

The next question was about the impact of netbooks on the bottom line.

Not bad, but not huge, said Liddell.

What about display advertising online? In line with the weaker market, said Liddell, but it should improve.

8:09 am: PC demand? Liddell notes the “robustness” of the PC, which Microsoft has actually been pooh-poohing over many quarters.

Liddell said he saw better days ahead, perhaps because past ones had been weak, especially business PCs. “That can’t continue forever,” he noted.

A question about Europe. “Relatively weak,” said Liddell, while emerging markets were stronger.

“This calendar year is transition to next calendar year,” said Liddell.

A query about Windows 7 revenue recognition, which comes when Microsoft sells to OEMs.

8:14 am: More on OEMs, who are the big buyers of Microsoft’s operating system software.

Next up: Another question about outlook.

“Generally speaking, we are seeing good adoption of our products,” said Liddell, but the true rebound is coming next year.

The last question is about Windows Live.

It’ll get better, but next year, folks!

Translation, if you imagine Liddell channeling “Annie”: The sun’ll come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, there’ll be sun!

Enjoy this lovely video of the classic song:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20091023/liveblogging-the-microsoft-first-quarter-earnings-call-look-wall-street-no-hands/feed/ 2