9 posts and columns on visibility

Palm Running Out of Time–Again

in News on March 19, 2010 at 7:14 am PT

Remarking on Palm’s gruesome third quarter during an earnings call yesterday, CEO Jon Rubinstein called the company’s performance “extremely disappointing to me personally.” This sentiment seems to be widely held among investors, who are dragging the company’s shares through the mud today, and analysts questioning whether Palm can ever pull off the turnaround for which it’s striving.

About That March iPad Release Date…

in News on March 5, 2010 at 10:11 am PT

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the iPad on Jan. 27, he said it would be “available” in 60 days, implying an on-sale date of March 25. By announcing a pre-sale date of March 12, as it did this morning, the company has technically fulfilled that promise–yet it is not delivering the device to customers until April 3, about a week later. If the ship date was to be April 3, why didn’t Jobs say that at the January event?

Ad Sales, Pay Walls, and Absolutely Nothing About iPads at the New York Times Earnings Call

in Media on February 10, 2010 at 8:01 am PT

The New York Times said things got better–or, if you like, no worse–during the last quarter of 2009. But investors are disappointed that the publisher isn’t more optimistic about 2010, and they’re pushing shares down this morning. Let’s see if the paper’s executives can turn that around during their earnings call.

As Predicted, a Not-Terrible Quarter for the New York Times: Print Ads Shrink Less, and the Web Actually Grows

in Media on February 10, 2010 at 5:55 am PT

A nice Q4 for the New York Times, at least by newspaper standards: Revenue shrank, but not as badly as in the past, and operating costs continued to come down. But that pay wall is still going up.

News Corp.: Conan’s Not Coming to Fox Just Yet; Amazon’s Ready to Bend on E-Book Pricing

in Media on February 2, 2010 at 2:41 pm PT

Amazon caved to Macmillan’s demands on e-book pricing, and now the online retailer is set to give News Corp.’s HarperCollins a new deal too, says Rupert Murdoch. Meanwhile, don’t hold your breath waiting for Conan O’Brien on Fox.

New York Times Delivers Some Not Terrible News: Earnings, Ad Sales Better Than Expected

in Media on October 22, 2009 at 5:05 am PT

The New York Times announced plans to cut eight percent of its newsroom payroll this week, citing “economic thunderstorms,” which suggested that this morning’s earnings results were going to be particularly unpleasant. Surprise! They’re not that awful, at least by the diminished standards of the newspaper industry.
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AMD Earnings Better When Ignored

in News on July 21, 2009 at 4:05 pm PT

When Intel CEO Paul Otellini said “the worst is now behind us,” he was clearly not referring to AMD. Posting earnings Tuesday afternoon, AMD reported an ugly loss of $330 million, or 49 cents a share–greater than the 47 cents analysts had been expecting.
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Chip Sales: Bottoms Up?

in News on May 1, 2009 at 8:37 am PT

No big surprises here. The souring economy and related uncertainty in consumer and enterprise technology markets continue to drag the chip sector down into the mud. While world-wide sales of semiconductors in March rose 3.3 percent from February, they were down nearly 30 percent from last year.
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E=MC Scared

in News on January 27, 2009 at 7:28 am PT

EMC posted fourth-quarter financials today, reporting sales that were basically in line with projections and earnings that slipped 45 percent from a year ago. Though its profits sank, the company managed to hit all its financial marks for the fourth quarter–something it won’t be doing in the current one. Because the worldwide economic situation has grown so grim and uncertain, EMC has opted not to provide a first-quarter projection, let alone a full-year outlook. Why risk setting expectations too high, right?