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Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings: Minted $1.31 Billion From Google Android [Exclusive]

By
Dazeinfo
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Microsoft minting billions from Android

The much-awaited Microsoft Q2 2013 (fiscal) Earnings report is already out and analysts across the globe are already bumping up with their mixed views on the tech giant financial performance of the last quarter ended 31 December 2012. The company posted record revenue but lower than expected profit figures, and we are already done with the quarter-by-quarter assessment. Surprisingly, Microsoft stayed tied lipped about Surface Sales Figures and – rather more interesting – earnings from Android.

One must not be surprised with the fact that Microsoft is minting millions of dollars from the product of its arch-rival Google – An earning source helping Microsoft to earn much higher than its own home-grown Windows Phone OS. The company has been enjoying royalties from the majority of Android-based handset makers for last few quarters; All thanks to patents Microsoft once bought from Novell.

Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings: $1.31 Billion From Android

In the fiscal Q2, 2013 (or Q4 0212), Microsoft has earned anything close to $1.31 billion from Android royalties came from Samsung and HTC largely. According to the latest report from ABIResearch, nearly 451 million handsets were shipped in Q4 2012. Out of which 196 million devices were Smartphones and Samsung contributed around 32% of this alone.  In Q3 2012, three out of every four Smartphones shipped were Android-powered handsets and the trend was reported to continue in Q4 2012 also. Therefore, by a simple calculation, nearly 149 million smartphones, shipped in Q4 2012, are powered by Google Android OS.

Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings - $1.31 Billion from Android

Earnings from Android Smartphones

More and More android handset makers are surrendering to Microsoft – having an upper hand in Android patent infringement lawsuit – and agreeing to pay anything between $5 to $13 on each Android handset sold. Microsoft has claimed around 70% of Android handset makers are already paying royalties on Android-based devices now. This clearly depicts that Microsoft has earned royalties on 105 million Smartphones sold in Q4 2012 – 70% of 149 million Android smartphones sold.

On average, Microsoft is collecting $10 on each Android device sold; Therefore the company has earned close to $1.05 Billion in Q4 2012 (Q2, 2013 fiscal) only from Android Smartphones. The figure could be little on a higher side as Microsoft is claiming $12 -$13 from Samsung controlling more than 50% of the Android smartphone market. But keeping the facts in mind that HTC pays only $5, an avg of $10 is quite justified.

Earnings from Android Tablets

According to FutureSource Consulting, 64 Million Tablets were sold globally in Q4 2012. Just a day back, in its quarterly financial report, Apple claimed that it managed to sell 23 million iPads during the whole fiscal Q1 2013 (Q4, 2012 calendar). While Microsoft reportedly sold just 1 million Surface Tablets in Q4 2012, rest of mobile OSes control negligible market share in the Tablet segment. This clearly portraits that nearly 38 million Android Tablets were sold during Q4 2012.

Now, as Microsoft is enjoying royalties from 70% Android devices, the tech giant earned minimum $266 million from Tablet as royalty – 70% of 38 million Android Tablets, multiplied with $10.

So, total royalties from Tablets and Smartphones, powered by Android, earned by Microsoft stood $1.31 Billion in fiscal Q2 2012 (Q4, 2012 calendar). The amount could be marginally higher than projected due to the fact that royalties earned from Android tablet is largely coming from Samsung – paying more than $10 on each Android device.

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Nokia Q4 2012 Earnings: The Company’s $5.4 Billion Net Cash Won’t Be A Good News For Investors !!

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Yesterday, Nokia Q4 2012 earnings report came to spotlight, and the company performed outstandingly in the last quarter. The quarter was quite impressive in terms of smartphone shipments, but overall mobile handset shipments declined in the quarter, compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Despite, the company reported $10.7 billion revenue for the quarter (or earnings per share of $0.08). In addition, an operating profit of the company reached to $585 million for Q4, 2012.

Nokia Q4 2012 Earnings In Nutshell

As per Nokia Q4 2012 earnings report, the company has now net cash of $5.9 billion. However, last year, the company’s net cash had become a subject of scrutiny, as its profit and sales remained lackluster. Although the company’s health seems quite well this time, but it’s not going to pay out dividend to investors for the last year.

At present, Nokia has two high-end smartphones lines—Windows Phone-based Lumia and Symbian-based handsets. The high-end smartphone lines have contributed $1.6 billion in sales in Q4 for the fiscal 2012. The company sold 86.3 million mobile handsets in Q4 2012, down from 113.5 millions in the same quarter of the prior year. Interestingly, lower-end mobile phones accounted for whopping 92% in terms of volume.

Nokia Lumia

Nokia’s devices and services generated net sales of €200 million for the last quarter. On the other side, its location and commerce division (which includes mapping division) reported an operating loss of $75 million; however, it showed off a significant improvement compared to the last year’s $1.6 billion loss.

Why Did Nokia Perform Well In Q4 2012 ? 

Of course, due to better operational performance and sales of smartphones, Nokia outstandingly performed in Q4 2012. In June last year, the company announced to lay off 10,000 jobs. Apparently, since Stephan Elop being CEO, Nokia has already laid off nearly 16,000 peoples from its device and local business divisions. At present, the company has approximately 46,000 employees. In simple words, the improvement in device sales and cuts in ongoing sales and cost played pivotal role in the company’s earnings for the quarter.

Nokia is still struggling with Windows Platform in the smartphone segment. It has announced that “808 PureView” would be its last Symbian smartphone. The company has decided to focus on two platforms–Windows Phone and its own S40.

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Nokia Falls In Love With Windows Phone: Killing Its Own Baby “Symbian”

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Nokia has already posted its earnings guidance for Q4 2012. The Finnish handset maker’s mobile business has been badly affected by Apple and Android’s smartphones. Despite, the company has reported revenue of $10.7 billion (or earnings per share of $0.08), besides it has also reported an operating profit of $585 million for Q4, 2012.

Nokia Sold 2.2 Million Symbian And 4.4 million Lumia Devices

Nokia Q4 2012 earnings report also unveiled some facts. The company sold 9.3 million units of low-priced Asha smartphones, which are especially being manufactured for emerging markets and newer users. The sales of Windows Phone-based devices also mounted up in Q4 2012, reached to 4.4 million units. In the context, with 2.2 million units shipments, Symbian-powered smartphones fell little behind of Windows Phone in terms of shipments. Anyway, the company succeeded to sell 15.9 million smartphones (including Symbian, Windows Phone and Asha lineups) in the last quarter. In Q3 2012, the company sold 2.9 million Lumia, 3.4 million Symbian and 6.5 million Asha smartphones.

Nokia Lumia

Nokia Confirmed 808 PureView Last Symbian Device

You might have astonished after hearing the death news of Symbian OS. However, in terms of shipments, Symbian is no where in comparison to Android and iOS platforms. But in comparison to Windows Phone-powered Lumia smartphones’ shipments, announcing the death of Symbian isn’t prudent decision.

Yesterday, a little while ago the announcement of Q4 2012 earnings report, Nokia confirmed that 808 PureView would be its last Symbian smartphone. The company wants to saddle its effort on Windows Phone Lumia devices and lower-cost handsets running on its S40 proprietary OS–namely Asha Lines. Till the end of Q4 last year, Symbian accounted for only 2.6% of overall smartphone handset market share in terms of shipments; which was nearly equivalent to Windows Phone.

Nokia Isn’t Willing To Work On Android

There has been a discussion that Nokia could go with Android platform to work on. But this time, it seems the company isn’t willing to embrace Android. The company is reluctant to adopt the platform due to its fragmentation. Besides, there it would face a fierce competition with potent rivals like Samsung, Motorola, HTC and LG.

At the moment, the company is also little-bit annoyed with Google’s recent act to drop Exchange ActiveSync support for Gmail messages used in Windows Phone devices. At present, Google isn’t offering any native apps including Gmail and Google Map for Windows Phone.

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Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings: Why The Company Doesn’t Want To Disclose The Sales Figure Of Surface RT Tablet?

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Just one day after a disastrous earning report from Apple, Microsoft Q2 2013 earnings came to spotlight. Yesterday, Microsoft announced its financial results for Q2 2013 (ending December 31, 2013), which is considered as one of the most lucrative quarters over the last couple of years. The company posted net income of $6.38 billion on revenue of $21.46 billion (with earnings per share of $ 0.76).

Microsoft Q2 2013 Earnings

Microsoft showed off a nice gain in quarter-second of the fiscal 2013, compared to its previous quarter. In Q1 2013, the company posted revenues of $16.01 billion (or earnings per share of $0.53). For the company, the past holiday season was the strongest holiday ever in its history. Last year, the company jumped into hardware bandwagon; it invested huge on its hardware business. And finally, the company’s big gamble paid off  in Q2 2013. At present, the company is quite aggressive with its future prospects, especially with Windows Phone 8 and Surface Tablet businesses.

Microsoft Q2 2013 earnings

Windows Phone Succeeded to draw Users’ attention

One important aspect came out of Microsoft Q2 2013 earnings reports is that Windows Phone is gradually gaining momentum in worldwide markets now. In quarter ending December 2012, Nokia shipped 4.4 million Windows Phone powered Lumia smartphones. Just a few days before, we described that sales of Windows Phone devices would surpass 10 million units in Q4 2012 (calender).

Due to anticipation of strong Q2 results, Microsoft’s stock price has continuously been climbing over the past two days. Breaking out the Microsoft Q2 2013 earnings in terms of divisions, “Windows” division posted revenue of $5.88 billion in the last quarter, up 24% Y/Y. On the other side, the Server & Tools business reported $5.19 billion revenue for the quarter, up 9% Y/Y. The Microsoft Business division posted $5.69 billion of revenue, down 10% Y/Y, while the company’s Online Service division reported revenue of $3.77 billion, down 11% Y/Y.

Microsoft profit in Q2 2013

Nothing About Surface RT Shipments

Interestingly, you can’t find anything related to the sales of Surface RT in Microsoft Q2 2013 earnings report. The company has kept silence on the number of Surface RT units sold. However, the company has only announced that Windows 8 and Surface Tablet have helped in revenue growth during second quarter of the fiscal 2013.

The company has already sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses till now. But majority of entrepreneurs are still reluctant to adopt the OS. During the last quarter, Windows 7 was on the peak of its popularity.

The company’s recent launches, including Surface RT and more, have re-energized the Windows brand. More importantly, the number of Windows 8 certified systems has nearly doubled till the date, besides the number of apps in the Windows Store has also quadrupled. Till the date, over 100 million apps have been downloaded from Windows App Store.

Anyway, users are still confuse with Surface RT and Surface Pro Tablets. They are actually confused with whether these tablets would support Windows 8 apps or not. There’s still a dilemma among people related to difference between Surface RT and Pro tablets. However, Microsoft is expected to ship 1 million units of Surface RT during Q2 of its fiscal 2013.

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Apple Sold Record 47.8 Million iPhones And 22.9 Million iPads In Q1 2013

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Yesterday, Apple announced its Q1 earnings for the fiscal 2013. The company reported $13.1 Billion profits on revenues of 54.7 Billion for Q1 2013. Undoubtedly, the company created its all time highest revenue for any single quarter in Q1 2013.

More importantly, sales of Apple’s iPhones , iPads and iPods were quite impressive in the last quarter. The company sold over 75 million iOS devices in the last quarter. In simple words, the company’s strong financial performance was due to its hardware business. The company launched iPhone 5 on September 21, 2012; however, the device was initially criticized for poor mapping app. Despite, iPhone 5 was one of the most preferred smartphones in the last quarter.

In addition, Apple’s new baby–iPad Mini–had also seen a strong demand; the device is still selling well. Besides, the company also sold 12.7 million iPods during Q1 of its Fiscal 2013.

Sales of iPads and iPhones in Q1 2013

With the shipments of 47.8 million units, iPhone dominated Apple’s entire hardware. The shipments of the device (iPhone) surged by 29%, from 37 million units a year ago. Furthermore, Apple sold record-breaking 22.9 million iPads in the last quarters, up from 14 million units in the previous quarter. The sales of iPad increased by 48.7% Y/Y in the last quarter, from 15.4 million units.

iOS Devices

Sales of Apple Mac Lineups

Really, Apple’s Mac sales were not impressive in the Q1 2013. The company sold just 4.1 million Macs, including 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro ad refreshed iMac line. During Q1 2013, Apple introduced number of new Macs, which included brand new 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs with ultra thin new cases. Due to supply issues and increasing demand of iPad Mini, the sales of Macs lineups remained lackluster during the last quarter.

Apparently, Apple’s Mac sales dropped 21% Y/Y and 16% Q/Q in the last quarter. The Mac lineups are still unsuccessful to draw the attention of wide audiences due dichotomy between Retina devices (MacBook Pro) and the rest of the line.

In addition to these, Apple also sold more than 2 million ‘Apple TV’ in its Fiscal first quarter, up 1.3 million from the previous quarter. Overall, the company sold more than 10 million units of Apple TV over the years.

Eventually, iPhone is still primary revenue driven source for Apple. With the launch of iPad Mini, the company gained strong momentum in Tablet market share. However, Mac lineups failed to entice users for purchase, but iPod did good business.

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Apple Q1 2013 Earnings: The Cash Reserve Alone Is Equal To 75% Of Samsung’s Whole Year Revenue

By
Abhishek Singh
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1

After weeks of unofficial projections, guessing and online buzz Apple Q1 2013 Earnings report is finally out. The quarter was really impressive for Apple; the company reported its all time highest revenue for any quarter. Over the past few months, the company has been struggling to meet the investors expectations. Apple’s stock market still seems volatile, and also, the company’s growth rate doesn’t seem promising for its shareholders. But, Apple Q1 2013 (fiscal quarter ending December 29, 2012) was really outstanding in terms of revenue, profit and sales of hardware.

Apple Q1 2013 Earnings

Yesterday, Apple released its Q1 2013 earnings report, which depicted $54.5 billion in revenue, up 17.7% from a year ago quarter. The company also reported $13.1 billion in profit; however, the profit figure in Q1 2013 was flat compare to the same quarter of the last year. Besides, earnings per share for the quarter were $13.81, down from $13.87 in the same quarter of the last year.

Apple revenue in Q1 2013

However,  Apple didn’t do any extraordinary innovation with its devices last year, except with screen sizes–launched 4-inch iPhone 5 and 7-inch iPad Mini. Besides, the company’s stock has been on a bit of roller coaster over past few months. This time, the company really needs to come out with new strategies to impress its investors.

$137.1 Billion Cash Reserve

One of the most eye-catching aspects of Apple Q1 2013 earnings is its constant growing cash reserve; the company has now $137.1 billion in cash, up by 12.9% from $121.3 billion a year ago. Indeed, it’s tough to realize the figure, which is equivalent to HP’s annual revenues of $120.4 billion. Besides, the amount is also equivalent to Vietnam’s nominal GDP of $123.6 billion. More importantly, annual revenue of Samsung Electronics, which is now the biggest rival of Apple in smartphone segment, is just a bit higher, which is expected to reach around $180 billion for the fiscal year of 2012. However, part of Apple’s profit is expected to be used to provide dividends for existing investors.

Apple profit in Q1 2013

Of course, Apple is really a profit-generating machine. But uncertainty and volatility around Apple shares have forced the company to slice its profit margin on its device. It has been noticed so far that the company is least interested towards big investments towards mergers and acquisitions. However, the company aggressively wants to invest sizable sum on its research and development in order to develop more innovative products, apparently.

One of the most interesting facts exposed from Apple Q1 2013 earnings report is the comparative progress graph between Revenue and Profit. Despite of appreciation in revenue, the profit remains identical to the the quarter an year back. It depicts how Apple is slowly facing the heat from the market and discounting its products against the competition.

$1.25 Million Revenues From Apple Retail Stores Every Week

Apple has now more than 400 retail stores–four new retails stores opened in China last year. The average revenue per store in Q4 2012 was $1.25 million per week, up compared to $1.22 million of the previous year. However, Apple isn’t offering anything special in its retail stores compare to other retailers.

Apple iCloud Touched 250 Million Users Figure

Apple has just announced that there are now 250 million users on its iCloud service, up from 190 million in October last year. The company reported 150 million users on its iCloud services in July last year. It’s pretty much known that iCloud–which allows users to sync documents, emails, photos and other contents data across multiple devices–replaced Apple’s MobileMe service in 2011.

Although, Apple succeeded to generate highest revenue ever in any single quarter in Q1 2013, but it would have to face stiff resistance from its competitors especially in mobile segment. The company needs to focus on innovation; as a significant number of smartphone vendors, including Samsung, HTC and Motorola, are currently working hard to develop high-end devices. Besides, the company also needs to take some effective measures to stop instability in its stock market. Definitely, it will have to persuade investors, those are not satisfied with the company’s growth.

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Windows Phone Experiences Strong Growth In Europe: Accounting For 5.9% And 13.9% Of Sales In Britain And Italy Respectively

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Microsoft is still struggling to draw the attention of a significant number of users towards the Windows Phone platform. With the launch of Windows Phone 8, the company has somehow succeeded to prove itself as one of the potent smartphone players. In Q4 2012, Nokia shipped 4.4 million Windows Phone running smartphones, and of course, it would be a great hearsay for Windows enthusiasts. However, last year, Android managed to hold first position in terms of smartphone shipments.

According to a recent report from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech, a firm that tracks mobile handsets sales in key markets, Apple continued shining in the U.S. and other markets like Japan last year. On the other side, Windows Phone experienced a good sign for its growth in European markets. The firm has reported that the U.K. is having highest smartphone penetration; the country currently leads with 61% of penetration, followed by Australia and France with 54% and 46% respectively.

Windows Phone Market Share

Kantar tracked sales of mobile handsets in key markets over 12 weeks period ending December 23, 2012. During the period, Android was leading; accounting for over half of all smartphones sales. Interestingly, in some markets including Spain and China, the OS witnessed nearly 87% and 72% of all smartphones sales respectively during this period.

Meanwhile, Samsung continued its supremacy in terms of smartphone sales. The South Korean company accounted for 43% of handsets sales in the top five markets in Europe (UK, Italy, Germany, France and Spain). However, the sales of the company’s smartphones accounted for just 27%, 32% and 23% of overall handsets sales in the U.S., Australia and Urban China respectively.

Besides, Apple had also seen robust sales in certain markets, including the US.. During an average of 12 weeks period (ending December 23 last year), iOS took 51.2% of all smartphone sales in the U.S., up 6.3% compared to the previous year. More importantly, iPhone 5 played significant role in fueling Apple’s overall smartphone shipments in the country. In Japan, Apple succeeded to widen the gap between the sales of iPhones and Android devices; where iOS accounted for 66% of all sales, while Android’s reported 32% of sales. It has been noticed that Android is now approaching to the saturation level. This time, people are really seeking for next bigger thing, and definitely Microsoft could leverage on it.

Windows Phone market share

With Windows Phone, Nokia has succeeded to retain its brand value in Europe. In Europe, anyone can easily perceive a natural transition of Symbian users to Lumia devices, which are being sold at quite higher price tags. However, Windows Phone accounted for just 5.4% of smartphones sales in the region. In some other markets like the U.S. and China, where Windows Phone had seen lackluster sales; the OS accounted for 2.6% of sales in the U.S. and less than 1% of sales in China.

In the U.K, with Windows Phone and Symbian together, Nokia accounted for 6.2% of sales during 12 weeks average period ending December 23, while BlackBerry accounted for 6.4% of sales. Meanwhile, Windows Phone succeeded to grab 5.9% and 13.9% market share in terms of sales in the U.K. and Italy respectively, up from just 2.2% and 2.8% a year ago.

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Free And Best Social Media Marketing Tools For 2013: Must Have For Marketers !

By
Shilpa Shree
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0
jugnoo

Social media plays a key role in marketing efforts of businesses and it’s quite imperative to manage all of the social channels. Managing it sometimes seems quite intimidating due to short of money and time. In such situation, free social media marketing tools become more useful especially if they are already proved to live to users’ expectations.

There are plenty of apps which soothes you to an extent by helping your social management. These are few tools which give away some interesting features for free such as; schedule posts, connect numerous social media accounts, provide analytics, shorten URLs and most important – an inherited feature of Auto Scheduling of post marketing based upon analytic to generate the highest level of social engagement.

Here are some tools for one who are looking for  free or cost-effective social media management tool:

Hootsuite:


hootsuite Hootsuite can manage several social networking sites like; Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts. Through third-party apps, business people can connect most of their social media accounts, from Tumblr and Reddit to StumbleUpon and Instagram.  One of the finest features of Hootsuite is that one can integrate your Google+ business page. Hootsuite is one of the few social media management apps which offer any type of Google+ integration. It is the champ for most networks integrated and most options for busy business owners.

 Buffer:

The app connects to Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn. Buffer facilitates to schedule posts and provides analytics on posts, which can indirectly hint the best subject and the best time to post to get maximum user engagement. Buffer comes with free apps, extensions etc which helps to maximize your reach to audience.

Tweetdeck:

Tweetdeck is appreciated for its versatility. It enables you to manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts at once. It also monitor your feeds, and display search results continuously so you can respond quickly when anyone mentions your company/brand/product.

  • Provides global filter which enables you to block content you’re not interested in.

Tweetdeck’s unique feature is that it allows you to schedule tweets containing text, photos or links, and monitor Twitter interactions. Its added features include the ability to adjust font size and column width, and even change the traditional dark background of the app to light.

 Viralheat:

viral-heatViralheat is a flexible social media management tool. It connects to various networks which include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+. The tool offers robust analytics and has the ability to Shorten URL via Bit.ly integration and scheduled posts. The unique feature of the tool its ability of geo-target sharing to Facebook.

 Jugnoo:

jugnooJugnoo is free for up to three members who totally manage 20 accounts, it costs $20 per month for five team members with unlimited accounts. It also comes with few interesting features like link previews and rich media embeds. The unique feature of Jugnoo is, one can also access the web, Google and social media analytics.

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IBM Q4 2012 Earnings: Cloud Computing, Smarter Planet Solutions And Business Analytics Drove Significant Profits !!

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

IBM Q4 2012 earnings report is now globally available. The company has reported a GAAP net income of $5.8 billion for Q4 2012, up 6% from the same quarter of the previous year. On the other side, its Non-GAAP net income was $6.1 billion in Q4 2012. Last year, the company outstandingly performed in BRIC countries–Brazil, Russia, India and China. Really, Q4 2012 was one of the best quarters for the company over the last couple of years.

IBM Q4 2012 Earnings:

IBM has reported revenues of $29.3 billion in Q4 2012, down 1% from $29.5 billion in Q4, 2011. The company’s earnings per share were $5.39 in Q4 2012, up from $4.71 billion in the last year. Furthermore, the company’s net income for the year, ended December 31, 2012 – was $16.6 billion, increased from $15.9 billion from the prior year. In addition, operating (non-GAAP) net income was $17.6 billion in Q4 2012, up 8% from $16.3 billion in 2011.

Non-GAAP diluted earnings for the quarter ending December 2012 were $15.25 per share, compared with operating diluted earnings of $13.44 per share in 2011. The company’s non-GAAP diluted earnings surged by 13% Y/Y in 2012, and this was the company’s tenth consecutive year of double-digit EPS growth. The company has reported software revenues of $7.9 billion for Q4 2012, up 3.5% Y/Y.

IBM Q4 2012 results

Software, hardware and sales growth in emerging markets played significant role in IBM Q4 2012 earnings. However, the company’s income from services was basically flat in the quarter.  In 2012, the company’s revenues totaled $104.5 billion, down 2% compared with $106.9 billion in 2011. The company leveraged its Business Analytics, cloud computing, Smarter Planet solutions and sales growth in emerging markets for its higher-value businesses. More importantly, growth of IBM’s Software segment was driven by increasing demands of Smarter planet, Cloud computing and Business Analytics.

IBM Q4 2012 earnings

The company’s Business Analytics showed off 13% Y/Y growth in 2012, while Smarter Planet and Cloud Business reported 25% and 80% Y/Y growth respectively. The company’s revenue from Power System decreased 19% Y/Y last year.

Apparently, the company’s revenue from growing markets increased 7% Y/Y last year. In 2012, IBM showed off 11% Y/Y growth in BRIC markets–Brazil, Russia, India and China.  However, IBM’s revenue from its  Global Technology and Business Services decreased 2% and 3% to 10.3 billion and $4.7 billion respectively in 2012, compared to the previous year.

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Optimize And Calculate ROI Of Facebook Ads With New Conversion Measurement System

By
Shilpa Shree
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0

Facebook has launched a new conversion measurement optimization system for direct response marketers to help them measure the ROI of their Facebook Ads. It measures user’s relevant actions that are driven by people seeing advertisements on Facebook. The relevant actions include; like registrations, shopping cart checkouts.

Uniquely the system can be used with all Facebook ads and sponsored stories and also can be used in combination with any targeting. The conversion tool is specifically designed for direct response marketers -such as online retailers and travel websites and many such which advertise with the goal of pumps up immediate sales rather than for longer-term brand building.

Facebook Ads Measurement System

When Social Media giant conducted trials on Fab.com using this conversion measurement, it actually reduced its cost per new customer acquisition by 39%. The trials also were conducted on Democratic Governors Association and the results showed that its cost per conversion decreased by 85% compared to any other campaign it had run online. The Facebook conversion measurement system is currently available for marketers using three of its different ad products – power editor, the ads manager, and for its large-scale marketers that use Facebook’s advertising API, and the service is already live to use.

Facebook marketing ROI

To note, this is not the first time Facebook has rolled out such tool, last year November, Facebook introduced a similar conversion measurement service for big brand advertisers such as – auto manufacturers, partnering with data mining firm Datalogix to help on consumer spending at brick and mortar and Facebook ads. Also, Facebook had rolled out new marketing tools for local businesses such as restaurants and coffee shops. The list also includes a revamped online coupon service and simplified advertising capabilities known as promoted posts.

Though this seems as a late Christmas gift to Digital Marketers, the tool doesn’t help unless one is a absolute expert in online marketing and sales process. The concept of conversion is always been a great confusion. An accurate measurement system can be helpful in a great way for those who fall in the confusion category. Facebook is one of the most widely used site for such conversion till date and with this conversion measurement tool it can help direct marketers to crunch these measurements.

Apart from this, if the tool proves that it could save money becoming a part of marketing then, definitely a slew of marketers could head towards Facebook platform for advertising their brands.

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Google Q4 2012 Earnings: Average Cost-Per-Click Declined 6%, Mobile Business Continued To Struggle !

By
Abhishek Singh
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1

Over the past few weeks, there has been a discussion about Google Q4 2012 earnings. Today right on schedule, Google finally released its quarter-fourth earnings for the fiscal 2012. The company has reported revenues of $14.42 billion for the quarter ending December 2012, up 36% compared to the same quarter of the last year.

Google Q4 2012 Earnings

In Q4 2012, Google’s Non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) was $10.65, up from $9.50 in the Q4 2011. Besides, GAAP net income (including net loss from discontinued operation) was $2.89 billion in Q4 2012, up from $2.71 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. More importantly, Google sold Motorola Home – the broadband unit of Motorola Mobility to Arris in December last year for $2.35 billion (which includes $2.05 billion in cash and about $300 million in newly issued Arris shares).

Once again, Google was cautious to explain Motorola’s situation in its press release. However, the company has reported a robust quarterly earnings (ending December 2012), revenues were up 36% Y/Y and 8% Q/Q. Apparently, it succeeded to generate a revenue of $50 billion for the first time in 2012.  As per Google Q4 2012 earnings report, the company’s traffic acquisition costs surged to $3.08 billion in Q4 2012, compared to $2.45 billion in the Q4 2011.

Google Q4 2012 earnings

In Q4 2012, Paid-Click, which includes ad related clicks on Google sites and the sites of its network members, rose 24% over the same quarter of the previous year, and also, up about 9% over Q3 2012. Meanwhile, average cost-per-click (click related to ads served on Google sites and sites of Google’s Network member) declined nearly 6% in Q4 2012, compared to Q4 2011. Google’s net income in the Q4 2012 was $2.89 billion ($8.62 per share), up from $2.71 billion ($8.22 per share) in the Q4 2011.

Google Q4 2012 profit

One of the most noticeable point for Google Q4 2012 earnings was Motorola generated revenues of $1.51 billion (or 11% of Google’s total consolidated revenues) in Q4 2012. In addition, Motorola Business unit played a significant role in bringing $2.58 billion revenue for the company in the last quarter, ending December 2012.

Google Q4 2012 revenue

Google Struggled With Its Mobile Business In Q4 2012

Interestingly, Motorola Mobility, acquired by Google last year, played significant role for Google Q4 2012 earnings. The company pushed out two major Smartphones—Droid RAZR HD and Droid RAZR Maxx HD–last year. At present, both Google and Motorola are working on their ‘X Phone’ project.

Google has always been a money-making-machine. But average cost-per-click (CPC) on desktop decreased by 6% in Q4 2012, compared to the same quarter a year ago. The cost-per-click has been declining because advertisers are less willing to pay for mobile ads. At present, people are more willing to use Google search on their mobile devices, and this is the reason why searches on desktops have continuously been declining.

Now, Google is trying to improve its mobile products’ lineups—such as Nexus and X Phone. Advertisers are currently paying about 50% of amount for an app on mobile devices compare to desktops. As the trend is shifting, Google’s biggest and most lucrative business—desktop search—is gradually losing its momentum. The share of clicks on Google through desktops has dropped to 73% as of  December end last year, from 77% in June 2012. On the contrary, the share of clicks on Smartphone and Tablets has surged to 27% from 23% over the last six months, ending December 2012.

As desktop searches are slowing, Google might face challenges from its competitors like Facebook, which has recently unveiled its personalized social search on the site (Graph Search). As the trend is shifting to mobile platform, Google has started focusing on mobile devices. In Q4 2012, Google is expected to ship 1.5 million Nexus Phones and Tablets. Anyway, the company really needs to do something for the monetization of its mobile platform.

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Facebook Active Users Engagement: Cheat Sheet For Brands To Leverage Upon 1 Billion Users [Infographic]

By
Shilpa Shree
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0

Well, if you are frustrated not generating enough Facebook active users engagement on your brand pages and if you are looking out to unveil some codes of Facebook active users engagement strategies, you have landed on a right page. This Facebook cheat sheet infographic might help you on the things you need to keep in mind in order to get some maximum interactions from your consumers.

This infographic is the representation of compiled statistics on types of posts that gather the most engagements such as – like, share, comment etc, for more than 1,500 brands on Facebook.

Drive More Facebook Engagement:

  • Updates with emoticons saw higher interaction rates than those with pictures. But not all emoticon get the same engagement rate.
  • Keep your posts preview/excerpt smaller than tweets (140 characters) as these have 28% higher interactions than the longer one. Also, Position the question at the end of the post to get more interactions.
  • There is nothing wrong to ask for user’s reactions. The study over Facebook active users engagement proves that, when a brand specifically tells users to like, share and comment – the interactions were noticed higher than the updates which do not specify them in their posts.
  • Keep precise URL’s – it helps consumers to notify their final destination where the page lands up. Long URL’s draw more interactions than the shorter one.
  • Be creative to utilize user’s interactions in the post. Like “fill in the blank” is a great way to start the dialogue, this keeps user intact to read the post completely.

The must avoids:

  • Avoid long posts as it lacks interactions. In case if its inevitable, split the long posts in two.
  • Meanwhile, posts that contain the words “take,” “click,” “submit,” “check,” and “shop” experience significantly lower rates of interaction.
  • Avoid tagging your friends with business related photos, documents, promotion material. This could lead your friends avoiding  your personal stuffs too.

facebook-post-sheet

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7-8 Inch Tablets To Outburst The Market In 2013: The Devices Are Likely To Command Over 60% of Total Sales

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Apple introduced iPad in 2010, and that time, 10-11 inch screens were considered quite suitable for the users. But the myths changed before the end of 2011, when Amazon launched 7-inch Kindle Fire. Now, the market is flooded with low-priced 7-inch tablets. According to a recent report, the global tablet shipments are expected to hit 170-180 million units this year, up from around 130 million units in 2012. Interestingly, 7-inch tablets are going to see higher growth momentum this year, compare to 9-11 inch tablets.

However, Apple is still dominating in overall tablet shipments, but due to the advent of many hardware vendors in the segment, its tablet market share has continuously been declining since the last year. Despite, the company is expected to hold majority of tablet market share among 9-11 inch categories this year. On the other side, Android-based 7-8 inch tablets are expected to gain larger market share in 2013. In addition, Apple’s new baby ‘iPad Mini’ is also likely to see substantial growth this year.

Last year, 9-inch tablets showed off 35% Y/Y growth in terms of shipments–73.4 million tablets were shipped in 2012, accounting for 59% entire global tablet shipments. Meanwhile, sales of 7-inch tablets nearly doubled to 41.1 million units, accounting for 32% of entire tablet share.

Furthermore, IDC has also predicted that sales of tablets ranging 7-8 inch would account for over 60% of total shipments in 2013, compared to 33% in 2012. The growth of small tablets (smaller than 8-inch) would be fueled by their low-priced availability. In addition, both Google and Amazon’s 7-inch tablets are likely to surpass 10 million units figure, or even higher, in 2013.

7 inch tablets

However, there’re numbers of rumors related to Apple’s iPad. As the company has sliced components’ (iPads’ panels) order, it’s said that demand of the iPads would drop in current quarter. On the other side, a china-based market research firm—TrendForce—has reported that display panel shipments for iPads grew 25.6% to 19 million units in December last year.

Apple’s iPad Mini is still selling well, and it’s expected to cannibalize the sales of larger size iPads. On the other side, Samsung has also aimed to double its tablet shipments this year; the company has  planned to ship 30 million tablets this year. Just a day before, Samsung’s top executive confirmed that the company will launch an 8-inch Galaxy Note Tablet later this year.

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Why Should Marketers Focus On Social Media Mobile Marketing ?

By
Shilpa Shree
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0

Mobile can help you to manage social media activities despite of your busy schedule and helps in maintaining good social media reputation.

Social marketing is one of the trending marketing strategies these days also. Its also true that, one can’t just stick with your computers all day long to access these social channels. Mobile could be a best vehical to channelize through these platforms. Currently, Smartphones’ have revolutionized the accessibility of social networks. Smartphone was the most preferred by phone for advertisers in Q3 2012 with 75% campaigns. To be more specific, iPad is the most preferred device for mobile advertisers. It’s also said that, advertisers are now more focused on Apple’s iPhones and iPads than Android’s Smartphones and Tablets.

Social-Mobile-Marketing

Mobile marketing is a new development in Small businesses as they are investing more of their budgets on websites and other web related features. A report found that SMBs (Small Mid-Sized Businesses) spent, on average, $1,190 in the media and marketing areas last year, up from $876 in the fourth quarter of 2011. Social media, driven by Facebook, appears to be rapidly evolving into a core medium for SMB advertising and promotion.

Why should marketers prefer social media mobile marketing ?

Convenient way to access: Target marketing by analyzing your customers

In the US, internet connection through PC dropped 4% in July 2012 compared to the same month of the last year, while internet access via mobile web and mobile app grew up by 82% and 85% respectively. In addition to this, people who access social channels like Facebook have growing immensely  Advertisers have to utilize these stats  and also advertisers can use users’ database in these social channels.

Target marketing by analyzing your customers:

Mobile marketing via social networking can drive targeted traffic. It eases out the analysis of customer preferences and behavior through signup and also give away users demographics. These can be utilized for personalized services.

Create trust in customers about your brand/products:

Social channels is the only way by which marketers can directly interact with their consumers (online). But we see that 73% of customer tweets are ignored by brands. It is also found that 76% of brands have impressed and magnetized the customers on at least one of the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube).          .

Its quite imperative that, mobile marketers have to study consumer behavior and understand the flavor of your audience. Also understand the customers expectations from the brand/product.

Create and Drives engagement:

Users will be even more excited to engage with brands if they are offered with discount coupons, freebies and so on. Its up to how good you are in creating engagement and keep the consumers in intact interactions.

Plan the future marketing strategy:

Depending upon his ROI (return on investment), the marketer can adjust his future marketing campaigns and manipulate them so as to attract more and more customers online. This is probably the greatest advantage of mobile marketing via social networks.

Utilize mobile apps to enhance social media marketing:

Utilizing apps is one of the smart way to manage social media presence in hectic schedules. Here are few interesting apps that one can use on Smartphone to improve marketing. Few apps to pen; Buffer app, Postling, Plume, Google Currents etc. These are few apps which are pretty much free to use.

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LG Smartphone Market Share To Revive Again In 2013: Google Nexus 4 To Lead The Growth

By
Abhishek Singh
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0

Over the last couple of years, LG smartphone market share has seen a huge convulsion. And, few other companies are also expected to face the similar heat in 2013. At this time, we could also perceive  a turmoil inside the world’s leading technology company–Apple. As number of rumors coming out from supply chains, it’s clear that something is going wrong with the company. Recently, the company has halved LCD panel orders from Sharp due to decreasing demand of iPhone 5. Just a few days before, Reuters reported that sharp slowed down the production of 9.7-inch panels used for full-sized iPads.

Of course, Apple’s recent decisions are depicting that the sales of iPhones would decline in the quarter ending March. However, the company’s iPhone 5 is still selling well and also, the demand of the device is expected to remain stronger throughout the current quarter. In this context, it’s really tough to believe that the company has reduced components’ orders, due to weaker demand. Nevertheless, the company might have taken the decision to improve manufacturing yields due to earlier production issues. In addition, the company is expected to launch its next generation iPhone most probably in the mid of this year.

LG Smartphone Market Share

It’s true that Samsung is now the biggest rival of Apple, which has planned to ship 390 million smartphones in 2013. On the other side,  sales of LG’s smartphone are ramping up. In coming days, LG is going to be the second biggest threat for Apple in Smartphone market. According to a recent report from ‘Counterpart Research‘, LG has already overtook Apple in the U.S. in terms of mobile handset shipments.

LG Optimus

In last month, Samsung succeeded to hold number one position  in the country with 33% Smartphone market share, while LG and Apple came second and third with 13% and 12% share respectively. Furthermore, Motorola and HTC managed to grab 9% and 8% market share respectively.

However, the report included sales of feature phones and smartphones together. In about four months since the launch of Optimus G smartphone, LG announced to ship over 1 million units of the device. Anyways, sales of 1 million units of Optimus G don’t keep much of significance as Samsung and Apple sold much higher number of Galaxy SIII and iPhone 5 respectively last year.

Sales Of Nexus 4 In Q4 2012

LG is quite optimistic about its growth in 2013, as it expects to sell 45 million smartphones. In other words, Optimus G has quite succeeded to gain the attention of users across the world. Besides, with Google Nexus 4, the company has also seen a substantial boost in smartphone sales. The company is expected to ship 375,000 units of Nexus 4 smartphone worldwide by the end of December last year.

Apparently, Nexus 4 is one of the best high-end smartphones this time, and demand of the device will remain stronger till the end of the current quarter. More importantly, LG is also expected to manufacture Nexus 5 in 2013. And, if it does so, then it could be easier for Korean electronic giant to regain its Smartphone market share to its golden era back. Undoubtedly, LG is aggressively trying to make a  stronghold in the smartphone market with the launch of slew of high-end smartphones.

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