Motorola has reported a 600 percent increase in profit for the Q2, thanks mainly to its network equipment division and continued strong smartphone sales.
Droid smartphones, including the original Droid and new Droid X, continued strong sales, and both are well received, critically.
Both devices are sold through Verizon Wireless, the U.S.’ largest carrier.
Most of the quarterly profit came from the company’s networks equipment unit, which Motorola plans to sell to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion.
Overall earnings came to $162 million, up from $26 million last year.
Motorola shipped 2.7 million smartphones during the quarter with 14 million expected for the full year. Co-CEO Jha says he expects the phone business to be profitable by the fourth quarter, for the first time in four years.
Result for: fourth quarter
Barnes & Noble has reported a large fourth quarter loss this week, citing its expensive push into the e-book and e-reader markets.
Additionally, the company forecasted lower future earnings, as it keeps expanding into aforementioned markets.
For the fourth quarter ended May, the company lost $32 million, compared with a $3 million loss in the same period last year.
Revenue, however, rose to $1.32 billion from $1.1 billion, beating analyst expectations.
The book company recently slashed the price of the Nook Android e-reader from $260 to $200, and introduced a 3G-stripped Wi-Fi only version for $150.
B&N’s move prompted Amazon to drop the price of their market leading Kindle to $190.
Result for: fourth quarter
Sony has announced today that the PlayStation 3 hardware is finally profitable, and the company expects its game business to be profitable for the year as well.
“The game business achieved a profit in the fourth quarter due to strong sales of first-party software and the elimination of negative margins on the PS3,” adds Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony’s new chief financial officer.
The fourth quarter ended March 31st, 2010.
The hardware had been sold for less than cost since its release in November 2006, and high manufacturing costs made the console a continued money loser until just recently.
In late 2009, Sony released a “Slim” version of the PS3, which has more streamlined internals, and a cheaper price tag which led to an increase in sales. Manufacturing costs continue to fall as well, and it appears that Sony will reap the benefits of a profitable fiscal year.
For the fiscal year ended March 31st, Sony lost $540 million USD for their games division. That will change this year. “For this year we expect to be able to generate at least double-digit profits,” adds Oneda, via BusinessWeek.
