Articles for Mobile Phones

Qualcomm Revised to $67.50 on Solid Outlook with Better Pricing

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Friday, February 3rd, 2012 by Trefis Team

Following up on a strong September quarter, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) reported blowout Q1 FY 2012 results yesterday, capping off what has been an excellent year for the company. Qualcomm’s revenue for the last quarter came in on the higher end of their $4.35-$4.75 billion guidance announced in October at $4.68 billion, which was a 40% increase over the same period last year and 14% higher sequentially. Both its chipset and licensing divisions saw healthy growth as a seasonally strong December quarter, made more so by the launch of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S, shored up their respective revenues by 19% and 6% sequentially. While chipset sales increased 23% sequentially, CDMA device ASPs also increased by close to 4% over the last quarter which provides support to our expectations for future royalty revenues in the coming quarters.

In light of the bumper earnings and sound guidance for the coming quarters, we have updated our price estimate for Qualcomm’s stock to $67.50.

RIM’s U.S. Market Share Losses Slow, But Challenges Persist

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Friday, February 3rd, 2012 by Trefis Team

Research in Motion’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) worsening position in North America, especially in the U.S., continues to worry RIM shareholders. The company has struggled against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android ecosystem in the smartphone and tablet markets. There is a ray of hope though as ComScore recently reported that RIM’s market share losses in the U.S. smartphone market slowed down in December 2011. The market share declined from 16.6% in November 2011 to 16.0% in December 2011, which was better than market share losses reported in previous months.

Our $16.50 price estimate for RIM stock is about 3% below market price.

Weekly Mobile Updates: Qualcomm and Apple

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Friday, February 3rd, 2012 by Trefis Team

The past week saw Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) report excellent December quarter results Wednesday, capping off what has been an excellent year for the company and heading into 2012 on a high note. This comes on the back of record iPhone sales reported last week by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which helped it reclaim its spot at the top of the smartphone market from Samsung. Further, record-breaking iPad sales also helped Apple dethrone HP (NYSE:HPQ) as the largest global PC player. Finally, in a move that could further boost Apple’s iPhone sales, China Telecom (NYSE:CHA) confirmed that it was all set to launch the iPhone 4S on its network as early as the end of February or the beginning of March. Read More »

Apple’s iPad Leads In Customer Ratings; Kindle Fire Follows

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Friday, February 3rd, 2012 by Trefis Team

Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire may be much cheaper than the iPad but it lags behind when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to a survey conducted by market research firm Changewave Research. The survey revealed that 74% of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad customers were ‘Very Satisfied’ with the tablet as opposed to 54% for the Fire. However, the Fire fared much better than its other tablet competitors, who received an average rating of 49% combined. We believe that customer satisfaction is a good indicator of the future demand for tablets and the Fire has done really well in the limited time it has had in the market, but the iPad will continue to set the pace for this relatively nascent industry.

iPhone 4S Pushes Apple to Number 3 Spot in Overall Mobile Phone Market

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Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 by Trefis Team

Ever since iPhone 4S was launched in October last year, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has made rapid strides in the mobile phone market. According to a latest report published by IDC for 2011, record sales of the iPhone pushed Apple past ZTE and LG to become the third-largest handset vendor in the world. Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Samsung continue to take the top two spots in the global mobile market, although Nokia experienced an year-over-year sales decline of around 8% and is heavily reliant on low end phones targeting emerging markets.

Our $550 price estimate for Apple stock is about 20% above market price.

Apple Leads Global Chips Market Shift from PCs to Wireless

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Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 by Trefis Team

The iPhone and the iPad have helped Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) lead the global trend in chip expenditure that has pushed wireless devices past the sales of computer chips. According to an iSuppli report, wireless devices have become the largest consumers of the semiconductor market, and account for 24% of the total chips sold. The report also mentioned that Apple was, by far, the largest spender on semiconductors in the tablet space with an expenditure of $4.6 billion, followed by Samsung at $600 million and HTC at $200 million.

The iPhone accounts for more than 50%, and iPad for around 13% of our $550 price estimate for Apple stock. Our price estimate is about 20% above market price.

Apple’s Chinese Suppliers Have a Large Say in How 2012 Shapes Up

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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 by Trefis Team

Over the last few years, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has encountered numerous raw material supply-related issues but has overcome these challenges every time, resisting any kind of impact on the production of its devices. There have been few such incidents last year, such as the Japanese earthquake and shortage of labor and material in China. But Apple managed these problems deftly while other tech players such as Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), HP (NYSE:HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) suffered.

However some other issues could crop up regarding the safety and environmental impact of some of Apple’s Chinese suppliers following a string of incidences last year. In one instance, one of Apple’s iPad makers was accused of using noxious gases that poisoned several workers.

Our $550 price estimate for Apple stock is about 20% above market price.

Qualcomm’s Mirasol Technology Continues to Gain Traction

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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 by Trefis Team

Qualcomm’s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Mirasol technology has started to secure more orders from South Korea, China and Taiwan based e-book reader customers, according to a DigiTimes report. Mirasol is a niche technology used in the manufacturing of display panels for mobile devices like e-readers, smartphones and tablets, and competes with popular technologies like LCD, which is used in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) smartphone devices; E-Ink, which is used in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle e-reader; and OLED (also used in smartphones). The report also stated that Qualcomm has announced cooperation with Kyobo, a South Korea-based book seller, China-based Hanwang Technology and Taiwan-based Koobe.

Although Mirasol currently only accounts less than 2% of our $62 price estimate for Qualcomm stock, its future growth prospects could make it an important business for Qualcomm. Our price estimate for Qualcomm stock is about 5% above market price.

China Telecom Confirms iPhone 4S Launch As Early As February

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Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 by Trefis Team

China Telecom (NYSE:CHA) and Apple (NYSE:AAPL) are both set to reap the benefits from the iPhone 4S launch on China Telecom’s network. According to a report in China Daily, China Telecom could start selling the device as early as the end of February or the beginning of March. In this regard, China Telecom joins China Unicom (NYSE:CHU), which was thus far the only operator offering the iPhone with contract in China. This is a big win for Apple as well and will help it expand its presence in China. Meanwhile, the deal with China Mobile (NYSE:CHL), which is the largest wireless carrier in the world, still remains in the works for Apple.

Our $68 price estimate for China Telecom stock is about 20% above market price, and our $550 price estimate for Apple stock is also about 20% above market price.

RIM’s New CEO Faces Huge Challenges in Turnaround Attempt

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Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 by Trefis Team

Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) received a lot of media attention ever since its leadership shakeup. A few days ago, the company announced the replacement of its co-Chief Executive Officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis with Thorsten Heins as President and CEO. The shakeup was not surprising as the company continues to struggle against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android ecosystem in the smartphone and tablet market.

During a conference call held last week, Heins’ comments were interpreted by some investors as a sign that he would run RIM much in the way of his predecessors and would not bring about any drastic changes (Read Heins’ Defense of RIM’s Strategy Sinks Stock). These comments caused RIM’s stock to decline by more than 8%.

RIM’s stock rebounded a bit when more recently, Heins asserted that RIM will make a push to regain market share in North America through a variety of promotions with carriers that will include more than just discounts.

Our $16.50 price estimate for RIM stock is about 3% below market price.