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The once top retailer of music CDs, HMV, has struggled in recent months facing intensifying competition from digital retailers, and peer-to-peer Internet networks where people illegally share their music free of charge.
The result has been a significant decline in earnings for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, such as HMV.
The HMV stock (LON:HMV) has lost a significant amount of its value in recent months, reflecting slumping earnings and lost market share.
The second-top parcel delivery company in the world, FedEx, today upped earnings projections for the current fiscal quarter and for full year earnings.
The company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Alan Graf, made the announcement early today in a written statement.
Mr. Graf said the increase in earnings projections were a direct result of better-than-anticipated volume growth with Express and Ground shipments.
Google today started to add support for embedded YouTube videos based on HTML5, and not on the traditional Flash platform the company currently uses to power videos.
Users could already embed HTML5 videos, as the company continues to test the platform that many argue is more secure and more efficient than Adobe’s proprietary Flash platform.
One of the most publically critical companies to criticize the Flash platform is Apple, who banned the platform in its popular products, including the iPhone 4 and the iPad tablet computer.
According to new SEC published report, the computer giant Dell Inc. has agreed to pay a $100-million fine to the commission following five years of litigation relating to a fraud case involving the company and its top executives.
The SEC alleged the company failed to disclose its relationship with Intel Corporation, who was providing huge payments to Dell in exchange for exclusively using Intel microprocessors in Dell products.
The issue was that the payments that were made by Intel were material over several fiscal quarters hence distorted true operational earnings that ultimately mislead investors into believing that the company was more profitable than it really was.
The top mobile phone maker by volume in the world, Nokia, today released earnings for the second quarter of 2010.
The company reported a massive operating loss of EUR 295-million, marking a significant 31-percent increase in operating losses compared to the same period last year.
Nokia is still shipping the most volume when it comes to mobile phones in the world, posting net sales of EUR 10-billion (shipping 111.1-million units in the period), up 1-percent YoY, but the company is suffering from slumping profits because it is selling fewer smartphones that normally carry higher margins.
The popular movie and TV show streaming and rental service, Netflix, has announced it would expand its streaming content service to north of the boarder starting some time in fall.
The company currently offers content streaming from the cloud to a variety of consumer electronics, including televisions, through Microsoft’s gaming console the Xbox 360 (including the other current next-generation gaming consoles), and personal computers, among other devices.
The company only said it would expand its reach into Canada in fall, but declined to release information relating to a more specific time frame or possible pricing.
Google has just announced the company would no longer sell its flagship Nexus One Android powered smartphone directly to consumers.
The company said in a statement found on the product website that it has received the final batch of shipments from its manufacturing partner, Taiwanese-based High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), and that it would not be selling additional units after the final inventory is depleted.
During Apple’s held press conference yesterday that explained the antenna issues with the latest iPhone 4, the company alleged other smartphones also have similar connectivity issues if the devices are held in certain ways.
Apple specifically made these claims against Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry, including other top phone makers like Nokia, Samsung, and High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC).
Today, both Nokia and RIM published statements debunking Apple’s claims against their products.
Update: Apple says 0.55% of all consumers who purchased the new iPhone 4 have called the company about reception issues. The company went on to say only 1.7-percent returned their iPhone 4, compared to a 6-percent return rate for the iPhone 3GS. The company said all smartphones have a weakness and that they are not perfect, and that less than 1-percent of the iPhone 4 devices have the reception issue. To remedy the issue, Apple will not conduct a recall, but will offer free cases. In order to get your case, simply fill the registration form on the Apple website starting early next week.
In about one hour’s time, Apple will deliver a press conference where the company is widely expected to discuss attenuation issues found in a significant number of new iPhone 4 devices.
Over the last few days, consumers who exchanged their faulty devices reported the issue was no longer present, though that information has yet to be confirmed.
The New York City-based financial intermediary, Citigroup, today announced earnings for the second quarter of 2010.
The bank reported total revenue of $22.1-billion, and a strong $2.7-billion ($0.09 per share) net profit for the period, marking the second straight quarter of consecutive growth.
Net earnings topped The Street’s expectations, but the Citigroup stock (NYSE:C) is trading more than 3.70-percent down to about $4 per share as actual revenue missed expectations.
YouTube today became the first online video sharing website to add support for videos captured in beyond high definition resolutions.
The company more recently added 1080p support, but today said it can now support videos up to 4096×3072 resolution, which is more than four times more than 1080p HD video.
YouTube said it can also support videos more than 1080p and less than 4096px, meaning it can support intermediate resolutions between those numbers.
The top consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy Co., recently announced the company would offer its own branded wireless Internet service through a partnership with Sprint, called Best Buy Connect.
The service will launch in a few days on July 11, and will be available with or without terms starting at $29.99 for 250MB, according to the company.
Best Buy Connect VP Jed Stillman said today in a statement, “We are building on a great brand and foundation to enable people to rely on us for one-stop shopping and support for their mobile computing experience,”
The Research In Motion stock (TSE:RIM) is surging in past mid-day trading as the company confirmed today it would launch a new BlackBerry application store in China.
BlackBerry smartphones already available in China through China Telecom, but the application store comes as the company tries to make its devices more consumer friendly as competing products such as the iPhone from Apple become more enterprise capable.
The Toronto-based IT provider, CGI, has won a new multi-year contract to provide IT services to The Beer Store in Ontario.
The Beer Store distributes and sells beer in the province, and is operated by the government.
The Beer Store has an 85-percent market share in Ontario, and distributes beer to more than 16,000 bars and restaurants in Ontario, and also services 604 LCBO stores in the province.
NTP Corporation today announced it has launched new lawsuits against numerous technology firms for alleged patent infringement related to eight patents held by the company in wireless email delivery.
NTP has filed suit against LG Electronics, Microsoft, Motorola, Apple, Google, High Tech Computer (HTC) Corporation in a U.S. District Court in Virginia.
NTP has already successfully sued firms for infringements on the same patents it is filing suit for today.
HMV launches digital music store, competition is greatly intensifying
FedEx stock surges as full year forecasted earnings upped
Google seemingly embracing HTML5, as YouTube videos set to support the standard
Michael Dell pays $4mn SEC fine following disclosure probe
Nokia optimistic as second quarter profits down 31-percent
Netflix to offer movie streaming in Canada
Google to stop selling Nexus One smartphone directly to consumers
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