Nokia (NOK) May Release Microsoft (MSFT) Phone Earlier Than Expected

The short-term narrative for Nokia (NYSE:NOK), as far as it relates to releasing a phone using Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 7 platform is whether or not they can get a smartphone released earlier than expected.

According to Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair, the company is “ahead of schedule in terms of development,” and could release one before 2012.

As to the overall outlook Blair states, “While we continue to feel the next three to four quarters will reflect the company’s transition away from the Symbian OS and show a marked drop in quarterly units for Nokia, we remain positive on the longer-term outlook for Nokia given the Microsoft partnership. It is our view that Nokia Window’s smartphones will become the fourth major player in the smartphone space, following Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and RIM’s (NASDAQ:RIMM) Blackberry OS.”

Blair expects the first phone offered by Nokia on the Windows Phone 7 platform could be debuted a the “Nokia World” conference, which usually is scheduled in the last quarter of the year.

Nokia was trading at $8.51, down $0.10, or 1.10 percent, as of 11:17 AM EDT.

Apple (AAPL) PT Raised to $450 by Gleacher

After another blowout quarter, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unsurprisingly attracted the attention of analysts, including Gleacher & Company analyst Brian Marshall, who raised his price target on the company to $450.

Revenue for the quarter came in at $24.67 billion for the quarter, along with $5.99 billion in profit. A total 18.65 million iPhones sold during that time.

Marshall said, “Sometimes we have to step back from our AAPL financial model and simply shake our heads in awe. It is amazing how it developed over the years.”

“To put this into perspective, over [the iPhone’s] five-year timeframe, Apple will have grown its revenue base more than three-fold while simultaneously more than quadrupling its operating profits,” he added.

Marshall estimates Apple will generate $111.4 billion in revenue for calendar year 2011, with EPS of $27.90.

He is also modeling $132.5 billion in revenue for Apple during calendar year 2012, with $40.9 billion in earnings and the iPhone accounting for about 46 percent of the company’s overall sales.

Apple was trading at $352.30, gaining $9.89, or 2.89 percent, as of 2:35 PM EDT. Marshall reiterates a "Buy" rating on Apple.

Nokia (NOK) Results Beat Expectations, But Loses Market Share

For the first time in over 10 years, the global market share of Nokia (NYSE:NOK) dropped below 30 percent, even as the company beat analysts' expectations for the latest quarter.

Net profit for the quarter fell from euro5 million to euro344 million ($499 million) from the same quarter last year. Revenue grew 9 percent to euro10.40 billion.

Revenue and earnings beat estimates, giving the company shares a boost in earlier trading, although it has pulled back on weaker guidance associated with the transformation to Windows Phone 7 (NASDAQ:MSFT) and effects of the earthquake in Japan, which will impact the performance of the company in the current quarter because of parts shortages.

Nokia sold 24 million smartphones in the quarter, a 13 percent increase over 2010, but its market share for the devices fell to 24 percent from 39 percent last year, according to Strategy Analytics market research.

Nokia sold 108.5 million devices in the first quarter, above the Strategy Analytics estimate of 105 million, and the average selling price of its handsets continued its growth to euro65, from euro62 a year earlier, indicating it is selling more top, expensive models.

"Volumes were better than expected and pricing was stronger," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics . "But it's clear that competition is still tough."

This is actually better news than most realize, as the market is growing for smartphones and basic mobile phones, and even if Nokia drops in market share, it is gaining by growing along with the overall market.

So to lose market share isn't that relevant for them, it's how they're growing along with the expanding market.

Competition will continue to be tough from Google Android (NASDAQ:GOOG), Apple iPhone's (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Blackberry's (NASDAQ:RIMM). But if Nokia responds as they should, it'll make them a better company and competitor over the long haul.

If Nokia can keep up this type of performance until they release significant volumes of smartphones based on Windows Phone 7, and those phones sell well, the company will surprise a lot of people.

Nokia was trading at $8.60, gaining $0.01, or 0.06 percent, as of 1:41 PM EDT.

Verizon (VZ) Profits Soar on IPhone (AAPL) Sales

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) reported a solid quarter as earnings were over triple what they were while taxes were cut, as new customers flocked to the carrier in response to it now carrying Apple's iPhone (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Net income jumped to $1.44 billion, or 51 cents a share, Verizon said today in a statement. Analysts estimated 50 cents a share. Sales were level at $27 billion.

Verizon added 906,000 wireless contract customers in the quarter. Analysts on average projected 998,000. AT&T (NYSE:T), the biggest U.S. phone company, said it added 62,000 users last quarter.

Average monthly bills for wireless contract customers rose 2.2 percent from last year in the same quarter to $53.52, a little under analysts’ average estimate. The data portion climbed 17 percent to $20.51, Verizon said. Bills in the fourth quarter averaged $53.50.

Verizon was trading at $36.94, down $0.85, or 2.25 percent, as of 12:10 PM EDT. Investors are using the relatively average report to take some profits after the recent run up in share price.

Google (GOOG) Vs. Apple (AAPL) in Smartphone War

There is no doubt Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android mobile platform is winning the smartphone war at this time, at least as it relates to market share, as the company gained a huge 7 percent in market share over the last three months, according to Comscore.

Google Android now has a 33 percent market share, with Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM), maker of the BlackBerry, coming in second with 28.9 percent, followed by Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) with 25.2 percent. Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is in fourth with 7.7 percent share.

"The Android gains matter because technology platform markets tend to standardize around a single dominant platform (see Windows in PCs, Facebook in social, Google in search)," noted tech analyst Henry Blodget.

"And the more dominant the platform becomes, the more valuable it becomes and the harder it becomes to dislodge. The network effect kicks in, and developers building products designed to work with the platform devote more and more of their energy to the platform. The reward for building and working with other platforms, meanwhile, drops, and gradually developers stop developing for them."

Some will probably note that are bullish on Apple that they carry the premium segment of the smartphone market, meaning they are able to compete on price and wider margins, generating more earnings.

But that could change if Android starts to carry the day in an even bigger way, and also the response to iPhone 5 when it eventually is released. That has given some opportunity to Google and other rivals, which could hurt Apple over time.

At this time the growing consensus is Google will gain market share in the mobile market, and that will put downward pressure on Apple.

Google was trading at $573.70, gaining $4.61, or 0.81 percent, as of 1:14 PM EDT. Apple was trading at $338.75, falling $0.14, or 0.04 percent.

Nokia (NOK), Apple (AAPL) Patent Battle Part of New Smartphone Business

The new realities in the extraordinarily lucrative smartphone business is the use of patents as a legal tool, as evidenced in the battle between Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Apple NASDAQ:AAPL).

Paul Melin, Nokia's vice president of intellectual property, recently stated, "We treat intellectual property as a business here at Nokia. For us this dispute with Apple is nothing extraordinary, just an instance where one company has refused to pay its fair share for the use of technology we've contributed. ... We have started legal proceedings to enforce our legal rights on our intellectual property in order to get proper compensation, that's the gist of it."

"Apple put the building blocs that were largely built on Nokia's and others technologies together to a very high-end product initially, and then those products have reached a little bit lower price points," Melin added. "Some of Nokia's patents in suit against Apple originate from the mid-90s and describes the key features that you see in the iPhone."

Normally companies ultimately settle these types of cases, and usually those with less patents pay out to the larger holder, which in this case is Nokia.

There would also be licensing deals included in any type of settlement.

Nokia closed Tuesday at $8.77, gaining $0.05, or 0.57 percent. Apple closed at $338.89, dropping 2.30, or 0.67 percent.

Sirius (SIRI) Competitor Pandora Subpoenaed

Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) competitor Pandora has been subpoenaed in a federal investigation in reference to the sharing of personal information via smartphone apps, according to an SEC filing.

Apps in question operated on Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone platforms.

Pandora responded to the news saying there weren't a specific target in the investigation but part of an overall investigation of the industry in regard to the issue.

Evidently other subpoenas have been issued in relationship to the federal investigation, but haven't been identified or confirmed at this time.

Google (GOOG) Hasn't Been "Search" Company for Some Time

The idea that Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is primarily a search company has been left in the dust long ago by the focus and performance of the company, but investors and onlookers continue to think of Google as a search company, when in fact the portion of revenue they generate from search has fallen to about 70 percent, according to its latest earnings report.

In the past Google had generated about 90 percent of its revenue from search, but realized long ago it had to change that in order to survive and thrive.

They have other advertising platforms as well, such as the increasingly popular YouTube, which appears to be turning a profit,

Google doesn't break down all of its ad network, and so we don't know the specific story in detail, but we do know the company is growing beyond its search business, which is good news for investors, even as search revenue continues to be robust.

The other big leg to the revenue picture is the emerging Android platform, which has soared to be the leading smartphone platform as to market share, although it's not as profitable as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone at this time.

There is of course also Google Apps, which is also growing quickly.

The point is, search, while a vital piece of the revenue and earnings puzzle for Google, is slowing giving way to a growing number of products and services which is creating a solid moat for the company in more than one business. Good news for investors.

Just don't think of Google as just a search company anymore, as it skews what they have in fact become.

Google was trading at $587.34, gaining $5.50, or 0.95 percent, as of 1:53 PM EDT.

Nvidia (NVDA) Pressured on PC, Tablet, Smartphone Worries

Confidence in Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) continues to waver as expectations PC demand will continue to fall and the weak presence the company has in the tablet and smartphone segments.

If the concern over the PC market ends up being true and penetration in the tablet and smartphone market continues to be a challenge, Nvidia is definitely in trouble.

A major hope for the company is its contract wins with smartphones in regard to its Tegra Chip. One negative there is the possibility the release of Motorola's Bionic (MMI) will be delayed; the reason shares fell on Wednesday.

Some analysts see the need for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to redesign its iPhones and ipads with better chips, which would position Nvidia strongly in that area, but that's not here nor there, and it could be a long time before that happens, if it ever does.

As far as the here and now, Nvidia has some major hurdles to overcome before confidence in the company is renewed. Some more wins in the smartphone sector is probably the best bet in the near term.

Nvidia closed Wednesday at $18.45, dropping $0.72, or 3.76 percent.

Nokia (NOK) Driving WP7 (MSFT) to Top Apple's (AAPL) iPhone

In an interesting and possible scenario put forth by Research firm IDC, they see Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 7 beating out Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2015, citing the partnership they have with mobile phone giant Nokia (NYSE:NOK).

"Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android (NASDAQ:GOOG)."

IDC also said they see Apple's share shrinking some from the projected 2011 levels over the same period of time ending in 2015.

For Google, they see Android continuing to gain market share and ultimately dominating the sector, rising to a 45.40 share by 2015, up from the 39.5 percent share expected by the end of 2011.

"Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010," Llamas added. "For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party."

For 2011 IDC estimates Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) will have a market share of 14.9 percent, dropping to about 13.70 percent by 2015.

The bottom line for the Nokia, Microsoft projection is to deliver the goods. If they do, it could be a big player in the market, if not, they'll gradually shrink together in the mobile sector, with Nokia being hit the hardest.

Nokia closed Tuesday at $8.68, falling $0.06, or 0.69 percent. Microsoft closed at $25.49, gaining $0.08, or 0.31 percent.

Nokia (NOK) Beefs Up Apple (AAPL) Patent Suits

Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are both trading lower today, as the mobile giant boosted the number of patent-infringement claims against Apple.

In the second patent infringement filing with the U.S. International Trade Commission against Apple, Nokia says Applie has violated numerous patents they hold in reference to use in iPads, iPods, Macs and iPhones.

Areas covered in the patents include call quality, positioning, use of Bluetooth accessories, multi-tasking operating systems and data synchronization.

Nokia head of IP, Paul Melin said, “Our latest ITC filing means we now have 46 Nokia patents in suit against Apple, many filed more than 10 years before Apple made its first iPhone. Nokia is a leading innovator in technologies needed to build great mobile products and Apple must stop building its products using Nokia’s proprietary innovation.”

Nokia was trading at $8.68, down $0.06, or 0.69 percent, as of 11:43 AM EDT. Apple was trading at $349.84, falling $0.60, or 0.17 percent.

Eastman Kodak (EK) Up on Apple, RIM (AAPL) (RIMM) Patent Talk

The probability Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK) may get a windfall settlement with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) for patent infringement has shares of the stock jumping today.

According to CEO Antonio Perez, Eastman "deserves to win" in their patent suit with the two mobile media and communications giants.

Speculation is with Kodak winning recent patent suits against LG and Samsung, there is a good chance they'll win this one as well, with an announcement from the U.S. International Trade Commission coming later today.

At stake today is whether or not the Commission will review a judge's prior findings that Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry don't violate Kodak's patent on an image- preview feature in camera phones.

The major source of revenue for Kodak in the future appears to be from licensing, which at this time drives from $250 to $350 million for them, and that doesn't include what they may get from Apple and Research In Motion.

Eastman was trading at $3.42, up $0.29, or 9.27 percent, as of 11:38 AM EDT.

Blackberry (RIMM) Broken Says Sanford Bernstein

Citing the current strength in overseas sales shrinking, Sanford Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said “BlackBerry (NASDAQ:RIMM) is a broken brand,” and maintains an "Underperform" on the company.

While he's looking for the company's next quarter to be good, as well as the 1st quarter afterwards, he sees full year revenue for RIM dropping to about $23.4 billion, under the consensus of $23.8 billion.

Revenue for the fourth quarter, expected to be reported on Thursday, is projected by Ferragu to reach the high end of RIM’s forecast for $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion.

Noting surveys from 2010 by Bernstein, Ferragu says only about 43 percent of Blackberry owners will continue on with the platform, in contrast to 92% of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone owners and 87% of owners of Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG) “Android“-based phones.

Research in Motion closed at $62.17 on Monday, gaining $1.26, or 2.07 percent.

Apple (AAPL) iPad Has 2-3 Week of Components Left

The immensely popular Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) reportedly only has, at best, 3 weeks of components left to produce the tablet unless something changes in that time. It could be as low as 2 weeks of components left, according to a DigiTimes report.

If Japan doesn't turn things around quickly, production on the iPad will come to a halt unless alternative supplies are found.

Also at risk is Apple's iPhone, which, along with the iPad, could have production shortage through the June quarter, concluded Analysts at Piper Jaffray.

Apple closed Friday at $330.67, down $3.97, or 1.19 percent.

Credit Suisse (CS) Spins Apple (AAPL) As Most Valuable Company

Shares of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) got crushed on Wednesday, plummeting by 4.5 percent after being downgraded.

That has been somewhat answered by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) today, who launched coverage on Apple with an "Outperform" rating and a $500 price target. That is a 52 percent upside from Apple's Wednesday close.

Assuming the price target is accurate, it would make Apple the most valuable company in the world. It makes a nice headline and attracts interest, but that 52 percent upside isn't exactly you can turn on or off as a company.

"In its rating, Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha concluded that Apple should be able to deliver outsized revenue and earnings growth of 50% and 46%, respectively, over the next two years. This would be significantly greater than the consensus expectations," said TheStreet.

"Garcha said Apple's iPhone is still the driver. He sees Apple's smartphone share rising to 20 percent in 2012 driving volume of 72 million units in 2011 and 112 million in 2012. This would translate into revenue for Apple of $47 billion and $67 billion, respectively.

"On the iPad, Garcha sees the tablet market rising to $120 billion in 2015. In the segment, Apple will continue to dominate and they see the company maintaining share as high as 50 percent long-term. By 2012, the Apple's iPad could become a $34 billion business. In addition, iPad gross margins could expand to 35 percent by the end of this year, up form 27 percent in 2010.

"Garcha said he still sees room for an extra $10 per share in earnings, driven by a low-end iPhone, a greater push into emerging markets, along with enterprise traction."

Apple was trading at $338.55, gaining $8.54, or 2.59 percent, as of 12:14 PM EDT.





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Apple (AAPL) Tops in Smartphone Revenue

Even though Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) is far behind market leader Nokia (NYSE:NOK) in global market share for smartphones, they are the leader in revenue generated for smartphones in 2010, according to a report from research firm Strategy Analytics.

"Apple commanded just 16% of the world's smartphone market volume in 2010, Strategy Analytics said, but took in the lion's share of revenue - 29% of all smartphone revenue. Apple shipped roughly 46 million iPhones during 2010; the company charges roughly $600 for its iPhone 4 - putting the iPhone's selling price at the very high end of the market," noted Motley Fool.

"Nokia, which ended the year with 34% smartphone market share, captured 20% of 2010 smartphone revenues, and Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM), which had 16.7% share, took in 15% of smartphone revenues. Combined, the three biggest firms generated 64% of all smartphone revenues."

The research firm predicted that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android smartphone sales will grow significantly in 2011, with players such as ZTE and Huawei crowding in with the likes of Samsung and HTC, particularly at the lower end of the market.

With the smartphone market still wide open and a lot of time to pass before the winners in the narrative emerge, there is already pressure on Apple in pricing, as Google enlarges its position with growing Android sales, which are lower in price and margins, but growing in numbers.

The global economy will be a big part of this story, as it continues to teeter, and appears to be worse than politicians around the world are willing to admit.

In that case, price will become a factor, and it could gravitate toward being more of a commodity sector, which would hurt Apple the most.

Apple was trading at $330.73, down $14.70, or 4.26 percent, as of 2:38 PM EDT. Google was at $557.63, falling $11.93, or 2.09 percent. Nokia was down to $7.90, dropping $0.16, or 1.99 percent.

Apple (AAPL) Sales Soaring in China

After failing in its first attempt to penetrate the Chinese market, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) made the needed adjustments and sales are soaring for the giant tech company.

A year later, its Shanghai’s flagship store is reportedly the most profitable per square foot in the world. There are now waiting lists to buy iPads and iPhones, even though they sell for 30 percent more than in America.

What happened? What did Apple do to turn around its operations when other foreign retailers like Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) had to retreat from the market?

Originally, Apple waited too long to get the iPhone into the market. By the time the iPhone officially sold there, early adopters had already bought around 2 million cracked versions smuggled in from the U.S. and Hong Kong.

So for the iPad, Apple used a different tack. Instead of waiting years as it did with the iPhone, Apple waited only months after it came out in the U.S. to launch the iPad in China. Consumers did not feel the need to travel abroad to shop when they knew products were coming to them soon.

Apple closed Tuesday at $355.76, gaining $0.40, or 0.11 percent.




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Verizon (NYSE:VZ) Ready to Drop Unlimited iPhone (AAPL) Plan

It's not surprising that Verizon (NYSE:VZ) has already hinted the unlimited plan for the Apple iPhone (NASDAQ:AAPL) will probably be terminated in the next several months, as it was obviously not sustainable over a long period of time.

At this time those switching to Verizon's iPhone plan are charged $30 a month for unlimited usage, with the exception of heavy users of the service.

Its only iPhone rival AT&T (NYSE:T) offers a $25 plan for 2Gb of data traffic a month.

Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said, "Why did we do the unlimited $30 plan on the iPhone? Well, the reason we did that was we didn't really want to put up a barrier to anybody who wanted to come over and experience the Verizon Wireless network. So we felt it was important to go out at the $30."

Verizon will eventually go to a tiered payment system when they make the change.

Verizon closed Wednesday at $36.34, up $0.32, or 0.89 percent.

Skyworks Solutions (SWKS), Qualcomm (QCOM), Cirrus Logic (CRUS) Riding the Apple (AAPL) Wave

Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ:SWKS), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS) are among the beneficiaries of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone wave, as the iPad 2 is about to be unveiled on Wednesday, although specs have yet to be revealed there.

Most investors will be closely watching Apple the news concerning the iPad 2, which probably won't surprise many, as a lot of the specs have already been talked about; although anything that isn't known and is unveiled could offer a nice boost to the company.

As for the three stocks mentioned above, they are recipients of the success of the Apple iPhone for several reasons.

For Skyworks, it's from adding another chip to the three power amplifiers it had in the first iPhone 4.

Qualcomm is also providing a 3G wireless chip for the new iPhone.

Cirrus Logic has their audio technology features in several Apple products.

These could be a precursor to iPad 2 specs, which we'll finally know about on Wednesday.

Apple (AAPL) iPhone 4 for Verizon Loses Consumer Reports Endorsement

Saying Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4 for the Verizon Wirless network has similar faults to the one that has weighed on AT&T (NYSE:T), Consumer Reports said they can't give their endoresment to the phone because of the number of dropped calls in certain major regions of the United States.

After testing the phone, which was released this month, Consumer Reports said it won’t include the device on its list of recommended smartphones.

“The Verizon iPhone 4 closely resembles the original AT&T iPhone 4 in many positive respects, including offering great multimedia functionality, a sharp screen, and the best MP3 player we’ve seen on a phone,” Consumer Reports said on its website. “Unfortunately, it also shares with its sibling the possibility of compromised performance in low-signal conditions when used without a bumper or case.”

The iPhone, which first hit stores in 2007, has become Apple’s best-selling product. It accounted for 39 percent of $26.7 billion in total sales in the most recent quarter. Calls may be dropped when the phone is gripped a way that affects the phone’s signal strength, the group said.




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