Gaming startup OUYA has put itself up for sale with a buyer likely needed for the company to avoid bankruptcy.
According to a leaked email from CEO Julie Uhrman sent to investors, the company could not restructure its existing debt with the venture capital firm TriplePoint Capital, and the debt is expected to be in excess of $10 million.
The company launched a Android gaming set-top box after a huge campaign on Kickstarter but the system could not compete with offerings from bigger tech companies and had to move away from hardware. The company began licensing its operating system, and very recently received $10 million from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba who will use the service on some of its set-tops. OUYA also has deals with Xiaomi for delivery of games on their TVs.
Uhrman wrote: "Given our debtholder's timeline, the process will be quick. We are looking for expressions of interest by the end of this month."
"Our focus now is trying to recover as much investor capital as possible," Uhrman added. "We believe we've built something real and valuable. I continue to read the tweets and emails of our fans who play OUYA every day, and our catalog is now over 1,000 apps and 40,000 developers. We have the largest library of Android content for the TV (still more than Amazon) -- hells ya!"
Samsung Electronics announced this week that its profits fell 39 percent year-over-year as Apple's latest offerings cut into sales.
For the quarter ended March 31st, net profit was 4.63 trillion won ($4.35 billion), down from 7.49 trillion in the same period last year. Most of the loss in profits was due to the underperforming mobile division, which saw profits of just 2.74 trillion won ($2.5 billion) compared to 6.43 trillion ($6 billion) a year earlier.
While Samsung still outsold Apple, it is clear the company lost major ground in the high-end luxury smartphone market, where the margins are biggest. Samsung is said to have sold around 83 million phones, compared to Apple's 61 million iPhones sold for the quarter.
Overall, the quarterly revenue for the company fell 12 percent YoY to 47.12 trillion won ($43.7 billion).
Despite the large drop, Samsung says it expects to rebound in the following quarters as the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which feature high-end premium metal designs and the latest spec sheets.
According to the well-connected Paul Thurrott, Microsoft will announce this week that Windows 10 phone and tablet users will be able to run Android apps on their devices.
The announcement comes on the heels of the company's BUILD conference aimed at developers.
While the move is a huge win for consumers who would like to have access to great native apps, Microsoft appears to be quitting on Windows Phone if the report is accurate.
Thurrott says: "When it comes time to upgrade, why would anyone choose a Windows Phone at that point? (A problem exacerbated by Microsoft's focus on low-end Windows Phone handsets.) Instead, most will simply choose Android, since they are now comfortable with those apps, and for the many advantages that Android has over Windows Phone generally." I agree.
In addition, "For developers who have invested a lifetime of learning and mastering Microsoft's platforms, Android compatibility is a slap in the face. This sends the message that they have wasted their time and that it's time to move on to a more successful platform since, after all, the apps you create for Android will now work on Android and Windows/Windows Phone."
After months of fighting, Cyanogen has officially dropped OnePlus as one of its hardware partners.
The move was entirely expected, especially since OnePlus has already begun using their own OxygenOS operating system on their devices.
Cyanogen's Steve Kondik says the two companies had completely different visions and this caused clashes between employees and philosophies. "That's probably the last you will see from that partnership. Two new companies are trying to do crazy stuff, a lot of people collide," added Kondik.
CEO Kirt McMaster, never one to mince words, says OnePlus used Cyanogen's brand to sell hardware before moving on, essentially using the company, but he did wish OnePlus the best in the future.
So what is Cyanogen looking to do now? New partners, of course. "OnePlus shipped reasonable volume, but nothing compared to what some of these other partners can ship...we are working with partners that can scale much quicker," noted McMaster.
According to a recent filing with the U.S. SEC, it appears that Microsoft continues to lose money on every Windows Phone it sells, and may have to write-off a multi-billion dollar loss thanks to its acquisition of Nokia's handset business.
In the filing, it is noted that Microsoft lost at least $4 million for the quarter ended March 31st, losing up to 12 cents per phone before including costs of marketing and R&D.
"Given its recent performance, the Phone Hardware reporting unit is at an elevated risk of impairment," warned Microsoft in the filing. "Declines in expected future cash flows, reduction in future unit volume growth rates, or an increase in the risk-adjusted discount rate used to estimate the fair value of the Phone Hardware reporting unit may result in a determination that an impairment adjustment is required, resulting in a potentially material charge to earnings."
The last time Microsoft issued a similar warning was right before the company took a massive $6.2 billion write-off for its failed acquisition of the Quantive marketing company. Some expect Microsoft to take a $5.6 billion loss on the $7 billion acquisition of Nokia that former CEO Steve Ballmer pushed for before leaving the company.
Facebook has announced the addition of video calling to Messenger as the company looks to take on Skype and FaceTime.
The updated Messenger app will allow you to call anyone by simply tapping the video icon.
Reads the Facebook statement:
Today, we're introducing video calling in Messenger. Now you can have face-to-face conversations with your friends and the people you care about, via Messenger.
You can quickly start a video call from any conversation with just one tap. If you're messaging with someone and realize that words just aren't enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation.
Voice Calling has already been standard through Messenger for some time, if you prefer to not see the person on the other line.
Video calling in Messenger is available today for iOS and Android in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay.
Canon reported their quarterly earnings today and one thing is clear: nobody is buying compact digital cameras.
The Japanese company is the world's largest camera maker.
Profits came in at 33.93 billion yen ($284 million) for the period ended March 31st, much lower than the 53.64 billion yen ($450 million) analyst estimates for the quarter. This complete miss was due to an even larger drop in digital camera sales than expected.
Since Apple released the iPhone and Google released the first Android phone, sales of compact digital cameras are down 70 percent. The company lowered its forecast to 7-7.8 million units sold, a 23 percent decline from 2014.
High-end SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses saw a decline, as well, but lesser in scale. Sales are projected at 5.8 million, a 9.4 percent YoY decline.
LG's new Urbane smartwatch is available now via the Google Store, the first smartwatch to include Google's massive new Android Wear update.
The stainless steel watch with a circular display also comes with a leather band, giving it a luxury feel compared to rubber bands and plastic seen on many other Android Wear devices.
Google recently unveiled the Android Wear update, which enables Wi-Fi on some devices (meaning no Bluetooth necessary for some features even when your phone is not around), a low-power mode to dim the display while your apps remain open and even gesture-based navigation.
The device sells for $349 with free shipping and comes in both gold and silver. Google expects to start shipping on May 8th.
Major retailer Best Buy has finally announced support for Apple Pay.
The company has announced that their iOS app will now allow customers to purchase using Apple Pay for delivery or in-store pickup. If you are looking to use Apple Pay in the physical store, however, you have a few more months to wait.
Best Buy says that "later this year" shoppers will be able to use the NFC-based service to pay with their iPhone 6/6 Plus at local checkout registers. "Today's consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy," the company added.
While it is unsurprising that a major retailer would support Apple Pay, the announcement is surprising given Best Buy's previous stance on the service. Best Buy, Walmart, Sears, CVS and Rite Aid all created the Merchant Customer Exchange (CurrentC) mobile payments platform to compete against Apple Pay but that service has gotten zero traction in the industry so it's clear Best Buy adapted to the situation.
Samsung has revealed that its upcoming Gear smartwatch successor will have a circular display, keeping in line with the more popular non-Apple Watch designs.
In addition, the company will release their SDK for the Gear to developers even before the launch of the product, to ensure everything is smooth when it is released as current Samsung developers move away from the boxy shape of the previous smartwatches from the company.
"Samsung has actively adapted its approach to wearable device development as the leader of the rapidly developing category," said JK Shin, CEO and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "Through meaningful and progressive innovation, Samsung welcomes to developers and industry leaders to join this open collaboration effort to enrich and create unique user experiences for a new smart mobile life."
In their teaser media invite, the company promises apps from CNN, Yelp, Fidme, Baidu and Apposter as well as a specialized weather app.
If you are currently residing in Brazil and are looking to get the trendiest and most expensive smartwatch out there, the Apple Watch, you better have a fat wallet.
Thanks to huge import tariffs designed to protect local businesses, and a volatile local currency, the Apple Watch Edition that costs $17,000 in the U.S. will set you back over $30,000 in Brazil.
Even the cheapest Apple Watch, the Sport edition that retails for $349 in the States will cost you $625 in South America's most populous country.
This is not the first time we've seen a mind blowing number for an electronic device in Brazil. Last year, gaming fans had to drop over $1800 to purchase the Sony PlayStation 4 that retailed for $399.
As expected, Apple has reported another massive quarter, thanks yet another strong showing from the iPhone and huge growth in China.
In addition to their big revenue and profits, Apple has announced it will return $200 billion to its shareholders via special dividends and stock buybacks over the next 24 months.
For the quarter, Apple had revenue of $58 billion, up 27 percent year-over-year, and net profit of $13.6 billion, up 40 percent YoY.
Apple sold 61.2 million iPhones for the quarter, up 40 percent YoY, and the average selling price for the smartphone was $658.53. Apple CEO Tim Cook noted: "We're seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we've experienced in previous cycles, and we're off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch." Cook did not elaborate on Watch pre-order sales figures.
iPads remained a drag, with 12.62 million units sold, down 23 percent YoY and an average selling price of $430. Cook says the Mac and larger screen iPhones are cannibalizing the tablet and he's certainly right, and there does not appear to be a plan in place to slow down the falling sales.
Mac computers saw 4.56 million units sold, down from 4.7 million expected as consumers wait on the new line of thinner MacBook Pros.
The latest Windows 10 for mobile, build 10070, appears to show an update for the Live Tile app system that leaves very little room next to each tile.
Allegedly running on the Samsung ATIV S (which has a 4.8-inch 720p display), the update seems to line up four tiles per line with thin borders between each, seemingly squeezing as many tiles as possible.
As with all early builds, the tile sizing is subject to change but as of right now it looks pretty decent, at least on a 4.8-inch display.
Overall, the entire build is said to be buggy, but that is to be expected three months ahead of launch.
Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have an interesting look into the negotiations that it took Sony Electronics to get their latest Xperia smartphone into the hand's of James Bond for the upcoming Spectre.
Despite the fact that Sony Pictures is producing the film, there was no playing favorites, and Sony will have to pay an exorbitant amount to get the phone featured in Spectre.
Here are some of the emails:
30 September 2014
"The mobile phones seem to be the priority for placement. I know that the phones are Sony's priority as well. I've been asked to have the design team focus on creating an über modern phone instead of focusing on an existing product."
"I told AMy that we would try to get the phone in the film . I would like for you to send me a photo of the phone that they would like for us to use and Sam will ask the art department to alter it according to his specifications ..we do not want to do it the other way around..I told AMy that if we are to use the phone we would need to get compensation as we would be giving up a potentially huge product placement deal."
Followed by:
2 October 2014
"Barbara wants to get a PLACEMENT FEE for putting the phone in. She understands that Sony is willing to commit to a marketing/advertising campaign of 18MM, but she wants an additional placement fee. In the past, Sony Electronics/Mobile has not paid a fee...but has paid the following:
Activision has released the first official gameplay trailer for the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, the latest in the blockbuster franchise.
The publisher also confirmed the release date, which had been leaked yesterday.
"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a dark, gritty future where a new breed of Black Ops soldier emerges and the lines are blurred between our own humanity and the cutting-edge military robotics that define the future of combat," reads the statement.
The soldier in play appears to have a plethora of new and cool tools, including the ability to transform his arm into a gun and send out a swarm of nano bots.
COD: Black Ops 3 goes on sale November 6th and if you pre-order 6 months early (now) you can get access to the multiplayer beta.
Gaming startup OUYA has put itself up for sale with a buyer likely needed for the company to avoid bankruptcy.
Samsung Electronics announced this week that its profits fell 39 percent year-over-year as Apple's latest offerings cut into sales.
According to the well-connected Paul Thurrott, Microsoft will announce this week that Windows 10 phone and tablet users will be able to run Android apps on their devices.
