Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Looking to get an Eee PC for less than an iPod?  Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?  Well, in its quarterly investors earnings call, Asustek announced a great number of things, including the fact that the baseline Eee PCs will be lowered to $200 by the end of 2009.  It seems 1.7 million Eee PCs were shipped last quarter, and Asus is expecting 1.8 million to be shipped this coming quarter.  There is some bad news for some, though.

Along with the price announcement, Asus announced that the 7” and 8.9” models will soon be phased out in favor of the 10-inch models.  That’s somewhat sad to me at least.  The 8.9” is the perfect size I think, especially if the screens on the 8.9” and 10” are the same resolution.

More after the break.

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The US has been having tough times lately on Wall Street.  Meanwhile, it’s rumored that the “tech giants” may not be following suit (that’s a good thing).  Google, Microsoft, and IBM are expected to report their second quarter (Q2) 2008 earnings later today.  How do you think they’ll do?

Read on for times and webcast information.

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Alltel, normally perceived to be at the back of the nationwide carriers pack, posted record customer growth in Q1, adding more than 1 million customers for the second consecutive quarter (up 26% from last year), now totaling over 13 million subscribers.

President and CEO Scott Ford said, “We are pleased with our results across the board, and I am extremely proud of our team for staying focused in our first full quarter under new ownership.  We are off to a strong start for the year, with consolidated EBITDA up 18 percent year-over-year.“

Revenues rose to $2.3 billion, an 11% growth from last year.  However, the company reported a net loss of $125 million, due primarily to significant increases in interest costs and depreciation and amortization expense following the completion of the merger with an affiliate of TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners in November 2007.  The company has ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company’s consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was at $847 million, 18% higher than previous year.

Via [electronista]

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• HTC Touch Pro now available with Alltel

Sony is predicting higher growth than their target for the rest of the year despite posting a surprising $45 million loss in January through March. The company’s performance was an improvement from a $1.08 billion loss from last year but still short of an average profit estimate of $260 million from five analysts. Sony’s shares at the New York Stock Exchange rose to $49.48, a 7.4% growth after the results were announced.

The electronics giant experienced strong sales of VAIO PCs, Cyber-shot digital cameras, and Handycam video cameras and sees its videogame and TV operations as their profit generators for the year. The company was also able to narrow PlayStation 3 losses by cutting production costs and expanding sales.

Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer’s efforts to turnaround the company has been more aggressive over the past three years. The company has already streamlined its manpower requirements and even shed non-core assets. The company plans to disclose its new business strategy in June.

Read [Reuters]

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HTC’s financial report earnings for Q1 2008 are out, and it’s showing a $32.7 billion NT, or about $1.08 billion US. Not bad for a company who used to only work behind the scenes for other mobile handset makers, and only recently started to roll out products under their own name. All in all, that’s a 38.6% year-on-year increase, although they’re lagging a little over 16% behind their earnings from the last quarter. Whether this fact has any real effect on HTC or not, it’s pretty clear that the company is currently on a roll. And once their Google Android powered HTC Dream is released, I’m sure they’ll be able to tap into even more markets, especially those in the business community.

Sources from inside HTC say, “The first-quarter bonus-adjusted net earnings were higher than expected due to a higher-than-expected gross margin and lower operating expenses in the January-March period.“ Well, if that’s the case then I’n sure they’re not only well on their way to delivering the Dream, but could quite possibly roll out even more than what the public expects. Either way, the company seems to be in tip-top shape. Does that mean they can afford to lower pricing now?

Via [IntoMobile]

• HTC Touch Pro now available with Verizon
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Apple has posted some exciting news, their first quarter earnings have been the “best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history.“ The first quarter earnings posted a revenue of $9.6 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion. These numbers are up from a revenue of $7.1 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1 billion during the same quarter in the previous year.

These record breaking numbers come from sales that included 2.3 million computers, 2.3 million iPhones and 22 million iPods during the quarter. While the market share of the Mac may not be what the PC holds, its very hard to argue that these are impressive numbers.

Read [Apple]

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