Nokia Q2 results are out, profits fall as smartphones get cheaper

And the results are in - Nokia just announced their Q2 financial results. To summarize - sales are up, profits are down, shifting currency exchange rates didn't help and smartphones have sold more units and have gotten cheaper, compared to previous periods.

The net sales for the Nokia Corporation 10 005 million euro (12.842 billion US dollars) and the net operating profit is 660 million euro. Net sales are 1% higher than the year ago quarter and 5% higher the previous quarter. However, operating profit has fallen.

Looking at just the mobile phone division, it has net sales of 6 800 million euro (3% higher YoY and 2% higher QoQ) and 643 million euro operating profit - 16% down YoY and 23% down QoQ.

"Converged mobile devices" (that is smartphones and mobile computers) accounted for just over half of those sales. That's 12% more sales than converged devices managed in last year's second quarter.

This is likely due to the noticeable drop in the average selling price for smartphones - it's 143 euro (184 USD) for the second quarter of this year, down from 181 euro (232 USD) for last years Q2. That's a 21% drop. Feature phones have a mostly stable average selling price of 39 euro.

Nokia attributes the falling gross margins to "price pressure" in the high-end segment and depreciation of the euro. Industry-wide shortages of some components had a negative impact on sales and Nokia predicts those shortages will continue into the third quarter as well.

For much more numbers and details, check out the full report.

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BREAKING NEWS: Shahrukh Khan to act with wife Gauri Khan

 

Now that Shah Rukh is taking time off from shooting for his various endorsements to concentrate on RA.One , wife Gauri Khan is exploring unchartered territory. She has bagged her first brand endorsement with her husband. 

Very soon, the couple will be seen in a television commercial. The buzz in the industry is that they will endorse a very popular furnishing house. The shoot for the commercial is likely to take place in Mumbai.

Ad filmmaker, Sunhil Sippy, (who directed Snip ) will be directing King Khan and his wife in this commercial. And in this stint, Sunhil seems to have got by with a little help from his friends Makarand Deshpande and Saurabh Shukla actively helping him out wherever possible. 

Gauri, who has always maintained a very low profile in the industry, is known to have designed costumes for her husband during his Baazigar (1993) days. She turned producer with Main Hoon Na (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007). According to the source Gauri is finally letting go of her shell. 

Gauri has been approached for commercials earlier but somehow things never worked out. This commercial with Shah Rukh will be her first full-fledged assignment in front of the camera,” added the source. 

Be it Saif Ali khan and Kareena Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai or Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna, star couples have always sizzled on the small screen.

Laughter the key in the Phillipines

MANILA: Residents in an elderly home in Manila have been laughing in an unusual therapy session. Seniors have been practicing laughter yoga, a form of exercise that aims to help them awaken their senses and punctuate their long bouts of solitude. Guidance counselor Paolo Trinidad says laughing out woes will promote a healthier mindset, and he has embarked on a mission to spread the laughter and the good vibes. Laughter yoga involves self-triggered laughter that is not necessarily initiated by humour. The exercise routines combine yoga breathing techniques and laughter simulation with stretching, chanting and role playing. 'That's the gist of laughter yoga. We will be laughing without any reason, no jokes. We will be laughing because we want to be healthy. We have to have a good mind, good mindset,' laughter yoga professor Paolo Trinidad said. He has just completed training in Bangalore with Madan Kataria, who popularised laughter yoga or 'hasyayoga'. Kataria's routines led to the formation of Laughter Clubs in 60 countries, following his precept that mood can be changed at will. Trinidad left India convinced of hasyayoga's therapeutic potential and has since promoted the philosophy in the Philippines. Advocates of laughter yoga say it can uplift one's mood, increase energy levels, improve memory, tone the body and strengthen the immune system. 'Actually, faking and real laughter - there's no difference when it comes to the effect. The psychological effects to the brain, to the behaviour, and the physiological. They are all the same. So it's so good to fake it till you make it,' Trinidad said. Trinidad emphasised however that laughter yoga is not a cure-all, and laughing is not meant to bury problems but rather help the individual rise above them. 'Through laughter yoga, you will automatically become positive. So you will see the problem in a different light. You will see what the purpose is. I really recommend that people try this because it's a very very rich experience, and it's very spiritual,' Trinidad said. Trinidad conducts laughter yoga sessions in other institutions, including an abused children's shelter, a cancer ward, schools and corporate offices.

Deepika Padukone gets a new tattoo

MUMBAI: The super model and the daughter of ace tennis player- Prakash Padukone, who made her dream debut opposite Shahrukh Khan in Farah khan's Om Shanti Om has a new reason to smile. The tall actress recently got a painful tattoo done at her ankle. The entire process of the tattoo was quite painful as ankle is one of the toughest places to get a tattoo. The actress who already has a tattoo at the nape of her neck has designed her new tattoo in the shape of an anklet. The idea of tattoo clicked to her mind during the shooting of her movie in London. Although her decision of getting a tattoo done was quite spontaneous, but Deepika was quite excited about the proposal and took keen interest, in its making. However the actress who is also a former tennis player herself at the national level has denied to reveal the place from where she has got the tattoo made but the sources close to her indicate that this is to do with her recent break up with Ranbir Kapoor. As the actress, is trying hard to come out of the break up blues.

Bad weather continues to hit China; second storm nears

BEIJING: Southern China is bracing for its second typhoon in a week, with shipping and flights already disrupted by heavy rain and strong winds ahead of Chanthu's expected landfall later on Thursday, state media said. Chanthu was upgraded from a tropical storm after gathering strength over the South China Sea. It is forecast to hit Yangjiang in Guangdong province and Qionghai on the resort island province of Hainan, a local news agency said. Shipping between Hainan and the mainland has already been suspended and dozens of flights cancelled, it added. More than 26,000 fishing boats are also taking shelter in Hainan ports. At least 701 people have died since the start of the year as a result of torrential rains which have swept large parts of southern and central China, and another 347 are missing, the government said on Wednesday. The scale of the devastation, with more rain forecast, has raised fear of another mass disaster on the scale of the 1998 Yangtze River floods, when more than 4,000 people died, though the government says it is now much better prepared. Premier Wen Jiabao, in comments published in Chinese newspapers on Thursday, said the situation was serious and called for greater disaster prevention efforts. "The country is now at a crucial stage in fighting the floods, with water levels on the Yangtze River, Huai River and Tai Lake surpassing safety limits. The situation is very serious as typhoons are coming," Wen said. Typhoon Conson skirted Hainan last week, killing two people, before heading into Vietnam.

Muralitharan clinches record 800th Test wicket

GALLE: Retiring world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka reached the 800-wicket mark with his last delivery in Test cricket on Thursday. The off-spinner, 38, had last man Pragyan Ojha caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene to terminate India's second innings after lunch on the final day of the first Test at the Galle International Stadium. Muralitharan, who has more Test and one-day (515) wickets than any bowler in history, will retire from Test cricket after the match. India, who were made to follow on 244 runs behind, were all out for 338 in their second knock. Sri Lanka need 95 to win the Test and take the lead in the three-match series.

China man crushes most walnuts with hand

BEIJING: The record of most walnuts crushed by hand unaided by any instrument in one minute is 112.The world record was achieved by Lu Yuehui in China on the set of Zheng Da Zong Yi - Guinness World Records Special in Beijing, China.This feat was conducted on 22 November 2009.

Hollywood-Style Bank Robbery Caught on CCTV

Using a helicopter, explosives, and mechanical saws, these robbers took a page right out of an action movie when they robbed this Swedish cash depot. 

Flying away with over five million dollars, these masked bandits later abandoned the helicopter just outside of Stockholm. Ten suspects have been placed under arrest; two are at large. The stolen cash was originally destined for ATM machines in Sweden.

The coordinated robbery even included a bomb threat and a fake bomb planted at the Swedish police helicopter hangar, which prohibited police from chasing the robbers' helicopter. All ten of the captured men have pleaded innocent. Twenty-one employees were present at the cash depot during the robbery; none were harmed.

Batman 3 An All IMAX Experience?

Those who've seen The Dark Knight on Blu-ray surely have noticed the somewhat distracting change in aspect ratio between the scenes that were shot in IMAX and those filmed on traditional stock. If cinematographer Wally Pfister gets his way however, Batman 3 will be an all-IMAX adventure.

Pfister is Christopher Nolan's go to guy, working as director of photography on every one of Nolan's studio films, from Memento to Inception. As a third Batman comes closer and closer to being a reality,Pfister is hoping that he will be able to shoot it entirely in IMAX, and furthermore, not in 3D.

Speaking to MTV News, Pfister stated, "I can't say until I read the script, but it would certainly be my preferred, amazing goal to shoot the whole movie in IMAX... Chris' films are so densely layered and have so much going on visually in every way that IMAX helps enhance that because of the scope and the scale of it- it becomes a much larger canvas to paint on. That's what we found on Dark Knight."

For movie goers who don't consider 3D an awe-inspiring experience, Pfister had some encouraging words. "I'm not a big fan of 3D. I liken it to my View-Master I had 40 years ago. Are you really getting more out of the story with 3D? When you separate those different planes and you're creating artificial depth, it looks phony to me."

Pfister certainly has his work cut out for him as he makes preparations to top the visuals in The Dark Knight and Inception, but just thinking about what the team will come up with makes waiting for the July 2012 release date seem like an eternity. With Thor and Captain America going the way of 3D, it seems that Nolan and Pfister would be making a huge statement against the format if they opt for their Batman saga to remain two-dimensional. Whether Warner Bros. agrees with their sentiment remains to be seen.

Source

Kareena to become Size-zero for Short Term Shaadi

If some 'very strong' rumours are to believed, screens are definitely about to be set ablaze asBollywood hottie Kareena Kapoor trims down to size zero yet again to pair up with tinsel town poster boy Imran Khan for an upcoming Karan Johar project.

According to sources, the film is expected to go on floors in November and currently Karan is finalising the characters' appearances, locations, et al.

Reportedly titled 'Short Term Shaadi', the movie is apparently based on the lines of Ashton Kutcher - Cameron Diaz starrer Hollywood rom com What Happens in Vega, a film where the characters stay married only to keep their earnings won off a Vegas casino as a married couple and then fall in love.

Even though Imran and Kareena both have refused to reveal anything about the movie, it has been heard that Karan has asked Bebo to lose weight for the film.

Reportedly Bebo has also been asked to cut her hair short for the movie.

A close friend of Kareena's revealed that this might come in as a slight disappointment to Kareena's boyfriend actor Saif Ali Khan, who was ?tired of her looking like a coat hanger?.

And just when she was eating well and getting back her curves, Kareena is again getting all set to become the ultra thin babe - a look she patented so well in 2008 Tashan that sent all her peers in a tizzy.

So apart from the film, what remains to be seen is, who gets to be the lead choice the 29-year-old actress: KJo or the Chhote Nawab. 

Deepika Padukone rated as sexiest woman in world by FHM

Sexy isn't just the way you look. Sexy isn't just the sort of stuff you say. Sexy is not even just the kind of clothes you wear or how much you reveal. In fact! Sexy is the attitude you carry. It's inherent and encompasses your entire being. One that Deepika Padukone has in oodles. The minute she comes on screen, she lights it up with her smile and her very presence. Quite deservingly then was Miss Padukone rated as the sexiest woman in the world, by the popular magazine FHM.

Deepika, in her own words, admits, "Sexy is not about the amount of skin you show. It is more about how confident you are, how you carry yourself. It's a measure of your being just what you are. Ultimately, 'sexy' is about how you feel about yourself from within." And yes, she also speaks about the 'Sid factor' in her life. She says, "Siddharth is a great guy. Based on whatever little time I got to spend with him during the matches, I found him to be a wonderful person. But, the fact is that I am very much single!" And when to define 'life', she says, "The pursuit of happiness is how I define life. For me, life is all about being a good human being and a happy person."

All this and much more, only in the latest edition of FHM.

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Apple has record breaking quarter, iPhone and Mac sales up

The iPhone 4's controversial antenna may experience drops in signal, but there's no dropping when it comes to Apple's financial results. They exceeded even Apple's own expectations leading them to break all sorts of records.

In the third fiscal quarter of 2010 (which ends on June 26), Apple's revenue is 15.7 billion US dollars and the net profit is 3.25 billion dollars. Just an year ago those figures were 9.73 billion dollars revenue and 1.83 billion dollars net profit.

The record income comes from record sales - 8.4 million iPhones were sold during the quarter (an astonishing 61% growth compared to last year's third quarter) and the Mac lineup of computers sold 33% more units as well. The iPads reached 3.27 million units sold.

About 52% of the revenue is due to international sales. It seems the only things that have fallen down are the iPod sales, which took an 8% dip (not really unexpected), and the gross margin which fell to 39.1% (down from 40.9%).

All eyes are on the fourth quarter now - and Apple has some bright plans for it. They are predicting a revenue of 18 billion US dollars for Q4. Considering they over-fulfilled their expectations for this quarter, they'll probably reach that goal and maybe even go further.

Source

Apple squeezes the reception out of Nokia N97 mini

Apple seem keen to prove other smartphones have the same reception attenuation as the iPhone 4. And they are getting back with a video of Nokia N97 mini that suffers from the same grip of death as the iPhone.

Back at Apple Antennagate press conference last week Apple failed to show a faulty Nokia handset (probably because Nokia has a smaller smartphone market share in the US), but nonetheless Nokia came forward with a statement on the matter last weekend.

So Apple is keen to strike back at Nokia and the N97 mini is the next victim of Apple's accusations.

As the following video reveals, the S60-based smartphone loses signal if you cover its antenna with a hand. As a result, the N97 mini drops from 7 to only 2 bars. The question remains though - would that drop be bad enough to cause a dropped call as it is on the iPhone 4?

Zong Becomes the Fastest Growing Network in the Country

Zong has become the fastest growing network of Pakistan as it has recorded 500 percent growth in terms of number of cell sites during the last three years. The Company now has 5,612 cell sites out of which a massive 4,500 have been set up since 2007.

In April 2008, Zong joined the Telecom industry in Pakistan as the smallest operator. It took ZONG two years and the fastest rollout in the history of the industry to setup a network which its competitors had taken more than a decade to set up. ZONG now covers 10,000 cities, towns and villages across Pakistan.

“It has been more than 2 years since the launch of ZONG during which we have made monumental progress,” said Salman Wassay, Head of Marketing, ZONG. “In all areas of our operations, we have upped the ante and set new benchmarks for the industry,” added Wassay.

ZONG’s reach now stretches from the mountain tops of Ishkoman in Gilgit-Baltistan to the rocky plains of Buleda in Balochistan to the midst of mega cities. It has chosen to work with some of the top companies like Ericsson, Huawei, Alcatel Lucent and ZTE to provide top-of-the-line infrastructure for its services.

ZONG has so far invested US $1.66 billion in Pakistan and has plans to further invest $300 million in 2010 which is the largest investment by any telecom operator in the current year. The Company continues to invest heavily in the construction of GSM networks, support systems and transmission facilities, and for the development of new technologies and new businesses. China Mobile – the parent company of ZONG – pursues continuous innovation in the provision of services, business, technology and management and has sustained a leadership position in the telecom industry.

Samsung brings global Cyber-Games contest to Pakistan

Lahore: Mr. Roy Chang, Manager Samsung Electronics Giving out the latest handset of Wave to a lucky draw winner in the final of World Cyber Games

Samsung Electronics Company Limited engaged the Pakistani Cyber-Gaming enthusiasts in a thrilling National Final as a part of the World Cyber Games (WCG). This contest was recently held at the Expo Center-Karachi, to encourage Pakistani gamers to compete internationally. Samsung is the global sponsor of this event, and seeks to promote this trendy contest on a local level. Sindh Minister for Youth Affairs- Syed Faisal Sabzwari awarded the winners at the closing ceremony.

The participants were provided with 20 Samsung LCD Monitors to enjoy gaming in the main arena, while the winners also got LCD monitors as prizes. Another highlight of the exciting competition was a Samsung Mobile Challenge, where participants used Samsung Galaxy phones to play Asphalt 5, a thrilling cyber game. Samsung Galaxy is a gamer’s dream phone, due to its 4″ Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, along with the innovative PowerVR SGX540 GPU. It also offers the highest number of Frames-per-second, featuring upto 55.8 FPS.

The General Manager, Samsung Pakistan Mr. Steve Han said; Samsung is proud to bring the WCG to Pakistan, where almost ten thousand participants registered from all over Pakistan. After a tough competition in the preliminary rounds, 11 gamers were crowned Champions of Pakistan. On the global scale, 72 countries have registered for the WCG this year. The Grand Finale will be held in Los Angeles, USA during September, 2010.

A trendy kiosk was installed for displaying the latest models of mobile phones. A special lucky-draw awarded the winners with three Samsung “Genoa” phones and one Samsung “Wave” phone as prizes. The game “Counter Strike 1.6” was won by the Team “I-DX” from Karachi, where the Team U-5 from Lahore became runners-up. “Warcraft DOTA” was won by ‘Team CL’ of Karachi as “Team Hope” from Quetta was the runners-up. The ‘Team Rebel’ from Lahore took the winning title against “Team DD” from Islamabad in “Call of Duty 4”, whereas Farhan from Karachi won the final round in “Need for Speed-Most Wanted”.

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