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Sharp Corp, which is Japan’s biggest mobile device maker, reported it’s first quarter operating profit dropping 14%. Operating profits are sales, minus the cost of good sold and their administrative/logistical expenses. Sharp’s fell to 36.4 billion yen, compared to 42.3 billion from the same period a year earlier.
Sharp’s presence in Europe has been one closely tied to specific Operators – notably Vodafone. However in it’s domestic market it is a goliath amongst vendors. Sharp’s representatives are looking to TVs, handsets, and LCD panels are the cash cows for the company, in the short term, with LCD panels particularly picking up the fiscal slack in the meantime.
Handset sales at the company, which supplies to NTT DoCoMo Inc., KDDI Corp., and Softbank Corp., Japan’s three wireless- phone operators, declined 38 percent to 129 billion yen in the quarter, Vice President Toshishige Hamano said.
Seems a number of handset vendors are feeling the pinch recently – I wouldn’t be surprised if we some consolidation in the next 12-24 months…..
[Via: Bloomberg.com]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
