Nintendo chief says Sony portable is different

It's is so hard on today's generation to keep your technology a secret because everything can be copied or leaked no matter what you do. So with things like Cellphones, gaming consoles, computers, etc. it's not new to people to see different brand names with same features and dimensions or whatever. In this world of competition whoever got the great marketing strategy will surely win and between Nintendo's 3-D portable game machine versus Sony Corp.'s successor to the PlayStation Portable, code-named NGP, Good luck on promoting each's products. But i will surely try both and check which one is better.

TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said Friday rival Sony was taking a different tack from his company and so he remains upbeat about his 3-D portable game machine going on sale next month.

Iwata was responding to a question from an analyst about the possible threat from Sony Corp.'s successor to the PlayStation Portable, code-named NGP, or "next generation portable," announced Thursday.

"We are more focused on drawing newcomers to gaming and appealing to a wide range of people," Iwata said at a Tokyo hotel. "What we do won't change because of what another company is doing."

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co.'s 3DS — which goes on sale Feb. 26 in Japan for 25,000 yen ($300), and in the U.S. on March 27 for $250 — offers glasses-free 3-D gaming.

Sony is promising graphics quality on par with its home console PlayStation 3 with its NGP.

But NGP does not offer 3-D — making that a critical feature that could determine the winner vs. the loser in the ongoing competition between the two companies.

Pricing for the NGP has not been announced. Sony said it will go on sale late this year but did not give details on dates or regional rollouts.

On Thursday, Nintendo reported a 74 percent tumble in profits for the April-December period, with earnings battered by a surging yen and momentum waning on its home console Wii sales compared to the previous year.

Sony reports earnings next week.

Iwata acknowledged sales had lost momentum. But he stressed Nintendo, which makes Super Mario and Pokemon games, was at the top in market share, compared to Sony and Microsoft Corp. in most regions.

Nintendo has so far sold 145 million DS portable machines around the world, outpacing the 64 million of the PlayStation Portable. U.S. software company Microsoft makes the Xbox 360 home console. It does not offer a portable game machine.

All game makers face a new challenge — the popularity of smartphones, including the iPhone, for playing games. People are also using other devices such as the iPod and iPad to play games.

Iwata said he was confident about the 3-D technology in the 3DS, which his company has been working on for many years, and that in the end customers will decide which machine they want.

He acknowledged he was being more careful about commenting on the NGP after he angered some people by brushing off Apple Inc.'s iPad as "a big iPod Touch" last year.

"It is clear that it's trying to appeal to customers in a different way from us," he said of NGP. "But I realized I shouldn't even be talking about my first impressions."

Continue Reading

AT&T, losing iPhone grip - "a slow bleed"

(Reuters) - With only days remaining until it loses its grip over U.S. iPhone sales, AT&T Inc warned of a "rocky" start to 2011.

AT&T's shares fell nearly 3 percent in response to a disappointing profit outlook for the year, further unnerving investors about its growth prospects once market leader Verizon Wireless launches an Apple Inc. iPhone next month.

Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, even while forecasting "healthy" customer growth, acknowledged that the new iPhone would make life tougher, at least initially.

"It may be rocky in the beginning of the year, kind of volatile, hard to predict, but we think as we work through it and the market stabilizes, we'll be able to grow through it," Stephenson said during the company's quarterly conference call in which he seldom takes part.

The company, heavily dependent on iPhone, forecast 2011 earnings per share growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range. Analysts expected growth of about 10 percent.

"I suspect they're coming to grips with the reality of the iPhone exclusivity wearing off," said Avian Securities analyst Gerard Hallaren. He described it as "a slow bleed" for AT&T.

Adding to negative sentiment, AT&T's net additions of 400,000 valuable contract customers in the fourth quarter compared poorly with almost 504,000, the average expectation from eight analysts contacted by Reuters.

AT&T's figure was also less than half the 872,000 new contract customers reported by Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

"These results coming on the heels of Verizon's, really demonstrate Verizon's leadership position in the (contract customer) segment," Mizuho analyst Michael Nelson said.

AT&T's wireless profit margin was thinner than expected, too. The margin remained at 37.6 percent, in line with the third quarter, counter to AT&T's promise for an improvement.

The prospect of a Verizon iPhone has set the tone for the telecoms industry this earnings season. Motorola Mobility, which makes phones including the Droid for Verizon, acknowledged on Wednesday that its sales would be hurt by the arrival of iPhone. Its shares dropped almost 12 percent on Thursday.

But AT&T noted that it still managed to activate 4.1 million iPhones in the quarter on top of 5 million activations in the third quarter, despite widespread speculation about the Verizon Wireless iPhone's arrival.

"With all that hype going on, we sold over 9 million iPhones," Chief Financial Officer Rick Lindner told Reuters. "We've a very solid loyal customer base with the vast majority with long-standing family or business relations."

Continue Reading

iPhone alarm failed to go off

Many iPhone users around the globe were complaining about the alarm clock failure on their device. It was actually the second time failure of the iPhone devices in just a few months.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie harrison said, "We're aware of an issue related to non-repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2.

"Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3."

Mostly, Apple's most recent versions of iPhones and iPods launched in November are the ones being affected by the failure.

The problem first occurred when the clocks went back at the end of October and early November when Australian and British iPhone owners complained of being late for work because their alarms had not switched over to the new time.

Continue Reading