Google posts record quarter, but lower than expected

Revenue of $10.58 billion isn’t too shabby is it? That’s the total revenue for Google for the 4th quarter 2011, but Wall Street doesn’t think it’s so great. It was a record quarter for Google, but analysts expected more as well as a rocky year with all the antitrust investigations and litigation involving Android, competition from Facebook, and the acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Google reported a net income of $2.71 billion in the 4th quarter or $8.22 a share. If you take out the cost of stock options and related tax benefits, it came in at $9.50 per share. That’s up from $8.75 a year ago, but Wall Street expected $10.49 a share.

Google closed at $639.57 at the end of the trading day, but shares are currently down close to 10% after these announcements.

Larry Page had this to say:

“Google had a really strong quarter ending a great year. I am super excited about the growth of Android, Gmail and Google Plus, which now has 90 million users globally — well over double what I announced just three months ago.”

90 million Google Plus user totals seems pretty good, but unfortunately Facebook is kicking ass with nearly 10 times that, so analysts aren’t impressed.

Page also announced that over 250 million devices have been activated to date, which is up 50 million from November and over 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the Android Market.

As to the Motorola deal, analysts aren’t too excited  because it will have a negative impact on Google’s income statement. That is, of course, if the deal is approved by the Feds.

Is it all doom and gloom for Google? Absolutely not, companies like Google continue to grow at record speeds, but unfortunately the public and analysts have different view points. Stock prices can’t always go up, they have to correct. Google is solid and will continue to grow and Android will continue to flourish. I’m sure more information will come out of the conference call so stay tuned.

[via nytimes]

» See more articles by Robert Nazarian

Categorized as Android News, Google News

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Sony’s 2012 Android roadmap leaks – 12 devices expected before October

Only a week after SONY unveiled the Xperia Ion and Xperia S at CES, a leaked image has hit the web which lists twelve Android powered smartphones from Sony which are expected to hit the market between March and Setpember. Full specifications for all twelve phones are not currently available, but we do have price points and launch months for each device.

The list kicks off withthe Sony Xperia S, which we saw at CES. The handset is pegged with a March release date, matching what we heard from Sony last week. The next three devices are listed under their code names (Kumquat, Nypon and Pepper) and should hit store shelves in April. Not much is known about these three handsets, but Nypon is rumored to sport a 4-inch “WhiteMagic” display while the Pepper is said to feature a 3.7-inch Reality Display.

If the list holds true, Sony’s summer releases should include the Olive I, Hayabusa, Tapioca, Tapioca DS and Lotus. Based on the price points of their devices, we can expect the Sony Hayabusa (listed at $632) to be the company’s summer flagship device while the Tapioca and Tapioca DS (listed at $188 and $208) could be this year’s replacements for the Xperia X10 Mini and Mini Pro, which Sony unveiled nearly two years ago.

The Atlas I, AFFM and Mint I are scheduled for a September release and are the last three devices to make the list.The only one to really stand out is the Sony Mint I which is listed with a $720 price tag. To give you a little perspective on the price, that’s about $50 more than it would cost you to import a penta-band GSM Samsung Galaxy Nexus or $30 more that the Samsung Galaxy Note. We’re not sure what Sony has planned with the Mint I, but we’re expecting something truly amazing for $720.

We’re expecting most of these phones to launch in Europe, Asia and Canada, but we may get lucky as see a few of them make their way to the US market as well. After spending some quality time talking with a few different people at the Sony booth at CES, we got the feeling that Sony will be working extra hard this year to change their approach with US service providers.

With Mobile World Congress right around the corner, we’re expecting more details about Sony’s 2012 lineup to surface over the next few weeks. Do you think Sony has what it takes to catch up with Samsung, HTC and Motorola?

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