Cell Phone, First Quarter Earnings | featured news

The flow of new customers to Sprint stopped in the latest quarter, the company reported Wednesday as it weighed the offers of two corporate suitors. Sprint Nextel Corp., the country's third-largest cellphone carrier, said it added a net of just 12,000 customers to its Sprint brand in the quarter, and it would have lost 252,000 if it wasn't for Nextel customers moving over now that their network is being shut down.

The evidence continues to mount that the mobile phone business is evolving into a two-horse race. It’s Apple, Samsung, and a host of desperate hangers on. In the first quarter, according to Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt, Apple accounted for about 80% of all profits in the mobile phone business, with Samsung accounting for the rest. The two companies combined, he figures, had 74% of mobile handset industry revenues.

While the company's new Lumia line of smartphones is gaining traction, those using the older Symbian operating system have lost their appeal.

Moody's ratings agency downgraded Nokia's debt grade to near junk status on Monday, citing a sharp decline in first-quarter cellphone sales that led to a 35 percent fall in revenue.

Research In Motion shares were sharply lower Friday, after the company issued a steep first-quarter earnings warning late Thursday, heightening fears that the BlackBerry maker is buckling amid competition from Apple and Google.

Motorola Mobility this afternoon posted better-than-expected Q1 results. For the quarter, the company reported revenue of $3 billion and a non-GAAP loss of 8 cents a share; the Street had expected $2.84 billion and a loss of 12 cents a share. The company said it sold 9.3 million mobile devices in the quarter, including 4.1 million smart phones, and more than 250,000 tablets. Revenues were up 22% from a year ago.

Verizon reported on Thursday that it activated 2.2 million iPhones during its first fiscal quarter for 2011. The cell service provider revealed the information as part of its quarterly earnings report, a day after Apple and AT&T shared their quarterly earnings data.