SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc missed revenue expectations for the third straight quarter after sales of its flagship iPhone came in below Wall Street's targets, driving its shares down 6 percent.
The company said on Wednesday it shipped 47.8 million iPhones, a quarterly record that nonetheless disappointed many analysts accustomed to years of outperformance from the device that helped revolutionize the smartphone industry. Wall Street was predicting roughly 50 million shipments, on average.
Sales of the iPad came in at 22.9 million in the fiscal first quarter, about in line with forecasts.
Sources this month pointed to production cutbacks at Apple's component suppliers in Asia as a sign that demand may be waning for the iPhone, which accounts for half of the company's sales, and the iPad.
Shares of Apple fell in after-hours to $482.45 after dropping nearly 30 percent from a record high in September, in part on worries that its days of hyper growth are over and its mobile devices are no longer as popular.
Apple also undershot revenue targets in the previous two quarters. The results will prompt more questions on what Apple has in its product pipeline, and what it can do to attract new sales and maintain its growth trajectory.
Intense competition from main rival and supply partner Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's cheaper line up of phones - powered by Google Inc's Android, the world's most-used mobile software - and signs that the premium smartphone market may be close to saturation in developed markets have also caused a lot of investor anxiety.
'These results were OK, but they definitely raised a few questions,' said Shannon Cross, analyst with Cross Research. 'Gross margin trajectory looks fine so that's a positive and cash continues to grow. But I think investors are going to want to know what Apple plans to do with growing cash balance.'
'And other questions are going to be around innovation and where the next products are coming from and what does Tim Cook see in the next 12 to 18 months.'
Apple said on Wednesday its fiscal first quarter revenue rose to $54.5 billion, below the average analyst estimate of $54.73 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It posted net income of $13.07 billion, or $13.81 a diluted share, compared to $13.06 billion, or $13.87 a share, a year earlier.
(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Cisco to buy Israel-based software maker for $475 million
(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc said it will buy Israeli software maker Intucell for about $475 million in cash to expand its mobile network management offerings.
Privately held Intucell makes software that helps mobile carriers manage cellular networks automatically.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Privately held Intucell makes software that helps mobile carriers manage cellular networks automatically.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Google's fourth quarter results shine after ad rate decline slows
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Revenue from Google Inc's core Internet business outpaced many analysts' expectations during the crucial holiday quarter and advertising rates fell less than in previous periods, pushing its shares up more than 4 percent.
The world's largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter - typically its strongest - and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.
'Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business,' said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. 'Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter.'
Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
Google executives told analysts on a conference call that the company had focused on improving the metric - shoring up margins - while lowering the overall growth rate of paid clicks in the holiday quarter.
'Click prices are still declining, but it's better than expected,' said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY 'STILL LOSING MONEY'
Consolidated net income in the fourth quarter was $2.89 billion or $8.62 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $8.22 per share, in the year-ago period when Google had not yet acquired Motorola.
Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $10.65 per share in the fourth quarter.
'The core business is a great business and the fourth-quarter is always a time for Google to shine. However, Motorola is still losing money and click rates still declined. They only declined 6 percent, but go back four or five quarters and click prices were improving. So mobile is still pressuring click prices,' Gillis said.
The company posted consolidated revenue - which includes its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business but not the television set-top box business it recently agreed to sell - of $14.42 billion on Tuesday.
Motorola Mobility had an operating loss of $353 million during the quarter.
Shares of Google were up roughly 4.5 percent at $734.46 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)
The world's largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter - typically its strongest - and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.
'Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business,' said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. 'Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter.'
Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
Google executives told analysts on a conference call that the company had focused on improving the metric - shoring up margins - while lowering the overall growth rate of paid clicks in the holiday quarter.
'Click prices are still declining, but it's better than expected,' said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
MOTOROLA MOBILITY 'STILL LOSING MONEY'
Consolidated net income in the fourth quarter was $2.89 billion or $8.62 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $8.22 per share, in the year-ago period when Google had not yet acquired Motorola.
Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $10.65 per share in the fourth quarter.
'The core business is a great business and the fourth-quarter is always a time for Google to shine. However, Motorola is still losing money and click rates still declined. They only declined 6 percent, but go back four or five quarters and click prices were improving. So mobile is still pressuring click prices,' Gillis said.
The company posted consolidated revenue - which includes its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business but not the television set-top box business it recently agreed to sell - of $14.42 billion on Tuesday.
Motorola Mobility had an operating loss of $353 million during the quarter.
Shares of Google were up roughly 4.5 percent at $734.46 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Google fourth quarter revenue outpaces Street targets, shares climb
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Revenue from Google Inc's core Internet business outpaced many analysts' expectations during the crucial holiday quarter and advertising rates fell less than in previous periods, pushing its shares up more than 4 percent.
The world's largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter - typically its strongest - and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.
'Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business,' said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. 'Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter.'
Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
'Click prices are still declining, but it's better than expected,' said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
'The core business is a great business and the fourth-quarter is always a time for Google to shine. However, Motorola is still losing money and click rates still declined. They only declined 6 percent, but go back four or five quarters and click prices were improving. So mobile is still pressuring click prices,' he said.
Consolidated net income in the fourth quarter was $2.89 billion or $8.62 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $8.22 per share, in the year-ago period when Google had not yet acquired Motorola.
Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $10.65 per share in the fourth quarter.
The company posted consolidated revenue -- which includes its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business but not the television set-top box business it recently agreed to sell -- of $14.42 billion on Tuesday.
Motorola Mobility had an operating loss of $353 million during the quarter.
Shares of Google were up roughly 4.5 percent at $734.46 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)
The world's largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter - typically its strongest - and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.
Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $9.83 billion, up from $8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.
'Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business,' said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. 'Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter.'
Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.
'Click prices are still declining, but it's better than expected,' said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.
'The core business is a great business and the fourth-quarter is always a time for Google to shine. However, Motorola is still losing money and click rates still declined. They only declined 6 percent, but go back four or five quarters and click prices were improving. So mobile is still pressuring click prices,' he said.
Consolidated net income in the fourth quarter was $2.89 billion or $8.62 per share, compared with $2.71 billion, or $8.22 per share, in the year-ago period when Google had not yet acquired Motorola.
Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $10.65 per share in the fourth quarter.
The company posted consolidated revenue -- which includes its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business but not the television set-top box business it recently agreed to sell -- of $14.42 billion on Tuesday.
Motorola Mobility had an operating loss of $353 million during the quarter.
Shares of Google were up roughly 4.5 percent at $734.46 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Verizon eyes mobile margin jump as fourth-quarter disappoints
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc posted a weaker-than-expected wireless operating profit margin due to hefty costs from smartphones like Apple's iPhone, but the U.S. telephone company promised a big improvement this year as it cuts costs.
While Verizon's fourth quarter bottom line was weaker than anticipated, investors were encouraged when Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said on Tuesday that the company could be in a position to buy back shares sooner than expected and that wireless margins could rise this year to as high as 50 percent.
Shammo said that the numbers will be helped by $2 billion in cost cuts at Verizon Wireless, Verizon's mobile venture with Vodafone Group Plc, on top of $5 billion cuts there in the last three years.
The cuts at Verizon Wireless - the biggest U.S. mobile service provider - will not require a lot of layoffs and will come in areas such as call center consolidation and increased efficiency in logistics, Shammo told Reuters.
Shammo also hinted that Verizon may not have to wait until the end of 2013 to buy back shares as he had previously indicated, due to strength of its balance sheet.
'We could do share buybacks at any point in time right now,' he told analysts without giving a specific time frame.
Verizon shares were up 0.7 percent to $42.83 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange after Shammo's comments.
'Guidance appears strong for 2013,' Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King Said.
Verizon Wireless reported a fourth-quarter service profit margin of 41.4 percent based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, compared with analyst hopes for 42 percent and 42.2 percent in the year-ago quarter.
The lower fourth-quarter margin was due to higher-than-expected subsidies paid to smartphone makers such as Apple Inc so Verizon Wireless could offer a phone discount to customers who sign a long-term contract. Rival AT&T Inc has also warned that high smartphone sales hurt its wireless profit margins because of subsidies.
While Shammo was bullish about the wireless business and Verizon's FiOS home Internet and television services, he warned that the best he could hope for in the company's enterprise business is that 2013 revenue and profit margins stay flat with 2012 because of a lack of clarity on U.S. economic issues.
'In Enterprise, we still see uncertainty around the debt ceiling, deficit reduction, and tax reform,' Shammo told analysts on a quarterly earnings conference call where he also cited worries about international economic growth.
The company's fourth-quarter net loss widened to $4.23 billion, or $1.48 per share, from a loss of $2.02 billion, or 71 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding unusual items such as the charge from Superstorm Sandy and pension liabilities, Verizon would have earned 45 cents per share, well below Wall Street expectations of 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Operating revenue rose 4.5 percent to $30.05 billion, compared with expectations of $29.83 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Capital spending for the year was $16.2 billion, including $135 million related to Sandy recovery efforts, and was in line with 2011 spending. Shammo said that he expects 2013 capital spending to be flat with 2012.
Verizon said it added 144,000 net customers to its FiOS high-speed Internet service and 134,000 net FiOS TV customers in the quarter. It had already announced 2.1 million net additions of wireless contract customers in the fourth quarter.
AT&T, The No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, is set to report results on January 24 and No. 3 rival, Sprint Nextel Corp, is due to report February 7.
(This story corrects paragraph 14 to reflect that 50 cents/shr compares with 45 cents/shr, not 38 cents/shr)
(Additional reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Maureen Bavdek and Tim Dobbyn)
While Verizon's fourth quarter bottom line was weaker than anticipated, investors were encouraged when Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said on Tuesday that the company could be in a position to buy back shares sooner than expected and that wireless margins could rise this year to as high as 50 percent.
Shammo said that the numbers will be helped by $2 billion in cost cuts at Verizon Wireless, Verizon's mobile venture with Vodafone Group Plc, on top of $5 billion cuts there in the last three years.
The cuts at Verizon Wireless - the biggest U.S. mobile service provider - will not require a lot of layoffs and will come in areas such as call center consolidation and increased efficiency in logistics, Shammo told Reuters.
Shammo also hinted that Verizon may not have to wait until the end of 2013 to buy back shares as he had previously indicated, due to strength of its balance sheet.
'We could do share buybacks at any point in time right now,' he told analysts without giving a specific time frame.
Verizon shares were up 0.7 percent to $42.83 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange after Shammo's comments.
'Guidance appears strong for 2013,' Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King Said.
Verizon Wireless reported a fourth-quarter service profit margin of 41.4 percent based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, compared with analyst hopes for 42 percent and 42.2 percent in the year-ago quarter.
The lower fourth-quarter margin was due to higher-than-expected subsidies paid to smartphone makers such as Apple Inc so Verizon Wireless could offer a phone discount to customers who sign a long-term contract. Rival AT&T Inc has also warned that high smartphone sales hurt its wireless profit margins because of subsidies.
While Shammo was bullish about the wireless business and Verizon's FiOS home Internet and television services, he warned that the best he could hope for in the company's enterprise business is that 2013 revenue and profit margins stay flat with 2012 because of a lack of clarity on U.S. economic issues.
'In Enterprise, we still see uncertainty around the debt ceiling, deficit reduction, and tax reform,' Shammo told analysts on a quarterly earnings conference call where he also cited worries about international economic growth.
The company's fourth-quarter net loss widened to $4.23 billion, or $1.48 per share, from a loss of $2.02 billion, or 71 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding unusual items such as the charge from Superstorm Sandy and pension liabilities, Verizon would have earned 45 cents per share, well below Wall Street expectations of 50 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Operating revenue rose 4.5 percent to $30.05 billion, compared with expectations of $29.83 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Capital spending for the year was $16.2 billion, including $135 million related to Sandy recovery efforts, and was in line with 2011 spending. Shammo said that he expects 2013 capital spending to be flat with 2012.
Verizon said it added 144,000 net customers to its FiOS high-speed Internet service and 134,000 net FiOS TV customers in the quarter. It had already announced 2.1 million net additions of wireless contract customers in the fourth quarter.
AT&T, The No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, is set to report results on January 24 and No. 3 rival, Sprint Nextel Corp, is due to report February 7.
(This story corrects paragraph 14 to reflect that 50 cents/shr compares with 45 cents/shr, not 38 cents/shr)
(Additional reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Maureen Bavdek and Tim Dobbyn)
Is Facebook envy making you miserable?
LONDON (Reuters) - Witnessing friends' vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers.
A study conducted jointly by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world's largest social network that now has over one billion users and has produced an unprecedented platform for social comparison.
The researchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.
'We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry,' researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin's Humboldt University told Reuters.
'From our observations some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site,' said Krasnova, adding to speculation that Facebook could be reaching saturation point in some markets.
Researchers from Humboldt University and from Darmstadt's Technical University found vacation photos were the biggest cause of resentment with more than half of envy incidents triggered by holiday snaps on Facebook.
Social interaction was the second most common cause of envy as users could compare how many birthday greetings they received to those of their Facebook friends and how many 'likes' or comments were made on photos and postings.
'Passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations and socialize,' the researchers said in the report 'Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users' Life Satisfaction?' released on Tuesday.
'The spread and ubiquitous presence of envy on Social Networking Sites is shown to undermine users' life satisfaction.'
They found people aged in their mid-30s were most likely to envy family happiness while women were more likely to envy physical attractiveness.
These feelings of envy were found to prompt some users to boast more about their achievements on the site run by Facebook Inc. to portray themselves in a better light.
Men were shown to post more self-promotional content on Facebook to let people know about their accomplishments while women stressed their good looks and social lives.
The researchers based their findings on two studies involving 600 people with the results to be presented at a conference on information systems in Germany in February.
The first study looked at the scale, scope and nature of envy incidents triggered by Facebook and the second at how envy was linked to passive use of Facebook and life satisfaction.
The researchers said the respondents in both studies were German but they expected the findings to hold internationally as envy is a universal feeling and possibly impact Facebook usage.
'From a provider's perspective, our findings signal that users frequently perceive Facebook as a stressful environment, which may, in the long-run, endanger platform sustainability,' the researchers concluded.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)
A study conducted jointly by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world's largest social network that now has over one billion users and has produced an unprecedented platform for social comparison.
The researchers found that one in three people felt worse after visiting the site and more dissatisfied with their lives, while people who browsed without contributing were affected the most.
'We were surprised by how many people have a negative experience from Facebook with envy leaving them feeling lonely, frustrated or angry,' researcher Hanna Krasnova from the Institute of Information Systems at Berlin's Humboldt University told Reuters.
'From our observations some of these people will then leave Facebook or at least reduce their use of the site,' said Krasnova, adding to speculation that Facebook could be reaching saturation point in some markets.
Researchers from Humboldt University and from Darmstadt's Technical University found vacation photos were the biggest cause of resentment with more than half of envy incidents triggered by holiday snaps on Facebook.
Social interaction was the second most common cause of envy as users could compare how many birthday greetings they received to those of their Facebook friends and how many 'likes' or comments were made on photos and postings.
'Passive following triggers invidious emotions, with users mainly envying happiness of others, the way others spend their vacations and socialize,' the researchers said in the report 'Envy on Facebook: A Hidden Threat to Users' Life Satisfaction?' released on Tuesday.
'The spread and ubiquitous presence of envy on Social Networking Sites is shown to undermine users' life satisfaction.'
They found people aged in their mid-30s were most likely to envy family happiness while women were more likely to envy physical attractiveness.
These feelings of envy were found to prompt some users to boast more about their achievements on the site run by Facebook Inc. to portray themselves in a better light.
Men were shown to post more self-promotional content on Facebook to let people know about their accomplishments while women stressed their good looks and social lives.
The researchers based their findings on two studies involving 600 people with the results to be presented at a conference on information systems in Germany in February.
The first study looked at the scale, scope and nature of envy incidents triggered by Facebook and the second at how envy was linked to passive use of Facebook and life satisfaction.
The researchers said the respondents in both studies were German but they expected the findings to hold internationally as envy is a universal feeling and possibly impact Facebook usage.
'From a provider's perspective, our findings signal that users frequently perceive Facebook as a stressful environment, which may, in the long-run, endanger platform sustainability,' the researchers concluded.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)
AMD hires chip veterans, diversifies beyond PCs
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc has hired two senior engineers with experience at Qualcomm Inc and Apple Inc, its latest high-level recruitments as it diversifies beyond a slowing personal computer industry, sources close to the chipmaker said.
Charles Matar, with expertise in low-power and embedded chip design, joined as AMD's vice president of System-on-Chip Development, two sources said. Matar most recently worked at Qualcomm.
Wayne Meretsky, who has worked at Apple on processors used in the iPad and iPhone, was named vice president, software IP development, they said. Meretsky will lead software developments for AMD's chips.
AMD spokesman Drew Prairie also confirmed that AMD hired the two engineers to help the chipmaker expand into new markets, but he did not provide details.
AMD depends on the PC industry for about 80 percent of its revenue. With sales in that business falling due to a growing preference for smartphones and tablets, the company is rushing to expand into new markets for its chip processors and graphics technology.
One of Silicon Valley's oldest chipmakers, AMD has experienced major changes in its lineup of executives and senior engineers since Chief Executive Rory Read moved over from PC maker Lenovo in 2011 promising to make the struggling chipmaker more efficient.
In October, AMD announced it was laying off 15 percent of its workforce, its second round of job cuts in less than a year.
Matar and Meretsky both worked at AMD earlier in their careers. Their return follows chip guru Jim Keller, who joined AMD as chief architect in August last year.
Keller was previously a director at Apple in charge of designing mobile processors used in the iPad and iPhone.
Sunnyvale, California-based AMD hopes to increase sales in markets such as communications, microservers, digital signs and stripped down 'thin client' computers. It wants those non-PC markets to account for as much as 50 percent of its revenue within three or four years.
Matar will focus on designing SoCs, or 'system on a chips', which integrate several features found on a computer into a single piece of silicon. The technology is widely used in smartphones, tablets and embedded devices.
The chipmaker plans to ship a new low power processor, codenamed Temash, for tablets and hybrid laptops running Microsoft's Windows 8 platform in the first half of this year.
Its Kabini laptop processor, also planned for early 2013, will have 50 percent better performance than its predecessor, according to AMD.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Richard Chang)
Charles Matar, with expertise in low-power and embedded chip design, joined as AMD's vice president of System-on-Chip Development, two sources said. Matar most recently worked at Qualcomm.
Wayne Meretsky, who has worked at Apple on processors used in the iPad and iPhone, was named vice president, software IP development, they said. Meretsky will lead software developments for AMD's chips.
AMD spokesman Drew Prairie also confirmed that AMD hired the two engineers to help the chipmaker expand into new markets, but he did not provide details.
AMD depends on the PC industry for about 80 percent of its revenue. With sales in that business falling due to a growing preference for smartphones and tablets, the company is rushing to expand into new markets for its chip processors and graphics technology.
One of Silicon Valley's oldest chipmakers, AMD has experienced major changes in its lineup of executives and senior engineers since Chief Executive Rory Read moved over from PC maker Lenovo in 2011 promising to make the struggling chipmaker more efficient.
In October, AMD announced it was laying off 15 percent of its workforce, its second round of job cuts in less than a year.
Matar and Meretsky both worked at AMD earlier in their careers. Their return follows chip guru Jim Keller, who joined AMD as chief architect in August last year.
Keller was previously a director at Apple in charge of designing mobile processors used in the iPad and iPhone.
Sunnyvale, California-based AMD hopes to increase sales in markets such as communications, microservers, digital signs and stripped down 'thin client' computers. It wants those non-PC markets to account for as much as 50 percent of its revenue within three or four years.
Matar will focus on designing SoCs, or 'system on a chips', which integrate several features found on a computer into a single piece of silicon. The technology is widely used in smartphones, tablets and embedded devices.
The chipmaker plans to ship a new low power processor, codenamed Temash, for tablets and hybrid laptops running Microsoft's Windows 8 platform in the first half of this year.
Its Kabini laptop processor, also planned for early 2013, will have 50 percent better performance than its predecessor, according to AMD.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Richard Chang)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)