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Samsung, Twitter and Nokia’s profit dilemmas
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As Samsung posts its second quarterly drop in a row, Tech Expert Stuart Miles explains how the South Korean Electronics company hopes to turn things around in the next quarter with its Galaxy S5. He says there's "a lot of excitement" around the new smartphone, which went on sale earlier this month.
Samsung reported a first quarter operating profit of USD 8.2 billion for the three months ended 31 March - a 3.3 percent decline from the same period last.
The firm said in a statement: "Samsung is expected to see profits rally in the second quarter and beyond, on the back of improved sales of display panels and home appliances".
Stuart explains Samsung is struggling to fend off its competitors in the lower end of the smartphone market such as Huawei and ZTE.
Another tech company gearing up to release its first quarter earnings is Twitter, investors will be watching closely to see how many new users Twitter has managed to acquire. After gaining just nine million users in its first post-IPO quarter, Twitter has to assure investors that it can really grow.
Stuart thinks Twitter's main issue is that new users try to use it for a couple of weeks, but then "they don't know what to do with it". He says people seem to be using it because they feel they "have to use it, rather than want to use it" - and uses Microsoft's CEO as a prime example of this user behaviour.
And Nokia, which sold its handset business to Microsoft, has named mobile network veteran Rajeev Suri its new Chief eEecutive.
Suri was widely expected to become the CEO as he ran Nokia's networks business, formerly called NSN.
What’s more, Nokia also announced plans to return USD 3.1 billion to shareholders via buybacks and extra dividends, a move seen by some analysts as an attempt to retain investors, as it refocuses its business.
Stuart believes Nokia will be "keen to show it is business as usual" and will want to shout out "Nokia isn't dead", whilst Microsoft will be "desperately keen" to distance itself from the Nokia brand.