Qualcomm on Wednesday reported record earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2012. The company took in $4.68 billion in revenue, up 40% year-over-year and 14% sequentially, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $4.58 million. Qualcomm’s net income of $1.4 billion was up 20% year-over-year and 25% over the fourth quarter. The firm also managed earnings of $0.97 per share, up 18% year-over-year and ahead of the Street’s EPS estimate of $0.90. Qualcomm boosted guidance for the full year, saying it expects to report between $18.7 billion and $19.7 billion in revenue for 2012. It had previously said revenue would likely fall between $18 billion and $19 billion. “I am pleased to report another record quarter with revenues, earnings and MSM shipments reaching all-time highs, driven by our industry-leading chipset portfolio and the continued strong demand for smartphones around the world,” said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. “We are raising our revenue and earnings guidance as our broad licensing partnerships and extensive chipset roadmap, led by our integrated Snapdragon processors, position us well for strong growth in fiscal 2012. We continue to invest in innovative wireless technologies, products and services, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead as 3G and 4G continue to expand across new device types and geographies.”

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One of the many reasons to buy an NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered device is support for Tegra Zone, NVIDIA’s exclusive gaming portal. Qualcomm is looking to combat the feature, however, and the company announced its own gaming portal on Thursday dubbed the Snapdragon GameCommand. Similar to Tegra Zone, GameCommand will have exclusive content that offers Snapdragon-optimized games for Qualcomm-powered devices. The app will initially only be available in North America and will be released in the Android Market on January 10th. Will we also see an O-Zone for OMAP-optimized games pop up soon? One can only wish. Read on for Qualcomm’s press release.

Snapdragon GameCommand to Launch on Android Market at CES 2012
UFC Fighter Alistair “The Reem” Overreem to be Onsite at Qualcomm’s Booth Showcasing One of the Latest Games Optimized for Snapdragon Devices

SAN DIEGO – January 5, 2012 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. (QuIC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, is expected to launch the Snapdragon GameCommand™ application to the Android Market on January 10, 2012, the opening day of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). At its heart, Snapdragon GameCommand will give mobile users a way to quickly discover, organize and access the latest Snapdragon optimized, featured and exclusive games. It will also provide feeds from top gaming news sites to help consumers stay up to date with the latest gaming news.

Snapdragon GameCommand will enable users to easily access and play many of the over 100 Snapdragon™ GamePack featured games on a wide range of mobile phones and tablets. The Snapdragon GamePack includes several titles exclusively available on Snapdragon devices running on Android for a limited time, including “Fight Game Heroes” from Khaeon Gamestudio. “Fight Game Heroes” features head-to-head battles with real MMA fighters, including multiple combat champion and UFC fighter Alistair “The Reem” Overeem. Visitors to CES will have the chance to meet the 6′-5″, 265-pound Overeem in-person and watch as he takes on Qualcomm executives in live rounds of “Fight Game Heroes” at the Qualcomm Booth in the LVCC South Hall, Upper Level, Booth #30313.

Other exclusive games that are accessible to consumers with Snapdragon GameCommand include titles such as “Bunny Maze 3D” from Eyelead Software and “Desert Winds™” from Southend Interactive. In “Bunny Maze 3D”, players help the adventurous Bunny get back his stolen carrots, in a cheerful journey through a magical world. In the “Desert Winds” mini-game players take on the persona of princess Amira as she battles gruesome creatures of the desert to save her people.

“With mobile gaming proliferating at a blistering pace, apps like Snapdragon GameCommand make it easy for consumers to discover and access the most advanced Snapdragon optimized games,” says Dave Durnil, director of advanced gaming at Qualcomm. “With exclusive and highly-anticipated games like ‘Fight Game Heroes’ and ‘The Reem’ Snapdragon mobile gaming is really starting to heat up.”

Snapdragon GameCommand is expected to be available in North America at launch and will be available in other markets at a later date.

Speaking at an investor meeting recently, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs confirmed that his company is working with Microsoft in an effort to deploy Windows 8-powered computers that run on Qualcomm’s ARM-based Snapdragon processors. “We’re going to see some interesting stuff going on,” Jacobs said. “Windows 8 on ARM is a big opportunity.” It’s not an easy task: Microsoft’s previous operating systems, and the existing applications, are designed to run on x86 processors. Qualcomm is optimistic that Snapdragon PCs will be available by the end of next year however, and that developers will rewrite applications to run properly on ARM processors. “For the apps that you really care about, I don’t see it as a significant growth inhibitor in terms of ARM vs. Windows,” Qualcomm chief operating officer Steve Mollenkopf said according to CNET. “I don’t think the impact is as significant as what others believe.”

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We met up briefly with HTC on Tuesday to check out all of the company’s latest smartphones and had a chance to snap a few photos of the Sensation XL, one of the most attractive devices in the bunch. The Sensation XL has a massive 4.7-inch display, which was excellent for viewing photos and browsing the web. We also love the overall design of the phone; it is built with glossy white plastic and aluminum. The metal definitely adds a premium feel and certainly kicks the overall build quality up a notch. The Sensation XL is powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, supports HSPA networks, has an 8-megapixel camera and is loaded with 16GB of storage. Music fans will also love the Beats technology under the hood that enhances audio playback, and the set of Beats earbuds that come in the box. Unfortunately, HTC confirmed this phone will never land in the United States in its current form, but we definitely can’t wait for future iterations that might. Be sure to check out the gallery below.

Earlier this month, HTC purchased a controlling stake in Beats Audio and a new phone called the Runnymede 2 could join the HTC Vigor as one of the first devices to offer Beats technology. According to a leaked spec sheet, the Runnymede 2 is equipped with a huge 4.7-inch WVGA Super LCD screen, a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor, 16GB or 32GB of storage and “SRS surround sound with acoustic performance tuned by Beats.” It is also equipped with an 8-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p HD video, a 1.3-megapixel camera for video chats, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and support for 14.4Mbps HSDPA networks. According to the leaked specs, the Runnymede 2 will also come with a Beats Solo headset. Those headphones currently retail for about $179, so this certainly won’t be a cheap smartphone package.

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Images of HTC’s upcoming 10-inch tablet have been revealed, further suggesting that a launch could be fast approaching. BGR exclusively revealed the first official renders of the Honeycomb device late last month, and we also said it will feature a 10-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash. Additional reports suggested HTC’s upcoming slate will also feature a 1.5GHz processor and that it will launch as the HTC Jetstream with 4G compatibility. Engadget has posted photos of the device, and the site also reports that it will actually feature a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. A few more images of the device follow below.

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Following weeks one and two of Qualcomm and BGR’s Snapdragon giveaway, six lucky BGR readers are now proud owners of six awesome Snapdragon-powered devices. Now we’re back for the third and final week of this awesome giveaway series, and we’ve got three brand new devices ready that fall into Qualcomm’s Snapdragon System 3 category, offering up to 1.5GHz dual-core CPUs, Adreno 220 GPUs, HSPA+ support, 1080p recording support, Dolby 5.1 surround sound support and support for stereoscopic 3D, as evidenced by one of this week’s devices in particular. That’s right ladies and gents, this week we’re giving away one HTC EVO 3D (Sprint), one HTC myTouch 4G Slide (T-Mobile) and one HP TouchPad tablet.

• Leave a comment below explaining why you want to win — be sure to use your real email address, Twitter account or Facebook account when commenting so we can contact you if you win
• Follow @BGR on Twitter and retweet this post

Readers may enter this portion of the giveaway up to twice, once by commenting beneath this post and once by following @BGR on Twitter and retweeting this post. The third leg of our three-week giveaway will run from now through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 23rd. The giveaway is open to legal residents of the United States only, and you must be at least 18-years-old to enter. No purchase is necessary, and all devices and shipping costs will be free to contest winners. Winners will be selected randomly, contacted directly by BGR staff, and devices will be paired with winners at random. Phone service is not included.

Good luck! And feel free to follow individual BGR staffers on Twitter, too (@boygenius, @zacharye and @robotodd).

You thought we’d be done after three devices? Not a chance. Following week one of Qualcomm and BGR’s Snapdragon giveaway, we’re back with three more awesome devices to send out to three lucky BGR readers absolutely free of charge. Last week’s handsets fell into Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon System 1 category, and this week’s devices are powered by beefed up System 2 chipsets, which offer up to 1.4GHz of processing power, an Adreno 205 GPU, stereoscopic 3D support and plenty more. In store for week two winners is a brand new HTC EVO View 4G tablet (Sprint), one HTC Inspire 4G (AT&T) and one Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY (Verizon Wireless). Here’s how to enter:

• Leave a comment below explaining why you want to win — be sure to use your real email address, Twitter account or Facebook account when commenting so we can contact you if you win
• Follow @BGR on Twitter and retweet this post

Readers may enter this portion of the giveaway up to twice, once by commenting beneath this post and once by following @BGR on Twitter and retweeting this post. Readers who enter week two of the giveaway are still eligible to enter week three. The second leg of our three-week giveaway will run from now through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 16th, and then the last leg will begin on August 17th. The giveaway is open to legal residents of the United States only, and you must be at least 18-years-old to enter. No purchase is necessary, and all devices and shipping costs will be free to contest winners. Winners will be selected randomly, contacted directly by BGR staff, and devices will be paired with winners at random. Phone service is not included.

Good luck! And feel free to follow individual BGR staffers on Twitter, too (@boygenius, @zacharye and @robotodd).

UPDATE: The AT&T device available to win is the HTC Inspire 4G, not the Samsung Infuse 4G as originally stated.

In an age where mobile device components seem to grow by leaps and bounds every few months, it’s pretty remarkable that a pioneer in the space still manages to find itself among the top chipmakers in the world. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip was the first 1GHz mobile device processor to hit the market when the LG eXpo launched in December 2009, and it kicked off a gigahertz craze that has gained steam ever since. Today, Qualcomm is still a leader in the space and the company on Wednesday revealed the rebranding of its Snapdragon chipsets. Snapdragon chips now fall into one of four series: Snapdragon System 1 (65nm, up to 1.2GHz CPU, Adreno 200 GPU, up to 3G HSPA), Snapdragon System 2 (45nm, up to 1.4GHz CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, HSPA+, 1024 x 768 display, 720p recording, Dolby 5.1, stereoscopic 3D), Snapdragon System 3 (45nm, up to 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, Adreno 220 GPU, HSPA+, 1440 x 900 display, 1080p recording, Dolby 5.1, stereoscopic 3D) and Snapdragon System 4 (28nm, up to 2.5GHz quad-core CPU, up to quad-core Adreno GPU, HSPA+, LTE). System 4 Snapdragon chipsets won’t hit the market until next year, but Systems 1 through 3 can currently be found in 125 commercially available devices. So what might be an appropriate way for Qualcomm to celebrate the new rebranding? Team up with BGR to give away nine different smartphones and tablets, of course! Read on for all the details.

Qualcomm and BGR are very excited to usher in the new Snapdragon branding by giving away not one but nine different Snapdragon-powered devices over the next three weeks. We will be giving out three devices each week starting immediately, and each week’s devices will include Snapdragon chipsets from one of the three Snapdragon systems currently available. This week will include three System 1 devices, next week will include three System 2 devices and the following week will include… you guessed it… three System 3 devices. Kicking things off this week, we’re giving away one HTC Trophy (Verizon Wireless), one HP Veer 4G (AT&T) and one HTC Arrive (Sprint) to three lucky BGR readers. Here’s how to enter:

• Leave a comment below explaining why you want to win — be sure to use your real email address, Twitter account or Facebook account when commenting so we can contact you if you win
• Follow @BGR on Twitter and retweet this post

Readers may enter this portion of the giveaway up to twice, once by commenting beneath this post and once by following @BGR on Twitter and retweeting this post. Readers who enter week one of the giveaway are still eligible to enter weeks two and three. The first leg of our three-week giveaway will run from now through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on August 9th, and then the next leg will begin on August 10th. The giveaway is open to legal residents of the United States only, and you must be at least 18-years-old to enter. No purchase is necessary, and all devices and shipping costs will be free to contest winners. Winners will be selected randomly, contacted directly by BGR staff, and devices will be paired with winners at random. Phone service is not included.

Good luck! And feel free to follow individual BGR staffers on Twitter, too (@boygenius, @zacharye and @robotodd).

Qualcomm announced that it has purchased gesture recognition technology from GestureTek on Monday. “Applications processors are enabling a range of new ways for consumers to interface with their home entertainment and mobile devices,” said Qualcomm executive vice president and group president Steve Mollenkopf. “Our acquisition of key technology and assets from GestureTek will strengthen Qualcomm’s smartphone product portfolio and enable our customers to launch products with new and compelling user experiences.” The company said that it plans to build GestureTek’s gesture recognition technology into its current and future Snapdragon processors. The tech will allow manufacturers to create mobile devices with interactive user interfaces based on “natural human gestures.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read on for the full press release.

Qualcomm Acquires Gesture Recognition Assets from GestureTek

SAN DIEGO – July 25, 2011 – Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced that it has acquired certain assets from GestureTek, a developer of gesture recognition technology. A leader in the gesture recognition field, GestureTek has more than 25 years of experience implementing gesture-based technologies in mobile devices, entertainment facilities, healthcare systems, retail locations, and public and private venues. The acquisition gives Qualcomm ownership of certain intellectual property assets related to gesture recognition, as well as key engineering resources. GestureTek is retaining other assets in continuation of its gesture-controlled public display and digital signage business.

“Applications processors are enabling a range of new ways for consumers to interface with their home entertainment and mobile devices,” said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president and group president, Qualcomm. “Our acquisition of key technology and assets from GestureTek will strengthen Qualcomm’s smartphone product portfolio and enable our customers to launch products with new and compelling user experiences.”

Gesture recognition technology will be integrated into Qualcomm’s current and next-generation Snapdragon™ processors, giving OEMs the capability to produce smartphones, tablets and home entertainment devices with user interfaces based on natural human gestures.

Qualcomm said it expects to ship between 120 million and 125 million chips during the quarter ending in September, a figure that is lower than the 130 million units MLM Partners LLC analyst Tero Kuittinen expected the company to move. The lower projection hit Qualcomm in late trading on Tuesday when its stock price fell 3.8%. Qualcomm blamed the lower than expected forecast on a weak European economy and said that consumers there aren’t buying new phones as quickly. “Chip units for autumn are light,” Qualcomm chief financial officer Bill Keitel said during a conference call. “The blame likely lies in Europe. European inventory correction now seems to be a fact instead of a theory. We reduced a bit our forecast for how many new CDMA-based units would sell into Europe. The situation demands that we still be cautious.” The company also noted that it hopes to begin working with manufacturers to build its Snapdragon processor into tablets. That chip is mostly used in smartphones now and manufacturers such as Samsung and Motorola have instead used NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 chip to power Android tablets.

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Verizon Wireless has cut the price of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play to just $99.99 with a new two-year contract. The Xperia Play was announced in February and is the first smartphone to offer access to games from the PlayStation Suite. It runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and packs a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 4-inch 480 x 854 resolution display. It also features a full slide-out gamepad with PSP-style gaming buttons. In our recent review we called the Xperia Play “one of the most enjoyable game-focused smartphones we’ve ever used.”

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Sprint dropped the price of its Nexus S 4G smartphone to $99.99 on Friday. The Google-branded smartphone originally made its debut on Sprint on May 8th for $199.99. The Nexus S 4G offers a “pure Google” experience and runs the latest Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system. It also sports a 4-inch AMOLED display, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 16GB of internal memory and support for Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network. If you’re looking for a solid device that’s going to be constantly updated with the freshest OS builds from Google, the Nexus S 4G is a good bet — and its new $99.99 price point just makes it a bit sweeter.

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HP updated its Pre3 website with changes that suggest the company has swapped out the phone’s single-core processor for a dual-core chip. The site now includes a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip in the phone’s spec sheet, as opposed to the original 1.4GHz Scorpion CPU that was originally listed. In June the Pre3 began popping up on U.K. retail websites with a July 8th launch date, but that day has come and gone and the Pre3 has yet to make an appearance. Perhaps the processor tweak has been responsible for the delay, but that’s not yet clear. Additionally, it doesn’t appear that the company has tweaked any of the phone’s other specifications. The Pre3 passed through the FCC in May and it is expected to launch on Verizon Wireless in the U.S. Unfortunately, we’re still not sure when the device will actually hit store shelves.

[Via phoneArena]

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It was hardly a surprise when T-Mobile announced the HTC-built myTouch 4G Slide late last month, as a series of leaks left little to the imagination. Noticeably absent from T-Mobile’s official announcement, however, were launch details. T-Mobile on Monday rectified the situation when it revealed that the latest addition to the myTouch series will launch on July 27th for $199.99 on contract. The T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide is no slouch when it comes to specs — the smartphone features a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch WVGA display, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video recording, and a full QWERTY keyboard along with support for SWYPE. The myTouch 4G Slide also features HTC’s latest Sense 3.0 UI overlay and service suite on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is far and away our favorite Android overlay to date.