Sony returned to the black for the first time in five years, thanks largely to one-time gains from the sale of assets rather than its core consumer electronics products. The Japanese electronics giant on Thursday reported a net profit of $458 million in the 2012 financial year ending March 31 compared with a loss of …

In the midst of a turnaround effort, T-Mobile reported late Tuesday that its first-quarter revenue declined 7 percent on service revenue losses while adding new customers. The wireless carrier recorded total revenues of $4.68 billion for the first quarter, compared with $5.03 billion for the year-ago quarter. Service revenue decreased 9.9 percent to $4 billion but were offset by increased …

Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen is ratcheting up the war of words with SoftBank over who is the better suitor for Sprint Nextel. After SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son referred to Dish’s unsolicited $25.5 billion bid to buy Sprint from under the Japanese carrier as “incomplete and illusory,” Ergen reiterated earlier arguments that a U.S. buyer would be best for the …

Samsung Electronics posted a first-quarter profit Thursday that beat estimates on strong sales of handsets in emerging markets. Net income rose to 7.15 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the three months ended March 31, an increase from the company’s 5.05 trillion won ($4.55 billion) profit of a year earlier but a slight decline from the fourth-quarter’s $6.6 billion net profit, …

Now playing: Watch this: Samsung’s Galaxy S4 powerhouse 3:28 T-Mobile customers expecting to place their online orders for the Samsung Galaxy S4 on Wednesday will have to wait until next week to order the hotly anticipated device. Formerly expected to be the first to offer the device online, the wireless carrier said Tuesday that the beginning of online ordering has …

Calling Dish Network’s rival bid for Sprint Nextel “highly conditional,” Softbank said tonight it is going ahead with its merger proposal for the troubled carrier and expects to close the deal this summer. The satellite TV provider submitted a merger proposal this morning valued at $25.5 billion, a 13 percent premium over the Japanese wireless carrier’s merger proposal, which offered …

Microsoft is reportedly exploring the idea of joining what promises to be a crowded smartwatch market. The tech titan has asked suppliers in Asia to ship components for a potential touch-enabled watch device, executives at the suppliers told The Wall Street Journal. One executive told the Journal that he had met with Microsoft’s research and development team in Redmond, Wash., …

Samsung Electronics expects to record an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion) for the first quarter of 2013, a 53 percent increase over the year-ago period. The guidance, released today by the South Korean electronics giant ahead of full earnings later this month, is better than many analysts had forecast but a slight decline over the fourth quarter …

T-Mobile USA’s turnaround efforts appear to be gaining traction, according to preliminary first-quarter results released this evening. The wireless carrier’s net customer base grew by 579,000 to finish the quarter with 34 million customers, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile’s branded customer base grew by 3,000, compared with a loss of 349,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Related stories When Does My …

AT&T plans to begin deploying HD Voice’s improved voice calling to customers later this year, an executive with the carrier revealed today. The feature, which has been long touted by the wireless carriers, uses hardware and software components on both the phone and on the network to significantly enhance voice clarity while reducing background noise. The feature devotes more frequency …