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Magic Mouse doubles Apple's mouse market share
AppleInsider is reporting that in only eight weeks since its release, the Magic Mouse has helped Apple double its mouse market share. NPD Group sales data shows Apple garnered over 10% of the mouse market in November. I can personally attest to how popular the mouse is. I ordered one from Apple's online store two weeks before Christmas. The ship time showed 2-3 days. This never changed until just a few days before Christmas when Apple changed the shipping time to "On or after January 4th". Runs to three Apple Stores and four Best Buys didn't do me any better – all were sold out of the Magic Mouse. The NPD sales data included only standalone sales of the $69 Magic Mouse. "The figures did not include the bundled Magic Mouse that comes with each 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac. For those keeping track, here are the top five mouse vendors in the US for November 2009: I'm anxiously waiting for my Magic Mouse to arrive on January 4th. What about you guys and gals? Do you use one? Tell us in the comments!
NPD lists top-selling games of 2009 in US -- excluding December
The NPD Group, which tracks sales of games in the US, handed over a list of the top 10 selling games this year through November to IndustryGamers. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on Xbox 360 dominates the top spot with 4.2 million copies sold, while the PS3 version slips in at eighth place -- considering the data only goes up to November, a quick look at last month's NPDs could have told you as much. The only other non-Nintendo titles at the top are Halo 3: ODST with 2 million and Madden NFL 10 on Xbox 360 with 1.5 million at the six and nine spots, respectively. Otherwise, Nintendo owns this list with first-party titles. If you're prepared to gaze upon the stunning sales Nintendo had in 2009, head on over to IndustryGamers for the data.
Apple kicks butt, takes names in October desktop and laptop retail sales
Boo-ya! Apple took the top honors in terms of desktop and laptop retail sales in the U.S. in October, according to market research firm NPD Group. As reported on CNET, the iMac line (refreshed in October) and laptops occupied some of the top slots in the list. During the month of October, the new 21.5-inch iMac was the best-selling desktop computer, with the awe-inspiring 27-inch model in third place. Stephen Baker, who is NPD's vice president of industry analysys, told CNET that Apple was helped by a rather dismal month for Windows desktops, since retailers were pushing existing inventory prior to the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7. In the laptop list, the 13-inch MacBook Pro model was the number one seller, with three other MacBooks filling the number 8, 9, and 10 spots for October laptop sales. NPD's numbers are pulled from online and retail store sales figures, but don't account for direct sales from the manufacturer to consumers.
NPD: Windows 7 sales 234% higher than Vista's first few days
Looks like Windows 7 is off to a much stronger start than Windows Vista, with the NPD Group claiming the first few days of sales saw a 234% increase over Vista's start. Part of that can be attributed to special deals and low-cost pre-sales -- total revenue was only 82% higher -- but it's hard to deny people are stoked for Windows 7. Interestingly, the PC hardware growth was actually stronger for Vista than 7 (48% year over year compared to 68% year over year), but there are enough variables at play there to make sure Microsoft won't lose sleep over it. In fact, 7's biggest threat seems to be Microsoft's other products, since Windows 7 PC sales were up against 20% of PC sales being comprised of Vista and XP computers, compared to the 6% of non-Vista PCs sold during that launch.
Aion tops NPD Group PC sales chart for September
When NCsoft released Aion, they had hopes it would ultimately enjoy the caliber of success in western markets that the title has in Asia. It's been roughly one month since Aion launched in North America but it's off to a good start, as indicated by its entry to the NPD Group's September US PC sales chart at number one. Aion usurped competing titles like World of Warcraft and Champions Online in the NPD rankings, and the Aion Collectors Edition took the number five slot on the chart as well. Not bad at all for a game that only launched in the third week of September.
NPD study finds 40% of recent game purchases were impulse-driven
An NPD Group study, using our Canadian brothers and sisters as guinea pigs, has apparently determined that 40 percent of game buyers purchased on impulse (no, not Stardock's Impulse) in the last six months. GI.biz reports that the study found the driving factor for these losses in willpower were pretty packaging, online accessibility and cheaper pre-owned titles.NPD's Matthew Tattle notes that it's surprising to find impulse purchasing going on during a recession, but that "it's clear that hardcore gamers will find a way to satisfy their need for something new, different and enjoyable." Or, maybe, their ADD is just kicking in and they can't focus on the fact that we're in a recession?The average impulse purchase was under $27 (USD), as compared to the average $42 planned purchase. The study also found that females were more likely to buy on impulse and that 15 percent of purchases were made through online transactions. So, apparently some impulse purchases were on Impulse.
Snow Leopard selling faster than Leopard
They aren't flying off the shelves, but early signs are that Snow Leopard boxes are far exceeding sales of Leopard, and 4 times higher than sales of Tiger. That's the assessment of the NPD group, which tracks retail sales for many industries. The firm also notes that sales declined about 25% from week 1 to week 2, again, far better than both Leopard and Tiger. Tiger was released in April of 2005 and Leopard hit the streets in October of 2007. Of course, Snow Leopard sells for US$100.00 lower than the price of previous versions of Mac OS X, so that could be a large part of the success of the release. Stephen Baker of NPD noted, "As we head into the fall selling season, and the release of another major OS upgrade, it will be instructive to see if that upgrade (Windows 7) -- currently projected to sell at ASPs much higher than Snow Leopard -- can deliver the same incremental increase in consumer demand that Snow Leopard has enjoyed." As we've noted, the update to Snow Leopard has been a bit bumpy for some, but by most measures of satisfaction and sales Snow Leopard is not at all like the mammal it has been named after -- which is, sadly, endangered and diminishing in numbers.
NPD provides stats on game promotion, platform cross-ownership
The NPD Group's steady stream of gaming industry studies continues today with a fascinating look at the game purchasing community. Here's the most surprising statistic to come from the study -- in a poll asking what methods gaming enthusiasts used to gather information about new titles, 41 percent of participants chose the "word of mouth" response. This far outweighs the ratio of gamers who draw information from advertisements, social networking sites and hands-on time with games at a friend or relatives' house. The other bit of information (which will likely serve as ammunition in some misguided fanboy war) is a chart showing a breakdown of gaming console cross-ownership. It goes like this: Nearly 40 percent of PS3 owners also own Wiis or Xbox 360s, 18 percent of Xbox 360 owners have PS3s, and few Wii owners also possess 360s (26 percent) or PS3s (14 percent). To see this information presented in a manner that doesn't resemble the makings of an SAT Prep logic puzzle, check out the NPD Group's press release. [Image]
NPD: Households with kids still the biggest game purchasers
Though the median age of video gamers has increased dramatically over the past decade, a recent report from the NPD Group shows that youngsters still possess a great deal of market dominance -- according to the study, households with children ages 12 and under constitute 45 percent of the gaming industry's total sales. Considering these tweens only make up 17 percent of the U.S. population, that's a fairly large chunk of selling power.Still, it's tough to completely trust these numbers -- as we all know, 13-year-olds are vile, fraudulent creatures who are quick to shave a few years off their age in the pursuit of pure vanity. Just be yourself, 13-year-olds. You've got plenty of good years ahead of you.
Apple sells 25% of music in the US, none of which is AC/DC
According to the number crunchers at NPD Group, the trend that came to a head last year when Apple beat out Wal-Mart for the title of largest Stateside music retailer is continuing apace. That's right -- one in four songs sold in America is sold on iTunes, while Wal-Mart (including CD sales through retail stores, sales through their website, and Wal-Mart Music Downloads) holds the number two position at 14 percent. And number three, if you're morbidly curious, is Best Buy. In addition, 69% of all digital music sold in the US comes from the iTunes store, with Amazon ranking second at 8 percent. When talking formats, the CD remains the most popular at 65 percent, but as some dude named Russ Crupnick (NPD's vice president of entertainment industry analysis) notes, "with digital music sales growing at 15 to 20 percent, and CDs falling by an equal proportion, digital music sales will nearly equal CD sales by the end of 2010." Which can only be a good thing, if it means that we'll never have to step into a Wal-Mart again. Sales of ringtones and sales to consumers under 13 were not tabulated, which means the data may incorrectly skew away from purchases of The Wiggles' Go Bananas! and that Crazy Frog song. [Via TUAW]
World of Warcraft retail sales reach 8.6 million units
Yes, yes -- we're all impressed with how fast the audience for relative newcomer Free Realms is expanding. However, one cannot forget that Free Realms is, in fact, free. The original rapidly expanding MMO, World of Warcraft, costs actual money, and now we have a rough idea of how much moolah Blizzard's cash cow has raked in. According to the NPD Group's calculations, the core game, the two expansions and the WoW Battle Chest have sold a total of 8.6 million copies at retail in America.Gamasutra estimates that this figure equals about $258 million for Blizzard from WoW's U.S. retail sales. Of course, the company is really making bank off the $15 that its 11.5 million subscribers dish out every month -- but $258 million is nothing to scoff at. Unless you're like, the Jonas Brothers or something.
NPD: Video gaming surpasses moviegoing
Are you puzzled as to why visionary director Steven Spielberg recently made the leap from managing motion pictures to creating block-n-ball Wii games? The answer can be found in a recent NPD study: According to the NPD research group, 63 percent of Americans have played a video game in the past six months -- but only 53 percent of Americans went out to the movies over the same time period. Mr. Spielberg is jumping off a burning ship.Do you realize what this means? We're winning. We're not sure what we're winning, but surely someone, somewhere, was arguing about why video games are better than films. The NPD just supplied this lone crusader with an invaluable piece of empirical evidence. Keep the fire, brother. Your hour of victory draws near. For more stats about how great video games are, check out the NPD's full report.
NPD survey says: Game spending to stay strong in '09
We'll be straight with you, folks: We don't really like surveys or statistics all that much. So when the NPD talks to 10,000 US citizens about their entertainment consumption and spending, we're inclined to be highly suspicious of any conclusions it may arrive at (after all, that's less than one percent of the US population). That being said, the NPD's latest poll found that, of those 10,000 people, 65 percent are currently willing to spend "the same or more" this year on video games as they did in 2008. Seems as though even in tough economic times, consumers gravitate towards entertainment to take their minds off of duckets (or their lack thereof). "Most consumers say they'll continue to purchase at least the same amount of many entertainment categories in the coming year," NPD analyst Russ Crupnick says, remaining positive on the future viability of entertainment sales in general. We're hoping -- for our sake as well -- his assessment pans out.[Via MCV]
NPD Group: Wii Fit has outsold Halo 3
If you were still wondering how wide the mainstream appeal for Nintendo's hyper-successful Wii Fit actually is, here's a good example. The NPD Group recently confirmed to Kotaku that in addition to its first place finish in the February NPD charts, Wii Fit broke the 6 million sales mark, pushing it past Halo 3's 5.9 million copies sold. A fairly remarkable feat, considering Bungie's opus has been on the market 8 months longer than Wii Fit -- and for $30 cheaper, to boot. Pehaps if Halo 3 did more to help shed them chunky pounds, it'd still be in the lead.
Stephen Baker: Drop the MacBook below $800
Stephen Baker, Vice President of Industry Analysis for The NPD Group, released his analysis of Apple's sales trends following the recent release of January sales figures. In his opinion? If Apple keeps up its current pricing strategy, it's going to flounder in today's economy. The solution? If Apple can't produce a netbook, then slash the price of the MacBook down to $799 in order to bring a mainstream price to a high-end product. How low can you go? Discussion on this article behind the scenes here at TUAW resulted in the observation that if you drop the price too much, you'll wind up diluting the brand itself. Apple commands higher prices, but it also has the product to back it up -- and it has made some price concessions. You can pay $999 now for a better MacBook than I paid $1399 for just 15 months ago, and one that will last much longer than most PC notebooks on the market. Drop the price too much and not only will the brand get diluted, it'll spark even more fears that something is wrong with the company. There's a fine line between premium and cheap, and a lot of that is psychological. Personally, I would also think less of Apple if it jumped on the netbook bandwagon just because everyone else did. It didn't even venture into the smartphone market until it could develop a device that not only blew away the competition, but changed the cell phone industry itself. If Apple is going to produce a netbook, then let it produce one that'll stand out and won't get lost among the Acers, Dells and eeePCs out there. But, don't slash MacBook prices to compensate for the lack of one either. What are your thoughts on Baker's observations? Let us know in the comments.
NPD: Dawn of War II topples the Lich King in first week
As reported last week by GI.biz, the NPD Group revealed THQ's new RTS, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, had topped PC sales for the week ending February 21 -- knocking World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King down to second place in the process. We'd analyze the data ... only there is no data to analyze; the NPD Group didn't include unit sales on its list. So, the lingering question remains: Is Dawn of War II a new trend in PC sales or was this simply a surge for a new -- and anticipated -- title?That's a question which can't be answered until new data -- hopefully with numbers -- shows us second-week sales of the game. THQ is in dire need of a cash injection after a February announcement in which company announced plans to axe 600 jobs and analyst rumblings it has a 50% chance of bankruptcy. However, after a week's worth of sales and toppling the current (Lich) king of the PC market, it is possible that the publisher may not have such "mediocre product" as analyst Mike Hickey once theorized -- and, if all else fails, it could always unleash 50 Cent.
NPD Group says discs don't have to fear downloads... yet
Pretty much falling in line with Futuresource's predictions earlier this week, the NPD Group found that the 48-percent of respondents had purchased a DVD or Blu-ray disc, compared to 2-percent who had downloaded a movie or TV show. Download-only zealots who cry foul over the lack of titles available for purchase will find little consolation in the additional 2-percent who digitally rented content. Still, physical media could take a lesson from the new kid on the block, and we'd agree that getting rid of the numerous previews on discs to mimic the "just watch the content, already" performance of streams would be a good start. Prioritize that above including more BD-Live "features," please; based on what we've seen so far, we don't think that's going to be what really pushes people from DVD to Blu-ray, no matter what the poll numbers say.
Top 5 selling games in 2008 across global markets
NPD, GfK Chart-Track and Enterbrain have combined video game software sales lists for the respective regions they cover to declare Mario Kart Wii as the top selling game of 2008. Games sales across the "world's three largest games markets" saw an 11% increase, totaling 409.9 million units last year.Top five selling games for US, UK and Japan combined: Mario Kart Wii - 8.94 million Wii Fit - 8.31 million Grand Theft Auto IV - 7.29 million Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 6.32 million Call of Duty: World at War - 5.89 million The rankings are almost identical to Edge's "guesstimate" sales list released last week, which included all of Europe, but not Japan. Overall, the US and UK markets saw increases of 15% and 26%, respectively. The Japanese market saw a 13% decline in software sales, which Enterbrain explains has little to do with the current generation of consoles, but is due to the 46% software sales drop on the PS2. Check out the chart after the break for a regional dissection of the software ranks.
Nintendo sets US sales records in 2008, collects $200
While 2008 saw investments wiped out, institutions falter, and record job losses, the house that Mario built chugged its way back into the record books. According to NPD Group statistics, Nintendo sold a record 10.17 million Wii consoles to US Americans in 2008. That trumps Nintendo's own record of 9.95 million consoles sold in the relatively healthy 2007 economic climate. Nintendo added to its money pile by hawking 9.95 million DS handhelds for the year compared to the 8.52 million sold in 2007. Those tallies represent 55% of all consoles and 72% of all handheld consoles sold in the US. Daaaamn.P.S. Want to see what Nintendo's 2008 dominance looks like in the form of a pie chart? Check the amazing graphic after the break.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
On average consumers pay $10 more for Blu-ray Discs than DVD
In a recent report by the NPD group, it is revealed that on average consumers pay $10 more for a Blu-ray Disc then for a DVD. The real interesting part is that evidently that is still to much for some titles. The report goes on to say that while consumers have no problem paying $10 more for titles like The Dark Knight, other movies just aren't worth it. Of course this points to the obvious fact that if Blu-ray Discs cost less more people would 'em. We can't blame Hollywood for trying to get the best price they can for their wares, but at the same time we can understanding waiting for the prices to come down before buying. The other interesting part of the report is how many more men are into Blu-ray then women. We won't even begin to try to understand this one though.
