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Kindle family goes retail, coming to a store near you on November 15th
Are you giddy thinking about the arrival of the new Kindles? We know you are, and so does Amazon, so the king of online retail is making it easier to get your hands on your Kindle of choice. Bezos and friends have announced they'll be selling their entire suite of e-readers in over 16,000 locations come November 15th, which provides the first confirmation that the Fire will be available in stores. So, if you're itching for a Touch, regular Kindle or an Android-flavored version, you'll be able to swing by the local Target, Walmart, Best Buy or Radio Shack (among others) to pick one up just one week from today. Nice to see Amazon making our holiday shopping a bit easier.
Microsoft patents apps that let you buy things, Ballmer to go on licensing spree?
Many of us use apps to buy stuff these days, whether its grabbing the latest e-book from Amazon, or a Groupon for a day of pampering at the local spa. Seems obvious now, but it wasn't (at least according to the USPTO) in 2004, when Microsoft filed a patent application for the idea -- and that application was recently granted. The patent claims a way to make purchases through an network-connected portal with a "streamlined interface" (to "streamline" the process of parting you from your money, no doubt). The portal maintains a list of selling sites and exchanges info as needed to let buyers pick up what the seller's putting down. Now, we aren't intimately familiar with the ways shopping apps work, but the patent language appears broad enough to cover apps that make internet purchases without using a full-on web browser -- though only a federal court can say for sure. The only other question is, what are Ballmer and his boys going to do with these newly granted IP powers?
RIFT ships off to South Korea
For as many Asian MMOs that get imported overseas, it's good to see a little love heading back that way as well. South Korean players anxious to get their hands on RIFT will now have that opportunity. Trion Worlds announced that it signed a multi-year agreement with CJ E&M Games to publish a localized version in the country. This is good news for RIFT, as it will expand outside of its current North American and European markets. Trion's Lars Buttler sees South Korea as ripe for a few dynamic invasions: "We take the Korean market very seriously as it is driven by innovation and growth in the online gaming space. By working with CJ E&M we are able to bring deep, immersive online gaming experiences to the east, and continue delivering quality games to gamers worldwide." RIFT is riding high after a recent NPD report that listed the game as the top-selling retail PC game in North America in March, according to Trion's press release.
The iPad's effect on rival companies' CEOs
Apple's iPad and iPhone are shaking up the netbook and smartphone market, producing a chain reaction of events that has led to the resignation of chief executives from three major electronics manufacturers. This past Thursday, Acer Corp. CEO Gianfranco Lanci became third in the line when he announced his resignation from the Taiwanese company. A report from Digitimes suggests the success of the Apple iPad had a major impact on Acer's netbook business, which in turn led to Lanci's departure. Acer climbed to the top of the netbook market when it introduced the Aspire One netbook back in 2008. Since the launch of the iPad in 2010, netbook manufacturers have struggled to compete with Apple's tablet device. The past year was particularly hard for Acer, which saw its netbook sales go flat, while the Apple iPad took off among consumers. Acer is reportedly working on an iPad competitor, but the tablet device is said to be underpowered and "outmatched by the iPad in terms of both hardware and software."According to the report, Acer's focus on affordable consumer devices makes it incapable of producing a device to compete with Apple. Acer is not alone in sacrificing its CEO as a result of Apple's success. In this last year, both Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and LG CEO Nam Young left their respective positions due to increasing competition from Apple's mobile products. Both LG and Nokia are struggling in the smartphone market and have yet to produce a blockbuster handset to compete with the iPhone. LG's latest offering, the dual core Optimus 2X, features a dual-core processor, 4-inch display and an 8-megapixel camera, but the Android handset has not caught on as well as the Apple iPhone. [Via AppleInsider]
Original iPads still selling well
The second generation iPad has sold amazingly well for Apple since its launch in early March. The tablet device is difficult to find in retail stores, and Apple's online storefront offers the iPad 2 with a 4-5 week ship time. Also riding this wave of success is the original iPad, whose supply will soon be depleted. The first generation iPad is available in Apple's clearance website with a $100 price reduction. All models are available at this reduced price, except for the 16 GB Wi-Fi, which is apparently sold out. AT&T is also continuing to sell its supply of first generation iPads and only has the high-end 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G available in its online storefront. This model is selling for an incredibly low $529. If you want an original iPad, you'd better act quickly. Presumably, Apple has stopped manufacturing the first generation device and is focusing its resources on the second generation model. Apple is selling the remaining inventory from its last production run, and this stock will not be replaced when it is sold out. Of course, there is an ample supply on eBay or Craigslist, but the secondary market is fraught with dishonest sellers and many models will be used.
Apple confirms Best Buy iPads at launch, what time you'll need to be there
We're nearly there. The mystical, magical iPad experience starts this Saturday, April 3, and if you haven't already pre-ordered your only way to get one for the weekend is going to be to fight the rush at retail. Apple has confirmed that all 221 of its Apple Stores will have the wunder-tablets on sale, and has also confirmed the Best Buy rumors, indicating that "most" of the big-box retailer's locations will have them. Stores are set to open at 9:00am, so we figure you can probably roll on over there at 8:45 or so and get a good spot in line.
Mac sales growth continues, according to IDC numbers
Apple is really defying gravity in this economic slump with impressive numbers. Market research firm IDC reports Apple sold about 5.6 million computers here in the U.S. in 2009, giving it an 8% market share. That's up just a bit from the previous year, when Apple had a 7.9% share, and it makes Apple the 4th largest domestic computer maker, behind HP, Dell and Acer. These numbers are preliminary estimates based on 2009 sales. The report notes that low end notebooks and netbooks were really pushing the computer sales numbers, an area where Apple is not really competing. Windows 7 equipped computers also accounted for a strong 4th quarter in domestic sales. Sales of computers were also up worldwide. IDC reports that the market gained 15.8% year over year. In the 4th quarter of 2009 there was double digit growth for the first time since the 3rd quarter of 2008. Apple's 4th quarter growth rate was the third highest of U.S. PC vendors, with sales up 31% compared to a year ago. Toshiba had booming sales up 71.5% from 2008, and HP was up a healthy 45% from the 4th quarter of 2008. So if Apple makes a tablet, will tablets count as PC sales? Wonder that will do to their 2010 numbers.
Gartner: iPhone has 17.1% of worldwide smartphone sales
iPhone sales are up more than 4% from a year ago, while the leading smartphone seller, Nokia, is down 3% from a year ago. That's the word from Gartner Research today as they survey 3rd quarter sales. According to Gartner research: Apple's worldwide smartphone share reached 17 per cent as iPhone sales totalled 7 million units in the third quarter of 2009 following the continued rollout of the iPhone 3GS in new countries. Its ASP (average selling price) is holding steady and sales in the fourth quarter should be even stronger as Apple starts selling in China, through one additional carrier in the UK, and in an additional 16 countries. Sales of Windows smartphones had another quarterly decline, with Windows Mobile 6.5 appearing too late to factor into the accounting. For a company that was dismissed two years ago for not having any experience in building phones, Apple seems to doing more than just OK. By the same token, the competition from the new Droid from Verizon should keep Apple innovating.
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.
Blizzard bumps Nintendo off #1 spot on Develop's top 100 studios list
Develop Magazine releases a list every year of the 100 most bankable game studios in the world, known as the Develop 100. The list for 2009 has just gone out, and guess who has moved up in the world? Going from #47 last year all the way to the top this year is Blizzard Entertainment -- you know, those chaps that are responsible for World of Warcraft, among other things. Fellow money-printing outfit Nintendo was relegated to second place due to this mighty ascension. Our sister-site WoW Insider did a bit of digging to find out why Blizzard jumped so much in a single year. It seems to be due to a few things combined; Blizzard's Activision merger, the release of Wrath of the Lich King, and a change in the way Develop is calculating their figures, particularly in relation to MMOs. Here's a summary of the judging standards found on the Develop 100 page:Develop 100 ranks the world's most bankable games development studios based on a variety of key criteria including sales data, critical success and industry standing.Things get a bit wonky when it comes to sales data and MMOs, due to significant revenue coming from subscriptions and online purchases instead of retail sales. WotLK's release and resulting retail sales undoubtedly had a great deal to do with Blizzard's new number one standing, and we wonder how old Blizz' would have fared on the Develop 100 without a new box to put on store shelves. Regardless, they're the champions for 2009. For those interested, the top 5 in order are: Blizzard Entertainment, Nintendo, Rockstar North, EA Canada, and Capcom.
Surprise! Retail sales abysmal this holiday season
Perhaps it was a foregone conclusion -- and the Black Friday body count was a rather ominous sign -- but this holiday season, according to some poor sap interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, "retailers went from 'Ho-ho' to 'Uh-oh' to 'Oh-no.'" (Way to make light of a serious issue, guy -- that's our job). Sales are down across the entire retail sector, from luxury goods (including jewelry sales, down 34.5 percent) to electronics and appliances (down 26.7 percent). This is all bad news for the likes of Circuit City, who is operating under Chapter 11 and could use the cash, but great news for bloggers like Business Pundit, who is having a field day with his parodic corporate logos, a few of which can be seen above. You know what they say: when life gives you lemons...[Thanks, Agustin; image courtesy of Business Pundit]
No Nintendo for GAME -- sales are up, but shortages suck
Those purple folk at the GAME Group (a prominent games retailer) have released European sales details for the first half of 2008, and it's looking pretty good. Group sales are up 54 percent, with like-for-like sales up 28.4 percent. Like-for-like is such a dumb term. Reminds us of these things.Anyway, despite the strong performance of the group as a whole, the constant shortage of Nintendo products has left a gap in the big fat bricks of cash they're raking in. Well, the UK and Ireland are doing okay, but international performance isn't as high -- "particularly in Spain." Those wacky Spaniards and their neverending lust for technology! Total international sales were up 43.9 percent, with like-for-like (arrgh!) sales on the low end of the scale at 16.9 percent. GAME will be opening 60 new stores before the end of the year, so if you aren't familiar with that big, neon purple logo, you soon will be.
