market
Latest
Enter at Your Own Rift: How gold farming really hurts the economy
Recently, Trion Worlds CCO and RIFT Executive Producer Scott Hartsman talked to Gamasutra about how gold farming is a much bigger threat than we assume, particularly because of the large amount of credit card fraud. Those who played RIFT at launch probably recall the large wave of hacked accounts early on. According to Hartsman, the hacking attempts were so quick and so intense that the game could have been "denial-of-serviced off the internet" when it launched. As I was browsing the Auctioneer the other day, I was reminded of Scott's statement because gold farming has sucked a lot of the fun out of in-game economies in virtual worlds. Markets early on were lively, unpredictable, exciting, and full of freedom but very vulnerable because of the growing illegal trade of in-game currency for real money. In an effort to combat the rising real-life value of gold, games like RIFT have moved away from gold toward a system of non-tradeable tokens. But while these tokens have helped to curb the value of gold and reduce the demand for third-party RMTs, they've also removed a lot of the freedom from players. After the cut, we'll take a closer look at how exactly that's happened and why it hurts the economy.
Forrester: iPad may be (slightly) more vulnerable in Europe
Sometimes the market-research business can be tough. On the same day that a German court blocked sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in almost every EU country, a new report from Forrester Research arrives on the scene -- and it says that if Apple competitors want to take on the iPad, Europe might be the right market. Hope they've got a healthy supply of correction fluid! Forrester predicts that Apple will take over 80 percent of all tablet sales in North America this year. However, the odds are a little better for other manufacturers in Europe, where Apple will "only" claim 70 percent of the market. That seems kind of a minor distinction to make (Apple is still obviously dominating, at least for this year), but it's true -- other tablet makers will probably have to go for every advantage they can get. In Europe, says Forrester, Apple doesn't quite have the retail presence it enjoys in North America, and the culture (cult?) of Apple isn't quite as engrained as it is this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Combine that with the fact that, according to both customer surveys and past sales, Europe is willing to buy tablets, and other tablet manufacturers may find more fertile ground there. Who will sell tablets in Europe? Forrester isn't saying who might top the market just yet, but says that price will be a big selling point, meaning low cost producers from Asia and elsewhere have a good chance as well.
Apple now the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, Samsung checks in at number two
We make our own truth. That's how IDC can come up with roughly the same numbers as fellow research firm Canalys and crown Apple the king, when its rival called Android top dog -- it's all about how you slice it. See, where as Canalys bundled all Android handset makers together, IDC has broken them up, which leads to a rather interesting twist -- the largest smartphone maker in the world is now Apple. Cupertino's growth of 141.7-percent in shipments year over year was enough to push it past Nokia (which slipped to number three) and Samsung (which climbed two spots to take the silver medal), while RIM and HTC rounded out the top five. That being said, no one is running away with the lead here, and Sammy's continued stratospheric rise should keep Apple on guard. Check out the full report after the break.
AMD's market share tiptoes higher, Intel still ruler of the roost
Intel may still be king of the microprocessing hill, but from the looks of IDC's latest market report, scrappy underdog AMD is starting to claim more of the $9.5 billion dollar pie. The semiconductor stalwarts faced off in four separate market categories with runner-up AMD seeing gains in all, save for servers where its paltry 5.5 percent share dropped 0.6 percent versus Intel's commanding 94.5 percent lead. The Q2 2011 report pegged Intel's overall worldwide share at 79.3 percent, a 1.5 percent decrease from the previous quarter, while AMD saw a 1.5 percent increase to 20.4 percent. For the mobile PC realm, Intel once again saw a decline as its 84.4 percent share took a 1.9 percent quarter to quarter tumble, with AMD again seeing a nearly 2 percent gain in its 15.2 percent stake. In the desktop PC segment, AMD grabbed an additional 1.5 percent, bringing its stake to 28.9 percent, with Intel's 70.9 percent share dropping 1.5 percent versus Q1 2011. Wondering where the second place chip maker got its second quarter stride? According to the research firm, its new Fusion platform, along with Intel's Sandy Bridge, now accounts for "more than 60% of total PC processor unit volume in 2Q11." You paying attention, Sandy? It's time to sleep with one eye open. [Image credit via Vault Networks]
Android Market update reportedly rolling out to the dessert-themed faithful
Fans of frozen, cultured dairy products and holiday cookies, it's time to get your handsets ready -- that new, not-so-shiny Android Market appears to be making its way to users now. Both our inbox and the Twitterverse are afire with news that the redesigned market is delivering, not just apps, but books and movies to Android phones across the US as you're reading this. Of course, as we've already mentioned, you could just skip the waiting game and start perusing the Editor's Choice section right now by downloading and manually installing the APK. If you don't remember why you're supposed to be excited, check out the video after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Android Market embraces fragmentation, allows multiple APKs for a single app
Google wants to keep its third-party app developers 'appy by letting them upload multiple APKs to the Android Market under a single product title. This means developers can subtly offer different versions of their app to suit different devices and OS versions without having to worry about mixed-up download stats, user reviews or billing data. They can also tailor their software to exploit the capabilities of a new handset or tablet without having to mess with their existing customers. What will the App Guy have to say about this?
Verizon flips the switch on 28 new LTE markets, Louisville Sluggers now available with 4G
3G wireless is now less a privilege than a right, and and with any luck our 4G networks will be similarly self-evident soon. Verizon is doing its part, flipping the switch on 28 new LTE markets today. This boosts the total number of covered areas to 102. Added highlights include: Colorado Springs, Colorado; Augusta, Georgia; Louisville, Kentucky; and Hilo, Hawaii. Meanwhile, folks in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, San Antonio, and Seattle can now roam a little further from city center without losing LTE. The full list is after the break, but if you're feeling lucky just go ahead and enable everything on your handset. We've got our fingers crossed for you.
Isis adds Visa, MasterCard, American Express to mobile payment lineup
Isis hasn't shown us much more than a logo and a black and white rendering of its NFC-powered mobile payment system, but the outfit proved today that it has all of its ducks -- or, rather, major credit card companies -- in a row. According to the group -- a collaboration between AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- Isis will launch with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express on board. Back in May, we reported that the credit card alternative was shaking up its initial, Discover-only platform to let the competition in. Since then, the Goog's swept in with Google Wallet (backed by Sprint), which also counts MasterCard as a partner. Google's already got a head start, with Wallet trials underway in New York and San Francisco, but the internet giant might just need the lead, considering the list of heavy hitters Isis has lined up for its 2012 debut.
Epic's Mike Gamble blames studio closures on 'stupid acquisitions'
Epic Games' European head, Mike Gamble, says there's a simple reason we're seeing so many big game companies close triple-A studios lately: stupidity. "It's happened because of stupid acquisitions," he said in London recently. Quite a few studios have seen shutdowns, either after or even during big game releases, and Gamble even specifically calls out Disney for buying and then closing down Split/Second developer Black Rock Studio. "What was the point of a well-known children's IP holder buying a hardcore racing studio?," asked Gamble. "It doesn't make sense." Disney would probably argue that it wanted to expand its console division away from just children's IP, but of course the results bear Gamble's hindsight-improved assessment out on that one. Still, he also says there's an upside to all of the bad news. Especially in Europe, according to Gamble, a lot of developers from studios that have been acquired and closed are instead starting their own companies with different priorities. "There's a sea change in the European industry," said Gamble. "People are not looking to create companies where they're going to buy Ferraris. They're looking to create companies where they're having a great time and making nice money, but really doing the cool stuff."
SwiftKey X virtual keyboard launches for Android tablets, we go hands-on (video)
We're no strangers to SwiftKey here at Engadget HQ, and today TouchType is launching a major new version of everyone's favorite Android virtual keyboard -- SwiftKey Tablet X for devices running Honeycomb, and SwiftKey X for devices running Android 2.x. Both applications improve upon the original by using TouchType's Fluency 2.0 artificial intelligence engine, a unique predictive phrase system which learns how you write. New features include cloud learning, which analyzes how you type in Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and text messages to predict phrases in your style, plus keypress technology which continually monitors your typing precision and adapts the touch-sensitive area for each key to improve prediction accuracy. SwiftKey now supports 17 languages (with more coming soon) and is smart enough to interpret three languages at once. There's also a handful of other enhancements, including support for themes which allow users to customize the look and feel of the keyboard. And that split keyboard option we first encountered at CES? It's there of course, in the tablet version. We've been testing SwiftKey Tablet X on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a few days now, alongside SwiftKey X on a handful of phones (including the Nexus S and the EVO 3D), and it's probably the best virtual keyboard we've used on Android yet. In fact, it's now replacing the stock keyboard on all our HTC Sense-equipped handsets. Prediction accuracy improves quickly after you start using the keyboard, and we liked having the option to turn off the spacebar-triggered auto-completion of words and phrases. Another useful feature is the ability to display arrow / cursor keys on the phone version. The supplied themes are attractive (especially Neon), and the layouts are intuitive -- although we'd have preferred the numbers to be arranged in a row instead of mimicking a numpad. Both applications are available today only for $1.99 in the Android Market. Regular pricing is $4.99 for SwiftKey Tablet X, and $3.99 for SwiftKey X. Take a look at our screenshot galleries below, and hit the break for our hands-on videos and more. %Gallery-128376%%Gallery-128378%
IDC and Gartner: US PC sales still sluggish, Apple, Toshiba see jumps in market share
IDC and Gartner have once again released dueling reports on the state of the PC market and, according to their numbers, the landscape's looking a little different. Gartner estimates that overall PC shipments during Q2 of this year increased by 2.3 percent from the same period last year, more or less concurring with the 2.6 percent global increase that IDC found. Things are looking a bit bleaker in the US, however, where quarterly year-to-year shipments are down (5.6 percent for Gartner, 4.2 percent for IDC), but have increased from Q1 of this year. On the corporate level, HP continues to dominate global shipments according to both reports, followed by Dell and Lenovo, which overtook Acer for third place. Stateside statistics, on the other hand, show a bit more severe shuffling among the top five, with Apple's US market share jumping to nearly 11 percent (good for third place) and Acer tumbling to fifth, thanks to a greater than 20 percent year-to-year decline in market share (see the table, above). In fact, among the top five, only Apple and fourth-place Toshiba increased their market share from Q2 of 2010 -- something that both research firms attributed, in part, to a weak consumer PC market and the rising popularity of tablets, led by the iPad. For a more thorough statistical breakdown, head past the break for a pair of comprehensive press releases.
Report: Touchscreen demand to grow by 90-percent, led by mobile, tablet markets
This just in: people really like touchscreens, and their tastes aren't going to change anytime soon. That's the takeaway from a new report from market research firm DisplaySearch, which predicts that revenue from touch panel sales will hit the $13.4 billion mark by the end of this year, before soaring to nearly $24 billion by 2017. Shipments of capacitive touch displays, in particular, are expected to increase by 100-percent over last year, accounting for a full 70-percent of all tactile revenues. The mobile market still accounts for most of this industry-wide growth, but demand for touch-based tablets is accelerating considerably, with more than 72 million panels expected to ship this year, and 100 million projected in 2012. Jonesing for more numbers? Better gallop past the break to get your hands on the full PR.
IDC: tablet shipments drop 28 percent in Q1 2011
Whether you believe we're living in a post-PC world or not, there's no denying the overwhelming growth of tablets in the past few years. Just this March, IDC put out figures saying 2010 saw the sale of 18 million tablets, but despite the recent boom, the outfit's now reporting a 28 percent drop in tablet shipments in Q1 2011, bringing first quarter worldwide shipments to 7.2 million. IDC's latest report points to "slower consumer demand, overall economic conditions, and supply-chain constraint," but nonetheless estimates that total tablet sales will reach 53.5 million by year's end, up from IDC's original estimate of 50.4 million. Once again, Apple's come out on top of the slate game, with the iPad 2 leading the market, despite its own dip in shipments. E-readers have apparently also seen a decline in the first quarter, with shipments dipping to 3.3 million units. Despite a slow start to the year, however, IDC's optimistic about future sales, but you don't have to take our word for it -- full PR awaits you after the break.
Google updating Android Market app on phones, adding Movies and Books tabs (video)
If you're on Android 2.2 or above get ready for an update to your Android Market experience. Google has just informed us that a new version of the app is incoming, a version that will add tabs for easy access to Google Books and Movies. Starting with the more visual purchases, at $1.99 you'll be able to start watching movies almost instantly, and apparently see whether Chevy Chase will ever take his family on a successful vacation. But, if offline access is key, you'll also be able to download the misadventures of the Griswold family for later viewing. Books is now integrated too, saving you the hassle of having to launch the books app, which required you to then open the browser to actually buy any digital tomes. Overall the new design looks cleaner, finger-friendlier, and the addition of Editor's Choice apps should make it easier than ever to get to the good stuff. The update will be rolling out gradually over the next several weeks and, once you've been admitted to the club, you'll be able to download the Videos app as well. Check out the video preview after the break. Update: Wesley wrote in to let us know that you can download this APK yourself if you're feeling brave -- and impatient.
LG slashes sales targets, struggling in the smartphone market
LG has had a rough go of it recently. Its phones haven't exactly wowed reviewers, and even the ones that do impress turn out to have major bugs that send customers running to other manufacturers. In the face of its struggles to keep up with the Joneses, the company has slashed its sales targets for 2011 from 30 million smartphones to 24 million, and overall handset shipments from 150 million to 114. In the first half of the year LG sold just over 10 million smartphones -- by comparison, Samsung put an estimated 19 million such devices in the hands of consumers in Q2 alone. Despite posting its fifth straight quarterly loss there is some cause for optimism -- the loses are getting smaller and, if it ever gets the kinks worked out with the G2x, it'll have a serious competitor for your high-end Android dollar.
Hasselblad acquired by Ventizz Capital Fund, will explore 'brand new markets'
Change may be afoot over at Hasselblad, now that the high-end camera maker has been acquired by Ventizz Capital Fund IV -- a private equity firm based in Switzerland and Germany. Neither party disclosed any financial details, but Ventizz said it will implement "no major structural or key management changes" at its newly acquired company. It remains to be seen whether or not this acquisition brings about any changes at the strategic level, though Hasselblad CEO Larry Hansen said his company is looking forward to exploring "brand new markets" -- including, we hope, the "sub-$10,000" one. Full PR after the break. [Thanks, Rene]
Japanese scientists discover massive rare earth deposits, China bristles
China's control over the rare earths market hasn't faced too many challenges over the past few years, but that may be changing, thanks to a major discovery in Japan. Geologists say they've uncovered expansive new deposits of rare earth minerals, buried within a seabed some 20,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean surface. Research leader Yasuhiro Kato estimates that the deposits contain anywhere from 80 to 100 billion metric tons of rare earths, which, if commercially viable, could pose a serious threat to China's global hegemony. Supply shortages and aggressive Chinese export controls have combined to raise global prices in recent years, much to the chagrin of manufacturers who rely upon the metals to produce smartphones, tablets and a wide variety of other gadgets. But with analysts predicting a rare earth surplus within the next few years and Japan's mining industry now poised for a potential resurgence, the outlook is certainly looking a lot brighter.
Google+ for Android app (hands-on)
Given the number of apps Google's made available for smartphones, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that it's taken its suite of social networking services direct to the mobile world as well. As soon as Google+ was officially announced, an app was ready for download in the Android Market and a web app became available for Safari for iOS (with its full offering to the App Store coming soon). As usual, we couldn't resist the urge to play around with it, but how does the mobile iteration fare against the competition? Continue past the break to get a peek of the larger-than-life service squeezed into a 4.3-inch (or smaller) display.
Google to face €295 million French lawsuit over alleged anti-competitive practices
Google's legal woes are piling up in a hurry. French search engine 1PlusV is suing El Goog over alleged anti-competitive practices, less than a week after the Federal Trade Commission opened a formal inquiry into similar accusations levied stateside. The suit, set to be filed in a Paris court this week, claims that Google uses its market dominance to bury rival search results while unfairly promoting those for its own services. According to 1PlusV, Google "black-listed" 30 of its vertical search engines between 2007 and 2010, making it difficult for the firm to compete. The company is also complaining about having to adopt Mountain View's technology in order to use AdSense and, in total, is seeking €295 million (about $418 million) in damages -- the largest damage claim Google has ever faced in Europe. 1PlusV operates the legal search group EJustice.fr and, along with Microsoft, helped spur an EU antitrust probe against Google last year. The company says its forthcoming lawsuit represents the "logical" next step in its ongoing antitrust crusade, while Google issued a brief statement, saying it "look[s] forward to explaining this."
Isis mobile payments coming to Austin in 2012
Certain to "Keep Austin Weird," Isis has selected the home of SXSW as its second market for a mobile payment tryout. The joint-venture backed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless (with help from MasterCard and Visa), will work with local merchants and the Chamber of Commerce to deliver what it calls a "comprehensive mobile experience" by mid-2012. Isis' latest metropolitan recruit joins Salt Lake City in this experiment that will compete with Google Wallet (which is endorsed by Sprint). Quick advice to Austinites: when out-of-towners begin gawking at you for getting "free" lattes and concert tickets by waving your phone about, be sure to explain the wonders of NFC -- it'd be a shame for them to attempt the same -- only to be taken into custody by the Austin PD. Jump the break for the PR.
