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New Apple TV, Roku media streamers race to break one million in sales
Curious timing, no? This morning, Cupertino's PR department has blasted out a blurb stating that the newfangled Apple TV -- which only started shipping three months ago -- is expected to cross the one million mark in sales prior to Christmas Day. The obvious remark is hard to ignore: "That's a lot for a hobby." And yeah, it is. But it probably has more to do with trends in consumer purchasing and a delightfully low $99 price point than anything else, and if you doubt that logic, you should probably have a sit-down with Roku CEO Anthony Wood. The folks at Business Insider did, and Wood confessed that Roku media streamer sales have actually doubled since the introduction of the second-gen Apple TV. As the story goes, Jobs did the whole sector a solid by refocusing consumer attention on the set-top box realm, and with the most basic Roku retailing for just $59, it's pretty clear that the outfit drives a tough bargain. Roku's also expecting to sell its one millionth box by the close of this year, but of course it's had a lot longer than three months to do so. Still, for an up and comer, selling one million of anything (let alone looking at $50 million or more in annual sales) is quite the achievement.
Microsoft announces 2.5 million Kinects sold in first 25 days
Points for style, Microsoft, crossing the 2.5 million Kinect sensors sold mark a convenient 25 days into your global sales of that ever-so-hackable / sometimes-cool-for-gaming item. This number factors in Black Friday sales from this past weekend, and has us really curious as to how well Sony has been doing of late -- Sony's been mum on Move numbers since it announced 1 million units shipped about a month ago. Microsoft says it's on pace to sell 5 million Kinect units through this holiday, which leads us to wonder: what sort of 3D video extravaganza could we pull off with 5 million Kinects in tandem?
Speculative Kinect sales figures announced, looks to have handily trumped PlayStation Move
We'll get this out of the way right up front: VGChartz won't say where it gets its sales figures and, because of that, they're not to be taken as gospel or treated with much validity on their own. But, comparing one set of the site's numbers to another can be useful in showing trends, and with that caveat firmly in mind let's take a look at Microsoft's Kinect vs. Sony's PlayStation Move. According to the site, Kinect Adventures (bundled in with the camera itself) sold just under 480,000 units in one week after launching on November 4th, while the PlayStation Move sold 200,000 "units" in its first week, which according to VGChartz is not individual pieces of hardware but bundles of hardware tied to a single console. (This contrasts to Sony's figure, which counts each piece of hardware -- nunchuck, wand, and camera -- separately.) So, by these rather early and decidedly unofficial numbers it looks like Microsoft's Kinect investment might just be paying off, though of course it's the long-run that counts in these things.
MMO tops Japan's sales charts on the Xbox 360
In the world of console gaming, Japan tends to strongly support their hometown champions -- although whether or not the sprawling multinational corporate behemoths of Nintendo and Sony actually need that suppport is debatable. Microsoft's Xbox 360 has generally faced slow sales in the nation and a lack of popular games on the platform. But it's gotten a boost from the strong sales of Monster Hunter Frontier Online, an MMO exclusive to the platform that's made it to the top of the Japanese sale charts. Not out of all Xbox games -- out of the entire country. The newest installment of the long-running series is a port of a 2007 PC version, beating out several other strong contenders for the countrywide sales figures. Although the Monster Hunter series has been popular in Japan, there's no word on the MMO being released outside of the country. Still, it seems a good sign that you can sell good numbers for a ported game on an unpopular console -- something Square-Enix may well want to consider for the future.
Apple sells 1.7 million iPhone 4s through Saturday, June 26
There you have it. 600,000 pre-orders have turned into 1.7 million iPhone 4 sales through this Saturday. The Sunday transactions haven't even been tallied up yet, but Steve and company already have another reason to look smug. That total eclipses the 3GS' already phenomenal 1 million units sold over a weekend, and stands pretty much head and shoulders above any other launch the mobile world has yet seen.
Apple has sold three million iPads in 80 days
Apple's just announced that it's sold 3 million iPads worldwide since the US launch date, which is a pretty impressive sales rate, we'll give them that. The announcement also mentions that the tablet will drop in nine more countries during the month of July, so if you're currently living in a sad iPad-less nation, take comfort: you could be next. Press release is below, if you're into that sort of thing.
Apple's App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5
The latest research from Gartner indicates that, for the year 2009, only 16 million app sales were executed on mobile devices not bearing the infamous bitten apple logo. In reporting this data, Ars Technica inadvertently conflates Apple's latest announcement of three billion apps downloaded with the notion of three billion apps sold and pegs the App Store's market share at a whopping 99.4 percent -- but more realistic calculations still show it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 97.5 percent. Going off estimates (obtained by GigaOM) that a quarter of App Store downloads are paid-for apps, and taking a rough figure of 2.5 billion downloads in 2009, leaves us with around 625 million app sales performed by Apple, which comfortably dwarfs all its competition. Considering the fact 18 months ago there wasn't even an App Store to speak of -- whereas today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue -- maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet.
Microsoft CEO Ballmer says Windows 7 sales are double its predecessors'
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand for the company's annual shareholder's meeting in Washington, and news of Windows 7 sales came up right away. While delivering the opening remarks, Ballmer said that Microsoft has sold twice as many copies of Win 7 as any previous Microsoft OS in a comparable time frame. That's including both OEM sales and boxed retail copies, of course, and though no specific numbers were mentioned, the good news isn't completely unexpected as pre-orders were through the roof. High five, Microsoft.
NPD: Wii reclaims lead in US sales, but console gaming market shrinks by a fifth
The NPD has released its US video game industry figures for October, which reveal that total monthly revenue from hardware, software and accessories among all manufacturers fell to $1.07 billion, constituting a 19 percent drop from what the American gamer spent over the same period last year. After being toppled from its chart-leading ways in September by a price cut-boosted PS3, the Wii has regained its sales throne by chopping $50 off its own entry fee, making itself buoyant in the US, if not the world. The PS3's own sales have suffered a slump after the September euphoria, while the 360 is still wearing the dunce cap in third place. Microsoft's response has been to keep banging that drum about being the only console to show year-to-date growth, but when you're selling less than half as many consoles as Nintendo, you have to grasp at whatever straws are nearby. Speaking of Nintendo, its DS sales so far this year have continued at such a rate as to threaten its own 2008 hardware sales record -- set by the Wii -- with ten million units sold. So there you have it: Sony fails to maintain its September lead, Nintendo keeps churning, and Microsoft keeps hoping for better times ahead. Full list of figures after the break.
Sony's PSPgo sells 28,000 units on first day in Japan, physical media points and laughs
Remember the "platform sales boost" that Sony was tauting after the PSPgo's release in the US? The question on everyone's minds was of course how much of that boost was buoyed by the new kid on the block, and while Sony still hasn't given us any domestic figures (nor will it ever, probably), we now know that the thing sold 28,000 units on its first day of availability on its home turf in Japan. That's certainly better than the measly 1,000 units moved in Australia over the same period, but hardly encouraging when you look at its predecessors. According to Media Create the original PSP sold 171,963 units in a day in Japan. The PSP-2000? 130,000. UMD may be hated by everyone, but it seems to still have legs.
The App Store unofficially breaks 100,000 approved apps
It's another milestone (unofficially) met, as Apple has passed the 100,000 threshold of approved apps in the App Store, according to App Shopper. If you're unfamiliar with App Shopper, they list all of the apps that are in the store, tracking updates and price changes. As of this writing, they're listing 101,847 apps approved for sale and 93,118 actually available. We imagine Apple will make an announcement when the latter number officially hits 100,000. Just last month, Apple announced that there were upwards of 85,000 apps available for purchase with sales figures in the billions -- 2 billion apps sold in fact, though there's no word on the mix of paid vs. free. Despite the (often significant) bumps in the road, the App Store continues to grow at an incredible pace.
Windows 7 breaks Amazon UK pre-order volume record, ousts Harry Potter
Take it from us, your London-based sleuths, when anything sells faster than Harry Potter books or DVDs in the UK, it's scorching hot. Case in point is Microsoft's Vista successor, which has sold so well that it has beaten the Amazon UK pre-order record previously held by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In fact, Windows 7 was able to tally up more sales in the first 8 hours of pre-order availability than Vista was able to collect altogether. Now that's what we call an upgrade.
Acer: we'll overtake Dell as world's number two PC maker... soon
Acer's President Gianfranco Lanci is talking some big talk these days, but not completely without reason. The Taiwan-based computer manufacturer says it does not expect to see a decline in revenue this year over last, meaning that it should clear somewhere in the realm of $17 billion -- its 2008 revenue figure. Much of the good news (and sales) hails from Asia, where retail markets have not been as hard hit by the economic insanity of the last year. Moreover, Lanci also said that with these figures, Acer "can finally pass Dell" sometime between this quarter and the next. He also added that the company expects to "breach the gap with HP" when it comes to notebooks, netbooks, and smartphones. So... that means we can expect a ton of Acers this year, right? Right. Update: Well, that was fast.
PSP Go launch inspires three-fold sales increase for platform
Like it or not, the PSP Go is loose in the wild, sashaying around with neither physical media nor respect for sensible price-points. Nevertheless, it has generated a rather sizeable boost in interest for the PSP platform as a whole, with Sony saying that sales for all PSPs are up 300 percent over the week before the console launched. It's easy to see why, given the buzz surrounding the new iteration of the hardware as well as the hugely anticipated Gran Turismo finally coming to fruition. What we don't know is how many of those new sales were of the Go and how many were of the existing PSP-3000, a stat that would have shown whether indeed the "aspirational" new system would inspire some to just go ahead and buy the old system instead. We know which we would choose, how about you?[Via gamesindustry.biz]
Aion is the single most pre-ordered MMO this year
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Aion_is_the_single_most_pre_ordered_MMO_this_year'; In a piece of news that we're betting surprises precisely nobody at all, Aion has just broken the 400,000 pre-order mark. What's notable about this number is that it's enough to make Aion the largest number of pre-orders on an MMO for 2009. As Aion is also holding strong in the Steam and Direct2Drive sales charts, we wonder how many more we'll see added to that number before the official launch next Tuesday. With highly polished graphics, over two million words of quest text, and a series of tweaks to make Aion more Western-friendly, NCsoft seems to have finally hit the right stride with Western MMO gamers. That said, as we've learned from all the other games that have come before it, the real numbers that count are the retention numbers after the initial launch. Whether or not Aion is the goose that lays the golden egg - at least in terms of the Western markets - we'll have to wait and see.
Nokia N97 sells two million units in three months, Nokla sells two dozen
Well, maybe Nokia recently announced a 66 percent yearly drop in Q2 profit. And perhaps N97 reviews have been, how we say, less than stellar. But there definitely seems to be a fan base for the handset: according to Mobile News, sales of both this guy and the 5800 XpressMusic combined to total 10 million in the last 10 months, with sales for the former adding up to a whopping two million since its launch three months ago. In fact, half of the XpressMusic sales were generated since the launch of the N97 -- certainly suggesting that the younger sibling successfully raised the company's profile and brought its fellow handset along for the ride. Does this make Nokia the "undisputed leading player in the smartphones space," as the company's chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo put it? By sheer volume of devices, perhaps -- but mindshare continues to be a problem that we're guessing they're eager to see if Maemo 5 and the N900 can solve. The CEO of Nokla could not be reached for comment. [Thanks, David D]
Apple moves one million iPhone 3G S units in a weekend -- just in time for Steve's return
Worried that Apple might not be doing so well? Concerned the company will have to start breaking open the collective piggy banks to keep the lights on? Well rest easy, friends, as the folks in Cupertino have just issued a compelling piece of PR that will surely put your mind at ease -- one stating it managed to move a million iPhone 3G S units over the weekend. That's right, in a fashion not completely dissimilar to last year's iPhone 3G launch (though with far less hiccups), bucketloads of happy buyers flooded Apple's coffers with sweet, delicious cash money for the new smartphone. The buying frenzy was apparently even exciting enough to rouse recovering CEO Steve Jobs from his convalescent state. The seemingly-now-returned honcho is quoted (for the first time in months) in the press release as saying "Customers are voting and the iPhone is winning." Winning indeed Steve... and welcome back.
790K people bought Chrono Trigger DS (and other Square sales figures)
Note: numbers reflect 10k increments Square Enix has released an accounting of its software sales for fiscal year 2009 -- which ended March 31 -- and remakes ruled. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, a refresh of the 1992 Super Famicom installment in the famous role-playing series, sold 1.35 million copies globally -- placing Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a new property, in second place with combined sales of 930,000 teeny-tiny UMDs.Let there be no questioning of Chrono Trigger's lasting appeal: the DS re-release managed to make it into the hands on 790k gamers, many of which were no doubt buying the game for the second or third time since the 16-bit original's 1995 launch.European gamers gobbled up Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with half a million units sold in the territory, although the region came in third in overall sales for Square Enix. The US actually proved to be its most lucrative market with 1.69 million games sold, versus 1.51M for Japan. Part of the success in the West: The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery, which sold better in the States than anywhere else.[Via Siliconera]
Aion leading sales for NCsoft
It's one of the must-play MMOs of 2009 and not even out here yet. However Aion, which was released in Korea late last year, is driving sales for NCsoft, according to Gamasutra. The company held a conference call to discuss their sales figures and revealed Aion has generated 42.65 billion Korean won (around $34.57 million). The call also touched upon the game's growth, stating that the Korean beta started with 25 servers and that figure has now risen, post release, to 41.Check out the full press release from NCsoft after the jump.
T-Mobile sells a million G1s in the US
We don't know why T-Mobile isn't trumpeting this, but Deutsche Telekom's Q1 results are out, and the multinational carrier says that over one million G1s have been sold in the US, making up a majority of the 1.5 million 3G devices currently active on T-Mo's network. That's quite an accomplishment in just six months, considering the Android handset launched without nationwide 3G coverage -- it's better now, but we're talking just 21 cities back in October. Of course, a million's just a drop in the bucked compared to the number of Blackberrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices out there, but we've got enough of a soft spot for Android to overlook it -- now let's get some more devices out the door and really boost that marketshare number, shall we?[Via Electronista]
