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British flock to France to find Wii
British tabloid The Mirror is reporting that due to the scarcity of the console in the UK, many have apparently taken trips to neighboring country France in order to track one down. Where the console is going for upwards of £1,000 on eBay, many are apparently finding success in French shops, where the console sells for £150 (or about €209). The credibility of the paper is questionable, however our own UK blogger Chris has mentioned that he's heard of people being successful in Calais. So, if you're someone living in the UK and looking for a Wii, don't go over to France thinking you're guaranteed to leave with a Wii, but it might be worth a try. Still, the country just sold its millionth Wii, so the demand is there, as well.
NCsoft: has the focus shifted?
NCsoft -- known for such stunningly beautiful games as Guild Wars and Lineage/Lineage II -- is slowly expanding its focus in Korea into the non-game sector. Working with in-house studio Openmaru, the company is building a series of online services to aid in comforting investors. Admittedly, the South Korean Won (KRW) is trading in a slightly stronger position against the United States Dollar (USD) now than it was in October, but that doesn't stop their concern over seeing NCsoft's stock slowly spiral downward from 86,4000 KRW in October (approximately $94.43/share) to 45,000 KRW ($48.27/share) as of Friday's market close. As a result of this move, CEO Kim Taek-jin has promised that the company will increase its investment in online applications, including data and schedule management programs and social-networking services.
Consumers: Dude, where's my Wii?
Well then, who saw this coming? Certainly not us. With a console being scarce and incredibly popular for a whole year now, we never would've figured that consumers would be angry they could not find one. The nerve!But, in all seriousness, we feel your pain. It's been tough trying to get a console ever since it released and when stores like, oh we dunno, EB Games tell you that they're getting stock in on a certain day and you show up that day to try and get one and they say "Sorry, we don't have any,"we'd be pretty ticked off too.And Robert Whitted is the latest casualty, stating "They [EB Games] said they should be getting in a shipment this week, went by there on Tuesday of this week when the shipment was supposed to arrive and they're telling me now what they don't have any in stock." Thing is, they did get the console in, but they're not selling them until Black Friday. "They're telling me that the message from the store should be that they're not selling them until Friday."Robert feels cheated, going on to say "They're telling me a lie, they're telling the community a lie, that they do not have them in stock and we all know that they will no be getting them in Thanksgiving Day or the morning before they open."
Is Best Buy purposely holding their stock?
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Best_Buy_is_purposely_holding_their_stock_of_Wiis_at_a_New_Jersey_location'; The Consumerist is reporting a very odd story. Apparently, some Best Buy out in New Jersey has been trying to pull the wool over the eyes of their patrons, with a single employee prowling the store, claiming to have the "very last Wii." Of course, someone snatched it up with the quickness, but not 30 minutes later, another employee was at it again, prowling the store looking for another customer to snatch the console from them. There was even an announcement on the PA system.The tipster even said he overheard two manager types discussing the "sales technique," deciding on when they should send out the next Wii.
The Value of Second Life
This TechCrunch article lets drop that one of Linden Lab's early investors, Catamount Ventures, sold ten percent of their stock to a third party for an undisclosed amount that was valuated at 'above half a billion' dollars, as stated by an anonymous source with knowledge of the company.What surprises me most about this article, beyond the massive amounts of money being mentioned, are the mostly positive comments after the article. Having seen rather a lot of these go by, I expected a ton of lame duck jokes about the value of Second Life being virtually nothing, etc. but by and large people are taking it seriously. Of course, for me and thousands of others, the true value in SL is its social component. Without that one-to-one connection, there truly is little to value.(Via techcrunch.com)
Still trying to find a Wii? Try Amazon this week
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Are_you_still_trying_to_get_a_Nintendo_Wii_Check_Amazon_this_week'; Have you been sick to your stomach over the last year, hitting up store after store in your region only to be welcomed by such a lazily-made sign such as this, by some employee who is equally sick of seeing your face so often, because all you want is the best gaming console ever created? Well, you've got an honest shot at securing a console from Amazon.com come Wednesday morning, as a PR rep for the company has informed us the online vendor has been stocking up consoles and preparing to fling them out the door with equal the speed at which they arrived.That's right, come this Wednesday at 10am PST (Pacific time, that's 1PM for those of us on the East Coast, so you might want to take an early lunch if you're at work), Amazon.com will be selling the console from their video games section of their website. We can't provide any exact figures as to how many consoles Amazon.com has to sell, but we've been told it's "significant," if that means anything to you.Happy hunting to those of you still on the prowl and be sure to let us know how you fare!
Apple most valuable computer maker in the world
We've been talking a lot about Apple's remarkably strong 4th quarter results here on TUAW, but with the recent gains Apple passed an important milestone. Apple has a larger market capitalization than IBM, meaning simply that Apple is now the most valuable computer hardware maker in the world. Let me say that again: Apple is, as of this writing, trading above $185 per share giving it a market cap of $161b, compared to IBM at $153b, HP at $133b and Dell at a measly $65b. When you put it that way it seems almost preposterous, but the numbers are what they are. Of course, all the standard provisos about market cap apply, but nonetheless I'm sure they're savoring this in Cupertino.
Nintendo's market value hits 10 trillion yen [update 1]
Investopedia defines "market value" as "The market capitalization plus the market value of debt. Sometimes referred to as 'total market value'". (They define "market capitalization" as "The total dollar market value of all of a company's outstanding shares. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company's shares outstanding by the current market price of one share.") Whatever market value is, Nintendo's got a big old chunk of it. After their stock rose 5.7 percent today, they've hit a company high at over 10 trillion yen ($85 billion), up 3.7 trillion yen from just four months ago. To put that in layman's terms, "holy crap." Nintendo's market value has seen "a fivefold increase in the past two years." We're not market analysts or anything, but that seems really huge and really fast. This DS thing may turn out okay for Nintendo after all.Update: Sorry, we had a bit of a problem with some of the text there. Balance has been brought back to the universe.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
Nintendo stock takes 2nd place in Japan
While it isn't first place, Nintendo has still managed to achieve quite the feat in Japan. Their stock, which rests comfortably behind Canon, is currently trading at 59,200 Yen (about $517). Of course, the question now is just how much higher can Nintendo expect to honestly take it?Considering that everyone and their pet dog has a DS Lite in Japan, we can't say we're surprised. Still, it's tough competition over there and we tip our hat to Nintendo for managing to be the cream that rises to the top.
Peter Moore issued $22 million in EA stock
As if we needed more reasons to be insanely jealous of Peter Moore. Not only does the guy get a $1.5 million bonus and six-figure salary for jumping from Microsoft to EA Sports, now comes reports that the executive is making even more scratch off EA stock awards.CNN/Money's "insider actions" table for Electronic Arts shows Moore receiving a whopping 400,000 shares in the company last week, a transfer worth upwards of $21 million. As if that weren't jaw-dropping enough, the stock has since gone up two points to $55.73 a share, earning Moore $800,000 in virtual money in just seven days. Nice work if you can get it.We understand that stock ownership gives Moore a more personal stake in the success of the company, but we can't help but boggle at the worth EA is placing on having this one man lead one of their biggest divisions. Will having Moore at the helm really sell that many more copies of Madden? Here's hoping ... for the sake of Moore's stock value.[Via CVG]
BT to make bid for Sprint?
Whenever stock traders gossip, there's usually a lot of disinformation, and there's always an element of plausible deniability: both are the case here, with stories about a possible buyout of Sprint by British firm BT apparently circulating. Sprint's recent stock boost is one of the consequences of the rumors, so whatever's going on, it's good news for stock holders of Sprint. For the rest of us, however, this is just another unpredictable aspect of the stock market: and lets face it, if a deal does go through, it'll be months or even years until consumers see any perceivable difference in services (if any.) Until it does, we'll remain blissfully unaware of all those big money discussions taking place behind mahogany doors on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Wii will flow this holiday says Reggie
In a painful to watch video by anyone with an iota of video production training, the Mercury News interviewed Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime about the Wii supply for this holiday season. Fils-Aime says, "Wii hardware that will be in North American stores will be unprecedented – substantially more than the launch, substantially more than has been seen to date." Yes Nintendo, keep diverting those precious Wiis our way.Then Fils-Aime rains on the parade saying that despite the extra supply, consumers should "regularly check" to see if the system is available. He says demand continues to outweigh supply, so those in need of Wii should be waiting at the store when the product arrives. As for the competition, Reggie dismisses Xbox and PS3 saying they haven't impacted their business. If you have no video training whatsoever feel free to watch the Mercury News clip and soak in the Reggieness.[Via GameDaily BIZ]
Nintendo stock price keeps going up
Without getting into those pesky things called numbers, Nintendo's stock was up 5% at the close of the Tokyo Stock Exchange today. This follows yesterday's August NPD report showing in the US the Nintendo Wii and DS continue to be on track like they're on Pokémon Safari. Nintendo's stock has seen a steady increase since E3 2005. Anticipation of the Wii and continually strong DS sales really got the stock shooting skyward late last year. Analysts are saying that if you're looking to buy Nintendo stock to go right ahead, this train ain't stopping anytime soon.The Wii and DS continue to be on a global rampage as far as anyone can see. Like the Financial Times reported, Nintendo has strong sales in all markets, not just in the States like the Xbox, or the PS3 in, um ... Australia likes it. It's moments like this that truly make us wonder where Nintendo would be now if they could figure out their production issues.
Sony financial IPO may subsidize PS3 cost
Sony will sell about $2.9 billion worth of shares in a new IPO for its insurance unit, Japan's biggest IPO this year. 34.5 percent of Sony Financial Holding Inc. will go on sale in the Tokyo Stock Exchange on October 11th. It's expected that the money generated from the IPO will raise funds for the consumer electronics and games divisions."Sony could use the funds for various options to strengthen its electronics and game businesses,'' said Mitsuhiro Osawa, a Tokyo-based analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. "A cut in the price of the PlayStation 3 is one option,'' said Osawa.Analysts are predicting that another PS3 price cut may happen in the coming months. Certainly, the gain of nearly $3 billion in funds will certainly help subsidizing any losses that Sony would incur from such a move.[Via GI.biz]
Inventec Appliances execs fail to disclose iPod order cuts, could face prison
Earlier this year, Inventec Appliances (spun off from Inventec Electronics) was raided as prosecutors began looking for evidence to support charges of alleged insider trading, and now it looks like nine of the firm's employees could be headed to the slammer. Taiwan's Banciao District Prosecutors Office "alleged that nine executives and one lower level employee failed to publicly reveal a steep drop in iPod orders until after they had sold off nearly $22.4 million worth of stock," and although the employees knew of the order cuts as early as January 19th, nothing was publicly revealed until mid-March. Purportedly, prosecutors "are seeking the stiffest penalties against the two top executives," and if the evidence sticks, we have all ideas that Inventec will be huntin' a new Chairman (and President, too) in the not-too-distant future.[Via TUAW]
Bach sold additional $3 million before 360 warranty extension
It was reported last month that Robbie Bach, current head of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices unit (which contains both the Xbox and Zune), sold millions in stock during the months leading up to the July announcement that the Xbox 360 warranty had been extended to three years. It was initially reported that Bach sold $6.2 million in stock between May 2nd and the July announcement. Announced today by Dow Jones (via CNN), it looks like Bach actually sold an additional $3 million that went unreported due to "an administrative error."Microsoft still maintains that the stock transactions, including the recently uncovered $3 million, were in no way related to the warranty announcement. Furthermore, a Microsoft spokesperson claims that the company has "followed the procedures required of late-filers and is now in full compliance." It's worth noting that Microsoft's stock value saw little change after the warranty announcement -- which incurred a loss of over $1 billion to the company -- so Microsoft's claims about Bach's transactions still hold water for the moment.[Via Joystiq]
AAPL hammered yesterday on iPhone production rumors
Tuesday was a rough day for Apple investors, as shares dropped precipitously from post-earnings-report highs of $148 a share down into the low $130s. Most of the credit/blame for the selloff is being attributed to a rumor floated among traders and on a posting at TheStreet.com that Apple was cutting back iPhone production by 50% off the company's original plans. Most of the potential sources later disavowed the information. Considering that there has never been an official production target other than the "10 million phones by 2008" number (note also that a production cut was not discussed during the earnings call), longtime Apple stock watchers on the Mac Observer forums characterized the bear run on AAPL as a "deliberate hit," executed by unscrupulous persons who have positioned themselves to take advantage of the drop in value to shore up their holdings.Remember, AAPL investors, it's a marathon, not a sprint. via Apple 2.0 and BloggingStocksDisclaimer: I hold a position in AAPL.
AAPL opens strong after earnings report
Even as the market at large turned downward at the open today, AAPL moved up in a big way. With overnight trading taking the stock on a roller-coaster ride (up over $150, settling down at about $145, almost $8 over the closing price Wednesday), the stock opened this morning at 146, a record high open and intraday record high.If you listened to yesterday's earnings call (or followed the highlights on our liveblog) you heard a lot of interest about the initial days of iPhone sales, which barely made it into the June quarter numbers; Apple's not even recognizing revenue from AT&T subscription sharing until the September quarter. Meanwhile, the Mac and iPod businesses are, as they say in Pittsburgh, "ahn fahr" -- 32% Mac unit sales growth over the year-ago quarter, and nearly 10 million iPods sold in the quarter. Check out Georges Yared and his colleagues over at our sister shop BloggingStocks for more on the earnings story.Disclaimer: I am long on AAPL, and short on temper.
Atari may get the boot from Nasdaq
If Atari's financial woes weren't already a beacon that the legendary game company has fallen far, their notice of potential delisting from the Nasdaq stock exchange should pretty much seal the deal. Atari received the notice from Nasdaq because they did not file their financial report for their fiscal year ending March 31.Atari says they haven't filed yet because they're still trying to figure out what accounting entries they need to make. With any luck The Witcher and Alone in the Dark will help the company out this fiscal year. Heck, for all we know, My Horse & Me could be Atari's killer application which will help them ride into the land of fiscal fortitude.
Virgin Mobile aims for $506 million in IPO
Lying in sharp contrast to Amp'd's less-than-stellar fortunes, Virgin Mobile USA -- a joint venture of Virgin and Sprint operated very differently from its European cousin -- is actually hoping to do even better than originally expected. The MVNO had said in May that it hoped to raise up to $100 million through an initial public offering of shares (stock symbol "VM" in case you're curious), but that figure has now skyrocketed up to a rather shocking figure of $508 million. Virgin Mobile hopes to use the cash to pay off a handful of debts it accrued in the process of getting its business off the ground, something Amp'd hasn't quite managed to do just yet.
