AllThingsD » accessories

The Hottest Trend in E-Commerce? Clothes.

Tricia Duryee — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 20:07:20 +0000

Apparel is the fastest-growing segment in e-commerce this year, thanks to new ways to display clothing online.

EMarketer predicts that the apparel and accessories category is expected to grow by 20 percent to $40.9 billion this year, up from $34.2 billion in 2011.

That beats the sale of books, music and videos, which have historically been considered the most dominant e-commerce categories — those are now expected to grow by only 18 percent to $20.4 billion this year.

The report published by the Internet market research firm today is the first time it has broken down its forecasts by category.

EMarketer attributed the gains in apparel to retailers’ improved methods for displaying products online that make purchasing clothes, in particular, less of a guessing game.

Some of the visual innovations are stunning.

For instance, Amazon.com’s MyHabit, a private sales clothing site, produces animated videos of models wearing the clothing for sale. The representations are so realistic, the fabric sways as the model struts and turns as if walking down a catwalk.

On the more whimsical side of innovations is eBay’s augmented reality app that allows users to “try on” a pair of sunglasses by layering them over a picture of their face.

But in addition to new display technology, there are also many more apparel sites for consumers to choose from. Over the last two years, the idea of private sales or flash sales — offering expensive, high-end fashion at steep discounts — has spread like wildfire.

Free shipping also plays a role since it removes some of the risk for consumers: If they don’t like a shirt or pair of pants, they don’t have to pay a fee for delivery back to the retailer.

Overall, the report is predicting another big year for e-commerce. It expects U.S. retail sales to grow 15.4 percent to $224.2 billion in 2012, which is higher than eMarketer’s previous forecast that called for e-commerce to grow 11.3 percent to $209.3 billion in 2012.

The biggest category in 2012 is expected to be computer and consumer electronics, which have a higher price point, and are expected to bring in a total of $48.6 billion.

Energy Drink Promises Gamers Clear Eyes, Steady Trigger Finger

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:32 +0000

If you are a gamer, forget Red Bull or 5-hour Energy — this drink is made for you.

GungHo is a new energy drink, which is pouring it on thick to attract videogamers who are looking for less jitters and more eye-hand coordination for those late-night gaming sessions.

In a study conducted by the University of Utah on behalf of GungHo, it found more than 50 percent of gamers said they were not satisfied with existing energy drinks because jitters cause a lack of control.

In contrast, GungHo, which promises “Ninja-like focus” says it increases concentration, memory storage and recall without the same high’s and low’s associated with other energy products.

No reason why an energy drink can’t be like any other videogame accessory in the industry, from high-end controllers to downloadable content. A single shot costs $2.99, or about the equivalent of three 99-cent mobile games.

Here’s a video of someone under the influence of GungHo:

Zynga's Stock Is Up -- And Why Every Other Game Company Stock Is Down

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:44:09 +0000

Zynga is bucking market trends today and is trading higher — despite a report that came out yesterday suggesting that December sales were extremely weak across the industry.

Zynga was up 42 cents, or almost 5 percent today, to close at $8.87 a share.

That’s a huge reversal from earlier this week when the stock nosedived to an all-time low. Meanwhile, none of the traditional game makers were having such a good day.

Electronic Arts closed down $1.47, or 7.5 percent, to $18.04 a share; THQ fell 7 percent to 66 cents a share; Take-Two Interactive fell .5 percent to $14.50 a share; and industry-leading Activision Blizzard slipped 2.5 percent $12.24 a share. GameStop also traded lower, finishing off the day down 2.8 percent to $23.51 a share.

The game makers were universally feeling the impact of an NPD Group report that revealed yesterday that videogame software sales fell 8 percent in December compared to the same month in 2010. When including hardware and accessories, like game cards, the entire industry contracted by 21 percent year over year.

Potentially, investors were betting that if the traditional game-makers weren’t fairing well, then Zynga was a good bet. The leading Facebook game-maker operates purely online and on mobile, so it potentially would be more isolated from the retail and packaged goods sectors.

The old guard vs. new guard battle also played out on the front lines yesterday.

EA was dealt an additional blow when Zynga announced it had hired away Barry Cottle, head of Electronic Arts’ Interactive division. Cottle, who was in charge of the company’s digital strategy, including social and mobile games, was EA’s biggest weapon in fighting Zynga’s dominance on Facebook and had led EA’s rise on mobile.

But EA’s loss was Zynga’s gain.

The social games leader appointed Cottle to the position of EVP of business and corporate development in charge of new global partnerships, acquisitions and other development roles.

Xbox Accounted for 40 Percent of All Videogame Sales in 2011

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 01:57:29 +0000

Microsoft dominated the videogame industry last year, with the Xbox capturing nearly half of all consumer spending from physical sales in 2011.

According to NPD data released today, about $6.7 billion, or 40 percent of consumer retail spending, was spent on the Xbox, breaking down into two categories: $2.1 billion on consoles and $4.6 billion on games.

The figures take into account U.S. retail sales of new physical videogame content, including portable and console hardware, games and accessories.

In all, those sectors generated revenue of $17.02 billion in 2011, an 8 percent decline over the $18.6 billion generated last year. (Yes, I repeat, Microsoft got 40 percent of that in 2011.)

The initial report does not take into account sales from digital formats such as downloadable content on the console, social and mobile games, or other categories, including used and rentals.

Those so-called “newer” categories generated $7.24 billion in revenues last year, an increase of 7 percent over the prior year.

The increase in spending on alternative formats, however, wasn’t enough to offset declines in physical retail. All told, consumer spending across both categories totaled between $16.3 billion and $16.6 billion, falling 2 percent over last year.

Separating physical and digital sales is quickly becoming an outdated concept, since the two are so intertwined. Consumers have the choice of purchasing many of the games over the Internet via a digital download versus buying them at Wal-Mart or Target.

NPD acknowledged today that it needs “deeper visibility” into digital distribution to get a complete picture of the industry, which will be its focus in 2012.

Still, the report can still be used as a litmus test to see what is performing well.

Overall, a surprisingly disappointing December is what dragged down results for the whole year, NPD discovered.

“Because of the great slate of content that came to market during the fourth quarter, I had expected December sales to represent a larger portion of total year sales than what occurred,” said NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier, in a release.

Frazier added that December sales accounted for just 23 percent of the annual total, compared to the past 10 years, when December, on average, represented 28 percent of the total.

In addition to Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation also performed well, with both witnessing a 5 percent increase across all game categories for 2011. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Wii, which cannot display HD content, saw a decline year over year.

In a separate statement, Microsoft said that it outsold the PlayStation, the second-place console, by 2.7 million units, and that in all, it has now sold 66 million Xboxes and 18 million Kinect accessories. On a global basis, Sony said in a statement that it sold more than 6.5 million units worldwide this holiday season.

Here are the Top 10 best-selling games in December, according to NPD:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 by Activision Blizzard
Just Dance 3 by Ubisoft
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Bethesda Softworks
Mario Kart 7 for 3DS by Nintendo
Battlefield 3 by Electronic Arts
Madden NFL by Electronic Arts
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations by Ubisoft
NBA 2k12 by Take Two Interactive
Super Mario 3D Land for 3DS by Nintendo
Batman: Arkham City by Warner Bros. Interactive

I Am Number 4S? -- No Sparkly iPhone 5 Disappoints Apple Fans (and Wall Street)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:08:46 +0000

Apple rolled out a new iPhone today. Sort of.

Except it did not have a bigger, flatter screen. It did not have a sleeker, thinner body. It would not need all new polypropylene sleeves and other fancy accessories.

In other words, it was not an iPhone 5.

Oops, after all the breathless stories about this ideal and groundbreaking new device and predictions — including here — that this was the name of whatever Apple was releasing.

In fact, everyone was using that moniker for it, from local television news to vendors to my mother.

Instead, the tech giant launched the new iPhone 4S, which has a faster processor, an improved camera and Siri voice control feature, at a cheaper price.

Very slick, as usual, and full of cool Apple bells and whistles.

Still. Prolonged sighs could be felt all over the blogosphere and on Twitter, where Steve Brown tweeted me: “Can I be bummed now?!?”

You may.

Better still, Davin Bentti wrote: “The ‘S’ stands for ‘Steve, come back!’”

He was referring to the missing Apple icon Steve Jobs, who recently turned over leadership at the company to new CEO Tim Cook. Jobs’s Apple event performances are legendary.

Wall Street also had its iPhone 5 bubble burst, with investors shunning Apple stock. Shares are down almost five percent now.

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Microsoft's Kinect, Sony's Move and Other Accessories Are Videogame Bright Spot

Tricia Duryee — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:45:14 +0000

U.S. sales of videogame software and hardware fell in January, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to data released late Thursday by the NPD Group.

In fact, the only sector that grew in January was accessories, which increased six percent to $235.1 million

Accessories have been strong in previous months as well, buoyed by new motion-controlled remotes, like Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move.

The accessories have breathed new life into the Xbox and PlayStation at a critical time when the consoles have already been on the market for a couple of years.

However, accessories weren’t enough to keep both hardware and software sectors afloat.

In January, U.S. sales of videogame software fell five percent to $576 million compared to the same period the previous year. Hardware sales fell eight percent to $324 million.

In a statement issued by Microsoft today, it released more NPD data, including that it sold 381,000 Xbox units in January, up 15 percent year-over-year. It says it is the only console that showed growth in the time frame.

Microsoft also said it continues to experience some Xbox shortages at retail because of sustained consumer demand for Kinect, but anticipates the problem to improve through February, and is working retail and manufacturing partners to expedite production and shipments.

The top-selling games for the period were Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2, Electronic Arts’ Dead Space 2, Sony’s Little Big Planet 2, and Majesco’s Zumba Fitness. Making it into the top 10 was MTV’s Dance Central, which teaches people how to dance using the Xbox Kinect.

Photo Credit: Harmonix

Videogame Sales Lagged in 2010 Despite Xbox's High Scores

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:44:58 +0000

Microsoft’s Xbox dominated the charts at the end of 2010, despite year-over-year revenue declines for both videogame hardware and software.

The latest statistics released today from NPD Group estimated that consumer spending on game content totaled between $15.4 and $15.6 billion, which was flat to down 1 percent, compared to 2009. Meanwhile, sales of new physical videogame hardware, software and accessories were also down–6 percent, to end the year at $18.6 billion.

Microsoft was able to counteract those industry-wide trends through the successful launch of its Kinect hands-free controller and strong sales of the hit game Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Sales of the Xbox 360 jumped 42 percent year-over-year, and was the only platform to register an increase in unit sales. In fact, December 2010 was the best month ever for Xbox 360 sales after selling 1.9 million units.

After the figures were released today, Microsoft used the moment to toot its own horn: In a statement, it said it had pulled units from its January and February production to keep up with holiday demand for both Xbox and Kinect–and it still sold out in some circumstances. Now it’s scrambling to catch up.

At CES, Microsoft said that roughly eight million Kinects had been sold after being on the market for roughly two months, and that over 50 million Xbox 360s have been sold worldwide over the lifetime of the console.

The videogame industry is very cyclical, with software sales often trailing new hardware sales. Without new console introductions from the usual suspects, Microsoft has tried to increase sales by repositioning the Xbox as an entertainment hub, and relied on the Kinect to make the console appeal to a wider audience outside hard-core gamers.

Nintendo is hoping that its new 3DS gaming handheld will boost sales–however, it doesn’t come out for another couple of months, so it missed the critical holiday season and will face competition from smartphones.

NPD Group concluded that in December the Wii and the 360 platforms generated the greatest dollar sales of all platforms at 32 percent and 31 percent, respectively. That’s across all categories, including hardware, software and accessories.

Other than Xbox, there were some bright spots, but it wasn’t enough to offset overall declines. NPD Group said the highlights included digital downloads, mobile apps, social network games and non-digital stuff, like used games and PC games.

The numbers released today are early estimates. NPD Group said it will issue its final analysis in March.

Exploring iStuff at CES With Mobilized (Video)

Ina Fried — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 01:14:59 +0000

With a little time left at the end of the Consumer Electronics Show, I finally had a break from private meetings, press conferences and onstage interviews. I used the time on Saturday morning to briefly tour a section of the massive show floor.

Given that I only had about an hour for my grand tour, I decided, in true Vegas style, to explore the first thing that came to me when I entered the show floor. Fortunately, since I cover mobile stuff, that turned out to be the iLounge-sponsored Apple area. It took me back to my early days of covering MacWorld Expo, back when it was an event Apple attended.

Some of the vendors were names I recognized, like Speck and Griffin and Mophie–companies that I had covered since their early days, companies that I had watched transformed from start-ups to serious players amid the explosion in the market for companion products to the iPod and, later, the iPhone.

There were also plenty of companies that I had never heard of, eager to find global distribution for ideas ranging from an iPod speaker resembling a gramophone to stickers that make the back of an iPad appear to be etched with a portrait of Barack Obama, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, among other famous faces.

There were also T-shirts, headphones, keyboard attachments and even a booth with a representative of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

My only purchase of the day came after I had left the show entirely, though. With some urging from BoomTown’s Kara Swisher, I splurged on Pinball Magic, an accessory that transforms an iPod Touch or iPhone into a pinball machine, which was on clearance for $25 at the Brookstone store in the Las Vegas airport.

Here’s a video look at some of what I found.

[ See post to watch video ]

Microsoft Eyes Wider Net as Xbox Turns to Entertainment

Tricia Duryee — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:30:22 +0000

The Kinect has been an early hit for Microsoft, but an even bigger moment to celebrate will be if the new gaming accessory can help move the Xbox beyond the hard-core gamer demographic to appeal to a mass audience for general living-room entertainment.

In the first 25 days at market, Microsoft sold 2.5 million Kinect accessories and now aims to sell five million this holiday season. The sales helped the Xbox become the best-selling console in November.

The Kinect is a motion detection system similar to the Nintendo Wii, but is hands-free and doesn’t require any controllers. Xbox 360 owners can purchase one for $150.

During our visit last week to the Xbox offices in Redmond, Wash., Craig Davison, the senior director of marketing for Xbox LIVE, told us the goal is to broaden the audience for Xbox. He said the competition is no longer limited to PlayStation or the Wii, but extends to Google TV and Apple TV.

Hard-core gamers enthralled with Call of Duty and Halo may shudder at the prospect, but the trend is already in play.

But adding a new kind of player to the platform is critical if Microsoft wants the console to be an entertainment hub. Kinect allows users who’ve never picked up a controller to play, and brings new functionality to hardware, which historically has been marketed as something that must be replaced frequently.

Game console owners are most likely to use the boxes to play games and watch DVDs, but after that, Nielsen reports, entertainment services are a close third. Video-on-demand and streaming services such as Netflix, MLB Network and ESPN3 account for 20 percent of Wii users’ time, 10 percent of Xbox 360 users’ time and 9 percent of PlayStation 3 users’ time.

Davison said the demographics for Xbox started to shift in 2008 when it introduced Netflix streaming to the console. Since then, it has launched a partnership with ESPN, and will launch Hulu Plus early next year. It’s even helping out the top line: Close to 85 percent of Xbox Live’s revenues come from games, with the remainder coming from Zune, he said.

Here are some other numbers to consider:

–Since the launch of Zune on Xbox 360 in November 2009, the pace of HD movie and TV consumption–downloads and streaming–has more than doubled.

–In the last year, Microsoft has seen a 157 percent increase in the time spent watching movies over Xbox LIVE.

–42 percent of Xbox LIVE users who spring for Gold status at $59 a year are watching an average of one hour of TV or movies every day–or more than 30 hours a month.

A Device Does Everything But Sing

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:02:13 +0000

Just when you think you can’t fit anything else into an all-in-one device that already prints, copies, scans, and faxes, HP ups the ante. The HP Photosmart eStation e-All-in-One performs all those tasks and includes a seven-inch, touch-screen tablet computer that doubles as a display when snapped onto the printer. This tablet lets users do things like check email, Facebook or weather, but I can’t imagine using it much as a stand-alone tablet, at least in its current version. And people who just want basic printer functions may grow tired of the tablet’s extra features.

Over the years, printers have progressively shifted from PC accessories to devices that can work independent of PCs. They started small, as dedicated 4×6 printers that had built-in memory-card readers and used basic photo-editing capabilities, and have matured into models like last year’s HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One with Touch-Smart Web that offered apps for printable things like maps, coloring book pages and recipes.

[ See post to watch video ]

The $400 HP e-All-in-One (http://3.ly/DP8b) takes this concept a step further by enabling even more independence from the PC because its tablet—named the Zeen—is more robust and can browse the Web, check email in a dedicated email program and run a limited selection of apps. It also works as a stand-alone tablet when detached from the e-All-in-One, though it only connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi rather than a cellular connection. It runs on the Android 2.1 operating system, but can only access certain apps rather than any app in the Android Market.

Perhaps an even more important new feature is that this all-in-one will print anything emailed to it from any device connected to the Internet, thanks to ePrint, a cloud-based printing system. This system assigns an email address to the e-All-in-One during its set-up and almost anything sent to that email address will print out, including attachments, no matter where the email is coming from.

One catch is that you must only send the document to the e-All-in-One’s email address and can’t CC anyone else or add another address to the “to” line of the email. A spokesman for HP said that this is done to prevent spam print-outs because batches sent to several people won’t print.

HP also has an exclusive relationship with products running Apple’s latest iOS 4.2 operating system for hand-held devices. Apple’s iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches now have a built-in feature called AirPrint which allows them to print anything directly to HP’s new ePrint printers as long as these devices and the printer are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. I tested this several times using an iPhone and it worked, printing Web pages, emails and photos. I liked the ease of using ePrint and AirPrint. Printouts looked sharp and printed quickly.

But I found the concept behind the e-All-in-One’s detachable tablet screen to be both alluring and confusing. It’s great to be able to do more with the printer’s touch screen and apps—but you don’t want to stand at a desk looking down at this screen, so it makes sense that the tablet is detachable. On the other hand, tablets often work in place of printed paper. I use my iPad for things like finding a recipe online, standing the iPad on my kitchen counter and cooking from that on-screen recipe. If I used the eStation All-in-One like that, I would ultimately print less often, which seems to defeat the purpose of having this big thing in your home. The HP eStation All-in-One measures about 18 inches wide and about 14 inches deep.

HP’s Zeen tablet can be detached from the e-station, but its uses as a stand-alone are questionable.

In order to save energy, the eStation All-in-One goes to sleep when it hasn’t been used for 15 minutes. This is a fine idea for environmental reasons, but in sleep mode, it also turns off its connection to the local Wi-Fi network. This means that if documents are emailed to its assigned address it may not print if it’s not awake and online. An HP spokesman said the company recently issued a fix for this problem that wakes up the printer when something is sent to it, but not all printers have been updated.

The Zeen tablet’s battery recharges every time it’s docked in the eStation All-in-One’s base, and HP estimates that its battery life is around four to six hours with Wi-Fi turned on. Hard buttons for volume and power are hidden on the Zeen’s back edge, as are speakers. A spokesman for HP said that eStation All-in-Ones will be updated early next year to run Android 2.2, which is faster and plays Flash videos.

The Zeen’s four gigabytes of internal memory hold roughly 100 apps, 35 of which come pre-loaded on the tablet. These include apps for MapQuest, Disney, Facebook and the Barnes and Noble bookstore, from which digital books, magazines and newspapers can be purchased and downloaded. Photos, videos, music and other files must be stored on an SD card in the Zeen’s SD card slot.

All documents sent to the e-All-in-One using HP’s ePrint can be seen online at hp.com/go/ePrintCenter as long as users register their printer and set up an account, which I did in about two minutes. Here, too, users can add or remove apps from their printer. I preferred adding and removing apps directly from my Zeen tablet’s screen, but it takes some digging to find the Add More icon for adding apps. Over a dozen HP products support ePrint; they range from $100 to $450.

The concept of ePrint is a smart one, but the printer’s tendency to go into sleep mode to save energy is a problem. I like that the Zeen tablet detaches from the e-All-in-One, but its functionality as a tablet with limited apps and capabilities isn’t very sensible.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Microsoft's Kinect Drives Industry-Wide Gains in November

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:46:45 +0000

The Xbox 360 was the best-selling console for the month of November, jumping 68 percent compared to the same month last year, according to NPD Group.

The report released today is limited to trends that occur at physical retail locations, but from that vantage point, the Xbox 360 platform accounted for more than 40 percent of total industry sales. NPD analyst Anita Frazier reasoned the gains were driven by the successful launch of Microsoft’s Kinect, the Nintendo Wii-like motion detecting game accessory that works with the Xbox. The Kinect led Xbox 360 accessories to account for 60 percent of that category’s dollar sales.

Microsoft started selling Kinect halfway into November, and after only 15 days Microsoft said it had sold 2.5 million.

In general, NPD says the gains made last month, due to Microsoft’s successes and holiday discounts, were good enough to offset the majority of declines that occurred in 2010. “We expect a big jump in sales in November due to seasonality and the influence of holiday, but the change this November over October is bigger across most platforms than it was last November,” Fraizer said.

Last month, total game sales, including videogame hardware, like consoles and portables, plus software and accessories, were estimated to total nearly $3 billion, an 8 percent increase over November 2009. Now, sales for the year to date are only off last year’s $14.7 billion by 5 percent, providing hope that 2010 can end the year flat at $18.8 billion to $19.6 billion.

Other top performers included the Nintendo DS, which was boosted by new red and white designs, and Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Black Ops game.

Photo Credit: Microsoft.

Time Inc.'s InStyle Sets Up Shop at StyleFind

Peter Kafka — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:08:32 +0000

Remember when magazines were excited about launching Web sites, not iPad apps?

Here’s a reminder of what that was like: Meet StyleFind.com, which is supposed to be live Tuesday morning. It’s a new shopping site from Time Inc.’s InStyle magazine, and you’ll figure it out as soon as you see it.

In case you don’t: The site helps shoppers pick through some 2,000 brands, from 150 retailers, and eventually sends them off to partner sites, which handle the actual purchase and fulfillment. InStyle will get affiliate fees for forwarding on customers, giving the title another revenue stream to complement circulation and advertising.

StyleFind sports the requisite Twitter and Facebook buttons, but this isn’t one of the new breed of social shopping sites that have cropped up in the past year, like Svpply.

Instead, StyleFind assumes that shoppers are interested in the sense and sensibility that InStyle exudes, translated here by a small team of dedicated editors who pick out clothes and accessories.

Pretty straightforward stuff, and you can find versions of it elsewhere on the Web, and from other publishers as well. The major difference here is that Time Inc. built and operates the site itself, based on technology it acquired when it bought Boston-based StyleFeeder nearly a year ago for a price reported as “well into eight figures.”

Following that deal, Time Warner’s publishing unit then hired Bluefly vet John Carles to head up e-commerce for its Style group. Assuming Stylefind pans out, Carles will be able to use the same model for other titles, including People and even Entertainment Weekly, the publisher says.

Best Buy Joins Free Shipping Fray

Matt Jarzemsky — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Best Buy Co. said it plans to offer free online shipping on certain items through Dec. 21, following a similar move by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. earlier this month.
The electronics retailer said Wednesday its offer is valid on “hundreds of thousands” of items, including all CDs, Blu-Ray and DVD movies and gaming software and accessories. Some items, such as Apple Inc.’s iPads, laptop computers and major appliances are not included.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, plans to provide free shipping on more than 60,000 online items during the holidays without the need for a minimum purchase or subscription plan.
The strategy was seen as an attempt to counter a similar but broader deal from rival Target Inc. and grab sales from e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. From Nov. 21 to Dec. 11, Target plans to offer free shipping on more than 800,000 items, on orders of at least $50. Amazon already includes free shipping on many orders over $25.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Digital Cameras Improve Zooms, HD Function

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:26:27 +0000

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, so, too, comes the start of the holiday shopping mayhem. Once again, digital cameras are rocketing to the top of wish lists, and once again, shoppers are tentatively entering electronics stores with bewildered looks on their faces.

[ See post to watch video ]

To alleviate some of that shopping stress, I’ve compiled a buyer’s guide for different camera categories with prices and pointers to innovation. This year, manufacturers have improved photo-location tagging and are offering artistic photo alteration and clever ways to label images for future sharing on social networks.

Let’s Get Physical

Consumers are starting to understand that better sensors make it possible to do things like taking photos in low light, which can really make a difference in photo quality. Some high-quality sensors are making their way into affordable models, like the CMOS sensor in Nikon’s $300 Coolpix S8100. High megapixel counts aren’t overly important, though more megapixels per photo still make it easier to zoom in while editing and give higher resolution in a larger photo or poster. A 14-megapixel camera like the Olympus FE-47 costs just $100, but a recent Consumer Reports review gave it low marks in handling shake and liquid-crystal-display screen quality. Optical zoom, or the physically manipulated distance between the camera and a subject, is still more important than digital zoom, and it’s easy to find many models with 7x optical zoom or better. LCD screens on digicams are so large that they leave little room for optical viewfinders, thus making built-in image stabilization all the more important. Image stabilization comes on nearly all new cameras. And more digicams than ever are capable of recording high-definition videos.

Breaking It Down

Digital cameras can be divided into four broad categories: pocket-size, point-and-shoot, super- or mega-zooms and digital single-lens reflexes (D-SLRs). I’ll leave SLRs out of the discussion, since they’re still primarily aimed at hobbyists who don’t mind the cost and effort of buying additional lenses, filters, flashes and other accessories.

Most pocket-size digital cameras cost between $100 and $300, weigh no more than seven ounces and lack optical viewfinders, forcing users to look at LCD screens to compose pictures. Most of these LCD viewing screens measure between 2.6 inches and 3.5 inches diagonally. Samsung, however, has an even bigger touch-screen LCD, at 3.7 inches, on its CL80 camera priced at $350.

These small but powerful machines capture images with 10, 12 or 14 megapixels and their optical zoom lenses usually range from 3x to 7x, though a handful of manufacturers are boosting their cameras’ optical zooms. The $170 Casio Exilim EX-H5, for example, is equipped with a 10x optical zoom lens.

Today’s point-and-shoot digital cameras are sleeker and more stylish than they used to be, though they remain somewhat bulkier than their pocket-size relatives. The point-and-shoot size can allow for better optical zoom lenses, and these models sometimes cost less than the pocket sizes. The $300 Canon PowerShot SX210 IS and $280 Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 are equipped with 14x and 12x optical zoom lenses, respectively.

Super-zoom or mega-zoom digital cameras satisfy people who want the power of a great zoom and optional manual settings without the hassle and expense of an SLR. At a glance, you might mistake these models for SLRs due to their bulkier bodies, and, in some cases, detachable (or hot-shoe) flashes. Nikon’s $400 Coolpix P100 offers a 26x wide-angle optical zoom, and Olympus’s $350 SP-800UZ is the smallest camera with a 30x wide-angle optical zoom. Both cameras have built-in flashes, but the Nikon includes an optical viewfinder while the Olympus offers only an LCD screen for viewing and capturing photos.

Shaking It Up

Camera manufacturers are adding creative new features to these devices. Starting the week of Thanksgiving, Casio will provide Hybrid GPS on its $350 EX-H20G, which geotags (adds digital location information to) images indoors where GPS satellite signals can’t reach. This works using a combined GPS radio and motion sensor to measure the direction in which the camera has moved, and how fast. When you’re back in satellite range, the camera corrects the geotag by cross-referencing its own estimates with satellite-provided latitude and longitude.

Olympus now has art filters, which let you view your subject with special effects before capturing the photo. Some filters supply gentle sepia, soft focus or grainy film. There is also a drawing filter, which makes a subject instantly appear as a sketch.

Samsung’s $150 PL90 model has a pop-out USB arm that reminds me a lot of the pop-out USB connector on Cisco’s popular Flip camcorders. Samsung’s USB arm eliminates the need for messy wires, or the removal of a memory card to transfer photos from a digicam to a PC.

Many cameras have and continue to supply guides that appear on screen as a photo is being captured. Sony’s NEX-5 offers this, and the Olympus Live Guide let you preview photo adjustments—like brightness or color saturation—on the screen as you make them. Nikon’s Scene Auto Selector, found in the Coolpix P7000, Coolpix S8100 and Coolpix S80, will automatically adjust the camera’s settings so users can stop worrying about scrolling through menus to select the right scene from a list.

Fujifilm offers the only true (not simulated) three-dimensional digital camera in its $500 FinePix REAL 3D W3, which I reviewed in August. These 3D images can be seen through the camera’s LCD viewing screen but not on laptops or television sets unless they’re 3D-capable and you’re wearing 3D glasses.

Kodak is trying to encourage sharing with its cameras by including a Share button that, when pressed, digitally tags images and videos with labels for Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Kodak Gallery or email, then automatically sends the photos to those places when you next plug the camera into a PC.

One last warning: Don’t be seduced by lower prices or better technology alone. Be sure you try a camera in the store before buying it. The way it feels or works for you is just as important as any technological specification.

Email Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Vipshop Bags $20M To Bring Flash Sales To Chinese Consumers

Jonathan Shieber — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:19:51 +0000

Chinese venture capitalists are buying into the country’s “flash sales” membership-based retail websites, as online shoppers in the country get a taste of steep discounts on the gilded life through offerings from retailers like newly funded start-up Vipshop.

The Beijing-based company has raised $20 million from DCM and Sequoia Capital China in its first round of venture funding. The capital will enable the company to expand its business offering brand-name clothes, accessories, makeup and home furnishings through time-sensitive online discounted offers.

The company has 1.5 million members across China and is one of a handful of start-ups taking the model popularized in the U.S. by companies such as Groupon Inc. and Gilt Groupe Inc., European companies like Spanish internet retailers BuyVip GmbH and Privalia Venta Directa S.L., or the French site Vente Privee, which is backed by Summit Partners LLC.

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Videogame Industry Suffers Massively Multiplayer Sales Decline

John Paczkowski — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:50:08 +0000

April was another lousy month for the videogame industry. With overall revenue down 26 percent and hardware down 37 percent, it was the worst monthly year-over-year sales decline since last July, according to research house The NPD Group. It was also the 10th time in the last 13 months that sales have fallen year-over-year.

Nintendo sold 277,2000 Wiis, down from 557,500 in March and 340,000 a year ago. The company sold 440,800 Nintendo DS’s, down from 700,800 in March and 1.04 million a year ago.

Microsoft sold 185,400 Xbox 360s, down from 338,400 in March, but up from 175,000 a year ago.

Sony sold 180,800 PlayStation 3s, down from 313,900 in March, but up from 127,000 a year ago. And it sold 65,500 PSPs, down from 119,900 in March and 116,000 a year ago.

What’s driving the drops? Blame the portable gaming industry, which contributed more than its fair share to the industry decline, said NPD analyst Anita Frazier.

“The portable business across hardware, software and accessories accounted for 25 percent of total industry dollar sales in April,” Frazier explained. “But declines in portable sales compared to April ’09 accounted for 61 percent of the total industry decrease.”

That’s just abysmal, even if April is traditionally the slowest month of the year for videogame sales. Consider this: At 440,800, sales of the Nintendo DS tanked by more than 50 percent from more than one million last April.

So what’s going on? Perhaps consumers are postponing new portable game system purchases in anticipation of Nintendo’s new 3DS. Or perhaps they’re finding that their smartphones make fine gaming devices.

It’s not yet clear. But what is clear, and painfully so, is that the hardware refresh promised by Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT), which are adding new motion technology to their players, and Nintendo, which is debuting the 3-D version of its DS handheld, can’t come soon enough.

Marketers Watch as Friends Interact Online

Emily Steel — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00:55 +0000

Birds of a feather flock together. Or, in the Internet age, a customer’s friend is a potential customer.

Embracing those truisms, some big marketers, including Sprint (S) and eBay (EBAY), are turning to small start-ups to help them tap social-networking data to find would-be clients among the friends and acquaintances of existing customers, to the dismay of some privacy advocates.

EBay, for instance, used online tracking technologies to identify customers who browsed or shopped for products in the clothing, shoes and accessories section of its site. It then turned to New York-based start-up 33Across, which analyzed data from social-networking sites to map out the connections between the customers eBay had identified and other Web surfers, in order to serve up ads at the right time and place.

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Early Supplies of iPad Accessories Dwindling?

John Paczkowski — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:45:14 +0000

Good news for iPad peripheral peddlers: High demand for some Apple-designed accessories for the device appears to have exhausted early supplies. Originally offered with a ship date of April 3, official iPad cases purchased today, for example, won’t ship until mid-April (if you purchased one on March 12, you’re still likely to take delivery on April 3 according to my order status checks).

Keyboard docks ordered today won’t ship until late April (those ordered on April 12 are scheduled to arrive on April 19). And 10W USB power adapters, which let you charge your iPad via electrical outlet, won’t ship until May–nearly a month after the arrival of the iPad itself.

A case of first-come, first-served, I suppose. Still, this gives third-party accessory vendors a nice little sales window free of competition from Apple (AAPL)–assuming they’re ready to take advantage of it.

Apple's iPad Boots Up Market for Accessories Makers

Yukari Iwatani Kane — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:00:43 +0000

A month before Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad tablet computer is due to ship, accessory makers are already lining up cases, batteries and other products in the hopes of profiting off the device.

Since Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad last month, hardware makers such as Griffin Technology, Gelaskins Inc., Sanho Corp. and SDI Technologies Inc. have hurried to design chargers, sticker covers and other accoutrements.

“There are some things we’ve identified as no-brainers,” said Mark Rowan, president of case maker Griffin in Nashville, Tenn., which began drawing up designs for iPad cases and contacting manufacturers within hours of the iPad announcement. “We know people are going to want to protect the device.”

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Accessory Makers Queue Up for iPad

Sarmad Ali — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:00:43 +0000

Although Apple’s (AAPL) new tablet won’t be available for at least another two months, vendors are already racing to stoke demand for iPad accessories.

New York-based iLuv Creative Technology unveiled on Thursday a new line of iPad products, including hard and soft carrying cases and screen protectors. It’s also selling water-resistant sleeves that have two front cover pockets for accessories and a secure lip to keep the iPad protected while on the move. The products, which will be available next month, each cost $20 to $40.

Also Thursday, Belkin introduced three 10-inch sleeves designed with reinforced panels to protect the iPad’s touch screen from scratches. Its products will be available in the spring, with prices comparable to iLuv’s cases.

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Apple iPad Event Liveblog

John Paczkowski — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:00:40 +0000

After months of feverish speculation and as many years of wishful thinking, Apple uncrated its tablet computer–the iPad–at an invitation-only event in San Francisco this morning.

Liveblog

9:13 am PT: Quite a scene here this morning; the queue for media credentials is nearly as long as some of the iPhone 3G launch lines I saw a few years back. Moments ago, an Apple PR rep slipped through the doors of the Yerba Buena Center to ask that the press waiting outside take two big steps back. The last time that happened to me, I was at a Jesus Lizard show.

9:54 am: The doors open and the press enters the event hall. Initially, at least, the scene is pretty crazy. “This is like the subway in New York,” an attendee behind me jokes. More like the subway in Tokyo, I think to myself.

A Bob Dylan soundtrack plays as media and guests file in. It’s momentarily interrupted by a “please take your seats, our event is about to begin” announcement.

10:00 am: Interesting stage set-up today: Instead of an empty stage or a simple table, there are a black leather chair and side-table. Lights are dimming….

And Steve Jobs takes the stage to a standing ovation.

“We want to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical product, but first a few updates….A few weeks ago we sold our 250 millionth iPod…I didn’t want to let that moment pass without recognizing it.”

10:05 am: Jobs offers a quick overview of Apple’s retail operations and some of the new stores it has opened recently before moving on to the iTunes App Store. “A few weeks ago we announced that three billion applications had been downloaded from the App Store–that’s in 18 months…amazing.”
He notes, as he did in the company’s earnings release the other day, that Apple is now a $50 billion company.

Apple is a mobile devices company, says Jobs, “the largest mobile devices company in the world now. Larger than Sony’s mobile device business, larger than Samsung’s and, astonishingly, Nokia’s as well.”

10:07 am: A quick historical overview now. Jobs touches on the first PowerBook, introduced in 1991. He moves on to the MacBook and then the iPhone.

“All of us use laptops and smartphones, now. And the question has arisen lately: Is there room for a device in the middle?…We’ve pondered this question as well.”

This “middle” device, says Jobs, must be better at doing certain tasks than either the laptop or smartphone. If there’s going to be a third-device category, it must be better at browsing the Web, video, photos, music, etc.

“Some folks say this device is a netbook…. The problem is, netbooks aren’t better at anything.”

10:10 am: But we have something that is, says Jobs, “and it’s called the iPad.”

Photos of the device appear on the giant screens. Very thin. Very slick. “IPad offers the best Web browsing experience there is–way better than laptops.” There is no camera that I can see. That’s not going to go over well with folks hoping for a device that supports video iChat.

10:13 am: Further details: The “iPad is a dream to type on,” Jobs says, pointing out its life-sized onscreen keyboard. It’s also an awesome way to enjoy media. iTunes, iTunes University and YouTube HD support are built in.

10:14 am: Jobs sits down to demo the device: “Using this thing is remarkable. It’s so much more intimate and capable than the laptop.” He loads Safari and surfs over to the New York Times (NYT). The iPad loads quickly and Jobs is able to easily navigate the page, loading stories and zooming in on articles.

10:15 am: Demonstrating landscape and portrait now. “This device adapts to the way I want to use it.”

Definitely an impressive browsing experience. Fast and elegant.

Now, an overview of Mail. Also elegant. Nice split-screen presentation. Hit compose, and a nice onscreen keyboard pops up. Jobs types out a message to his colleagues at Apple. Seems relatively easy.

10:19 am: Moving on to iPad’s photo capabilities. It supports iPhoto’s Events, Faces and Places features. It also offers built-in slideshows complete with soundtracks and transitions.

Running a slideshow demo, Jobs pauses and looks out at the audience with a Chesire Cat-wide grin. He’s clearly relishing this moment.

10:22 am:: The iTunes experience on iPad is much as you would expect. Similar, if not identical, to what the software currently offers. Calendar and Contacts apps are also nice and, again, similar to what you’d find on a MacBook or iPhone.

10:24 am: Demoing Google Maps now. The iPad supports Google Street View and the implementation is very slick.

10:25 am: Moving on to video. Jobs calls up an HD clip from Google’s (GOOG) YouTube and displays it in both portrait and landscape. That finished, he fires up iTunes and loads “Star Trek” to demo the device’s video features, scrubbing, etc. Then he shows us a clip from Pixar’s “Up.” Tap to go full-screen. “Isn’t that wonderful?”

10:27 am: Watching that is nothing like actually having one in your hands, says Jobs.

iPad is one-half-inch thick, weighs 1.5 pounds, and comes with 9.7 inch IPS display–“very high-quality display”
Full capacitive multitouch
16GB-64GB flash storage
iPad is powered by our Apple’s custom silicon–“We did it inhouse and it just screams,” says Jobs.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, accelerometer, compass.
Battery life: 10 hours.

“And in addition to 10 hours of battery life, iPad offers a full month of standby time,” Jobs notes. “It’s also a good environmental citizen,” he adds, noting that it’s a very green device.

10:31 am: Jobs invites Scott Forestall to the stage to talk about apps on the device.

“We built the iPad to run virtually every app in the App Store right out of the box,” Forestall says.

Evidently, a built-in pixel-doubling feature automatically scales iPhone apps to full-screen iPad apps.

10:35 am: Forestall runs an unmodified racing game from the App Store. He first demos it in the screen size of an iPhone. Then, using the pixel-doubling feature, he blows it out to full screen. Very slick.

“So you can buy the iPad, take it home, hook it up and download all your iPhone apps and run them with no problem at all,” he says.

Forestall announces a new iPhone software development kit specifically geared to the iPad. He notes that iPad-specific applications will be featured “front and center” in the App Store.
He then invites Gameloft’s Mark Hickey to the stage to demo some new games the company has developed using the new SDK.

Hickey notes that the iPad’s additional screen space is a boon for developers, particularly those building games. He demos a first-person shooter that showcases this. “We’re now able to interact with the game world in ways that we weren’t able to before.”

10:40 am: Next up, the New York Times. Martin Nisenholtz takes the stage to talk about its iPad effort.

After talking up the Times iPhone app, Nisenholtz segues to the the paper’s new iPad app: “We think we’ve captured the experience and essence of reading the newspaper.”

The app is largely what you’d expect. Tap to resize text, zoom, breaking news updates, video. “This is everything you love about the paper and everything you love about the Web.”

10:44 am: Now, a painting application called Brushes that was famously used to create a New Yorker cover.
The app is impressive enough on iPhone; it’s even more so on the iPad. It supports “playback” of paintings, and as the presenter notes, brings us one step closer to a real virtual painting studio.

10:46 am: EA’s Travis Boatman take’s the stage. The topic of his presentation: Need For Speed.

“Building for the iPad is a little bit like holding a high-def TV screen a few inches from your face,” he says.

The iPad version of Need for Speed boasts a number of touch-activated enhancements: Tap on the car to view its interior, tap on the rear-view mirror to look behind you.

10:52 am: Up next: MLB.com’s Chad Evans. He demos the outfit’s iPad-optimized app, which uses the device’s additional screen space to display video excerpts and MLB TV.

MLB TV can be streamed like and enhanced with onscreen stats and data. “This big display really allows us to create a much more immersive experience,” Evans says.

10:52 am: Forestall returns to the stage to make another brief plug for the SDK before Jobs takes over for him.
“Let me show you another one of our apps that we’re very excited about,” Jobs says. “An e-book reader.”

Behind him a photo of Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle appears. “Amazon did a great job with their reader and we’re standing on their shoulders here….Today we’re announcing the iBooks store,” says Jobs, adding that it will be supported initially by Penguin, Simon & Schuster and a number of other big publishers.

The iBooks Store interface begins with a simple bookshelf view. Tap the screen and it loads a more iTunes-like view. Purchase a book and it’s added to your bookshelf with a slick little animation.

The reading experience seems very appealing. Much more book-like. From where I sit, the pages look like they’re written on paper.

“We use the e-pub format, the most popular open-book format in the world,” says Jobs. “We think iPad is going to be a very popular e-reader not just for bestsellers, but for textbooks as well.”

10:58 am: And here’s another new product announcement: A new version of iWork tweaked for use on the iPad. Jobs invites Phil Schiller on stage to demo it.

“We have a completely new version of Keynote, a completely new version of Pages and a completely new version of Numbers–all optimized for multitouch.

Schiller demos Keynote first. Creating presentations appears intuitive and simple–a slide navigator on the left, tap to load individual slides in the main window, drag to rearrange.

Nice use of multitouch gestures to enhance the app. Pinch to resize photos, tap to insert animations and transitions. These are all fairly advanced techniques and the device seems to handle them well.

11:05 am: Moving on to Pages now. Also impressive, though creating a written document on a tablet device like the iPad seems like it might be a drag. A nice tool for editing, though. Simple controls.

11:07 am: Moving on to Numbers. This application also makes good use of multitouch gestures and boasts a data-entry keyboard along with some 250 built-in functions. The software’s gesture capabilities makes Excel look antediluvian.
Powerful and fast.

So what’s Apple going to charge for iWork? $9.99 each, says Schiller, who notes that all three applications are compatible with their Mac versions.

Jobs returns to the stage, grinning. “Isn’t that great?” he asks for what’s easily the 10th time. iPad, he says, will synch to Mac or PC via USB.

11:14 am: Evidently, there will be two iPad models–one with Wi-Fi-only and one with Wi-Fi and 3G. The 3G device will come with two plans: 250 MB per month for $14.99, unlimited data for $29.99.

And who’s the carrier? AT&T.

A small groan ripples through the audience.

Jobs allows that AT&T is also throwing in free Wi-Fi at its hotspots. He follows that up by noting that there are no contracts for the iPad. You can cancel at anytime.

All iPad 3G models are unlocked and they use new GSM micro SIMS, so chances are they will just work, Jobs says, after noting that Apple hasn’t yet worked out international carrier deals.

11:16 am: Now a quick overview as a wrap-up. Jobs touts the overall tablet experience along with the new iBook app and iBook Store. “This is an amazing product with tremendous breadth. What should we charge for it?…When we set out to develop the iPad we not only had aggressive UI goals, we had aggressive price goals, because we wanted to put this in the hands of as many people as possible….IPad pricing starts not at $999, but $499,” Jobs says to a huge round of applause.

$499 for 16GB base model.
32GB for $599.
64GB for $699.
Adding 3G requires an additional fee.

Apple will ship Wi-Fi models in 60 days and 3G models in 90.

11:20 am: Apple has created new accessories for the iPad: A standard dock and a second dock with a keyboard attached to it. “Keep one of these in your den and you can write the next “War and Peace” on it.” The final accessory, a new case that doubles as a stand.

Running a video now. It features a number of Apple execs enthusiastically talking up the iPad.

11:25 am: Let me circle back here for a moment to pricing. Adding 3G to iPad requires an additional $130. So we’re talking $629 for the 16GB model, $729 for the 32GB and $829 for the 64GB version.

Designer Jon Ives on the iPad: “In many ways iPad defines our vision, our sense of what’s next.”

11:32 am: Jobs returns to the stage and recalls the “middle device” scenario he mentioned earlier today. “Can we create this new category? The bar is set pretty high, but we think we’ve got the goods.”

“This is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” he adds. “The reason the iPad is going to be so great is because Apple has always strived to be at the junction of technology and liberal arts.”

And with that he concludes. Lights go up and Dylan begins playing over the speakers again.

View the slideshow

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iFugly

Ford's Unbuilt Car Snags 1,000+ Pre-Orders Online

Jeff Bennett — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:43:08 +0000

Ford Motor (F) said Wednesday that it has collected more than 1,000 online pre-orders for its new subcompact, thanks to a recently launched car-reservation site.

The auto maker hasn’t started production of the car, the 2011 Ford Fiesta, and it won’t be in showrooms until the summer of 2010. The reservation site, however, has attracted orders from 47 states since it launched six days ago. Customers can also add their names to the list by texting “reserve” to 4Ford on a smart phone.

Reserving new vehicles is becoming more common as auto makers look for way to entice younger consumers while creating a buzz about a car or pickup truck. Orders also help dealers gauge interest in the vehicle and what accessories consumers find most appealing.

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Videogame Industry in Massively Multiplayer Sales Decline

John Paczkowski — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:05:55 +0000

The videogame industry may be recession-resistant, but it is clearly not recession-proof, as some once claimed.

If it was, surely we wouldn’t be seeing the sixth consecutive month of declining sales reported by NPD. According to the market research firm, overall sales in the United States in August of hardware, software and game accessories were $909 million–a 16 percent drop from the same period a year ago.

Hardware sales were down 25 percent for the month and 17 percent for the year. Software fared little better. It was down 15 percent for the month and 14 percent for the year.

Six straight months of falling sales. Overall, the industry is down 14 percent for the year, earning nearly $9.1 billion so far in 2009, according to NPD. Is this a trend that can be dismissed with the standard “well, software drives console sales” explanation? I’m not so sure. It’s not like Mario Kart and Madden NFL 10 have disappeared from the shelves. Indeed, they’re still top-selling titles. They’re still driving sales. They’re just driving a hell of a lot fewer of them.

Indeed, Electronic Arts (ERTS) CEO John Riccitiello bemoaned this very fact in an email to employees, released yesterday. “It is discouraging that one of our highest-rated and best-marketed ‘Madden’ titles in years is facing strong headwinds,” he said, adding industry trends “present a challenge.”

Perhaps that’s because we’re in the middle of the worst American recession in 50 years and $40 for a videogame is still $40. I’ll bet $5 and my old Intellivision that the videogame industry will post its first year-over-year loss since 2004 this year.

Hardware Sales:

Nintendo DS     552.9K

Wii     277.4K

Xbox 360     215.4K

PlayStation 3     210.0K

PSP     140.3K

PlayStation 2     105.9K

Top 10 Software Sales:

Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360, Electronic Arts): 928,000

Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo): 754,000

Madden NFL 10 (PS3, EA): 665,000

Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, Square Enix): 303,000

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, Square Enix): 290,000

Madden NFL 10 (PS2, EA): 160,000

Dissidia Final Fantasy (PSP, Square Enix): 130,000

Wii Fit (Wii, Nintendo): 128,000

Mario Kart Wii (Wii, Nintendo): 120,000

Fossil Fighters (DS, Nintendo): 92,000

August Video Game Sales Drop 29 Percent; Save Us, Mario!

Eric Savitz — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:05:14 +0000

U.S. video game sector sales fell 29 percent in August to $848.9 million, down from $1.19 billion a year ago, according to market research firm NPD Group. That includes a 37 percent drop in video game hardware, a 26 percent drop in software sales and a 12 percent decline in video game accessories. It was the fifth consecutive monthly drop. Sales for the year to date are down 14 percent versus the same period in 2008.

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CES to Give Apple 25,000 Square Feet of Free Advertising

John Paczkowski — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:55:44 +0000

If Macworld isn’t on its last legs after Apple’s withdrawal from the event, the Consumer Electronics Association is clearly hoping the annual Apple-only convention soon will be. CEA, which hosts the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January, said Thursday that it is expanding the amount of show floor space dedicated to Apple. Once just a paltry 4,000 square feet, the iLounge Pavilion now maxes out at 25,000 square feet. Once populated with iPod, iPhone, and Mac applications and accessories, the Pavilion will this year feature a section for iPhone apps.

Such a drastic expansion of Apple-related show floor space will no doubt inspire speculation that the Mac maker plans to put in an appearance at CES. But that seems unlikely given the company’s reasons for bowing out of Macworld. “Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers,” the company said at the time. “The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.”

In any event, this is unfortunate news for Macworld and IDG, the publishing company that runs it. Without Steve Jobs or even Apple (AAPL) to help it upstage CES as Macworld has done in some years past, the event has far less to offer attendees and presenters than before. Certainly, no one is going to be decamping from Vegas in the middle of CES this year to hit Macworld. There’s no reason to. And with CES ramping up its efforts to woo Apple accessory manufacturers and retailers, well, things aren’t looking too good for Macworld, are they?

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