August

Is There Anything You People Won’t Watch on the Web? Nope: Video Views Up 25 Percent.

Peter Kafka in Media on October 13, 2009 at 11:22 am PT

Is there anything you people won’t watch online? Doesn’t look like it, based on the newest Web video numbers from Nielsen. While stats show that the overall size of the Internet video audience has increased by 12 percent in the last year, the amount of video consumed has shot up 25 percent.

Not With a Bing, but a Whimper IV

John Paczkowski in News on October 7, 2009 at 11:00 am PT

Looks like Bing’s steady upward trend of market share gains may have reversed itself. Microsoft’s new search engine saw its U.S. search share fall in September, according to figures from Hitwise. Troubling news for Microsoft. Hitwise’s latest numbers are the second set of metrics from a Web analytics firm showing Bing’s market share in decline.

Global Chip Sales Down 21.3 Percent Year-to-Date. But Hey, They Rose Five Percent in August!

John Paczkowski in News on October 2, 2009 at 9:13 am PT

Worldwide sales of semiconductors in August rose five percent over July, racking up their sixth month of consecutive gains, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Great news were it not for the fact that at $19.1 billion, August sales were down a horrific 16.1 percent year-over-year. Furthermore, for the first eight months of 2009, sales are at $133.8 billion–about 21.3 percent below what they were at this time last year.

Not With a Bing, but a Whimper III

John Paczkowski in News on October 1, 2009 at 10:49 am PT

Microsoft’s efforts to bolster Bing’s market share are no longer paying off as well as they have been. After months of slight but steady increases in market share, Bing’s percentage of the search market in the U.S. and abroad fell in September for the first time.

More Modest Results for Microsoft’s Marketing Blitz. Now It’s Yahoo’s Turn.

Peter Kafka in Media on September 22, 2009 at 3:29 am PT

Another month, another half-point: Microsoft’s search market share crept up again in August, according to the newest numbers from comScore. Since Steve Ballmer and company launched Bing at the end of May with a $100 million marketing push, they’ve moved from eight percent to 9.3 percent. So: If you’re Yahoo, and you’re about to kick off a Bing-sized marketing blitz of your own, do those numbers give you encouragement or pause?

NPD: Mac Sales Up Seven Percent, iPod Sales Down 16 Percent

John Paczkowski in News on September 14, 2009 at 1:15 pm PT

Apple’s September quarter is shaping up to be a good one, if the latest metrics from NPD as reported by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster are any indication. According to the research outfit, Mac sales for July and August are up seven percent year-over-year.

Videogame Industry in Massively Multiplayer Sales Decline

John Paczkowski in News on September 11, 2009 at 5:05 am PT

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.

"Hummer of Cellphones" a Bestseller at AT&T

John Paczkowski in News on September 8, 2009 at 8:15 am PT

Apple’s iPhone continues to be AT&T’s marquee handset, though the data-guzzling “Hummer of cellphones,” as the New York Times has dubbed it, has inspired widespread customer dissatisfaction with the carrier’s network. Indeed, according to Piper Jaffray, the iPhone 3G and 3GS are AT&T’s top-selling phones.