Flickr/Gawen947

According to NPD, 35 percent of the smartphones sold last year run on a 4G network, even under the loosest definition of 4G. While that’s up from 6 percent a year ago, it still means nearly two out of three new phones are 3G-only.

One big factor in that is the iPhone. Of all of Apple’s devices, only the iPhone 4S on AT&T’s network runs at a speed higher than 3G, and that one just barely fits the bill.

The fastest of the new networks are the LTE networks being rolled out by Verizon and, more recently, by AT&T. But most of the 4G smartphones out there are the ones that run on HSPA+, a more evolutionary technology. That technology is in use at T-Mobile and also at AT&T, and accounted for 22 percent of smartphone sales.

Phones supporting LTE accounted for 7 percent of smartphone sales, with 6 percent of smartphones using WiMax, the 4G technology adopted by Sprint.

What started out as an alphabet-soup marketing war, though, is now converging. Sprint plans to start rolling out its LTE network later this year, while T-Mobile has said it will start offering such a network next year, though it hasn’t said how it will do so. (Update: T-Mobile says it has been clear, maintaining it will be able to launch an LTE network through re-use of existing spectrum and the spectrum the it acquired from AT&T as part of the failed merger.)

“With all major U.S. carriers committing to LTE as their 4G future, it is clearly the cellular network technology that will determine the baseline for the next generation of advanced smartphones,” NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin said in a statement.

(Image courtesy of Flickr/Gawen947)

In its first four days on the App Store, Camera Awesome was downloaded more than one million times; it hit two million in less than a week.

More than 10 million photos have been taken with the app already. Currently, it’s ranked the No. 1 photography app in 55 countries. In the U.S., it’s currently ranked No. 2 on the free apps list in iTunes, behind Draw Something, which my colleague Peter Kafka wrote about last week (and which I’ve since become addicted to — I blame him).

For comparison’s sake: That’s faster than the initial download rate of mobile photo-sharing app Instagram, which crossed the two-million-download mark in two months, and comparable to the two-million-in-two-days feat of Angry Birds on Android.

“We’ve struck a chord with photographers around the world, from soccer dads to mom-tographers and high-end professionals, and we’re only getting started,” MacAskill said.

The popularity of mobile photo apps comes as smartphones capable of taking decent photos — and sharing them quickly — munch at the market for digital cameras. Late last year, a report from the NPD Group said that the percentage of photos taken with a smartphone grew 10 percent year over year to 27 percent in 2011, while its Retail Tracking Service found that the point-and-shoot camera market had dipped 17 percent year over year in terms of units shipped, and 18 percent in terms of revenue.

Camera Awesome became available in the App Store last Tuesday. Despite the app’s somewhat intimidating 297 presets, filters, textures and frames, my colleague Katie Boehret wrote in her review of the app that “it is by far one of the most full-powered camera apps I’ve used, marking an exciting advance for smartphone cameras.”

As Katie reports, Camera Awesome is free, but it is only available for iOS devices; an Android app is in the works.

But he said Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, which attempts to bring physical toys to life through videogames, has been worth it.

“It was scary,” he said. “But if you truly have a breakthrough idea, then you have to have the confidence to treat it as one because they don’t come around very often.”

To be sure, the game was a major deviation from the company’s war-based roots.

It melds physical toys with videogames by using a “portal,” which is plugged into the game console. Once a Skylanders toy is placed on the portal, the character transports into the game and comes to life on the screen.

In 2011, the game was the tenth-best seller after launching in October, and was the only title to make the list that wasn’t a sequel. Additionally, it was the only kids game.

Hirshberg appeared this morning as the keynote speaker at DICE, an annual videogame summit held in Las Vegas.

His speech, titled “The Eric Hirshberg Experiment,” addressed how he has a nontraditional background as a CEO, but that Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick saw the usefulness of his creative background. Rather than being a trained operations or finance manager, Hirshberg is a marketing type who is more likely found drawing and bringing a sketch pad to meetings.

“There are other creative CEOs, but they generally founded the companies, like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs,” he said. “But if creativity is at the core of your business, maybe it should be at the core of how they make decisions.”

Skylanders is just one case in point.

To make it the best experience possible, Hirshberg said they delayed the game’s launch by a year and spent the time getting the toys right, so they could compete side by side with characters developed by Pixar or Disney.

They also spent time making sure the game could work across platforms, so kids could play it at any of their friends’ houses regardless if they had a PC, Xbox, Sony PlayStation or Nintendo Wii.

As a result, every decision resulted in taking on more risk and spending more money.

Last night, Skylanders was voted as the most outstanding innovation in gaming as part of the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, which are decided on by members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

“We knew a lot of things had to go right — the core to that was bringing the toys to life. We knew that was magical, and if we got it right, it would have huge potential,” Hirshberg said. “We had the whole package. We had a great game and a great story and then pushed with all of our might with a big marketing plan.”

Yesterday, Activision reported fourth-quarter results, reporting well above its internal guidance and Wall Street analyst expectations, driven by extremely strong sales of Call of Duty, but also strong sales of Skylanders as well as, plus stable subscriber figures of its online game, World of Warcraft.

Additionally, the NPD Group said yesterday that the Skylanders toys were a top-selling accessory in January. It said that the toys were the highest-ranking item last month, and that collectively, Skylanders accessories represented 22 percent of all accessory sales.

For sure, Hirshberg has early successes to point to, but the experiment is ongoing.

As a result, the industry saw a double-digit decline in physical software sales at retail, according to NPD, which tracks the industry.

It said last year new launches represented 13 percent of videogame sales in January, but that last month, the performance of new launches dropped by 99 percent, said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.

Videogame sales for console and handheld game units from retail totaled $356 million in January, falling 38 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Overall sales, including hardware, accessories and software, dropped 34 percent.

But the drop can’t be blamed entirely on the lack of new launches. Sales of titles launched in the fourth quarter also performed poorly, falling 31 percent in units compared to the year-ago period.

“As shoppers were not drawn to stores due to new launch activity, this potentially impacted additional software purchases made on impulse,” Callahan said in a release.

NPD also estimated sales from used games, downloadable content and social and mobile games. It says those channels accounted for an additional $350 million to $400 million in sales.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 continues to be the best-selling console, and Activision’s first-person shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 continues to be the top-selling game title. Sony is banking on a spike in sales from the launch of the PlayStation Vita portable unit, which is expected to hit the market Feb. 22, along with 25 new titles.

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:

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

Just as the annual Consumer Electronics Show kicks off this week, according to a report from the NPD Group: Consumer electronics sales during this past holiday period dropped six percent from last year.

That should be some not-so-welcome news for the vendors at the Las Vegas gadget confab, which is seeking to show off new wares to excite said consumers.

Those offerings had better step it up, from a look at the NPD Weekly Tracking Service, which noted that the decline was coming off another decline from a year ago.

While 2011′s drop was not as bad as 2010′s, it’s not the right direction, although the tally did not include some of the more explosive device categories being prominently featured at CES, such as tablets.

Said NPD: “Total consumer technology sales (excluding cell phones, tablets, e-readers, and video games) fell 5.9 percent to around $9.5 billion for the 5 weeks ending December 24, a slight improvement over the 6.2 percent decline in 2010.”

Sales of personal computers and televisions fell 4 percent, with flat unit volumes.

“2010 was the first year in quite awhile where the real drags on the core CE marketplace were not TVs and PCs,” said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at NPD, in a press release. “Revenue for those two segments outperformed while the rest of the market dropped by more than 7 percent. The accelerated rate of decline in older technology categories such as DVD, GPS and MP3 players put a ceiling on how well the industry could perform during the holiday.”

Consumers did snap up flat-panel TVs, with screen sizes of 50 inches and higher rising by 32 percent in unit sales.

And the rocky 3-D TV business also grew by more than 100 percent, with TVs with “3D capability accounting for more than one in every five dollars spent on TVs during the holiday.”

Also up: Home theater systems (10 percent) and stand-alone streaming devices (65 percent).

But those increases did not stem the overall negative tide.

For other sectors, here’s the damage to holiday revenue in percentage change from 2011 dollars spent:

Blu-ray players: Down 17 percent.

Camcorders: Down 42.5 percent.

Digital picture frames: Down 37.5 percent.

GPS: Down 32.6 percent.

HDD: Down 25.1 percent.

Mice and keyboards: Down 7.1 percent.

MP3 players: Down 20.5 percent.

Multifunction printers: Down 9.9 percent.

Point-and-shoot cameras: Down 20.8 percent.

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But the day — or more accurately, the quarter — has arrived, when consumers spend more on digital games, such as mobile, social and console downloads, than they do on more traditional formats, like console games, according to the NPD Group.

UPDATE: I need to clarify that the category, which includes digital sales, also includes used sales and rentals, so it’s not purely digital sales that are exceeding retail sales, analyst Anita Frazier says. So while digital is absolutely growing, it’s not quite bigger than physical purely on its own.

In the second quarter, NPD estimates that digital revenues totaled $1.74 billion, exceeding the $1.44 billion spent on physical sales. That compares to the first quarter when the split favored physical sales of $2 billion, which topped digital sales of $1.85 billion.

While physical distribution in retail stores and packaged goods may be shifting to digital distribution over broadband connections and wireless airwaves, overall spending seems to be level.

In the second quarter, total videogame sales, including hardware, content and accessories, was estimated at $4.5 billion, which represents an increase of one percent compared to the same period a year earlier.

The NPD Group has not been tracking digital versus retail sales for very long, so it is unclear if this is the first time this has happened, or if the split will be permanent, but generally the trend is that digital revenues are growing while traditional retail sales are falling.

The shift for some incumbent videogame makers has been difficult to stomach.

Many debate the value of shifting from producing a $60 game sold at retail to producing mobile and social games, which frequently rely on a free-to-play model, where users have the option of playing without paying anything.

Others have embraced the concept, believing that the transformation will take place no matter what, or that it will grow the pie of people playing games.

To be sure, the market is just as confused about this period of disruption, leading values to be all over the map.

For example, privately held Zynga, which has filed to raise $1 billion in an IPO, was valued at $14.05 billion in August by a third party, according to a recent filing.

That makes the social games leader more than double the value of publicly held Electronic Arts, which has a market capitalization of $6.8 billion.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts has been investing heavily in both mobile and social gaming, and, for instance, currently has the second-most popular game on Facebook.

What good news for the media business!

And for Amazon and Apple, and anyone else who’s trying to make money selling digital media: NPD Group says that 21 cents out of every dollar kids spend on entertainment goes to “digital format content.” That’s up from 2009, when 85 cents went to physical goods and 15 cents went to digital stuff.

Note that when NPD says “kids,” NPD really does mean kids. It’s talking about children ages two to 14, and it says 50 percent of kids have bought some digital media by the age of seven.

How does a seven-year-old pay for digital content or respond to an NPD survey about digital purchasing behavior? In the latter case, it’s through a grown-up — NPD surveyed more than 3,400 parents and asked them to answer on behalf of their kids.

I’m guessing the parents are doing the overwhelming majority of the buying, too, though the rise of gift cards makes it more and more feasible for kids without credit cards to purchase stuff on their own.

And when one of these very youngsters does buy something online, it’s most likely a song: “One-third of kids report songs being the first type of digital content they purchased, followed by computer games and mobile games.”

But never fear, better times await. The next four months will generate more than half of the industry’s sales that are made at retail, which could be more than enough to bring things back in line with last year’s performance.

The NPD Group today released its assessment of retail sales in August, which does not take into consideration electronic or other digital channels where games are sold.

NPD analyst Anita Frazier said almost everything related to games — software, hardware and accessories — declined in August, compared to the same month a year earlier. The one exception was portable game sales, which were driven by sales of Nintendo DS and 3DS software.

Price cuts benefited both Nintendo and Sony.

Sony trimmed the price of the five-year-old PlayStation 3 to $250 from a previously recommended price of $300, while Nintendo slashed the price of the struggling 3DS by $80, after the glasses-free 3-D handheld device had been on sale for only four months.

Nintendo said about 185,000 units were sold after the price reduction on Aug. 12, an increase of more than 260 percent during the comparable 19-day time period in July. During the entire month, the company sold 235,000 3DS game devices to outsell the original Nintendo DS, which still managed to sell 165,000 in August.

The PS3 price cut also allowed it to drive a notable uptick in sales year over year.

Xbox continues to maintain its lead over other consoles in the market, selling 308,000 units in August, which means it has outsold any other console maker for 14 of the past 15 months in the U.S.

In August, total U.S. game sales from retail, including all hardware and software, was $669.9 million, falling 23 percent from $873.8 million a year ago. Software sales in the period were hit the hardest, recording a 34 percent drop to $264.8 million from $403.5 million a year earlier.

Frazier attributed the bulk of the decline to Electronic Arts shifting the release of its latest Madden football title from August to September. The game launched on Aug. 30, which falls within NPD’s September 2011 reporting period.

Otherwise, the best-selling game in August was Square Enix’s Deus Ex, followed by EA’s NCAA Football 12 and Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Frazier added that the rest of the year could more than make up for the softness seen in 2011.

“Even though year-to-date performance of the new physical portion of the industry is down 5 percent, more than half of industry sales in this channel are still to be realized in the back four months of the year,” she wrote. “Given the strong release schedule in the coming months, new physical retail sales could still be flat to slightly up once full-year sales are tallied.”

A report released by the NPD Group found that total game sales from the retail channel, including hardware and software, totaled $1.03 billion, down 10 percent from June 2010.

All three sectors — hardware, software and accessories — recorded as well. Hardware was down nine percent, software was down 12 percent and accessories were down 11 percent.

The decreases were expected, since June can typically be slow as game developers wait to release big hit titles around the holiday period. Additionally, the makeup of the industry is changing.

The physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, but there are a growing number of ways to play games, including mobile apps and downloadable content.

Earlier this week, the NPD Group reported that in the first quarter of the year, digital revenues totaled $1.85 billion.

In June, Take-Two Interactive had three of the top-selling games, including L.A. Noire in first place, Duke Nukem Forever in second and NBA 2K11 in seventh. Sony’s Infamous 2 placed third, and Disney’s LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean ranked fourth.  Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda placed fifth with 283,000 units sold.

The Xbox 360 continues to be the best-selling console, selling more units in the U.S. than any other console for 12 of the past 13 months. In June it sold 507,000 units.

But it was the holiday season that Microsoft was most excited about in a statement issued to the press:

“The size of the Kinect games portfolio will triple by the end of the year and Xbox will bring new partnerships like UFC and Disney to the platform as well as blockbuster games, movies, music and TV together in one place. We expect Xbox 360 to maintain its lead and to be number one worldwide by the end of the year, selling more hardware units than PlayStation and Wii.”

The NPD Group reports today that in the first quarter of the year, digital revenues totaled $1.85 billion, coming in just below traditional sales of $2 billion.

The estimates were released today ahead of its monthly report coming out on Thursday, which is expected to show another weak period for traditional physical sales due to a lull in big game releases and the less than stellar demand for Nintendo’s new 3DS handheld, according to MarketWatch.

Unlike the estimates released today, the Thursday report only accounts for sales made at retail for hardware, software, and accessories — and not the digital format content distribution, which is currently seeing the most growth.

Zynga’s IPO may be the biggest example of this trend.

The San Francisco company, known for such games as CityVille on Facebook and Words With Friends on mobile, reported revenues of $235.4 million in the first quarter of this year. None of those revenues would be accounted for in the traditional physical channel because they come primarily from microtransactions inside online games.

“While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including mobile apps and downloadable content,” said Anita Frazier, an analyst at the NPD Group.

MarketWatch reports that two analysts expect more declines in June after sales slid 19 percent in May compared to the same month the previous year. Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co. wrote in a note to clients that he believes sales will decline 12 percent; Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities predicted a drop of six percent.

New game releases for June include Duke Nukem Forever from Take-Two Interactive, which received disappointing reviews.

However, those gains are little consolation when you learn that May 2011 was the lowest month of sales for the industry since October 2006. NPD Group, which released highlights for the month today, said the poor performance was directly attributable to a light slate of new releases.

The analyst firm’s figures only represent physical retail sales for hardware, software, and accessories — and not the digital format content distribution, which is currently seeing the most growth.

While Xbox was the top selling platform, it was not the only hardware that experienced gains year over year. So did Sony’s PS3 and PSP.

Meanwhile, May was a slow month for Nintendo. Both sales of the 3DS and the Wii were light. The 3DS could gain momentum as more titles are released that take advantage of the device’s 3-D capabilities, but the Wii platform is expected to continue to sputter for the next year.

At E3 last week, Nintendo announced the console’s successor called the Wii U, which comes with a tablet-sized controller, but is not expected to launch until late 2012.

NPD Group Analyst Anita Frazier reports that combined sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360 are up 28 percent for the month and 21 percent year to date, and that declines in the month of May are mostly attributable to the Wii.

However, the Wii still has the highest install rate in the the U.S. at 36 million, a position that it will likely still hold a year from now — although both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are closing the gap quickly.

As for software sales, which fell 21 percent to $400 million in May compared to the same month in 2010, there are two explanations.

First, there were only 42 new games introduced in May as compared to 58 last May, and 72 in 2009.

Big publishers like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision have decided to pare back the number of games they are publishing to make higher quality titles that can be more profitable. All three publishers are also creating digital downloads for those titles that extend the life of the games and make more money. Revenue from those downloads would not be reflected in NPD’s figures.

Here’s a list of the top five-best selling games in May across all platforms:

1. L.A. Noire (360, PS3), Take 2 Interactive.
2. Brink (360, PS3, PC), Bethesda Softworks.
3. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSP, PC), Disney.
4. Portal 2 (360, PS3, PC), EA.
5. Mortal Kombat 2011 (PS3, 360), Warner Bros. Interactive.

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• Who Needs War? Sparks Will Fly in EA’s New Sims Game for Facebook.
• Sony Unveils Vita Gaming Device at E3; Will Launch This Year for $249
• E3: Nintendo Unveils the Wii U With Tablet-Style Controller
• Three Key Takeaways From Nintendo’s Wii U (Plus Photos!)
• No Hacks to Report at Xbox, But Microsoft Isn’t Letting Its Guard Down
• Forget About 99 Cents, What If You Could Rent Mobile Games for 25 Cents?
• Digital Game Revenues Hit $5.9 Billion in 2010

According to NPD Group, Nintendo sold more than 620,000 hardware units in the U.S. in April. This includes more than 257,000 units in the Nintendo DS family, and only 194,000 Nintendo 3DS units. Nintendo also sold more than 172,000 Wii consoles.

Nintendo attributed the gap between the two handheld game units to the staying power of the original DS family–and avoided any implications that the 3DS was not selling well.

“With a rich library of games, Nintendo DS has something for everyone. The system’s staying power is exemplified by the recent launch of the Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version games,” Nintendo said. Those two games sold an impressive 2.8 million units or more combined during their first 60 days of availability.

After the 3DS went on sale March 27, Nintendo was eager to report that the glasses-free 3-D device broke sales records. However, the original DS still appears to be benefiting from having a deeper catalog of games available for sale. Additionally, sales may have been hurt by concerns of younger players viewing 3-D images over long periods of time, or complaints that 3-D images made people dizzy, or gave them headaches.

Overall, NPD Group said that the videogame industry saw very strong sales for hardware, software and accessories in April, compared to the year-ago period.

NPD’s Anita Frazier wrote that all three categories experienced double-digit dollar growth compared to April 2010, reversing a negative downward trend.

“Easter purchasing occurred in April this year as opposed to March last year,” Frazier wrote. “The Easter timing shift could explain about $60 million of the growth, but even accounting for that shift, sales of new physical product realized a notable increase versus last year.”

Hardware sales were strong across the board with the PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 platforms all seeing an increase in unit sales versus April last year. The Xbox 360 platform was the best-selling device of the month in terms of unit sales, followed by the Nintendo DS.

Software performed even better in April. It was the first month that new physical retail sales of content showed growth in both units and dollars since November of last year.

At the time that Cisco acquired Pure Digital the Flip was flying high as the top-selling camcorder in the U.S., according to the research firm NPD Group, and by mid-2009 had clocked sales of about 2 million units. Stephen Baker, an analyst with NPD says on his blog that unit sales were essentially flat in 2010 and that the average selling price on a Flip camera rose by five dollars to $158. And though its hard to know what the gross margins are, Baker says Cisco’s Flip video unit was “far and away the leading consumer video camera company.” What probably did it in was holiday sales last year: Unit sales dropped by 19 percent versus 2009, though for that Baker blames “strategic marketing missteps,” rather than a drop in any underlying demand.

NPD numbers show the Flip maintaining its market share lead as recently as February of this year, with 21.6 percent of the market ahead of Sony which had 20.9 percent. Both saw their shares fall as Kodak saw sales of its Playsport and Playtouch video cameras pick up steam. Kodak boosted its share to 12.8 percent versus less that 5 percent a year ago.

The problem wasn’t the camcorder business. The problem was the iPhone. Months after Cisco’s purchase, Apple added video recording to the iPhone 3GS which went on to sell a million units during its first weekend on the market and 7.4 million units within a single quarter. Video recording is now so common on smartphones that it’s strange if a phone doesn’t do video, and at a quality that matches if not exceeds what a Flip can do. Given time, smartphones will be substantially better than Flip cameras, though again it’s hard to know what feature improvements were on the Flip camera roadmap.

Other changes announced by the networking giant: a plan to “refocus” its home networking business, the backbone of which was Linksys, the privately held home networking company it acquired in 2003 for $500 million in stock. Cisco says it wants more profits from that unit and wants it to be more closely tied to its core networking and infrastructure business.

Another change: The EOS business–essentially a software platform Cisco launched in 2009 that offered media companies a digital gateway into the home–is being gutted and its core video technology redeployed elsewhere within Cisco. Dan Scheinman, the unit’s general manager, Tweeted this morning that he had resigned from Cisco, saying the business had succeeded technically, but was about two years ahead of the market.

Cisco also said its ?mi consumer video conferencing product line–the one that had been the subject of the latest round of ads starring Ellen Page–will be integrated into its business telepresence products.

The reaction from investors has been tentatively positive. Cisco shares are up three cents to $17.50 this morning, though the price is still pretty close to a 52-week low. Cisco said it will take a $300 million restructuring charge.

Standard and Poor’s analyst Ari Bensinger quickly issued a short note reiterating his “Buy” rating on Cisco. “We see these moves as part of a new strategy to de-emphasize consumer-related products that have been dragging down profitability, and believe more announcements are on the way,” he wrote. “We are positive that CSCO is sharpening its focus on its core competency of routing and switching, which should see good growth opportunities as the industry migrates to the cloud.”

Here’s a two-year-old interview Kara Swisher conducted with former Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan, shortly after he had sold his company to Cisco. He didn’t stay long. Cisco announced his departure to “seek other opportunities” in February.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110412/cisco-kills-the-flip-video-camera-business/feed/ 9 http://allthingsd.com/20110315/nintendos-3ds-brings-dizzying-fun-on-the-go/ http://allthingsd.com/20110315/nintendos-3ds-brings-dizzying-fun-on-the-go/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 22:35:29 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://solution.allthingsd.com/?p=1691 The first videogame that promises 3-D without the goofy glasses is about to hit stores, but in my tests, it made me a little dizzy.

On March 27, Nintendo is introducing the 3DS. This apparent breakthrough turned negative for some when Nintendo added a warning to the device that said viewing 3-D images by children age 6 and under may cause vision damage.

Unaffected by age restrictions, I’ve been using the 3DS for the past week, and it’s a lot of fun—though its chunky design looks like the company is taking a step back rather than forward. Its 3-D screen works as advertised without 3-D glasses, though its effects can’t be seen from side angles, so friends trying to peek at the screen won’t see much. It made me a bit dizzy after a while, so I adjusted a 3-D Depth Slider to make the screen images appear less three-dimensional. This slider, or a setting in parental controls, can turn off the 3-D.

The videogame industry has a lot riding on Nintendo’s launch. Sales of new videogame consoles in 2010 fell 13% to $6.29 billion from $7.19 billion a year earlier, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Sales have begun edging up in the past few months following the launch in November of Microsoft Corp.’s Kinect motion-controller for its Xbox 360 console.

The industry is facing competition from sleeker, lighter smartphones which offer good quality, downloadable games free or for a few dollars, much less than the average $40 price for each Nintendo 3DS game. While Nintendo has created products with 3-D capabilities since the mid-1980s, none have caught on. Nintendo 3DS is the result of improvements in screen technology and lower prices for these screens. The company, which is based in Kyoto, Japan, saw no apparent damage to its headquarters after the recent earthquake, a spokesman says. Business operations, including future product shipments, haven’t been affected, he adds.

Nintendo’s competitors aren’t jumping on the portable 3-D bandwagon quite yet. Apple has no intention of introducing a 3-D, portable display anytime soon, say people familiar with the situation. When Sony announced plans for its Next Generation Portable gaming device in January, the company confirmed this device wouldn’t have 3-D. A spokesman says Sony considered including 3-D during the development process for this device, but decided to focus on other features. A Microsoft spokesman says as consumer demand evolves for 3-D, the company is committed to evolving its technology. Both Sony and Microsoft offer 3-D games and movies in the living room via their PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

On March 27, 18 game titles will launch including Nintendogs + cats from Nintendo, and Madden NFL Football and Sims 3 from EA Sports. Almost all Nintendo DS games and DSiWare games will be playable in 2-D on the Nintendo 3DS.

Games that come loaded on the 3DS include Face Raiders and Nintendo 3DS Sound, which plays MP3 or AAC files and mixes your voice using funny sound effects. A Mii Maker program lets people make a Mii (personalized game character) with photos they take with the device. I created a particularly funny looking Mii with features that mirrored some of mine. But these Miis can’t be exported back to the Wii gaming console, where Miis first became popular.

Nintendo’s 3DS has cameras that capture 3-D photos for use in games.

Another cool game called AR Games lets users look through the 3DS cameras at six augmented-reality cards that come with the device. The cards make images more animated and three-dimensional. I found the effect so realistic, I reached out with my hand to make sure the imposed images, like a card with mini bull’s-eyes, weren’t actually on the table in front of me.

The 3DS has a few new features besides 3-D. A new circle pad works like a super flexible joystick for smoother navigation. Two outward-facing, stereo cameras take 3-D photos of friends or things, which can then be used in games. This made the games more personal and fun.

I used the 3-D photos I took in games like Face Raiders, which makes use of its motion and gyro sensors. The 3DS has an Internet browser, which wasn’t available on the device I tested. A Nintendo spokesman says it won’t work on devices until May. Also in May, Nintendo will start offering downloadable games for the 3DS.

Programs called SpotPass and StreetPass allow the 3DS to wirelessly receive or send data on the go even when the device is in sleep mode. SpotPass detects wireless hot spots so the 3DS can download free software, videos or game data. In late May, SpotPass will let users access AT&T’s Wi-Fi hot spots, free of charge. StreetPass lets one 3DS wirelessly exchange data with others within range (roughly 100 feet). A light on the 3DS indicates when the device has received new notifications.

The 3DS can perform other functions in sleep mode, like counting steps for a built-in pedometer. I carried the 3DS in my bag on several occasions throughout a conference and noticed a tiny icon of feet at the top of the screen with a number of steps beside it.

But the addition of 3-D technology to this device meant compromises on some key features. At eight ounces and 0.8-inch thick, the 3DS is slightly heavier and thicker than its comparable predecessor, the Nintendo DSi, which came out in 2009. (Apple’s iPod touch weighs less than half as much and is 0.28-inch thick.)

The 3DS’s estimated battery life is up to five hours while playing 3DS games, while regular Nintendo DS games will last up to eight hours. The DSi’s estimated battery life is up to 14 hours of game play. The 3DS is $100 more expensive than the DSi and its games are also pricier.

The Nintendo 3DS does a good job of incorporating 3-D with photos and games, as long as the games don’t make you feel dizzy. But its clunky form and limited functionality is up against steep competition from smartphones that cost less and offer more games.

Ian Sherr in San Francisco contributed to this article.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110315/nintendos-3ds-brings-dizzying-fun-on-the-go/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110217/microsofts-kinect-sonys-move-and-other-accessories-are-videogame-bright-spot/ http://allthingsd.com/20110217/microsofts-kinect-sonys-move-and-other-accessories-are-videogame-bright-spot/#comments Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:45:14 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=2997 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

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110217/microsofts-kinect-sonys-move-and-other-accessories-are-videogame-bright-spot/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20110113/video-game-sales-lagged-in-2010-despite-xboxs-high-scores/ http://allthingsd.com/20110113/video-game-sales-lagged-in-2010-despite-xboxs-high-scores/#comments Fri, 14 Jan 2011 00:44:58 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=1639 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.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110113/video-game-sales-lagged-in-2010-despite-xboxs-high-scores/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110105/androids-users-eclipse-iphones-for-first-time-comscore-says/ http://allthingsd.com/20110105/androids-users-eclipse-iphones-for-first-time-comscore-says/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:32:03 +0000 Jennifer Valentino-DeVries http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=34842 For the first time, more Americans say they are using cellphones powered by Google Inc.’s Android system than Apple Inc.’s iPhone, according to a new survey from technology-tracking firm comScore Inc.

About 26 percent of U.S. smartphone users said an Android device was their primary phone in the three months ending in November, compared with 25 percent using Apple Inc.’s iPhones, comScore said. BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. still held the first-place spot, but its share of users declined to 33.5 percent from 37.6 percent in August.

The news comes as the biggest gadget show of the year kicks off Wednesday. Other estimates, like those from market-research firm NPD Group, have shown Android devices outselling iPhones, or moving ahead among consumers only. But comScore’s numbers show Android now has the larger user base overall, even counting business users and people who still have older phones.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110105/androids-users-eclipse-iphones-for-first-time-comscore-says/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101209/microsofts-kinect-drives-industry-wide-gains-in-november/ http://allthingsd.com/20101209/microsofts-kinect-drives-industry-wide-gains-in-november/#comments Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:46:45 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://emoney.allthingsd.com/?p=414 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.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101209/microsofts-kinect-drives-industry-wide-gains-in-november/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101101/npd-android-surging-blackberry-falling-apple-flat/ http://allthingsd.com/20101101/npd-android-surging-blackberry-falling-apple-flat/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:35:56 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=25311 Here’s a chart pretty much guaranteed to get teeth grinding in Cupertino–new data from NPD showing Android extending its lead as America’s most popular mobile operating system.

The consumer research group says that Google’s software was installed on 44 percent of mobile handsets sold in Q3, up 11 points since Q2. While that data may rile up Apple fans, Android’s gain seems to be primarily fueled by BlackBerry’s loss: Research in Motion lost six points in the last quarter, falling to 22 percent, while Apple’s iOS moved up one point, to 23 percent.

The year-over-year data is more dramatic: It shows BlackBerry’s market share dropping dramatically, and Apple’s less so.

The consolation prize for Apple and RIM is that they had the most-popular individual phone models in the quarter: NPD says the iPhone 4 and the Curve 8500 took the number one and two spots, respectively.

So how did Android gain share? Because it’s on so many other new phones. Canned quote from NPD’s Ross Rubin: “The HTC EVO 4G, Motorola Droid X, and other new high-end Android devices have been gaining momentum at carriers that traditionally have been strong RIM distributors, and the recent introduction of the BlackBerry Torch has done little to stem the tide.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101101/npd-android-surging-blackberry-falling-apple-flat/feed/ 48 http://allthingsd.com/20101015/september-u-s-video-games-sales-down-eight-percent-npd-reports/ http://allthingsd.com/20101015/september-u-s-video-games-sales-down-eight-percent-npd-reports/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:00:19 +0000 Eric Savitz http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=31136 The trouble continues for the old school video game sector.

In September, retail sales of new video game gear was down eight percent from a year ago to $1.18 billion, according to market research firm NPD Group. Hardware sales were down 19 percent and software sales were down six percent, although accessory sales were up 13 percent. I would note that sales were up from $818.9 million in August.

NPD has revamped its monthly reports on the industry, in particular stressing that the report only includes sales of new goods at retail, and does not include sales of used games, rentals, mobile games, social networking games or digitally distributed games. NPD also has stopped breaking out sales data for the individual handheld and console platforms, and it has stopped providing unit sales information for software games.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101015/september-u-s-video-games-sales-down-eight-percent-npd-reports/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101007/caution-holiday-shopping/ http://allthingsd.com/20101007/caution-holiday-shopping/#comments Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:40:25 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=30816 Consumers will proceed with caution when it comes to spending this holiday season–especially on electronics. According to market research firm NPD Group, 61 percent of people taking part in its annual holiday survey say they’ll spend the same amount of money on gifts as last year, but five percent fewer are likely to spend it on electronics, videogames or DVDs.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101007/caution-holiday-shopping/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101006/laptop-sales-sapped-by-tablet-frenzy/ http://allthingsd.com/20101006/laptop-sales-sapped-by-tablet-frenzy/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:00:23 +0000 Yukari Iwatani Kane and Miguel Bustillo http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=30715 The boom in laptop computer sales is losing some steam, and not only because of a still-sluggish economy. Some shoppers are spending their money on Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad tablet rather than the low-priced laptops that have fueled sales in recent years.

One is Vanessa Cole, a 31-year-old sales representative in Detroit, whose husband bought her an iPad as a gift in April. She had considered getting a low-priced laptop but said she prefers the iPad “for the bigger screen and apps” even though the tablet cost more at $499.

Analysts expect Apple to sell 11 million to 12 million iPads this year, more than double many initial estimates, and reach 20 million next year. Samsung Electronics Inc., Dell Inc. (DELL) and other companies are racing to introduce their own tablets.

The tablet frenzy contrasts with some indicators for laptops. NPD Group estimates that laptop unit sales in U.S. retail channels rose 12.3 percent in the first eight months of the year—well below 30 percent growth of the year-earlier-period—and were down one percent in July and August, the peak of the important back-to-school shopping season.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101006/laptop-sales-sapped-by-tablet-frenzy/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100823/20-percent-of-americans-have-played-games-on-social-networks/ http://allthingsd.com/20100823/20-percent-of-americans-have-played-games-on-social-networks/#comments Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:50:10 +0000 Eric Savitz http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=28617 20 percent of the U.S. population ages six or older have played a game on a social network over the past three months, according to a new study by market research firm NPD Group. That’s 56.8 million Americans spending time playing games like Farmville and Mafia Wars.

The study finds that 35 percent of social network gamers have not previously participated in computer gaming. In one surprising finding, NPD finds that female social gamers outnumber male social gamers, 53 percent to 47percent.

The report also finds that 10 percent of social network gamers have spent money playing the games.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100823/20-percent-of-americans-have-played-games-on-social-networks/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100526/maybe-apple-should-pay-attention-to-amazon-after-all/ http://allthingsd.com/20100526/maybe-apple-should-pay-attention-to-amazon-after-all/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 13:52:26 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=19996 Some interesting context for federal regulators looking at Apple’s monopoly position in digital music: New data show Amazon making a bit of headway in its attempt to take on iTunes.

Amazon’s MP3 store now has 12 percent of the digital download market in the U.S., according to NPD Group. That’s up from eight percent a year ago. But those sales don’t seem to have come at Apple’s expense: NPD puts the iTunes market share at 70 percent, compared with 69 percent a year ago.

So who’s losing market share? NPD hasn’t explained (yet). But based on previous surveys from the data company, I assume it’s some combination of Rhapsody, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Zune marketplace and Napster. And if I had to guess, I’d point to Napster, which has really struggled since Best Buy (BBY) purchased it in 2008.

UPDATE: I was wrong! Looks like Amazon’s gain stems primarily from Rhapsody’s loss. The music subscription service, which also sells downloads, saw its share drop from four percent to 1.3 percent within the last year (see table below; click to enlarge).

In any case, the new data show Amazon making steady, grinding progress. Which makes reports of Apple strong-arming music labels that gave exclusives to Amazon a little more interesting.

Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) remains the biggest player in music retail, period. NPD says it now owns 28 percent of the U.S. market, up from 24 percent a year ago. Amazon (AMZN) is also up, from nine percent to 12 percent, which ties Wal-Mart (WMT) for second place.

[Image credit: Paolo Camera]

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