Filed under: MISC
APPLE 4Q EARNINGS ARE IN: THE IPHONE BRINGS IT
Apple officially has the highest market value of any computer maker with a current value of $162 billion. Two and Three respectively would fall to Intel at $156 billion and IBM at $155 billion.
Keep in mind that the iPhone has not officially launched internationally yet. France, UK, and Germany are expected to launch the iPhone in November. In addition, holiday sales should be strong for Apple. Things are about to get even more interesting. . .
Apple broke personal sales records across its various product divisions during its 4th quarter, selling 1.1 million iPhones, 10.2 million iPods and 2.1 million Mac computers, pushing revenues up by 67% to $904 million for the quarter. Like at Google, international sales continue to become more important, now accounting for 40% of overall sales. The company is sticking by its prediction of 10 million iPhones sold by next year. (ClipSyndicate 10/23, International Herald Tribune 10/23)
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
James Murdoch, head of U.K. satellite television provider British Sky Broadcasting, is complementing the company’s offerings with a “screaming-fast” DSL broadband network. “People are going to be pulling content off the Net,” he says. “They’re going to want to pass it around.” (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-11/ff_murdoch 10/23)
The raging wildfires in Southern California are prompting local TV stations to go multiplatform for continuous coverage of the disaster. Station Web sites are seeing a big boost in traffic. KTLA is sending people to the Web for breaking news, live pictures and aerial shots of the fires. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i5cad4a74d4feae82ae91cec8a2bea933 10/23)
“24″
The music is stopping for “Viva Laughlin,” the offbeat song-and-dance drama starring Hugh Jackman that drew such low ratings it was canceled by CBS after two airings. It is the second cancellation of the fall season, after CW’s “Online Nation,” and the first scripted show to be yanked. (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071022/tv_viva_laughlin_canceled.html 10/22)
Tivo DVRs are finally beginning to roll out in Comcast’s New England footprint, just in time for the World Series. Comcast plans to gradually introduce Tivo boxes across its footprint in the coming months.
Four episodes of TNT’s The Closer again topped Tivo’s Stop||Watch DVR viewing rankings in August. However, similar to the previous month, none of the commercials that aired during the program made the Top 10. In fact, nine of the Top 10 commercial spots in August aired during Big Brother 8 – only the 10th highest rated program. Stop||Watch currently monitors 15 networks: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CW, TNT, TBS, USA, CNN, ESPN, DISC, NIK, MTV, COM and HGTV.
HBO purchased a 100-title movie package from Disney/ABC Domestic Television, with access beginning January 2009. Some of the titles include Pearl Harbor, Enemy of the State, The Sixth Sense, Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love.
AT&T’s U-verse service, which delivers TV programs over an Internet connection, hit a snag over the weekend when an outage affected all 33 markets in which it is available. AT&T is still investigating the U-verse glitch. (Google/Associated Press 10/22)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
While Second Life gets a lot of media attention, virtual worlds like IAC/Interactive-owned Zwinktopia and Ganz USA’s Webkinz are attracting more users. Marketers are increasingly looking to establish footholds on these and other Web-based virtual worlds. (The Wall Street Journal (free content) 10/23)
Is it wrong that I cringe whenever I hear the words “second life”? [shudder]
Zwinktopia
Webkinz (click below for a tour)
Netflix had a good quarter adding 286,000 net subscribers to bring its total to 7.02 million subs – a 24% increase over the same period last year. Third quarter profit rose to $15.7 million.
High-definition channel Mojo has struck a deal with Internet-TV distributor Joost to make available several Mojo series, which are targeted to upscale men. “Today’s savviest media consumers are looking for high-end, cutting-edge entertainment on a number of digital platforms,” said David Asch, senior vice president of programming and new media for Mojo parent In Demand. (Multichannel News 10/22)
MySpace, already a leading online provider of music and video, is beefing up its presence in games. News Corp.’s online social network is expected to announce a plan to create a destination for games on the site through a deal with New York-based game distributor Oberon Media. (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119310225418067889.html 10/23)
Google is offering to preserve some business practices at DoubleClick in a bid to win European Union antitrust approval for its proposed purchase of the advertising firm. Google will face additional scrutiny in the United States, where consumer groups are seeking to delay the acquisition. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aifqdybmAWa0 10/22)
NBC Universal is starting to pitch advertising buyers on an Olympic package of digital rights around the Beijing Games that includes broadband, video-on-demand and mobile programming. NBC plans to make 2,200 hours of live streaming broadband video available via NBCOlympics.com. (http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.preview&articleId=56776 10/22)
Comcast says that file transfers on peer-to-peer networks such as BitTorrent may be delayed by bandwidth, but it denies blocking access to any applications or content. The Associated Press reported earlier that Comcast prevented some users from uploading content. (http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2244631420071022 10/22)
MySpace attracts nearly 7.8 million unique visitors ages 12 to 17, while Seventeen.com draws a mere 216,000. Publishers who want their sites to make real money will have to loosen their grips and find out how the mega-sites can help them, say industry observers. (http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=121383 10/22)
The Web arm of magazine giant Conde Nast is one of the more aggressive publishers in embracing Facebook’s open-door policy for outside developers and is among the first to incorporate ads into a handful of viral applications on the hot social-networking site. (http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003660971 10/22)
Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group launched a new ad-free kids subscription service called MyNoggin.com, featuring curriculum-based learning through game play built around favorite Nick Jr. and NOGGIN characters. In addition to the direct-to-consumer site, priced at $5.95 for a 12-month commitment or $9.95 month-to-month, Charter and Cox will launch the service on their broadband sites in November as an add-on for their subscribers.
Hitwise launched a new Retail Data Center, a publicly available website providing weekly online shopping trend data based on how U.S. internet users interact with more than 20,000 online shopping sites across 21 shopping categories including Video Games, Electronics and Apparel. Data Center sites have also launched for the UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.
SpiralFrog signed a licensing agreement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing to expand its free ad-supported music download service. Sony becomes the start-up’s second major partner, joining Universal Music Group.
B-to-b digital advertising revenue will outpace print ad revenue by 2009, according to a report from market research firm Outsell. B-to-b print revenue is expected to account for 34.3% of total b-to-b media revenue in 2009, compared with a 38.6% share for digital products. (http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071022/FREE/71022037/1078 10/22)
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
MobiTV extended its licensing arrangement with Sprint giving the mobile content aggregator access to Sprint’s Pivot customers who sign up through Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The multiyear deal also calls for enhanced video quality to include full-screen viewing, a revamped user interface and support for more mobile devices. MobiTV also announced it surpassed the 3 million subscriber mark worldwide.
Time Warner’s AOL is introducing a mobile-phone search service at aol.com that will yield results including movie listings and restaurant locations. AOL is also launching MyMobile software that lets users access AOL Mail, MapQuest and the Moviefone ticket service from their cell phones. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBW51Vn19lT4 10/23)
CBS Mobile is teaming up with Medio Systems to add search capabilities and search-enabled advertising opportunities to its CBS Mobile Web sites. The mobile Internet audience will exceed 750 million users worldwide by 2010, according to estimates by research firm eMarketer. (http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=69643 10/23)
Verizon Wireless announced that its games download revenue increased 38% in September year-to-date 2007 compared to September of last year. Verizon Wireless customers have paid for 50 million game transactions so far this year.
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Microsoft officials officially announced the Xbox 360 Arcade on Monday, as the company looks to wrestle important market share away from Nintendo’s Wii. The stripped down console version will come packaged with the family-friendly game titles “Pac-Man Championship Edition” and “Uno” and will retail for $280. (The Seattle Times 10/23, Canada.com (CanWest News Service)/Reuters 10/23)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
DisplaySearch President Ross Young predicts that 1080p high-definition TVs will make large gains with consumers in the next year, as set prices continue to fall. “Prices are reaching increasingly attractive levels, and 1080p resolution offers the best picture — you can see more content with better detail,” Young said. (TWICE 10/22)
Samsung has unveiled a new 64-gigabit chip, which it claims is the world’s most powerful chip for use in memory cards, which are commonplace in digital cameras and MP3 players. Samsung’s technology is set to make its commercial debut in 2009, as is a similar offering from rival Toshiba. (BBC 10/23)
