Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: BestBuy, iPhone, Nokia, Palm Pre, RadioShack, Smartphone, Sprint Nextel, Wal-Mart
Sprint has officially announced that the Palm Pre will be launching on June 6th for $200 after a $100 MIR and a two-year contract. You’ll be able to purchase a Pre from Sprint, Best Buy, Wal Mart, and Radio Shack. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/19/official-palm-pre-to-launch-on-june-6-for-200 5/19)
After Techcrunch broke the news this morning that Nokia was cracking away at a phone-friendly and potentially ad-supported version of their Internet tablet OS, Maemo, they figured they might be able to swing a screenshot. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/05/18/exclusive-leaked-screenshot-of-nokias-maemo-harmattan/ 5/18)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Asia, Best Buy, iPhone, RealNetworks, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Wal-Mart
Best Buy is joining the ranks of retailers offering Apple’s iPhone without a contract. The device, sans contract, will retail at $599 for the 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB model. Wal-Mart is now the only iPhone retailer that doesn’t offer the device contract-free. Dealerscope (4/6)
Verizon Wireless has said that it will become the first carrier to offer MP3s in an online app market opening Tuesday that will feature other downloadable mobile applications. Relatedly, a new music-download pricing model developed by RealNetworks has jumped from Asia to Spain — with Vodafone as a partner — suggesting it might eventually reach U.S. shores. InformationWeek (4/3) , TWICE (4/3)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Amazon.com, AOL, Compete.com, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Myspace, Wal-Mart
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
In November 2008 Facebook drew 200 million unique worldwide visitors; more than 1 in 5 people who accessed the Internet that month visited the site. When sites are that big growth generally stagnates, but in Facebook’s case it’s still skyrocketing. In December, 222 million people visited the site says newly released Comscore stats, a 10.8% month over month growth rate. 22% of the total Internet audience went to Facebook in December. Facebook now has nearly 100 million more worldwide users than MySpace, which added 4 million new users in December to 125 million total. The page view difference is more dramatic – Facebook had 80 billion monthly page views in December v. 43 billion for MySpace. Just six months ago the sites were about the same size. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/facebook-now-nearly-twice-the-size-of-myspace-worldwide 1/22)
Google just released fourth quarter earnings
. Net Income was down a whopping 68 percent to $382 million (compared to $1.2 billion a year ago), primarily because of a $1 billion impairment charge related Google’s ownership stakes in AOL (for which it took a $726 million writedown) and Clearwire ($355 million writedown). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/google-takes-1-billion-charge-to-write-down-aol-and-clearwire-investments-profits-take-a-68-percent-hit 1/22)
Amazon.com was visited by 73 million unique users last month, a 20% spike over December 2007, according to the latest figures from Compete.com. That performance put Amazon way ahead of the Web portals of brick-and-mortar retailers Target and Wal-Mart. Dealerscope (1/22)
On a day when Microsoft announced 5,000 layoffs, the 7 or so people losing their jobs at Digg may seem like a drop in the bucket. But that represents about about 10 percent of Digg’s 75-person workforce, whereas the 5,000 at Microsoft represents 5 percent. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/as-growth-flattens-digg-downsizes 1/22)
Google is testing a feature that automatically turns direct links to YouTube videos copied into the instant messaging application (seems to work only from within Gmail, not the desktop client) into embedded clips.( http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/22/new-in-google-talk-embedded-youtube-videos 1/22)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, Apple, Handhelds, iPhone, New Year, Smartphones, T-Mobile, Wal-Mart
Reports are circulating that Wal-Mart will begin selling a 4GB version of the 3G iPhone for just $99 before New Year’s Day. Apple has yet to comment. The huge retailer did strike a similar deal to offer Android-based G1 phones for $148.88 – about $30 cheaper than what T-Mobile charges. (Cynopsis 12/8)
Visual Dial lets you add a picture of a friend to the iPhone home page (as if it were an application). Click the picture and it acts like a visual speed dialer to that person. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/07/super-handy-visual-speed-dialer-for-the-iphone 12/7)
It’s fav 5 alllll over again.
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Black Friday, Business, Consumer electronics, Consumer Electronics Association, High-definition television, Mobile phone, Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart
TECHNOLOGY
Wal-Mart is letting the Black Friday cat out of the bag a bit early this year to get shoppers excited about its post-Thanksgiving deals, which will include a limited number of Wii consoles priced at $249.24 on Friday and Saturday. “Our customers are relying on us more than ever in the current economic environment and we are well-positioned to serve them now and in the future,” Chairman Rob Walton wrote in an employee memo. Reuters (11/21)
The Consumer Electronics Association predicts a 3.5% increase in sales of all electronics in the fourth quarter, although analysts say HD sales are slowing down because buyers are scaling back. “We have the DTV transition, which is a hard cutoff date, this coming February, and [that] helps gets consumers into stores,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA’s president and CEO, who noted that cell phones and HDTVs are no longer seen as luxury items to consumers. Broadcasting & Cable (11/24)
In early 2009, Panasonic plans to bring two new full-HD plasmas to market: TH-65VX100 and TH-50VX100, which have contrast ratios of 60,000:1 and 30,000:1, respectively. Both sets will feature Dynamic Black Layer technology. Pocket-lint.co.uk (11/24)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Best Buy, Blu-ray Disc, Chapter 11 Title 11 United States Code, Consumer electronics, Digital Theater System, Dolby TrueHD, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart
TECHNOLOGY
Circuit City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its more than 100,000 creditors today, but gave no indication as to the company’s future other than that it expects to continue to operate during the proceedings. The second-largest CE retailer in the U.S. suffered from a tighter credit market, and a downturn in consumer spending on big-ticket items as well as losing market share to rival Best Buy and discounters such as Wal-Mart. The Wall Street Journal (11/10) , Reuters (11/10)
Panasonic is set to become an even bigger giant in consumer electronics agreeing to buy smaller rival Sanyo Electric for a projected $4.5 billion. Sanyo, purchased by Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking in 2006 for $2.5 billion, is valued for its expertise in rechargeable batteries and solar panels – two of the biggest growth areas in the electronics industry. (Cynopsis 11/10)
Pioneer late last week introduced the LX01BD, a home-theater system that features a Profile 1.1 Blu-ray disc player and 1080p resolution. Available in the U.K. this week, the LX01BD is compatible with the latest DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD surround-sound formats. Electronista (11/7
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Google, Microsoft, MP3, New York Times, Wal-Mart, Windows, Yahoo, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Wal-Mart Stores plans to lower prices for some MP3 downloads 22%, a move that will heat up competition in the online-music sector. “Top 25″ tracks will sell for 74 cents, and other songs will be priced at 94 cents, according to the company. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (10/28)
Online video portal Hulu is in talks with BBC/ITV/Channel 4 VOD joint venture Project Kangaroo to launch a UK version of the site, reports C21 Media. The discussions have stalled due to the venture’s ongoing legal issues, according to Fox Digital Media President Dan Fawcett. (Cynopsis 10/29)
Microsoft unveiled Azure, a new Windows program envisioned as a “cloud computing” operating system for the internet. Azure will provide a platform for developers to build applications that will be accessible online in real time using existing Windows programming languages. (Cynopsis 10/29)
Google’s settlement this week in a copyright-infringement case against book publishers may have a bearing on Viacom, which last year filed a $1 billion case for similar reasons against the giant search engine and its online video site YouTube. Michael Fricklas, Viacom’s general counsel, said that Google might have finally figured out that “copying and distributing copyrighted works requires permission from the copyright owner.” The New York Times (10/29) , CNET (10/28)
Six months after first announcing its open strategy, Yahoo has released a slew of development tools (as we told you it would) under the Y!OS 1.0 platform. It’s kind of like a Web OS, but Y!OS officially stands for Yahoo Open Strategy. As part of its strategy to remain one of the most popular starting points on the Web, Yahoo is making it much easier for data, content, and applications to flow in and out of Yahoo. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/28/yahoo-opens-up-big-time 10/28)
Msnbc.com unveiled its new embeddable Decision ’08 election widget that allows consumers to watch the presidential results unfold in real-time on November 4, 2008. The widget allows users to view the electoral vote count and the congressional balance of power via the national U.S. map or choose a state and see how individual counties are voting. It also provides the top political headlines of the day. (Cynopsis 10/29)
SciFi.com launched a new social network built around its hit reality show Ghost Hunters, featuring weekly tutorials, ghost story swapping and Q&A’s with the show’s part-time adventurers. Go to SciFi.com on Halloween night to access a multi-camera online video feed, thermal imaging camera views and photos taken from The Ghost Hunters Live event at the historic Fort Delaware. (Cynopsis 10/29)
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