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"Call of Duty" Generates Record $550 Million in First 5 Days

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 18, 2009 - 11:26am.
Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision Blizzard (NASD: ATVI), a unit of Vivendi, announced on Wednesday that its "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" has become "the biggest entertainment launch in history," racking up $550 million during its first five days on sale. The previous five-day sales record for a video game was set last summer by "Grand Theft Auto IV," which sold 6 million units and made $500 million; the largest five-day opening worldwide box office gross is held by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($394 million).
tags: Games | Retail | Vivendi | Activision Blizzard | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |

Susan Boyle CD Breaks Amazon.com Pre-Order Record

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 11:58am.
Seattle - Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) said on Thursday that reality TV singing star Susan Boyle's forthcoming album, "I Dreamed a Dream," has become the largest global pre-order CD in the company's history. Boyle racked up millions of views on YouTube for her performances on "Britain's Got Talent."

tags: Music | Retail | Amazon.com | Susan Boyle |

GameStop Buys Stake in Digital Game Distributor Jolt

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 9:47am.
Grapevine, Texas - U.S. video game retail store chain GameStop (NYSE: GME) has purchased a stake in U.K.-based Jolt, a provider of video game news and a digital distribution platform.
tags: Games | Deals | Retail | GameStop | Investments | Jolt |

Microsoft to Launch Zune Brand Outside U.S. Next Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 16, 2009 - 12:22pm.
London - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) plans to launch its Zune entertainment distribution brand outside the U.S. next year, the Financial Times reported.
tags: Video | TV | Music | Microsoft | Movies | Retail | Zune |

iTunes Preview Offers Store Data Without Launching iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 11:38am.
Los Angeles - Apple (NASD: AAPL) has introduced a new website for its iTunes Store, which will direct users looking to preview content the option to view it online without having to launch the iTunes application, Apple Insider reports. The new iTunes Preview site also lets users browse by artist and album, and view biographies, track length and pricing details. Song samples, however, are still tied directly to the iTunes application.

tags: Video | Music | Apple | Retail | iTunes Store | iTunes Preview |

Qualcomm's FLO TV Ships Personal Television Device

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 11:34am.
San Diego - Qualcomm's (NASD: QCOM) FLO TV unit on Friday began selling its new FLO TV Personal Television device, which features a 3.5-inch screen and delivers live and time-shifted TV programming on the go. The device is selling for $249, which includes a six-month subscription to FLO TV programming, at stores including Best Buy, RadioShack and Amazon.com.

tags: Mobile | Mobile TV | TV | Qualcomm | Retail | FLO TV |

Dell to Release Mini 3 Smartphone First in China, Brazil

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 10:32am.
Round Rock, Texas - PC and peripherals maker Dell (NASD: DELL) this week confirmed that it will enter the smartphone market, with its first Google (NASD: GOOG) Android-powered handset, the Mini 3, to go on sale first in China and Brazil. "Our entry into the smart phone category is a logical extension of Dell's consumer product evolution over the past two years," said Ron Garriques, president of Dell's global consumer group.
tags: Mobile | Retail | China Mobile | Dell | Dell Mini 3 | Claro |

Report: U.S. Video Game Sales Fell 19% in October

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 13, 2009 - 10:21am.
Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales dropped 19% in October from a year ago, to $1.07 billion, continuing a recent downward trend that will likely lead to slightly lower annual sales figures than 2008, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. Overall sales this year so far are down 13%, to $11.43 billion, and are likely to reach $20-$21 billion, below 2008's $21.3 billion total. "The continued economic turmoil, and in particular the troubling unemployment rate, is undoubtedly impacting industry sales," said NPS analyst Anita Frazier. "If consumers' personal outlook continues to erode, they could very well be much more conservative with their holiday shopping this year."
tags: Games | Sony | Reports | Microsoft | Nintendo | Activision | Retail | Take-Two Interactive | Research | NPD Group |

Orange U.K. Sells 30,000 Units on iPhone Launch Day

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 12, 2009 - 11:07am.
London - U.K. mobile operator O2 sold 30,000 Apple (NASD: AAPL) iPhones on their first day on sale in the country, a company spokesman announced on Twitter. "Orange UK had sold more than 30k iPhones, smashing what we believe is the previously published first day sales records for a phone in the UK!," tweeted Orange's Conor Maples.

tags: Mobile | Apple | Retail | Orange | iPhone |

Report: Microsoft Project Natal Game System May Cost $50

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 12, 2009 - 10:23am.
London - Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) forthcoming gesture-based gaming system, codenamed Project Natal, could launch in November 2010 with a price tag of just $50, Britain's MCV reported, citing demonstrations of the technology Microsoft is providing U.K. studios in a bid to encourage developer support.
tags: Games | Microsoft | Retail | Project Natal |

"Call of Duty" First-Day Sales Top 4.7M Copies, $310 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 12, 2009 - 9:35am.
Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), a unit of Vivendi, announced on Thursday that its anticipated "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" game racked up an estimated $310 million in first-day sales across North America and the U.K. Activision said the game received a record number of pre-orders before its official release on Tuesday, when over 10,000 U.S. retail outlets stayed open until midnight to sell the title.
tags: Games | Activision | Retail | Vivendi | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |

Activision Releases "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 10, 2009 - 11:38am.
Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI) on Tuesday released its anticipated title "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," with more than 10,000 U.S. retail outlets staying open until midnight last night to sell the game. Activision also said that the game saw an unprecedented number of pre-order reservations across the globe. The release has the potential to be the biggest entertainment release of all time, eclipsing last summer's "Grand Theft Auto IV," which racked up $500 million in sales in its first week.

tags: Games | Activision | Retail | Call of Duty |

Report: Motorola Droid Sold 100,000 Over Launch Weekend

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 10, 2009 - 9:44am.
New York - Motorola (NYSE: MOT) sold an estimated 100,000 of its new Droid smartphones over the weekend, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie told Bloomberg.
tags: Mobile | Verizon | Motorola | Retail | Google Android | Droid |

RadioShack Stores to Sell Apple's iPhone

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 11:54am.
Fort Worth, Texas - Electronics retail store chain RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) announced on Monday that it will begin selling Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iPhone next year. The device will first be sold at RadioShack stores in the Dallas and New York metro areas this month. RadioShack stores already stock T-Mobile phones, and its kiosks in Sam's Club stores sell Verizon Wireless products.

tags: Mobile | Apple | Retail | RadioShack | iPhone |

Ticketing Firm CTS Eventim Partners with iTunes Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 11:49am.
Hamburg, Germany - CTS Eventim, a Germany-based online ticketing company, has partnered with Apple's iTunes Store to market its concerts to iTunes Store customers, Billboard reports. Under the deal, iTunes customers will receive access to Eventim concert pre-orders before the general sale date, while Eventim.de will provide concert promoters with iTunes-related marketing opportunities.

tags: Marketing | Music | Apple | Retail | iTunes Store | Ticketing | CTS Eventim |

Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target in Pre-Order DVD Price War

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 10:38am.
New York - After retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) cut the price of pre-order DVDs on its website to $10 on Thursday, rivals Amazon (NASD: AMZN) and Target (NYSE: TGT) followed suit by lowering their own pre-order DVD prices to $9.99, the Associated Press reported. On Friday morning, Wal-Mart responded by further discounting pre-order DVDs to $9.98. The price-cutting wars followed a similar battle over book prices amongst the three retailers -- which in recent weeks pushed prices as low as $8.98.

tags: Movies | DVD | Retail | Target | Walmart | Amazon.com. Marketing |

Report: Video Game Software Sales Down 6% in Q3

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 10:18am.
New York - Video game software sales across the U.S., Europe and Japan fell 6% during the third quarter of 2009, according to a report combining sales data from NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain. While Japan actually saw video game software unit sales increase by 15% in the third quarter -- compared with the 20% decline seen in the same period last year -- year-to-date sales in the country are down 9%, according to Enterbrain.
tags: Games | Reports | Retail | Research | Enterbrain | NPD Group | GfK Chart-Track Limited |

U.S. E-Commerce Spending Falls for Second Straight Quarter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:46am.
Reston, Va. - For the first time on record, U.S. e-commerce spending has now seen negative growth for two straight quarters, according to new figures from comScore.
tags: Reports | Retail | comScore | Research |

Walmart.com Prices Top 10 Pre-Order DVDs at $10

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 1:28pm.
Brisbane, Calif. - Walmart.com (NYSE: WMT) is now offering a $10 price tag and free home delivery on its top ten pre-order DVD and Blu-ray movie titles. Titles available through the offer include "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Star Trek" and "Julie and Julia." The DVD promotion comes as Walmart.com is engaged in a price-cutting war with Amazon and Target.

tags: Marketing | Movies | DVD | Blu-ray | Retail | Walmart |

Apple: App Store Counts 100,000 Apps, Hits 2 Billion Downloads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 12:32pm.
Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) said on Wednesday that there are now more than 100,000 applications available for download by iPhone and iPod touch owners at its App Store. The company said that users from 77 countries have downloaded more than 2 billion apps since the store's inception.

tags: Mobile | Apple | Retail | iPhone | iPod Touch | App Store |
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