Target Unveils Key Measure To Kill ‘Showrooming’

“We don’t see a lot of price match activity in our stores,” he said on a conference call with analysts. “We’ve been price matching for a long time. Our value proposition is so good day in and day out, and our circular price offering is so good that we don’t expect this to be meaningful.”

Still, the announcement sends a strong message that Target sees Amazon as a major competitor.

NOTHING WORKS BETTER FOR THE CONSUMER THAN COMPETITION.

Shopping at Amazon is cool, you hardly ever have to worry about somethign being out of stock, and they have most everything to begin with.

Tough road to go TARGET, good luck.

Best Buy next???

Why doesn’t WALMART have this problem?

 

New iPad mini…?

New iPad expected Oct 23 says AllThingsD

* Smaller tablet would be new segment for Apple

* 7-8 inch screen would rival Kindle, Nexus

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple Inc will host an event on Oct. 23 where it is expected to unveil a smaller iPad that will take on the less expensive devices offered by Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Wall Street analysts have predicted for months that Apple was planning a smaller, less costly version of its popular iPad to take on cheaper competing devices, a move that analysts say might hurt its margins, but prevent its rivals from dominating an increasingly important computing segment.

The source did not specify what the product would be and an Apple spokesman declined to comment, but tech blog AllThingsD reported earlier on Friday that Apple would launch the mini iPad at the event. The device is expected by many experts to have a screen between 7 and 8 inches (18-20 cm).

Getting too hot out there for Apple iPad cannibals. CNET has more here.

Don’t forget the likely cause… Microsoft’s new “Surface”, the iPad mini goes under it in price, the big iPad goes over it in features and price. Going to be fun!!!

Just What We Need Don’t you think?

Amazon.com (AMZN) is planning to launch a new advertisement-supported tablet device that will be priced lower than comparable models, according to a published media report.

What I need is an ad free tablet … Ubuntu … I will pay for the quality hardware, to get what I want. Not some handy way to spend more money I don’t have…

On Thursday, Amazon plans to hold a media event in Santa Monica, Calif. where the e-commerce giant is expected to unveil a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet, which competes with Apple’s  iPads, the report said. And their wall garden???

This past Thursday, Amazon said it had sold out of its existing Kindle Fire device.

The Seattle-based company has sold a range of Kindle e-readers at various prices and has already offered discounts on models that display advertising, the report noted.

Fool Me Twice

You =want to know what is comingpour way? Give him one mre term and he will tell you …

A book that purports to document President Obama’s specific, second-term plans is skyrocketing on Amazon, reaching the No. 1 position in all categories yesterday and dominating the top 25 rankings on the popular bookseller’s Web site.

“Fool Me Twice: Obama’s Shocking Plans for the Next Four Years Exposed” debuted on the New York Times bestseller list over the weekend. While many have general concerns about Obama’s second-term ambitions, Fool Me Twice lays bare the devastating details of a second Obama presidency. If he wins re-election in 2012, the America of equal opportunity for all, Constitutionally-limited government, economic freedom and personal liberty will be but a distant memory.

Amazon has the book in stock here.

Do you need a book to tell us??? Just think what Obama with no restrictions, no laws will likely do to you??? Let your mind run a while and see what you can figure out.

I wonder what Putin knows that he is keeping quite about it.

Best not to read at bedtime.

Best Buy’s Chief Executive Resigns

The chief executive of Best Buy, Brian J. Dunn, resigned on Tuesday, less than two weeks after he outlined an ambitious restructuring to revive the struggling retailer.

G. Mike Mizan, a board member and former health care executive, will become interim chief executive as the board searches for a permanent replacement.

“There was mutual agreement that it was time for new leadership to address the challenges that face the company,” a statement from Best Buy’s board said. “There were no disagreements between Mr. Dunn and the company on any matter relating to operations, financial controls, policies or procedures.”

Best Buy operates hundreds of giant stores, but people are increasingly buying electronics online. When they do go into chains like Best Buy, they often examine products, do a price check with their mobile phone and then make the purchase from an online competitor. That has turned Best Buy stores into showrooms for places like Amazon.com to some degree, analysts say.

The Vanishing Video Store Rental

Get you a little Internet black box … I have several. The high end $100 ROKU is my favorite right now …

Consumers renting a movie at the video store are projected to fall to 13% (from 20%) of the total home video rental market in 2012 as alternative channels such as kiosks and subscription video-on-demand flourish, according to a new report.

In other words, while the rental market is burgeoning compared to sellthrough, more people in Los Angeles will receive the Times newspaper delivered to their front door this year than will frequent a video store.

Indeed, with Dish Network slashing the number of Blockbuster video stores in operation to 1,000 nationwide from 1,500, the national video store footprint continues to shrink. In the southwest, Hastings Entertainment reported a 18% revenue drop for in-store disc rentals during its most recent fiscal period.

Picking up the slack is Redbox-led kiosk vending, which will see its market share top 22% this year compared to 19% in 2011, according to Toronto-based The Convergence Consulting Group Ltd. At the same time, SVOD services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Prime will account for 25% of content rentals compared to 13% last year. By-mail subscription rentals will decline to 16% from 25% — spearheaded by Netflix’s ongoing emphasis on streaming, not physical discs.

Transactional VOD rentals are projected to increase 1% to 3%, while on demand ad-supported viewing remains unchanged at 21%. Nonetheless, the report suggested the audience for free, repurposed episodic TV fare is reaching a plateau with 19% of the weekly viewers watching upwards of two episodes on a network’s website or related location.

“Kiosk, mail and now streaming rental offer a lower-price value proposition and have radically altered the rental channel, while negatively impacting DVD/Blu-ray/[electronic sellthrough] and encroaching on TV subscription,” read the Convergence report titled “The Battle for the North American Couch Potato: Online & Traditional TV and Movie Distribution.” “We estimate downloaded movie and [episodic] TV sales represented 4% and 3%, respectfully, of 2011 DVD/Blu-ray/download movie/TV sales.”

Jan Saxton, senior analyst, filmed entertainment with IHS Screen Digest, said the data underscores the the ongoing impact the 2008 recession has had on consumers. She said the number of video stores in operation dropped to 6,000 in 2011 from 10,000 in 2010. In 1989, there were 70,000 video stores in operation in the United States, according to IHS.

“Consumers still love movies, but in these economic times they are looking for the best possible price and the most convenience,” Saxton said. “And so it’s either kiosks or Netflix.”

Meanwhile, the report projects 185,000 pay-TV subscriber additions this year, reflecting changing home entertainment habits as subscribers terminate or downsize pricier bundled cable/satellite TV services for lower cost online alternatives, including SVOD.

Convergence projects the number of cord cutters of multichannel video program distribution will top 3.5 million subscribers in 2012, up from 2.6 million in 2011.

Amazon Misses; Q4 Net Income Down 58 Percent To $177M; Sales Up 35 Percent

Stock Drops 8% After Hours

Amazon has just released fourth quarter 2011 earnings, missing sales expectations but beating earnings estimates. Net income decreased 58% to $177 million in the fourth quarter, or $0.38 per diluted share, compared with net income of $416 million, or $0.91 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2010. Net sales increased 35% to $17.43 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $12.95 billion in fourth quarter 2010. Analysts are expecting earnings of $0.17 cents a share on revenue of about $18.3 billion.

“We are grateful to the millions of customers who purchased the Kindle Fire and Kindle e-reader devices this holiday season, making Kindle our bestselling product across both the U.S. and Europe,” said Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. “Our millions of third-party sellers had a tremendous holiday season with 65% unit growth and now represent 36% of total units sold.”

Operating income was $260 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $474 million in fourth quarter 2010. Operating cash flow increased 12% to $3.9 billion for 2011 compared with $3.5 billion in 2010. Free cash flow decreased 17% to $2.09 billion in 2011, compared with $2.52 billion in 2010.

Full year 2011 sales increased 41% to $48.08 billion, compared with $34.20 billion in 2010.

Ding, Dong SOPA is Dead: Version plugged by Democratic-controlled Senate is still alive and kicking, though

The House Oversight Chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has long been a stern critic of the Orwellian “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) (H.R. 3261).  The representative announced some huge news on Monday.  He reveals that Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor(R-Va.) promised to shelve any potential vote in the Republican-controlled House in terms of passing SOPA.

The bill was likened to a death penalty to the internet economy by DailyTech and other sites – the bills looked to create a takedown system where any site found to be hosting user generated content pointing to infringing content (say a URL to a torrent) could be immediately taken down.

This would have been a crippling blow to Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), Google Inc. (GOOG), online news, and any other site that allows user-generated content, as a malicious user (e.g. a prankster or competitor) could intentionally plant an offending URL and then contact the regulators to take down the site for weeks at a time.  The measure would essentially have ended all American online commerce, online searching, and online news ,if enforced.

The “death” of SOPA comes just hours after President Barack Obama made headlines when his close advisors came out against SOPA.  Some heralded the opposition as a hint that the President might veto the bill to prevent catastrophic economic damage.

The stalling of SOPA is only a partial victory, as the similar ”PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA) (S.968) is moving towards a vote in the Senate.

Big media paid approximately 10 percent of active U.S. Senators’ total combined election costs in the last election cycle.  Many of these same big media companies who are looking to imprison filesharing Americans recently plead guilty to stealing tens of millions of dollars in work in Canada alone, from independent artists.

Rep. Issa who has also recently made a name for himself — in part — by opposing President Obama’s strict fuel economy mandates, says he will continue to work with advocacies and with America’s tech luminaries like Google to fight PIPA in the Senate.

He remarks, “Right now, the focus of protecting the Internet needs to be on the Senate where Majority Leader Reid has announced his intention to try to move similar legislation in less than two weeks.”

Source: The Hill

Amazon Now Selling More Than 1 Million Kindles Every Week

Amazon.com is famous for many things, but it’s not very good about revealing sales figures for its own products. So I was sort of amazed this week to see the online retailer giving its first-ever peek into how well the Kindle ebook readers and Kindle Fire tablets are selling. And, no surprise here, but they’re going gangbusters.

Amazon says it’s now selling more than 1 million Kindle devices every single week, and that the Kindle Fire in particular has been its best-selling product ever, since it was released in early November. In fact, sales of the Kindle Fire have only increased week-over-week through the holiday season, Amazon says, thrusting a dagger into the Apple-happy media’s recent attempts at casting doubt on the device’s success. As a reminder, the Kindle Fire costs just $199. That’s not half the price of an iPad—it’s less than one-third the price of the average cost of an iPad. And that, folks, is why this thing is selling through the roof.

Kindle Fire: Sales On Fire

Amazon announced today that Kindle devices, and the Kindle Fire in particular, continue to fly out of the warehouse in dizzying numbers.

“For the third week in a row, customers are purchasing well over 1 million Kindle devices per week, and Kindle Fire remains the #1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since its introduction 11 weeks ago,” the company said.

And it’s getting more popular by the week, with sales increasing week over week for each of the past three weeks, according to Amazon.