yowasuphomeboy

MITCHELL WAITE could think of only one reason that Apple’s legal department would leave a voice message last February asking him to call back: he was about to be sued. Mr. Waite has a tiny software company bearing his name — it has no full-time employees — whose principal product is a field guide to birds called iBird Explorer, which runs on the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

He called back and discovered that his life was about to change no less than if the lottery authority had told him he’d won the big prize: Apple had decided to feature iBird in a television commercial.

IBird was one of three applications that appeared in the spot, and while it got only about seven seconds, that was all it needed to become the No. 1 “reference” app in the iPhone App Store, a software star among the 35,000-plus applications now crowding the store’s shelf. The iBird Explorer is offered in different versions, priced from $4.99 to $29.99.

“I look at it like Apple paid me $10 million to show my application on every single major network, every major television show — no, I can’t even put a figure on it,” Mr. Waite said.

It’s a delightful story, not only because it does not involve a lawsuit, but also because it does not involve promotion fees. Apple does not accept money from companies whose products are placed in its commercials or in the other prime real estate, the “Featured” section of the App Store.

This has earned Apple applause from software developers and backers. “Apple doesn’t want the money. It’s a level playing field,” said Matt Murphy, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. If Apple likes the app, he added, “it doesn’t matter if you’re a one-person or a 10,000-person company; they’ll put it in ‘New’ or ‘What’s Hot.’ ”

A developer easily gains entrance to that level playing field, by paying a nominal $99-a-year fee for the iPhone Developer Program. A completed app must secure Apple’s approval before it is put on sale in the App Store. It’s often a slow process and has drawn the ire of many developers. But the worst that Apple has been accused of is maddening opacity, not discrimination.

Apple takes a 30 percent cut of App Store sales, a paltry slice compared with that exacted by other online stores in the past. Those that distributed software for the Palm Pilot, for example, took 50 to 70 percent of sales as their cut, according to Jeff Scott, founder of 148Apps.com, a Web site offering in-depth reviews of iPhone apps.

Apple also makes buying and downloading a snap; the app is dispatched wirelessly from the store to the iPhone and is ready to run in a few seconds.

The App Store’s very appeal, bringing in so many developers, has intensified a perennially vexing problem: How can a new software title come to the attention of prospective customers?

“For 99 bucks a year, Apple gives you the ability to sell software to millions,” Mr. Scott said. “They solved the distribution problem, but they did not solve the marketing problem for developers.”

Mr. Scott’s site, 148Apps.com, offers a partial solution, but it reviews only hundreds of apps, not tens of thousands.

Apple can feature only a few apps, of course; “featuring” all would mean featuring none. The unfeatured are stuck in crowded quarters, placed into one of 20 categories. Only five apps can be displayed on the phone’s small screen at a time; unless an app clambers up the equivalent of a best-seller list to appear among the five visible on the first screen, the casual browser will probably not see it. As the number of apps grows, it becomes ever harder to break into even the top 100 in a category.

Neil Young, C.E.O. of Ngmoco, a publisher of iPhone games, said his company watched closely what happened to the 5,000 titles added after the App Store passed the 25,000-title milestone.

“Only 40 of 5,000 made it into the top 100,” Mr. Young said. “It’s very difficult for an app to rise above the noise.”

He credited recommendations among gaming enthusiasts, from one friend to the next, as important to the success of his company’s titles.

In April, Apple celebrated the one billionth download from the App Store in only nine months. For all of its success with the store, however, Apple remains most interested in using third-party software to sell its hardware. Mr. Waite said an Apple liaison told him, “We pick apps not for how well they’re selling — we pick apps that will sell more iPhones and iPod Touches because they show off the best features or are something you can’t getelsewhere.”

Fitting that bill is Mr. Waite’s iBird application, which turns the iPhone into an always-in-hand field guide replete with bird calls that a printed field guide cannot provide.

Tens of thousands of iPhone App developers will never get that life-changing call from Apple and will never get within sight of a top-five list.

“In many ways, developing a program is like writing a book,” said Jeffrey Tarter, the founding editor of a developers’ newsletter, Softletter. “You say, ‘I’m going to make something first of all that I like. Then I’ll worry about how to make money.’ ”

Randall Stross is an author based in Silicon Valley and a professor of business at San Jose State University. E-mail: stross@nytimes.com.
via NY Times

The Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide® annual list of the largest online retail stores has been released and, for the third year in a row, office supply superstore BuyOnlineNow.com has been included, ranking at 288.

Rochester, MN (PRWEB) May 22, 2009 – BuyOnlineNow.com - The Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide® of the largest online retail stores has been released and, for the third year in a row, office supply superstore BuyOnlineNow.com has made the list. Continuing their upward trend, BuyOnlineNow ranked at 288 of 500. This is up 40 spots from 2008, where they were ranked 328, and 86 spots from 2007, which saw them ranked at 374.

Now in their 9th year of business, BuyOnlineNow continues to prove they are a lasting player in the online office product market by not just growing in sales but in all other areas as well. Currently employing over 35 people in their Rochester, MN headquarters, BuyOnlineNow.com also named their first Vice-President within the last year, promoting Mark Melius to the Vice-President of Sales position. BuyOnlineNow.com recorded total sales of $28,600,000 for the year 2008. This is up from $19,700,000 in 2007 which is a 45.18% growth. Other statistics for BuyOnlineNow in 2008 include: 300,000 monthly visits from 261,500 unique monthly visitors, a 4.4% conversion rate and an average of $189 total price per order. “Our goal is to get better, not just bigger.” said BuyOnlineNow CEO Bob Herman. “We believe that our commitment to getting better; to maximizing the value we can offer our customers, is the reason we have been rewarded with another year of record sales growth.”

The Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide® has been ranking the largest e-tailers in the U.S. and Canada every year since 2004. Rankings are determined by annual online sales. The Internet Retailer staff gathers data year-round and checks on extensive sources to verify the accuracy of the information. The Top 500 Guide® includes thorough statistics on all companies included on the list including the number of unique visitors to the site, total visits, conversion rates, how many products are stocked, website usability and performance, internet marketing programs and many other categories. All relevant company information is also included for each business, such as location, executives and which URLs are used. Companies listed in the Top 500 Guide® can also be compared against each other by type of retailer and merchandise category.

About BuyOnlineNow: Starting in 2000, BuyOnlineNow.com has become a major player in the online office supply business. They currently stock over 100,000 office products in multiple warehouses throughout the country. A Canadian branch, BuyOnlineNow.ca was opened in 2007.
via webwire

Ready to shop Amazon.com … at your local strip mall?

The online retail giant has been awarded a patent for a small-store building design, according to Web site Tech Flash, setting off speculation that Amazon is looking to launch a brick-and-mortar presence.

“What’s Amazon’s strategy here?”

wrote Eric Engleman of Tech Flash May 26

. “Amazon briefly experimented with pickup locations for its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service in the Seattle area, and the black and white images submitted with the patent application look a like those pickup stations.”

The pictures accompanying the patent application show a single-story structure with one door and an overhead awning. via homemediamagazine

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It was the marriage of the oldest of old media with the oldest of new media. CBS was roundly criticized last summer for dropping $1.8 billion on CNet, an early web publisher with strong tech and gaming cred that over time had become a big, slow-moving, unprofitable bureaucracy.

But nearly a year later, integration is complete, and so far the marriage seems to be working, at least strategically. The message boards don't ring with internecine grumbling, and the cultures, while different, have grabbed hold of one another -- in part for dear life. As CBS Interactive CEO Quincy Smith said with a little hyperbole, "It has to work, for the internet."

CBSi units at a glance

For CBS, the acquisition was a galvanizing event. Long a nonplayer and underinvested on the web, it's now a No. 8 global web property. As a unit of CBS, long-struggling CNet now has entrée to the brand-advertising dollars that eluded it despite its significant online audience. CNet is now benchmarked against other media conglomerates -- Disney and News Corp., not Yahoo and AOL.

"It's good culture, good chemistry, and I think it really works," said Curt Hecht, president of VivaKi Nerve Center, a unit of Publicis. CBS Interactive has moved to San Francisco, where former CNet CEO and CBS Interactive President Neil Ashe and many of his top deputies are based.

Mr. Smith is based in New York, and pretty much lives on a plane. The question is whether the architect of the deal and of CBS's digital strategy will stick around when his contract expires this summer. While Mr. Smith has defined digital for CBS, he is a dealmaker and strategist, not an operator. He has not yet discussed his future with CEO Leslie Moonves, but execs close to the situation said Mr. Smith could move into a consulting role later this year. Mr. Smith is noncommittal. "This is not the Quincy show," he said. "I'll do what I can for the company."

In 'good hands'
Mr. Smith took over CBS's then-tiny digital business in 2006, bought a few companies such as Last.fm and DotSpotter, and started making cuts in places such as CBSNews.com. Now, in effect, management and whole divisions such as the web presence of CBS News are under complete control of former CNet execs, which you'd expect to annoy the heavyweights at CBS broadcast center. Instead, it's the opposite.

"We are in such good hands working with these guys, because they know the internet better than anyone I knew of at CBS News," said Jeff Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes." "There is leaps-and-bounds improvement. They are full of new and interesting ideas. There is a real buzz there."

One of the original hypotheses for the deal -- that CBS and CNet shared very little audience overlap and, therefore, wouldn't cannibalize each other -- turned out to be true. Nine months after the deal, unduplicated U.S. unique visitors notched 54.4 million, slightly higher than before the deal, per ComScore, even as two of the biggest properties, TV.com and CBS.com, shed unique viewers while they repositioned as video-streaming sites.

CBS and CNet booked slightly less revenue as combined companies than they did apart, $133.6 million in first quarter 2009 compared with $142 million the year earlier, pre-acquisition. But, of course, there's the recession -- and they are profitable, earning $8.1 million last quarter, compared with CNet's $18 million loss in the same period a year ago. That's hardly a growth story, and digital is still a rounding error in CBS's $3.2 billion in quarterly revenue, but it's not bad compared with competitors AOL, whose revenue dropped 23%, and Fox Interactive Media, which lost $89 million.

Some CBS and former CNet properties have clearly benefited from the combination. CBS's strength reaching big-spending package-goods marketers has helped CNet's lifestyle and entertainment sites, such as TV.com and Chow, for example. CBSSports.com has doubled its audience in the past year, and advertisers such as AT&T Wireless, which sponsors the NCAA Tournament and March Madness On Demand, have extended their online buys to CNet's tech and gaming audiences.

Culture mesh
Before the acquisition, the only thing to say about CBSNews.com was that it didn't lose money, unlike the rest of CBS's storied TV-news operation. Now the unit is headed on both the editorial and business sides by former CNet execs Editor in Chief Dan Farber and Exec VP Joe Gillespie.

The CNet and CBS News the cultures have meshed, in part, because most CNet journalists have old-media print backgrounds, and because the CBS old guard gets that CBS News' storied brands must be given some relevance on the web to have a 24-hour presence in the news. No one has asked CNet staffers -- even New York-based ones -- to stop wearing sneakers, denim or performance outerwear. One CNet reporter said the bigger culture clash for CNet came in 2006, when the news staff was asked to start blogging.

Source: ComScore

Katie Couric has embraced the medium and is pushing to do exclusive web coverage of events such as President Barack Obama's first 100 days. She has 24,739 Twitter followers, which is about 24,739 more than NBC's Brian Williams, who blogs enthusiastically but refuses to Twitter. A coming redesign of CBSNews.com will stress visuals and video, CBS's strengths, and CBS has launched a number of web shows, including Bob Schieffer's "Washington Unplugged."

Has it helped? Not yet: CBSNews.com's traffic is still flat compared with a year ago, and it has a long way to go before it's even in the same league as MSNBC, Yahoo News or NYTimes.com. Mr. Ashe said CBS Interactive will make money on online news, and it has won at least one new advertiser in Microsoft, a longtime CNet advertiser that sponsors CBS News' online video.

The biggest concern facing Mr. Smith is what happens to CBS's online-video-distribution strategy now that it is the only Big Four network without a relationship with Hulu. "So far our business model is working, so there is no intent to change it," Mr. Smith said.

TV.com dispute
He has approached Hulu CEO Jason Kilar about a deal that would allow CBS to continue to distribute elsewhere, such as YouTube, and control the sale of ad inventory. Mr. Kilar and News Corp. President Peter Chernin have publicly said they're amenable to such a deal. The stumbling block is the continuing dispute between CBS's TV.com and Hulu, which began after TV.com, which had a deal to distribute Hulu content, fashioned itself as a direct competitor, under Mr. Smith's leadership.

Another question: Can CBS get Madison Avenue to spend online commensurate with its scale? "We are one of the largest internet companies in the world, and I think it surprises a lot of people when we say it," said Chief Client Officer David Morris.

Michael Hayes, managing director-digital for Initiative, a unit of Interpublic, said despite its reach, CBS can't really compete with portals, with their advanced targeting and reams of data. "In the digital space, you are buying audiences and eyeballs. You're not buying the full circulation." But "the first step," Mr. Smith said, "is being a part of the conversation."

via AdAge

Free Access to a Favorite Magazine Offered to Sony's VAIO PC Users, Preserving Long-form Format, Layout and E-commerce Without Leaving Desktop

NEW YORK, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Zinio, the global leader in digital and interactive publishing products and services, today announced its activation of an online newsstand -- including more than 200 top consumer titles -- for users of Sony's VAIO PC in Europe. The offer is a value-add for members of Club VAIO, an internet forum for VAIO users which also provides automatic driver updates, technical support, exclusive desktop wallpapers and promotional offers. The co-branded online site, which can be accessed via sonyvaio.goreadgreen.com, is a digital newsstand organized and powered by Zinio, and will offer Club VAIO members free annual subscriptions to a magazine of their selection.

"As the global leader for digital-publishing products and services, we are proud to collaborate with VAIO from Sony, which also is a pioneering leader in its industry," said Rich Maggiotto, President & CEO, Zinio.

Starting today, customers who register for VAIO products will be introduced to Zinio's service via a click-through prompt to sonyvaio.goreadgreen.com, as well as read about the program in the next Club VAIO newsletter, which reaches more than two million monthly unique visitors. From the more than 200 magazine selections, the initial landing page will feature titles including: BlackBook, Car and Driver, ELLE, FitnessRx for Men, iPhone Life, Layers Magazine, Parenting Early Years, Popular Photography, Reader's Digest, Saveur, Vegetarian Times and VIVmag.

Although the program is launching with only English-language publications, the website will be translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish, appealing to the European audience of both global consumer brands. Banners from Zinio and VAIO will link to the www.vaio.eu landing page, where customers will be able to localize their experience from a list of 27 countries.

About Zinio, LLC

Zinio is the global leader for digital-publishing products and services. Zinio provides publishers with new circulation and revenue-growth opportunities through its comprehensive offerings from marketing programs that include customer acquisition, retention and cross-promotion to seamless production services, a robust e-commerce engine and extensive digital delivery, circulation and fulfillment services. Major publishing partners include Alpha Media Group, Bonnier Group, Gruner + Jahr, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., Hearst, IDG, IPC Media, Mariah Media, Inc., Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, McGraw-Hill, Playboy Enterprises, Inc., Rogers Publishing Limited, Source Interlink Media, The Economist, Transcontinental and Ziff Davis. Zinio has offices in San Francisco and New York with several franchisees worldwide. For more information, or to purchase any of the digital titles offered by Zinio, please visit www.zinio.com.

Website: http://www.zinio.com
via PR Newswire

Ztorm today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Ubisoft, one of the world's leading interactive entertainment software companies. The agreement will allow the major retailers in Scandinavia to sell Ubisoft games through the digital distribution service provided by Ztorm, the Nordic market leader of digital distribution services to retailers.

“Digital distribution is on the rise and already an important sales channel for the game industry. Adding Ztorm as a partner for digital distribution in the Nordic countries is a natural step forward, as they have a strong customer base and an extremely reliable platform. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful cooperation.”

-Peter Weile Managing Director Ubisoft Nordic

“Ubisoft has an outstanding portfolio that will be available to retailers connected to our system. The cooperation between Ubisoft and Ztorm is not just important to us, it is important for the whole industry. Digital distribution is the future and the future is now.”

- André Skogberg Marketing Director Ztorm

Ubisoft plans to release all their future titles and the majority of their back catalogue on the Ztorm platform.

About Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has teams in 28 countries and distributes games in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2007-08 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 928 million euros. To learn more, please visit ubisoftgroup.com

About Ztorm

Ztorm is a full service provider of digital distribution. Ztorm's services handle all digital formats, payment systems, hosting, DRM, maintenance, support, and development of customized solutions. Ztorm is partly owned by the Sixth AP Fund. The customers are companies wanting to deliver digital goods in a secure and cost effective way by digital distribution over the internet. The head office is located in Stockholm.

For more information visit www.ztorm.com

For more information, please contact:

Anders Emblad

Ztorm AB

anders.emblad@ztorm.com

Phone: +46 704-53 54 00

via developmag

A new study has claimed that a remarkable 41 per cent of all software installations on PC last year were based on illegally pirated copies – a figure which amounts to a market value of $53bn.

The global piracy rate in 2007 was pegged at 38 per cent, but successes in territories such as China and Russia don’t seem to have eased the problem, Reuters reports.

The US is named as the best-behaved nation, with piracy rates of just 20 per cent whilst prime offender China saw a welcomed reduction, with illegal installations falling to 80 per cent – a reduction of ten per cent. There was also a five per cent drop in Russia.

Countries with piracy rates above 90 per cent include Georgia, Bangladesh, Armenia, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

Despite the growing problem, the global PC software market still grew in 2008, reaching $88bn. via MCV

Uniloc SoftAnchor Deployed In Namco and Merscom Games

IRVINE, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Uniloc USA Inc., the leader in device-based authentication solutions for managing activation and security for software and games, and Plimus, a global e-commerce solutions provider, today announced that Plimloc(TM), an e-commerce integrated version of Uniloc's SoftAnchor licensing and copy protection solution, has been deployed in a variety of popular Namco Networks and Merscom casual PC games.

Plimloc's flexibility allows software and game publishers to reach broader markets more rapidly, leading to increased revenue. Plimloc also simplifies product activation, enabling end-users to get up and running quickly and without impact on product use. Plimloc has been integrated into many popular game titles including NAMCO ALL-STARS: PAC-MAN and DIG DUG, Star Trigon, Everything Nice, as well as Party Down and Hospital Hustle from Merscom, and many more.

"The integration of Plimloc into these and other popular games help publishers increase sales, reduce support costs and minimize piracy and charge backs," said Craig Etchegoyen, founder of Uniloc. "We are pleased to work with Plimus to deploy our innovative solutions to support these leading game developers, while providing the best game-play experience for their customers."

In addition to providing e-commerce integrated protection and activation, Plimloc also provides Namco Networks and Merscom with advanced reporting and analysis that help them understand activation trends and licensing patterns. Key reports help them gain valuable insight into their products and markets.

"It is very satisfying to help publishers gain visibility into the usage of their products while increasing revenue and optimizing the end user experience," said Simon Jones, vice president of marketing at Plimus. "Plimloc provides an unprecedented solution to help game publishers secure their products, and our customers appreciate that we are able to provide this protection in an integrated manner with our turnkey e-commerce delivery platform."



About Plimus

Plimus, Inc., a global e-commerce solutions provider, builds and manages online businesses for thousands of software publishers, web hosting companies and online retailers. Plimus helps companies and publishers of all sizes maximize online revenues and reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company's award-winning platform offers order management, fraud prevention, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-currency and multi-language support, advanced reporting services, marketing tools, licensing management, an affiliate network, and much more. For more information, visit www.Plimloc.com.



About Uniloc

Uniloc is the leader in device-based authentication solutions. The Uniloc Physical Device Recognition (PDR) platform authenticates the true identity of devices that attempt to access high-value technology assets. SoftAnchor leverages PDR to manage activation and authentication for software and games. Its flexible real-time licensing model provides support for on-line, stand-alone and multi-user licensing. The Uniloc reporting and analysis capabilities enable software vendors and game publishers to improve their offerings and better serve customers. For more information, please visit www.uniloc.com/softanchor/.

Uniloc, and SoftAnchor are trademarks of Uniloc Inc.

Star Trigon(TM) (C) 2002-2009 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Namco All-Stars(TM) (C) 2008 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc., PAC-MAN(TM) (C)1980-2008 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc., Dig Dug(TM) (C)1982-2008 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Everything Nice (C) 2009, Mean Hamster Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
via earthtimes

Yesterday, comScore held its State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy for the first quarter of 2009. Their data showed that search is still a potent way to reach customers online, but driving consumers to search via display advertising is even more powerful.

While most categories are taking a hit due to the recession, some are still experiencing growth:

comScore said that many people are choosing to save instead of spend. Consumers with household incomes of $100k or higher and those in older demographics were more likely to save and cut back on spending (since more of their income is disposable and many have lost savings via the stock market).

Still, when consumers do make purchases, the internet remains a valuable resource:

via searchenginewatch

Content publishing tool being used by band to promote its new album.

The Crystal Method has released an iPhone application that offers content from the band and its new album Divided By Night.

The free app, built using Fluidesign's Mobile Roadie platform, enables fans to purchase the album's first single, Drown in the Now, album graphics, buy upcoming show tickets, and interact with both other fans and the band.

Physical and digital distribution, as well as digital marketing of the album, will be handled by INgrooves.

Robb McDaniels at INgrooves said: "The iPhone app is a great way for Crystal Method fans to connect directly with the band and gain fast, easy access to their exclusive content. This is an example of how to reduce the friction between fan and artist and facilitate a more intimate relationship."

via mobile-ent.biz

Sony are planning to extend the PlayStation Network to hardware other than the PS3, while at the same time “evolving the PS3 into a platform for web services.” The PSN currently offers games and media content to PS3 owners, but future deployments could see it available on Sony Bravia HDTVs and mobile devices like the PSP and Sony Ericsson handsets.

“Sony has begun the transition from a closed system to an open one … Next we will be expanding the PlayStation Network to hardware other than the PS3, because the number of PS3 units sold puts a limit on the scale of the network possible. Sony has a vertical structure for each product line, an organisational structure that resists change, so it will take time to achieve this network growth. However, a large number of employees share my opinion on this” Howard Stringer, CEO, Sony

Sony has been tipped as planning to jettison the UMD drive currently used on the PSP for pure online delivery in future iterations. While the company has denied such a policy, this latest statement does suggest that UMD will take a step back from the primary source of title distribution.

Given that Sony have made headway in standardizing the XMB GUI across much of its consumer electronics products, it seems likely that the PSN will evolve into a catch-all digital distribution system. As Stringer says, the physical number of PS3 consoles sold will be the hard limit to users of the Network in its current format.

[via Kotaku & slashgear]

During a quarterly earnings call, Electronic Arts executives expressed their optimism for the digital download market on reports of strong financial progress in the sector.

EA CEO John Riccitiello reported that the company had seen its digital direct revenue grow to $400 million in the last fiscal year, while CFO Eric Brown noted that digital game distribution alone nearly doubled in revenue year-over-year to $80 million.

"This is a big year for us," said Brown. "The online part of our business is growing as much as 60% year over year."

"In terms of distribution, the way we look at a lot what's happening in the future is, we've got probably a billion PCs out there in the world," he continued. "Very rapidly the PC is becoming the largest gaming platform in the world, just not in a packaged-good product."

"As you look at what that means in terms of distribution of product, we think that's incredibly exciting because it's going to open the market to new demographics, new countries and new types of gameplay," he added.

via shack

One irony is that clothes, shoes and accessories -- the items that shoppers would be expected to want to try on -- top the list of the most popular future online categories, with sales expected to top $40 billion in 2013 from this year's forecast $27 billion, according to the findings by Forrester Research.

The next largest categories are computer hardware, software and peripherals, projected to grow to $36 billion in 2013 from this year's $27.2 billion, and appliances and home improvement products, projected to grow to $30.3 billion from this year's projected $19.2 billion, according to the report titled "The State of Retailing Online 2009." BY SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com via SunTimes

Amazon.com might still make most of its money by shipping physical items to your door, but it's clear that the online retail giant knows the future of media is digital -- not only is it pushing the Kindle and services like Amazon Video On Demand, it's expanding its downloadable video game catalog to include Xbox Live Arcade games today. The process seems a little clunky at the moment -- you buy a code from Amazon that you have enter into your Xbox -- and it's not exactly easy to compare prices, since Amazon charges you real money instead of Xbox Live points, but we're not going to complain too much about anything that increases gamer choice. (Using real money actually seems like a benefit to us -- we've never really loved the idea of points.) The service is live now, anyone going to do a little shopping?

[Via Joystiq]

The great thing about certain bands, artists and companies is that they see piracy as a good thing. Maybe not the actual act in itself but the idea that their content, creation etc is spread to more people, therefore increasing the chance of getting something we all love, MONEY! A major brand/company that have gone publicly saying that pirates are just potential customers is Valve

Now Valve has created a nice little “a digital distribution, digital rights management, multi player and communications platform” called Steam. Steam basically is a nice platform to play games with. Games that can be played with it include Counter-strike, Day of Defeat and a SHIT load of others. They realize that a play before you buy is something great. Instead of chasing pirates and file sharers who in reality are potential customers like some dumb ass companies like RIAA do. They decide hey don’t get it from there for free, get it from us for free. Try it out and see if you like it.

So what exactly does Valve/Steam do to get those nasty pirates to pay for their games. Why they get them hooked of course. They offer some games for free for a few days, all of it not just a certain level etc and let anyone play it. Then after a few days, usually 48 hours, they cut them off. Its like a cocaine dealer giving out a tiny sample then having them wanting more and saying sorry there is no more, unless you pay. Lots of people will pay if its good. Well thats what they do and it works. It works really well. They did it for Day of Defeat and after the servers crashed from so many people, they managed to sell a whole lot more (Sadly I cannot find the figures from them, )

Well they realized that an amazing game should be done the same way. The most recent game, Left 4 Dead. Well I decided to download it and play the free 2 days (yes its 2 days they extended it due to popularity) and will be buying this game soon. First off the game is amazing and its just fun. Single player and online its just fun. Secondly I will support any company who doesn’t attack filesharers etc. Instead of attacking they recruit and offer reasons to pay. Naturally I could download the game, but I wont. Its 23.99 (USD), about 26 CAD, so its worth it. I’ll give someone who I think deserves my money. The fact is even if I’m the only person who pays for the game, that’s still 1 less pirate and 1 more person giving them money. Its win win. Plus even if people don’t like Left 4 Dead there are still thousands of other games to choose from and play for free and I don’t mean just demos. The full try before you buy is a great idea, especially for computer games when before was buy and hope its good. No renting store nothing. Now we can try before spending and its a good thing. So visit steam (its too late for Left 4 Dead), check out their other games and support them if you like them, pirate them if not via blogpirate

Article by Rob Fahey

Published as part of our sister-site GamesIndustry.biz' widely-read weekly newsletter, the GamesIndustry.biz Editorial is a weekly dissection of one of the issues weighing on the minds of the people at the top of the games business. It appears on Eurogamer after it goes out to GI.biz newsletter subscribers.

The idea that publishers will become redundant in an age of digital distribution is a popular - and perhaps more notably, populist - one. Publishers are not, by their nature, attractive beasts. Where developers are seen as hives of creativity, the engines of creation which drive the gaming medium forward, publishers are easy to categorise as soulless creatures, faceless entities packed with accountants, marketers and executives. In a popularity contest between the suits and their spreadsheets, or the creative developers and their high concepts, there's no question as to whose side the public - and the media - will be on.

As such, when David Lau-Kee - himself a former Electronic Arts VP, a cynic might note - blasts publishers as "blood-sucking leeches" and talks about a digital future in which they will be rendered obsolete by the march of progress, it's a sentiment that developers feel pretty good about.

It helps that there's a strong sense of truth to his statements. Many publishers are guilty of being utterly domineering in their relationships with development studios, taking not only the lion's share of profits but also demanding that IP rights - the very lifeblood of a creative industry - be signed over.

Big publishers have been the gatekeepers to retail for years, with they alone holding the clout required to put a boxed game onto store shelves, and rather like the border guards of any banana republic, they have not behaved well with this power. Many developers, even very successful developers, will talk in public about how supportive and fantastic their present publisher is, only to reveal in private that they feel that the entire structure of publisher-developer relationships in the industry is fundamentally broken and heavily abused.

There is no question, too, but that the role of publishers will be diminished in the digital distribution era. Some of their major functions are essentially becoming obsolete - new retail channels are wide open, while warehousing and inventory have disappeared along with the physical products themselves. Physical production, packaging, distribution and sales are steadily disappearing from the publishing process.

Marketing, meanwhile, is not disappearing but is most certainly changing. The extraordinary and exponential rise in interpersonal communication which has been facilitated by parallel developments in areas such as social networking and mobile phones has been a broadside to traditional marketing - one which, frankly, very few marketers have come to grips with. Positive word of mouth buzz, spreading through mediums ranging from SMS messages to Facebook to Twitter, is driving sales more effectively than any above-the-line campaign ever could. Countless blogs and podcasts with a few hundred readers each are collectively reaching audiences wider than any magazine or major website.

Sometimes, clever marketing people can set off a spark which ignites that kind of coverage - but right now, it's more an art than a science, and the slightest hint of insincerity or PR guff can make a publisher's dip into "crowd marketing" backfire horribly. Yet, conversely, developers thrive in this market. They're the creative types, their enthusiasm for their game considered "real" and sincere by the audience who see publisher enthusiasm as fake, bottled and profit-margin focused. That doesn't quite translate into indie games outselling FIFA - but it does translate into indie games probably selling more copies than they would if they had been picked up by a publisher at some point in the process.

To Page 2 " width="10" height="11">

Next Gen UMD Less PSP Go! to Launch at E3: Rumor Check

There’s been a lot of speculation and rumors lately for the Sony’s Playstation Portable next generation model which is expected to ditch the Sony’s proprietary battery sucking UMD format, instead the new PSP Go will feature inbuilt 8GB or 16GB memory and games can be downloaded via PlayStation Network. The latest rumor for the media distribution is that the retail games will be available on high speed Memory Stick HG-Micro cards. They are all rumors for now and you have to wait for E3 where

Excerpt from:
Next Gen UMD Less PSP Go! to Launch at E3: Rumor Check

By Shawn Collins,

Affiliate marketing in the UK will be worth more than £4 billion in online retail sales in 2009, according to a new report from Econsultancy.

The research, published in the Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide 2009, estimates that the market grew by 22% in 2008 to a value of £3.82 billion.

Also, the report indicates that an estimated £227 million was paid in commissions and fees to affiliate publishers and networks last year.

Overall UK online retail sales grew by 25% in 2008 to £43.8 billion, according to figures from IMRG and Capgemini. So, affiliate marketers were responsible for nearly a tenth of all online sales during 2008, based on this data.

Some key market trends in 2009 from the Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide:

* CPA (cost per acquisition) model goes from strength to strength
* Consumers turn to voucher code and cash-back websites
* Issues surrounding “last-click-wins” become more apparent
* Affiliates call for a greater emphasis on transparency and communication across the sector
* Publishers develop innovative media methods
* More agencies offer affiliate marketing services to clients

Get more details on the Affiliate Marketing Buyer’s Guide.

via affiliatetip