Wii outselling PlayStation 3 'six to one'

Considering that some retail locales in America are still having trouble keeping a fresh supply of Wii consoles in stock (whilst the PlayStation 3 units tend collect thin layers of dust), it's no surprise to see such dramatic sales figures surface. Sure enough, Enterbrain's latest report demonstrates that Nintendo's darling moved into 270,974 new households in June, while only 41,628 PS3s were sold in the same timeframe; just to compare, the even older Xbox 360
was able to sell 17,616 units. That brings the overall sales figures to
date for Nintendo to nearly 2.76 million, while Sony has yet to break
the magical one million in units sold.
Article Link (Engadget)

iPhone margin

Unlike video game consoles, phones are typically profitable to manufacture from day one and it turns out that the iPhone is no exception -- far from it, in fact. Teardown specialists at Portelligent claim that the 4GB iPhone runs Apple just $200 worth of components, while the 8GB adds an extra $20, not far off at all from iSuppli's slightly higher estimates from January. Granted those tallies don't include the actual cost of assembling the device -- but even so, those numbers are very far cries from the $500 and $600 asking prices at the register, leaving a healthy $299 and $379 respectively (of which an overwhelming majority are $379) for profit and miscellaneous costs. Interestingly, Portelligent's unceremonious destruction of an iPhone in the name of research revealed no further proof that Hon Hai / Foxconn is the ODM responsible for assembling the darned thing.
Article Link (Engadget)

iPod demographics

The study indicated that those who use the Internet are four times as likely as non-Internet users to have MP3 players. These gadgets have a gender divide too. The study showed that men have a 50 percent greater chance than women of owning a digital media player.

While one in five people under the age of 30 have an iPod or other MP3 player, the number dropped to one in seven in the 30-to-39 and 40-to-48 age groups.

Similarly, about a quarter of people with household incomes of $75,000 or more owned such gadgets. That figure dropped to 10 for those in the $30,000 to $75,000 range and to 6 percent among those earning less than $30,000.

Article Link (CNet)

Online habits of 8-14 Year-Olds

About 77 percent of kids shop on the Internet. Almost 10 percent in the survey report said they have a credit card, though the number is self-reported. Another method of payment is gift cards. "Their greatest delight is that they love going online to spend, they love using gift cards online," said Schwartz.



Fourteen percent of respondents helped parents find tax forms on irs.gov and got information from the Web site. Kids also pitched in on banking and online bill payment tasks. Additional chores given to kids include sharing pictures and e-mails with relatives (38 percent); looking up movie listings (38 percent); responding to invitations, party and vacation planning (36 percent each); and travel (36 percent); getting driving directions (35 percent).



A quarter (26 percent) of kids average in excess of three hours online each day. Almost half (46 percent) of kids surveyed said their parents monitor and remain in control of time spent online. One quarter of kids have been caught doing something wrong on the Internet, and 20 percent of kids aged 8 to 14 say they have an e-mail account they keep secret from their parents.



The "Surfin' on Mom's Turf" study was conducted in two parts. Quantitative interviews with small groups of nine- and 10-year-olds and moms of children of the same age were conducted from January through March. The focus groups helped with attitude and behavior and aided in the formation of a 10-question online survey, the second component of the study. The online survey was taken by 6,064 children aged 8 to14.



Article Link (Clickz)

iPhone Buyer - Profile

So let's get this straight: you're a rich, college-educated guy with an
iPod, probably living in New York or California, and you'll be ditching
your cellphone carrier sometime soon.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

How many users on Second Life?

In the French show 'Arrêt sur Images' (a TV show that analyzes other TV shows) which aired on April 22, 2007, Nicolas Barrial, founder of Extralab and Second Life's Fr said:
Second Life has over 5m subscribers, but that's a number tally over the last 2 or 3 years. In reality, most subscribers haven't returned to Sefcond Life. At any one time, only 30,000 users are connected worldwide.
Journalist Luc Peillon investigated money making in Second Life and said those that do business there actually invest large amounts of real-life money and time.
Some real-estate agents hire avatars to close deals and earn 5% on the transactions.
Most Linden Dollars money stays in Second Life, but a some are converted back to real-life money.
Article Link (France 5 TV)

More Women Online

Females now constitute an undeniable majority of the US Internet population. eMarketer estimates that there will be an estimated 97.2 million female Internet users ages 3 and older in 2007, or 51.7% of the total online population. In 2011, 109.7 million US females will go online, amounting to 51.9% of the total online population.

Estimates from other research sources concur that females represent the majority of US Internet users, ranging from 53% (Arbitron and Edison Media Research, for Internet users ages 12 and older) down to 50.6% (comScore Media Metrix, for Internet users ages 2 and older).

Article Link (eMarketer)

Virtual worlds are 'worth $1bn'

Revenues from subscriptions to MMOGs will hit $1.5bn by 2011, said [Mr Harding-Rolls].

But the growth in MMOGs remains limited compared to developing markets such as video on demand, which is expected to be worth $11.4bn from revenues in four years' time.

Subscription MMOGs still dominate the market, accounting for 87% of all revenues, said the report, which examines the market only for North America and Europe.

World of Warcraft, which has eight million subscribers, has more than a 50% share of that particular market.

More than 10 million people will subscribe to MMOGs by 2011, and many millions more will play online games driven by other payment schemes, such as advertising and virtual purchases, the research report by analysts Screen Digest predicted.

Games such as World of Warcraft and worlds like Habbo Hotel are fast becoming "significant platforms" in the converged media world, the report said.

Mr Harding-Rolls said a number of new MMOG genres were emerging, including:

• Virtual world building games, such as Second Life
• Virtual pet rearing games, such as Neo pets
• More casual MMO puzzle games
• Sports games in which you have to buy items and build up your character

Article Link (BBC)

Study: Kids Get Their Way

The Fall 2006 National Kids Study features the following new highlights from children ages six to 11:

* Forty percent of MP3/Digital Media Player owners reported owning Apple's iPod
* 975,000 have visited/used MySpace.com in the last month
* 2,376,000 have downloaded music online in the last month
* 1,367,000 have written or read an online journal/blog in the last month
* Fifty-four (54) percent (or 13,078,000) have a television in their room
* Twenty-six (26) percent (or 6,263,000) have a stereo in their room
* Nineteen (19) percent (or 4,658,000) have a computer in their room

Article Link

David Levy (President) : 74% of all adults over 65 are grandparents

No market segment is larger, or wealthier, or growing faster than grandparents. In the United States, 74% of all adults over 65 are grandparents, and they spend $50 billion a year on their grandchildren. By 2025, 1-of-every-4 Americans will be a grandparent.

Even better, it's a love that never diminishes. Studies show grandparents spend about the same amount of money on their grandkids regardless of the grandchild's age.They buy baby clothes, then teenage backpacks, then college educations, then first house down payments. And they live more years being active grandparents, than being parents.

Grandparents purchase 1-of-every-4 toys, 4-of-every-10 books, and 1-of-every-5 video games.

Last year, one-of-every-3 grandparents bought jewelry or electronics for their grandkids, and over 60% bought clothing. However, grandparents consider education the most important aspect of their grandchildren's lives....second only to their grandkid's health.

A whopping 54% of grandparents contribute to the costs of their grandchildren's education, with 20% paying for at least 75% of college tuition.

Probably the most startling statistic is this one : The average age of first-time grandparenthood is a remarkably young 48.




Article Link