Posts tagged Economy at Switched

Posts with tag economy

Despite Economic Slump, Online Black Friday Sales Up

by Tim Stevens, posted Dec 1st 2008 at 10:30AM

Online Holiday Sales Up 2 Percent vs. Last Year, Down Overall

Okay, so you don't need us to tell you that the economy is in dire straights at the moment. But, perhaps we can be the bearer of a wee bit of good news on this Cyber Monday. While online holiday sales have been down this year compared to November of 2007, sales on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday were actually up -- just not enough to offset the decline.

Online sales for the period covering November 27 and 28 were up two percent over last year, a combined $822 million. But, the preceding days in the month were down four percent, $10.4 billion this year compared to $10.8 billion last year. Interestingly, according to the report from comScore, online Black Friday shoppers tended to sleep in, being most active at Noon-4pm in the afternoon. That's a stark contrast to the average buying experience most associate with that holiest of shopping days -- getting up at 2:00am to stand in the cold in a long line of bargain hunters. [From: comScore]

Circuit City Files for Bankruptcy

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 10th 2008 at 10:16AM

Even after shutting down 155 retail stores and announcing plans to cut around 17-percent of its 43,000 employees, Circuit City couldn't avoid the dreaded bankruptcy court. Today, the Virginia-based company (along with 17 affiliates) petitioned for Chapter 11 protection in Richmond as it attempts to survive under the crushing pressure from Best Buy / Wal-mart. Beyond that, details about the outfit's future are unclear, though Best Buy has reportedly stated that it "might take over stores that distressed rivals close." Please, no.

[Via Bloomberg, image courtesy of AFSmith; thanks Daniel]

Motorola Laying Off 3,000, Mostly From Handset Division

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 2nd 2008 at 2:12PM

To be honest, we were surprised that we didn't hear this number along with the other doom and gloom professed during Motorola's Q3 earnings call, but the writing was very clearly on the wall. As part of the mentioned $800 million expenditure cut planned for 2009, 3,000 (more) of Moto's employees will be looking for work elsewhere. According to an unnamed spokeswoman, a "little over two-thirds of those layoffs [will be] in the handset division." And just think -- if Moto would only use all those hands to get an Android-powered phone out before "entirely too long from now," maybe these cuts wouldn't even be necessary. Maybe.

Wii Sales Still Strong Despite Slowing Economy: Big Money For Nintendo

by Will Safer, posted Oct 31st 2008 at 4:26PM

ExxonMobil isn't the only company registering record profits -- video-game maker Nintendo reports today it will achieve record profits, largely fueled by consumer demand for the Wii platform, when its fiscal year ends next March, with about $3.6 billion flowing into the Japanese company's coffers.

While most entertainment and media companies expect a downturn this quarter, Nintendo attributes its brisk sales to the overwhelming popularity of its Wii and Nintendo DS handheld gaming device. Even with a stronger Japanese Yen making the exchange rate a little harsher for Japanese companies, Nintendo's projected earnings are still 36-percent higher than last year's.

But that's just dollar talk. What about actual units sold? 27.5 million Wii platforms spells big-time popularity to us, and we know what all those gamers are playing: Nintendo is selling 100,000 copies of Wii Fit every week. That's a lot of people who are sort of exercising with the gaming system. [From: AOL News.]

Brokers-With-Hands-on-Their-Faces Blog Records Market Woes in Pix

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 21st 2008 at 5:41PM

The facepalm is an expression that seems to be getting a lot of use lately, particularly on trading floors around the world as various global economic markets crumble. Traders hopped up on caffeine and sugar seem to be particularly emotive when things take a turn for the worse, making them quite entertaining to look at. That has spawned an aptly titled new site called "The Brokers with Hands on Their Face Blog."

It delivers just what you'd expect: regular samplings of investors wishing they'd chosen another line of work, or at least stayed home with the kids that day instead. The pictures are humorous for sure and it's hard to stifle a chuckle while scrolling through, but don't laugh too hard -- have you looked at your 401(k) lately? [From: Brokers with Hands on Their Face, via: BoingBoing]

Economic Crisis Slows Gadget Spending, Blu-ray Adoption

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 20th 2008 at 7:01PM

The economic crisis may spell trouble for Blu-ray and the next generation of HD media. The uncertainty in the markets has consumers scaling back their purchase plans for the holiday season, and big ticket tech items are suffering the biggest hits.

Consumer Electronics Association (CEA, the organization behind CES) is predicting an increase of 3.5-percent in spending on gadgets in the fourth quarter of the year, only half of the increase seen in 2007. On the whole, the CEA found that consumers expect to shrink their holiday budgets by 14-percent from last year.

In particular, some industry analysts expect Blu-ray to suffer the brunt of this cutback, especially because players and media are still expensive enough to keep Blu-ray from reaching commodity status. Plus, many consumers still have yet to embrace HDTV -- although high-def displays are becoming more common, they're still far from ubiquitous.

This could provide an opportunity for other media to swoop in and steal Blu-ray's thunder. High definition video on demand is becoming a more common offering from cable TV providers, and services like iTunes, Amazon, and Hulu are drawing in more and more viewers everyday. If some of these video over Internet offerings can figure out an easier way to get video to consumer television sets, Blu-ray may see its chances for market domination start to fade into the ether. [From: NY Times and SF Chronicle]

Google Sees Earnings Rise Despite Economic Crisis

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 17th 2008 at 1:21PM

Google

continues to prove it's more powerful than God, defying not just market analysts, but also economic realities. While everyone else is tanking (you don't even want to look at your 401k), Google actually saw its revenue increase in the third quarter of 2008. The company reported a profit of $1.35 billion in the third quarter, up 31-percent from the same time last year, and even up 3-percent from the second quarter of this year.

In a normal economic climate, we wouldn't be shocked by Google's increased profits. In this last quarter, the company released Chrome, launched a new in-video advertising program on YouTube, and it's been basking in the buzz surrounding the first Android powered handset -- the T-Mobile G1.

Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence said, "A lot of people were waiting for Google to come down to earth, but it didn't happen." Clearly, we should put Google in charge of the "rescue" (bail-out) plan. Can we finally stop pretending that the search giant is of this Earth? All powerful Google, do you demand a sacrifice? [From: USA Today]

Global PC Sales Increase 15% in 2008, So Far

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 15th 2008 at 2:47PM

Global PC Sales Increase 15 Percent in 2008

Tech industry research firm Gartner has has just released its latest figures tracking the computer market, and, refreshingly, the news is good! While the rest of the economy is struggling just to avoid drowning in a sea of stagnant credit, the PC industry is soaring. According to the findings, global PC sales grew 15% since the 3rd quarter of last year.

There are a number of other interesting statistics:

Despite a significant increase in sales, Dell's market share still shrank.
Asus and Acer, companies that jumped on the netbook trend, saw huge growth.
HP maintained its spot as the number one computer manufacturer worldwide.
U.S. PC shipments grew only 4.6%.
Netbooks accounted for 5% of PC sales

Why exactly the PC industry seems immune to the current economic downturn is not known -- maybe everyone's staying home to watch their free music and free TV shows? -- but we're sure Apple and Dell aren't complaining. [From: Gartner.com]

Economic Crisis May Put the Squash on Unlimited Cell Plans

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 3:39PM

We hope you're not too attached to that unlimited data and voice plan you just picked out from your cell phone provider. The current economic crisis is putting the squeeze on cell phone companies, and they're responding by capping so called "unlimited plans" and raising prices.

Verizon Wireless announced that businesses that send text messages to users will be charged 3 cents per message, which may force some text-reliant start-ups to find a new method of delivering information. That announcement came just shortly after AT&T announced it would axing its $19.99 a month unlimited data plan for its pay-as-you-go GoPhone service.

These uncertain economic times may cause consumers to cut back on downloads and data services in general, which may cause providers to raise prices to compensate. Don't expect drastic increases though, as the current economic climate provides a prime opportunity for competitors to undercut each other and poach subscribers. [From: BetaNews]

Debt Clock Can't Keep Up

by Evan Shamoon, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 8:40AM

In a perfect sign of the times, the National Debt Clock -- a real, physical device in New York, which is used to mark the national debt level in the United States -- has run out of digits.

All was fine (with the debt clock, that is) until last month, when the national debt level passed the $10 trillion point, and the clock could no longer fit the number. The board was built in 1989 to call attention to the country's then $2.7 trillion level of debt. And now, a couple of wars and a mortgage crisis later, it stands a more than triple that amount.

The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added to it, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt. Which leaves us with plenty of room for growth! This isn't good. [From: The BBC]

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