sales

Apple has been something of a golden child among makers of computers and consumer electronics. But now it, too, is showing at least a hint that the good times can't last forever.

In November, says market researcher NPD Group, sales of the company's Mac products slipped 1 percent from the same month a year ago, even as industrywide PC sales were up 2 percent, according to a report in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Apple has been the pacesetter amid overall PC sales for some time. And it does continue to hold those honors, at … Read more

RadioShack is selling an Acer Aspire One 3G Netbook for $99, with a two-year AT&T DataConnect contract.

The Acer Aspire One grabbed 38.3 percent of Netbook market share in the third quarter, propelling it past industry pioneer Asus and its Eee PC 4G.

Acer's Aspire One normally sells for about $300.

The RadioShack-AT&T offer, as previously reported, is valid through December 24. The 2.44-pound, 9.8-inch by 6.7-inch Netbook includes:

• Built-in 3G capability • 802.11b/g wireless (Wi-Fi) • 8.9-inch LCD screen • Built-in Webcam • Intel Atom processor •&… Read more

Apple has announced catalog and download numbers for iPhone applications in the form of a full-page ad that ran in Friday's edition of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The ad, which can be seen after the page break, boasts that more than 300 million applications have been downloaded from a catalog that now tops 10,000 different apps. That information confirms recent reports on the total number of available programs. Still missing, however, is any sort of breakdown on how many of those 300 million downloads were free versus paid applications.

As Apple pointed out in an e-mail to CNET News, the App Store launched in early July with just 500 applications, and has reached the 10,000 benchmark in less than half a year. … Read more

Christmas came early for Google.

The Internet search giant posted double-digit year-over-year Cyber Monday gains on a select group of consumer categories, including department stores, books and magazines, home furnishings, and sports and fitness, according to its retail blog.

Paid click results rose a whopping 39 percent for department store searches, while books and magazines were up a healthy 28 percent. Bargain hunters, meanwhile, drove up comparison shopping clicks by 25 percent and sports and fitness by 24 percent, analyst Ben Schachter noted in a research report released Friday.

Home furnishings settled in with a comfortable 14 percent increase, while … Read more

Update at 10:30 a.m. PST, with information from IDC holiday spending report.

The Grinch has made off with Christmas.

In yet another sign that e-commerce is taking a hit over the holidays, online sales growth projections for the critical November-December holiday shopping season were cut by more than half Tuesday in a survey released by digital marketing and media research firm eMarketer.

Online sales are expected to grow a mere 4 percent year over year to $30.3 billion during the two-month period, versus eMarketer's previous projection in May of 10.1 percent growth, or $32.1 … Read more

Warner Music Group, the label that represents such acts as REM and Green Day, is the second major recording company to report healthy growth in digital sales during the past quarter.

On Tuesday, Warner reported that digital sales in the quarter ended September 30 grew 27 percent to $167 million, up from $131 million during the same period last year.

Warner also beat Wall Street expectations by reporting earnings of $6 million or 4 cents per share on revenue of $854 million. Analysts had expected to a loss of 2 cents per share on $837 million in revenue.

Two weeks … Read more

Update: New information has leaked about Apple's 2009 Black Friday deals. Read about it here.

Apple will be holding a one-day shopping event on Black Friday, according to a teaser up on Apple's Web site. Every sale on the Apple Store is an event, as it happens very rarely, and discounts on Apple products are meager throughout the year. That is, if this is an event full of discounts and sales. The interesting part is in the wording:

"Come back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only Christmas shopping event. You'll find … Read more

Update, Monday 7:08 a.m. PST: Added information on Wal-Mart's Black Friday deals.

Usually Black Friday is a good time of year for consumers and retailers. It's when retailers get "in the black" by getting rid of a lot of excess inventory through offering drastic discounts.

This year is different. The economy has crumbled, consumers plan on spending less, and at least for those shopping for electronics, there are fewer viable options with many Circuit City stores set to close.

Some bargain hunters have complained that, so far, they haven't seen as many great … Read more

Many CNET readers have been complaining that they're not seeing the major deals they thought the economy would encourage in electronics.

I agree. I haven't seen them yet, either. But here's one: iRobot is having a one-day sale on Friday until midnight on its Roomba 416 for $200, with a free upgrade kit for handling pet hair.

The Roomba 416 comes with two beacons for controlling where the Roomba roams, and it can clean up to two rooms before needing to be recharged, according to iRobot. It does not offer the onboard scheduling feature of the higher-end … Read more