Those who say that Twitter is nothing more than a place where people share inconsequential experiences in their lives might want to listen up. Dell told Bloomberg on Tuesday that it has earned an estimated $6.5 million in sales of PCs, accessories, and software, thanks to promotions on Twitter.
Dell's vice president for the company's online unit, Manish Mehta, told Bloomberg that over the past three months alone, the number of people who have started following Dell's tweets has risen 23 percent. The company's DellOutlet account, which is home to most of the vendor's sales announcements, currently has almost 1.5 million followers. But unlike some companies, Dell has made Twitter an integral part of its operation. Bloomberg reported that "more than 100 employees send out the tweets" to customers.
"It's a very vibrant channel for us and it's growing aggressively," Mehta told Bloomberg, referring to Twitter. "It's not just our reach and growth that has progressed, it's that it's happening globally."
Mehta told Bloomberg that its Twitter accounts are followed by people in 12 countries. Brazil users alone spent $800,000 in the past eight months, he said.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Is the Wii a viable third-party platform?
(Credit: Nintendo)The Nintendo Wii might be leading the video game market, but at least one game developer is suspect of its software.
Lightning Fish Games CEO Simon Prytherch sat down with GamesIndustry.biz in a recent interview discussing his company and the state of the gaming industry. Lightning Fish Games develops "family-oriented" games for major consoles.
After discussing what he has learned about the industry, he shared his opinion on the state of the Wii and its market.
"Wii is a very casual, wide market," Prytherch said in the interview. "It's a market that doesn't care about flashy graphics--it cares more about the gameplay and experience, and potentially the characterization."
But Prytherch had much more to say. The developer told the site that he doesn't "think you can ever write Nintendo off," but the console's games market "from a third-party software developer and publisher perspective, is oversaturated with product."
Unfortunately, Prytherch asserts, consumers have suffered most. He said that they "have been damaged by a lot of substandard software," which has caused them to "only trust big Nintendo brands."
Those are some awfully strong words from a developer that has so far failed to attract the kind of market attention larger companies Ubisoft or Electronic Arts have. But he's not alone in his belief that Wii gamers aren't attracted to third-party games.
Speaking at a conference call last month, EA CEO John Riccitiello said that "the Wii platform has been a little weaker than we had certainly anticipated. And there is no lack of frustration (about this coming out) at precisely the time where we have the strongest third-party share."
Riccitiello went on to say that his company was trying to work with Nintendo "to push third-party software harder." He then echoed Prytherch's sentiments, saying "very, very few multiplatform titles are succeeding on the Wii so far, and collectively, Electronic Arts and Nintendo need to tackle that." Yikes.
We've heard from the developers, now let's hear from you. What do you think about the Wii's position in the gaming business? Is its game library weak? Do you buy third-party titles? Let us know in the comments below.
In a troubled economy, companies and consumers are looking for any advantage they can get. So it is that Best Buy is jumping the gun by as much as nine days on Black Friday, announcing that, starting immediately, shoppers can get Black Friday bargain pricing on select products.
The electronics retailer says that the come-hither pricing will be offered on "certain models of flat panel televisions." It will also feature reduced pricing on some home-theater products. The deals are available in-store and online.
"Best Buy is committed to continuing to offer a superior shopping experience this holiday season," Best Buy's vice president of home theater said in a statement. "Customers can be confident that they are getting some of the best prices in the industry, as well as the convenience of being able to shop when and where they want either in store or online."
Unfortunately, the selection of products that Best Buy will be offering at a discounted price isn't all that deep. A handful of Dynex-branded HDTVs will have a lower price starting on Thursday. The company will have Black Friday pricing on some Samsung HDTV models starting on Sunday. Best Buy didn't provide much more information on the models or the products that will be reduced in price ahead of the Friday after Thanksgiving, historically a huge day for shopping--and bargains.
Regardless, it's an interesting strategy on Best Buy's part. As a company that doesn't have a major direct tech competitor in the big-box space, it's in an enviable position. But the reduced pricing might be a response to expected deals from online sites, such as Amazon.com, that consistently beat Best Buy on pricing. Either way, Best Buy didn't say why it has decided to reduce prices on the early side.
But we can still guess. So what do you think? Why has Best Buy decided to reduce pricing so soon? Are the deals likely to make you start shopping sooner? Let us know in the comments below.
See also: Be prepared for Black Friday tech deals
Wal-Mart deals are heating up for Saturday.
(Credit: Wal-Mart)Not content to wait until Black Friday, Wal-Mart announced Wednesday that it will deliver some great deals on assorted tech products this weekend.
Customers shopping in-store on Saturday will find several deals. The company said it will sell the 46-inch Panasonic TC-P46U1 1080p plasma HDTV for $788 that day. It also plans to sell the 42-inch Sharp LC-42SB45U 1080p LCD for just $498.
Besides that, Wal-Mart plans to sell a 15.6-inch HP notebook for $298, a Sony Blu-ray player for $148, and a Magnavox upconverting DVD player for $29.
But it might be the offer on the Xbox 360 Arcade that will attract the most attention. According to Wal-Mart, it will sell the Xbox 360 Arcade for its standard price of $199, but include a $100 Wal-Mart gift card with that purchase. That can cover almost the entire cost of an additional controller and a single game. It can also cut a big chunk out of the cost of a hard drive add-on for the console, if consumers decide to go that route.
Although all these deals will only be offered on Saturday in Wal-Mart stores, it should be noted that many of these deals are available now on Wal-Mart's Web site. That said, beware that the Xbox 360 Arcade offer is already sold out online. Anyone looking to capitalize on it will need to do so in a local store.
Wal-Mart's in-store special offers start at 8 a.m. local time on Saturday. It should be interesting to see if Amazon and other online retailers match Wal-Mart's offer at that time. We'll update this space if they do.
Correction at 8:30 a.m. PDT: The release dates for Fallout 3 and for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena were incorrect. They have been removed from the list of 2009 and 2008 releases, respectively.
The video game industry is going through some tough times. When NPD Group released video game sales data for April last week, the results were disheartening.
According to NPD, total industry revenue was down 17 percent, year over year. Software sales for the month were down 30 percent, compared to April 2008. Wii sales were off 43 percent, PS3 sales slumped by 42 percent, and Xbox 360 sales were down 47 percent, compared to March 2009.
So what happened? Is the video game industry finally being affected by the recession? It's possible that it has some impact. But I don't think there's any better reason for the decline than the games themselves.
If the games aren't compelling, consumers won't be buying.
... Read more
Blu-ray U.S. disc sales have tripled in the past year, according to The Digital Entertainment Group, but there's a slight problem--Blu-ray sales are still lower than where film studios would like them to be, and there's no indication that Blu-ray sales will top DVD sales anytime soon.
The studios blame Blu-ray's performance on the economy, and claim that if we were enjoying better economic times, the format's sales would be higher.
But there's one person, Bill Mechanic, a film producer and former Fox Filmed Entertainment chief, who believes there's more to this story.
"I think it's one part recession, but there are bigger factors," Mechanic told The Wrap in an interview. "That's a misreading of consumer behavior as well as a misreading of the economic environment. It's devalued the libraries."
"If you can buy 'Titanic' for $4.99," Mechanic continued, "[consumers will say] 'Well, wait a minute...'" when they consider buying another film on Blu-ray at a substantially higher price.
"There's no rhyme or reason of what I see in the market place in terms of pricing," Mechanic said.
He has a point. Even on Amazon.com, where Blu-ray movies are usually priced at their cheapest level, there's a major difference between DVD pricing and Blu-ray pricing. In fact, an older film like "Independence Day" is currently being offered on DVD for $14.99 and on Blu-ray for $25.99. A DVD of a new film, "The Dark Knight," is retailing for $14.99 on the site, while its Blu-ray counterpart is going for $23.99.
It sure looks like DVD pricing is holding Blu-ray back.
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