So who won the holiday market iPod or Zune? Apple’s iPod and iTunes simply crushed Zune! It seems not many bothered to get a Zune for anyone this holidays they sticked to their iPods and iTunes this month!
Zune had its share of glory but that was when it launched in November but in December iPod maintained its lead and hold on the market. Christmas saw Apple’s download site for iTunes bomabarded with requests thereby sending their servers down.
Why are GPS devices getting so popular? And yes they are top sellers - At least the Garmin navigational system with GPS is, one of the top sellers on Amazon.com this year.
A GPS device is the perfect gadget to a highly mobile business lifestyle where you need to navigate unfamiliar cities and get to your destination on time.Though automobiles come with in-built devices for a high-flying executive who hops from one company car to another is not of much use.
Portable GPS systems can tag along with you whether you’re in the company car, flying off to pick up a rental or just getting around in your hometown.
Amazon.com has released its list of top-selling items on their site and Apple takes the top spot in three areas – MP3 players, Notebooks and Desktops! The mp3 player category was a foregone conclusion with iPod being so ever popular everywhere.
Two MacBooks dominate the notebook category, which isn’t that surprising either because they run Windows seamlessly or have the best price-to-performance ratio of any Macs ever built.
The hat trick came in the desktop category for Apple on Amazon where the iMac dominates the first and second spots. Let’s keep n mind that Amazon.com is just one of the retailers that sell Apple products and so the total sales everywhere will be at a different scale altogether.
MP3 players will have a boost in sales now as big music labels are slowly getting to see the consumer’s viewpoint and are warming up to letting users downloads music files into mp3 format!
While mp3 format was a pain in the side of major record labels for years now they are looking into cashing in on this. EMusic, for example, offers 1.5 million songs that are all encoded in MP3 format that include no digital rights management (DRM) technology.
More record labels are beginning to test consumer interest in legal MP3 downloads. Yahoo Music ran several promotions that offered MP3-encoded songs from several artists, with approval from record labels.
Time to take stock and give the top honors for the top gadget of 2006. No surprises again for the Apple iPod which managed dual accolades. The iPod’s 30GB fifth generation video iPod was the most frequently purchased electronics gift in 2006, while the black-colored model was also awarded the title of the “most wished-for gift” — appearing most often on the Wish Lists of Amazon customers in 2006.
Apple also said traffic to the company’s iTunes website on Christmas Day was up 413 percent when compared to last Christmas, as surfers wielding new iPods flocked to the web to download iTunes. All that traffic brought the site to its knees early this week, tossing out error messages to some while others were able to download music without incident.
How about a free laptop loaded with a freebie Vista from Microsoft this New Year? Now that’s what Microsoft told bloggers who will get the free laptops as review units to help them become familiar with Vista. Recipients have options: Keep the computer, return it, or donate it to charity.
As expected blogdom’s afire by this initiative by Microsoft, AMD and Acer but some look at it with mixed feelings. Geekzone has an interesting post on this ploy by Microsoft and it’s worth your time. Microsoft’s is reiterating that it is not soliciting any favors but is just expecting valuable feedback from the special blogger!
New into gaming and with so much to choose with the Sony’s PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii all competing hard for your attention – I’d suggest to still go for the PS2! Sony has cut the PS2’s price to about $130, down from a high of $300, to entice casual gamers, kids and beginners like you!
So the PS2 has a new lease on life and is selling well this late in the game. Chances are that it will out sell it’s latest version the PS3 well into 2008. So makers are beefing up offerings of family-oriented titles, kids’ games, and movie tie-ins to cash-in on this large revenue that casual gamers bring in.
If you are a laptop-toting person on the move often, this is something to look forward to. Korean giant Samsung is now making fuel cell technology for notebooks a reality, which could power a laptop for 8 hours a day for a month. Samsung showcased a new DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) dock that can power a Q35 ultra portable notebook for 8 hours a day for a full month.
According to Samsung press release, the fuel cell has an energy density of 650Wh/L and total energy storage of 1,200Wh and will be available to the public by the end of 2007. Widespread use may take several years but what it means that by 2012 we could have more than 80,000 consumers using this technology.