Earlier this year, Amazon found itself in a showdown over e-book pricing with publisher Macmillan, which wanted the ability to set pricing for its works. Amazon initially pulled all of Macmillan's titles off its virtual shelves but, a few days later, conceded there was little it could do—Macmillan's works went back on sale, and Amazon apparently gave up on trying to force its prices on the company. Despite that rousing lack of success, reports are now indicating that several other publishers may get the same treatment, as Amazon is threatening to stop selling their works as well.

Indications of an ongoing fight between Amazon and book publishers were apparent almost as soon as the Macmillan matter was settled. Amazon had been purchasing e-books from publishers at a wholesale rate, which allowed it to set the retail prices; rumor had it that the company was selling works at a loss in order to push Kindle sales. Publishers, which have an obvious interest in keeping prices for their work higher, were certainly not pleased with this approach.

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Continue reading HP Slate priced at €400 for June launch, Atom CPU confirmed?

HP Slate priced at €400 for June launch, Atom CPU confirmed? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The release of GTA IV episodes The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on PlayStation 3 and PC has been delayed following last minute requests made by Sony.

Both games - to be made available as downloads and as a retail package - will now be released on April 13 in North America and and April 16 in Europe.

Related events, which include Rockstar Social Club multiplayer sessions on PSN and Games for Windows Live, will also be held back until April 16 and 17.

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Shares in the bank, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer, rose this morning as it told the stock market it has incurred fewer bad debts than feared so far this year

Lloyds Banking Group cheered its long-suffering shareholders this morning by predicting a return to profit this year, after incurring fewer bad debts than feared in recent weeks.

The bank, which is 41% owned by the taxpayer following its takeover of HBOS two years ago, told the City that trading had been "strong" in the first 10 weeks of the year. It is keeping a tight lid on costs, which are lower than in the same period in 2009. The bank's net interest margin is still in line with recent guidance and this has supported "a good level of income growth".

"Impairment provisions are currently trending at lower levels than anticipated and as a result the group now expects to deliver a better impairment performance than previously guided, in both the retail and corporate businesses, in 2010," Lloyds said in an unscheduled trading statement.

"Overall ... the group believes that it will be profitable on a combined businesses basis in 2010."

The upbeat statement boosted shares in Britain's banks, and sent Lloyds shares up 8% to 60p in early trading. Royal Bank of Scotland gained nearly 6% to 44.45p, and Barclays rose almost 2% to 359.6p.

"We did this impromptu update because there is a material improvement in the performance," said a Lloyds spokesman. "We felt in the ten weeks of trading since Christmas the trends are better than we expected. These are the first signs of an encouraging performance in the year ahead."

But he added that the improvement is "not really a reflection of general market conditions" but specific to Lloyds' customers.

A big increase in bad debts drove Lloyds to a £6.3bn loss last year. Impairments ballooned to £24bn from £14.9bn largely because the loans that HBOS granted to commercial property ventures in the run-up to the financial crisis went sour. Eric Daniels, the Lloyds chief executive, said three weeks ago that bad debts had peaked.

Today's comments will calm fears about UK banks after Standard & Poor's warned yesterday that lenders remain vulnerable to a deterioration in loan quality and money markets. The rating agency said there is "limited scope" for banks to increase profits over the next two years. "Into 2010, we consider that UK banks will remain pressured by elevated loan impairments. Our expectation of a slow economic recovery may prolong the period in which losses are elevated relative to historic averages," S&P said in a report.

Analysts at Redburn Partners noted that the commercial property market ended 2009 on a high with an 8% rise in capital values in the fourth quarter, underpinned by the highest level of investment activity since autumn 2007. "This has materially positive ramifications for Lloyds' most troubled loan book."

Lloyds will update on trading again on 27 April. Today's comments are part of a presentation which Daniels will give to investors at the Morgan Stanley European financials conference on Wednesday.

"In general banks have been very bullish in client meetings post their results. Given that interest rates are at a 350-year low, it is not surprising that credit quality is improving," said Bruce Packard at Seymour Pierce. "But UK households are around three times more indebted than during the early 1990s recession, and consensus forecasts for growth look far too optimistic compared to how the banks grew income coming out of the last recession."

Today's news comes as a former Lloyds employee accused the bank of artificially inflating its profits by almost £1bn through the use of aggressive tax-avoidance schemes and exotic "Lehman-style" offshore deals.

• Lloyds Banking Group
• Banking
• Financial crisis

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe on UMD in North America this April originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe on UMD in North America this April originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nokia's Design by Community makes smartphone concepting a multiplayer game, with limits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading GameStop rewards program launching this May in 'four markets'

GameStop rewards program launching this May in 'four markets' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading GameStop rewards program launching this May in 'four markets'

GameStop rewards program launching this May in 'four markets' originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Entelligence: Will Surface ever surface?

Entelligence: Will Surface ever surface? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Reports have been swirling that Apple plans to ban screen protectors from its brick and mortar retail stores, but for the time being, the items seem to be plentiful throughout many store locations. Several Apple Stores we contacted Thursday afternoon assured Ars that there were currently "plenty" of screen protectors in stock, and did not indicate that this would change anytime soon. (One sales associate went as far as listing off all the variations that were in stock.) None of the outlets mentioned anything about the impending ban or removing the product from inventory in the future.

Rumors of Apple’s supposed ban started Wednesday when iLounge reported that several companies had been informed that, starting in May, Apple would no longer carry screen protectors in their retail stores. According to iLounge's sources, stand-alone solutions as well as those bundled with cases will eventually be removed. 

There were so many pundit theories about what could have sparked the decision that iLounge wrote a follow-up article to address them. The conspiracy theorists came up with all kinds of reasons: Apple is making room for iPad accessories, Apple wants you to ruin your phone so you have to buy another, the iPhone is too classy for a flimsy piece of plastic, etc. Our personal favorite theory was that Apple might be planning a new product or technology that doesn’t work properly with the film applied. iLounge even got an e-mail from an Apple Store employee, suggesting that the ban might be due to the difficulty in applying the protective layer. Apparently, this employee's store barred employees from doing this for customers some time ago.

In our experiences here at Ars, the iPhone screen is extremely hard to scratch, though some of us have admittedly had much better luck than others. It seems much more likely that an iPhone screen will crack due to a fall than it will develop noticeable scratch. In that case, no amount of thin, flimsy, plastic is going to save your device from that.

What Apple is up to is really anyone's guess. We would like to think that Apple is coming out with its own line of overpriced iPhone screen protectors, but it's more likely they are just more trouble than they're worth for Apple. Screen protectors may still be available at Apple Stores, but probably not for long. Don't worry—you can get the exact same thing for your iPhone from places like Best Buy, Fry's, and almost any other outlet that sells iPhone accessories. 

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Reports have been swirling that Apple plans to ban screen protectors from its brick and mortar retail stores, but for the time being, the items seem to be plentiful throughout many store locations. Several Apple Stores we contacted Thursday afternoon assured Ars that there were currently "plenty" of screen protectors in stock, and did not indicate that this would change anytime soon. (One sales associate went as far as listing off all the variations that were in stock.) None of the outlets mentioned anything about the impending ban or removing the product from inventory in the future.

Rumors of Apple’s supposed ban started Wednesday when iLounge reported that several companies had been informed that, starting in May, Apple would no longer carry screen protectors in their retail stores. According to iLounge's sources, stand-alone solutions as well as those bundled with cases will eventually be removed. 

There were so many pundit theories about what could have sparked the decision that iLounge wrote a follow-up article to address them. The conspiracy theorists came up with all kinds of reasons: Apple is making room for iPad accessories, Apple wants you to ruin your phone so you have to buy another, the iPhone is too classy for a flimsy piece of plastic, etc. Our personal favorite theory was that Apple might be planning a new product or technology that doesn’t work properly with the film applied. iLounge even got an e-mail from an Apple Store employee, suggesting that the ban might be due to the difficulty in applying the protective layer. Apparently, this employee's store barred employees from doing this for customers some time ago.

In our experiences here at Ars, the iPhone screen is extremely hard to scratch, though some of us have admittedly had much better luck than others. It seems much more likely that an iPhone screen will crack due to a fall than it will develop noticeable scratch. In that case, no amount of thin, flimsy, plastic is going to save your device from that.

What Apple is up to is really anyone's guess. We would like to think that Apple is coming out with its own line of overpriced iPhone screen protectors, but it's more likely they are just more trouble than they're worth for Apple. Screen protectors may still be available at Apple Stores, but probably not for long. Don't worry—you can get the exact same thing for your iPhone from places like Best Buy, Fry's, and almost any other outlet that sells iPhone accessories. 

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Sales of digital downloads have not been enough to make up for the decline of CD sales since its peak in 2000. Universal Music Group plans to soften the fall of CD sales by dropping prices across the board, to a maximum of $10.

The company plans to test lower prices beginning next month and continuing throughout 2010. Nearly all of UMG's CDs will priced between $6 and $10. UMG is hoping that increased volume will make up for the price drop, and the company plans to create more higher-priced "deluxe" versions for more hardcore fans.

"We think [the new pricing program] will really bring new life into the physical format," Universal Music Group Distribution president and CEO Jim Urie told Billboard.

Retailers have been clamoring for lower retails prices, with many believing that $10 is the magic number to spur sales. (I'll admit, I rarely buy a physical CD for more than $10 these days). A recent test from Trans World Entertainment showed that a $9.99 price point doubled CD sales in over 100 of its stores.

Forrester analyst Mark Mulligan thinks labels may have to consider pushing prices as low as $5 to further slow the decline of CD sales. "The CD is a dying music product format, but it has some life left in it because downloads haven't generated the format replacement they were expected to," he wrote. "With all previous music formats the successor format was firmly in the ascendancy by the time its predecessor was in terminal decline."

However, digital downloads won't ever generate format replacement. Music on CDs is already in digital format—if you own the CD already, there's no benefit in "replacing" it with a digital download. Furthermore, it will be hard to justify spending $10 on a compressed digital download over $6 for an actual physical disc that can be ripped into iTunes or any other media software in a matter of minutes, and can be done using lossless encoding (if so desired).

iTunes LP, thought by the record labels to helpsave the digital album from succumbing to single track downloads, isn't making much of a splash with consumers, either.

Effectively what UMG is doing—and what other labels will do if they also decide that lowering prices will prop up dying CD sales—is giving consumers the expectation that albums should cost even less than $9.99. Because once consumers become accustomed to getting a whole album in physical form for $6, you'll have a much harder time convincing them to buy downloaded albums for more money later. Lowering prices on CDs will increase sales in the short term—good for labels because CD sales still account for about 65 percent of their revenue—but it will only slow its demise, and slow the uptake of digital as a primary format.

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If you’re of the camp that believes your iPhone or iPod touch’s screen needs some kind of additional protective layer to prevent it from getting damaged, you may want to head to the Apple store soonish to stock up on said accessories. In the very near future, you might not be able to find them, at least not through Apple’s official channels, according to sources speaking to Macworld.

The sources, who are described as Apple accessory makers who want to remain anonymous for fear of arousing Cupertino’s ire, maintain that Apple has informed them it will no longer be carrying any films or covers aimed at protecting iPhone screens from dust or scratches, or even those that claim to prevent glare and ensure privacy.

If the sources are correct, all of these types of accessories will be pulled from the Apple Store, both in its online and physical retail incarnations, as will any other accessories that stick to the surface of Apple devices. The blanket ban on anything adhesive makes sense, since these apparently have a very high return rate because of the difficulty in applying them properly.

The ban on films that “protect” the screen also makes a good deal of sense, mostly because that’s a ludicrous claim to begin with. It’s like being sold insurance against possible gryphon attack. It’s just not going to do anything, besides maybe instill a false sense of security. Think about it: do you buy protective films for your eyeglasses?

Because it’s the same exact thing. Or maybe even more ridiculous, depending on the quality of your glasses. Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch screens are made of optical glass, which is the most scratch-resistant glass in existence. I personally have owned two iPhones and two iPod touches, none of which have ever borne any kind of screen protection. I’ve dropped them all countless times, and even kept them in pockets with change and other knick-knacks, and the screens are pristine. The back cases? Not so much.

I’m not advising against due diligence here. Generally speaking, I keep my iPhone in a pocket designated for it alone, or with a pack of gum or something else non-abrasive, though sometimes I forget and throw it in with my keys. Still, keeping it loose in a bag of sand probably isn’t a great idea.

But Apple’s doing a great service to customers with this move, even if that what’s motivated it to begin with. The absence of screen protectors on Apple Store shelves should hopefully go a long way toward curbing unnecessary accessory purchases. Unless you shop at Best Buy, in which case you’ll probably come home with three screen protectors and a product service plan.

Sega does what Nintendon't: make prototypes for Project Natal games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sega does what Nintendon't: make prototypes for Project Natal games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Get ready, India. The email-only Peek device will soon be riding on Aircell’s airwaves within your boarders and available for purchase in 1,000 different retail spots. It’s actually quite affordable too with a retail cost of Rs.2999 for the handheld and Rs.299 for the monthly service charge. That works out to be $65 USD and $6 USD, respectively. Interested? There’s a spiffy new Indian peek website with all the details.

In a move that might be a preview for the rest of the world, Google has implemented sponsored icons on Google Maps in Australia.

These icons — which represent establishments like Bankwest and JB Hi-Fi — feature company logos rather than generic establishment icons.

This program, which is being launched in Australia for testing, differs from Google’s traditional ad system. As the Sydney Morning Herald points out, these ads (or logos, really) are not purchased AdWords-style, but instead rely on number of impressions.

Additionally, companies must be deemed relevant by Google for their logos to appear. Google will determine the relevancy based on the context of a user’s search, inbound links and event Wikipedia entries. Furthermore, if users don’t interact with the location’s ad — by hovering over it and clicking through for more information — it will disappear.

Google’s goal is the highlight the most relevant businesses based on search. At least in Australia, Google is also charging some types of businesses less than others — pricing is based on what value those establishments provide. So an ATM or gas station would be charged less per impression than a retail store.

This is an interesting approach to location based advertising — something we fully expect to become a bigger and bigger trend as the year goes on. It will be interesting to see what kind of results and feedback Google gets from the trial in Australia and how sponsored locations end up being implemented in other countries and across other platforms.

Tags: Google Australia, Google Maps, google maps sponsored icons

Having gone toe-to-toe with Macmillan Publishing over e-book prices last month, only to retreat in the face of a consumer backlash, Amazon is once again talking tough with publishers. This time, however, the stakes are even higher for the Kindle-maker.

According to a New York Times report, Amazon is threatening to remove the “buy” button from major publishers’ e-books if they don’t accede to a detailed list of its demands, including that it not be undersold by other e-book retailers. Although Amazon agreed in principle following the Macmillan dust-up to let publishers set retail prices for their Kindle books while it collects a 30 percent commission, the retailer is apparently keen to maintain its most-favored nation status vs. other e-book sellers, including Apple.

The immediate bone of contention, according to the Times, is Amazon’s demand that publishers sign three-year contracts guaranteeing that no other competitor get lower prices or better terms than it does. Publishers are said to be reluctant to commit to three-year deals when prices and consumer behavior are still in flux.

Amazon’s demand also puts publishers in a tight spot with Apple, which is insisting on most-favored nation status for its iBookstore.

While Amazon may have picked the wrong fight with Macmillan, and then overplayed its hand, the outcome of the  latest battle really could be critical to the Kindle-maker’s long-term strategy, not because of what it could mean for retail e-book prices but for what it could mean for the Kindle platform.

Both Amazon and Apple share the same long-term e-book strategy. Each wants its device, the Kindle and iPad, respectively, to emerge as the dominant e-reading platform. As Apple itself demonstrated with the iPod and iTunes — a strategy deliberately aped by Amazon — controlling the distribution platform gives you control of the value chain. By locking both iPod users and the record companies into the iTunes platform, Apple was able to capture the lion’s share of the value from online music (mostly by selling expensive iPods).

The key to Apple’s success in music wasn’t just the relatively low 99-cent price of individual tracks but that the value in using an iPod for music was competitive against other consumer options, including illegal downloads and other MP3 players.

For both Amazon and Apple, then, it’s critical that the value of using a Kindle or an iPad for reading remains competitive against all other options, especially at this early stage of the market’s development when consumer habits are still up for grabs.

That means not just keeping a lid on e-book prices but making sure you’re the lowest-cost provider of e-books in the market. In this case, most-favored nation means most likely to succeed.

As for how publishers should respond to Amazon and Apple’s mutually exclusive demands for favor, the situation presents a paradox. Normally, supplying both sides in a war is an enviable position for a vendor. In this case, however, the battle is over driving down prices, which is not a fight most vendors want to find themselves in.

Their best strategy is to hold the line with both and hope that no clear winner emerges quickly.

Paul Sweeting is analyst with GigaOM Pro and the author of The Evolution of the e-Book Market (sub. required).

GameStop enjoys $9.08 billion in sales in FY2009, $377 million profit originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GameStop enjoys $9.08 billion in sales in FY2009, $377 million profit originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sears Holdings Corp. just announced they posted thousands of jobs on Twitter via the Twitter-based job board service, TweetMyJOBS.com. The parent company of retail stores like Sears and Kmart and home to brands like Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard, Lands' End, Jaclyn Smith, Joe Boxer, Apostrophe and Covington, Sears Holdings posted over 500,000 job openings last year via traditional recruiting channels like job search sites and newspapers. Now those same jobs will be on Twitter, too. Says Lance Brolin, Director, Talent & Human Capital Services Operations for Sears Holdings, of the decision to engage on Twitter, "we're quickly realizing that we needed to broaden our employment marketing to include social media."

Sponsor

According to Gary Zukowski, president and founder of TweetMyJOBS, this partnership makes Sears one of the largest brands to embrace mobile recruiting. Although Twitter is the platform used for the service, the primary function of TweetMyJOBS is to connect job seekers with jobs via text messages sent to their cell phones.

The TweetMyJOBS service lets job seekers receive instant notifications on their phone when new jobs are posted online via the popular micro-messaging service Twitter. The company aggregates the Twitter-based job postings from over 7000 companies and maintains over 8250 specific job channels within those companies, all of which are searchable via their website.

However, it's the job matching service that makes TweetMyJOBS worth using for those in need of work. Instead of having to follow potentially hundreds of Twitter accounts belonging to companies, the service will match a Twitter user's interests with the available jobs posted to Twitter. Users can also specify a particular geographic region where they prefer to work. They can even use the service to post their resume to Twitter. When a job seeker and a job listing match up, the user is alerted via a text message sent to their phone via Twitter.

For job posters, there are fees involved for adding listings just like there are with any other job board. At present, it costs $4000 to list 500 jobs and $8000 for unlimited job postings. Single posts are $1.99. In return, companies are able to directly connect with qualified candidates while also tracking the clicks on the jobs they list.

At launch time, Sears Holdings has posted 7000 jobs to TweetMyJOBS. The lineup includes everything from cashiers to vice presidents, a company representative tells us. And this is just the beginning. Over the course of the year, the company will continue adding all their available jobs to the service. Since, as noted above, the company posts hundreds of thousands of jobs per year, they will soon have thousands more to post to TweetMyJOBS.

In today's tough, competitive hiring market, a service like this can give motivated job seekers an edge. Since it allows for instant notification when a job is made available online, users of TweetMyJOBS can be among the first to apply to available positions. They can also rest assured that the jobs sourced are from reputable companies assures Rich Trombetta, TweetMyJOBS co-founder. Unlike on many job boards today, filled with questionable get-rich-quick schemes, work from home offers and other spam, only legitimate jobs are made available on his service. "We are very careful about the types of jobs we list on the site," Trombetta recently told the Chicago Tribune. "We eliminate the spam."

Interested job seekers can sign up for the service here at TweetMyJOBS.com.

Codemasters has appointed Koch Media as a distribution partner in Europe, handing marketing and distribution duties for its console and PC titles to the company.

The agreement has arisen following a company review of distribution arrangements in readiness for a refined portfolio of titles for FY 2011, it said today.

Starting immediately, Koch will manage the distribution of Codemasters' back catalogue and future titles in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It will work alongside existing divisions in those regions to facilitate the transition of retail relationships, said the publisher.

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In announcement that many of the company’s observers regarded with surprise, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) CEO Steve Riggio is stepping down from that role and appointing William Lynch (image), who has been handling the company’s e-commerce business, in his place. Riggio will remain vice chairman and insists he will still be actively involved in the company. In addition to that change, B&N is also promoting COO Mitchell Klipper to CEO of the company’s retail group, which runs the retail business and the Barnes & Noble College Booksellers business. Lynch’s appointment is meant to highlight the shift in B&N’s business from retail bookstores to one that is increasingly focused on its e-readers and he’ll be charged with ensuring that the company’s Nook can better compete with other devices, especially as Apple’s iPad is being shipped in a matter of days.

In announcement that many of the company’s observers regarded with surprise, Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) CEO Steve Riggio is stepping down from that role and appointing William Lynch (image), who has been handling the company’s e-commerce business, in his place. Riggio will remain vice chairman and insists he will still be actively involved in the company. In addition to that change, B&N is also promoting COO Mitchell Klipper to CEO of the company’s retail group, which runs the retail business and the Barnes & Noble College Booksellers business. Lynch’s appointment is meant to highlight the shift in B&N’s business from retail bookstores to one that is increasingly focused on its e-readers and he’ll be charged with ensuring that the company’s Nook can better compete with other devices, especially as Apple’s iPad is being shipped in a matter of days.

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