The new phone would even beat out the Galaxy S III, which sold 10 million units in a matter of 54 days, so the Galaxy S 4 would reach that milestone roughly a few weeks ahead of the Galaxy S III. Shin says that the Galaxy S 4 is expected to hit the 10 million mark in less than a month, so be prepared for Samsung to pop open the Champagne bottles once again.

The Galaxy S 4 first became available on April 26, and has since spread like wildfire all over the world. The phone is so hot, in fact, that Google decided to partner up with Samsung on the Galaxy S 4 to release a “Google edition” of the new handset, allowing users to bypass the TouchWiz interface in favor of a stock Android Jelly Bean experience. It’s not a Nexus device, but it could very well be.

Of course, we knew this day would come eventually, so we shouldn’t be extremely surprised that the Galaxy S 4 is hitting 10 million in sales, but we are a little impressed to see it hit that number in such a short amount of time. As for an exact date on when the 10 million mark will hit, Samsung expects to make an announcement on May 24.

In slightly related news, Shin also talked about the upcoming Galaxy Note III, and while he didn’t give away a lot of details on the new device, he says that the phablet-style smartphone will sport a 5.9-inch display, which is right on track with several rumors that we’ve heard in the past that suggested somewhere in the 6-inch range. As for the type of display, it’s rumored that it will come with OLED technology.

VIA: Android Community

SOURCE: Korea Times

Mojang’s lead designer and developer, Jens Bergensten, tweeted the sales announcement and also hinted at a possible new feature coming to the version 1.6 update. The image he links to for the hint is a picture of a horse, suggesting that the four-legged animal will be making its way inside the game at some point.

As for the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game, Mojang reported back in January that the console version reached 5 million in sales. However, we’re guessing that number has only grown since then. As for the mobile versions of the game, which are available on iOS and Android, no statistics have been released on that front.

Minecraft for PC was originally released as an alpha version in 2009, with the full version releasing in 2011. Since August of 2012, Mojang has managed to sell 3 million copies of Minecraft for PC, which is quite impressive for such a small game, but it’s popularity has been something of a triumph over the last couple of years.

Mini has increased its US sales from 24,590 units in 2002, to 66,123 units last year. The Mini Cooper has easily been one of the company’s most popular vehicles, but they also have a small selection of variations of the popular car, including the Hardtop, Clubman, Convertible, Countryman, Coupe, Roadster, and Paceman.

As for Mini dealership around the US, there are currently 116 locations spilled out over the states, but the car maker plans for a total of around 130 locations by the end of this year, with construction already under way on some of those new locations. Of course, though, 500,000 sold in 11 years isn’t anything to write home about when you’re General Motors, but for a boutique manufacturer, this is rather impressive.

Mini originally started as a specific car model, built by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) from 1959 until 2000 when BMW bought the naming rights of Mini. From there, the company built new models of the Mini, and while the new look is rather different from the original Mini, the new models still retain the same 4-cylinder, all-wheel drive configuration.

[via Automotive World]

As for a breakdown of some of GM’s subsidiaries, Cadillac sales were up 38% from last year, while Buick was up 28%. GMC saw a 14% increase, and Chevrolet saw the smallest gain, with a 5% jump. Overall, GM saw an increase in sales across the board, which is no doubt a good sign for a company that recently found itself in a deep hole.

As for what types of cars have most popular during the past year, GM reports that crossover vehicles saw the biggest increase from last year, with a 25% jump, while trucks were up 10%. As for the folks who want more fuel-efficient vehicles, those numbers saw an increase, but not as much as you’d think — combined mini, small, and compact cars were up 14% from last year.

Unfortunately, GM didn’t report any of their financial earnings — just sales numbers this time around, but with such an impressive increase in sales, we have to guess that GM is slowly starting to make progress digging themselves out of that wretched hole. With the launch of the 2014 Corvette later this year, we should hopefully see GM further into the black as we go along in 2013.

According to Hong Kong-based research company Counterpoint Research, Samsung has sold around 25 million smartphones each month so far this year, and that’s expected to drive the company’s quarterly sales to over 70 million units for Q1 2013. Samsung’s last earnings report showed a profit of $8 billion over those three months.

Samsung’s market share during January and February reached 35%, making them the largest smartphone manufacturer on the planet. Compared to Q4 2012, that’s a 3% increase in market share. With the upcoming release of Samsung’s GALAXY S 4, it’s possible that the company may even see a record Q2 2013 as well.

Back in January, it was estimated that Samsung would sell around 10 million GALAXY S 4 devices per month, and the company says that they want to sell at least 350 million smartphones in 2013, which is quite an ambitious goal. They eventually want to reach 500 million devices total for the year. The GALAXY S 4 is expected to early May at some point, with T-Mobile the only major carrier to offer a timeline.

According to various analysts, it’s expected that advertisers are going to spend more of their ad dollars on cable television and web video outlets like Hulu. It’s expected broadcast networks’ dollar volume could drop by 2%, while cable television’s volume could rise about 5%. Of course, these aren’t huge gains or losses, but every percentage point matters, especially when you’re facing lower ratings.

However, CBS CEO Les Moonves says that ad demand for broadcast television (at least for CBS) is growing, and Moonves expects CBS to lead in “volume and CPM increases” this season. However, ratings have taken a dive at all four big television networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) since the start of the fall season back in September.

Specifically, among viewers ages 18 to 49 ( which is the demographic that’s most prized by advertisers,) the average numbers for primetime audiences were down 23% at FOX, 7% at NBC, 3% at CBS; and 8% at ABC. However, CBS was the only major network to see an increase in overall viewership this season, with a 2% rise.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

The Wii U had a really rough January, seeing sales as low as 57,000, but while February sales of the new console saw a jump by 40%, that only means that the Wii U sold 64,000 units, which is still lower than the lowest that the PS3 or the Xbox 360 has ever gotten. It’s said that January was a particularly bad month for the Wii U due to holiday backlash and people returning the console to stores.

However, as for the Xbox 360 console, it holds 41% of the market share among current-generation consoles, and the total money spent on the Xbox 360 in February — including hardware, software and accessories — was the most for any console in the US. Some pretty impressive numbers considering that Microsoft hasn’t lost the number one spot in over two years.

Total video game sales for February topped out at $810 million, which is actually down 25% from the same time last year. Console sales racked up $244.2 million, video game sales reached $369.9 million, and accessories rang in at $213.9 million while also boasting just a 3% drop from last year, while all other categories dropped 25% or more.

[via Gamasutra]

Hardware suffered the worst blow, decreasing 36-percent over last year, with a total of $244.2 million in sales. Software was next in line, falling 27-percent over last year to $369.9 million in sales; that represents sales for both gaming consoles and portable units. All in all, consumers are making about 50-percent of their overall game purchases via retail.

Overall, NPD Group says February video game sales came in at approximately $1.2 billion. While Sony and Nintendo tend to be tight-lipped over their console sales, Microsoft is more than happy to reveal its numbers. According to the company, it sold 302,000 Xbox 360 units, which represents a fairly significant drop over last year’s sales of 426,000.

Microsoft is responsible for a significant amount of gaming console sales, according to a statement from the company earlier today, representing about 41-percent of all latest-generation consoles being purchased. Meanwhile, Sony’s PlayStation 4 is slated for release this upcoming holiday season.

[via Bloomberg]

Walkley trimmed his estimates based on mixed initial sales of the Z10 along with a later-than-expected launch in the US. Currently, the Z10 is only available in Canada and the UK, with a US launch on all major carriers sometime next month. However, once the Z10 launches in the US, Walkley isn’t expecting a lot of reception, saying that he anticipates carriers to not have large inventories of the device.

BlackBerry announced the Z10 earlier this month on February 5, where the company also introduced the Q10, which is another new touchscreen smartphone but with a physical keyboard on board. These two phones, along with the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, are the company’s answers to moving their business forward and attempt to bounce back from six straight quarters of losses.

Of course, Walkley mentioned that BlackBerry still faces stiff competition from iOS and Android this year. Both Apple and Samsung will most likely launch new smartphones this year: the rumored iPhone 5S and the Galaxy S IV, both of which are said to be arriving with some pretty mean features on board.

[via Investors.com]

Misek said that major UK carriers like EE, O2, and Orange are seeing high demand for the new handset, while Carphone Warehouse is actually experiencing “widespread sellouts.” He also claimed that sell-through rates could be as high as several hundred thousand in the UK, which is definitely a good sign for the struggling BlackBerry. Canada and UAE are two places where the phone is enjoying high pre-order numbers, though Misek didn’t talk specifics.

If Misek’s estimates are accurate, then the BlackBerry Z10 is off to an excellent start. Apparently, the white variant of the device is a bit more popular than the black variant, with the white ones in particular selling out at Carphone Warehouse. That doesn’t mean the black variant is unpopular, however, as that one is also experiencing limited stock in some places.

BlackBerry 10 is the company’s best shot at climbing out of the rut it’s worked itself into over the past few years. It used to be that BlackBerry phones were all the rage, but then Android and Apple came along to steal massive amounts of market share. Can this new OS and the Z10 help BlackBerry regain its former glory? It’s definitely a long shot, but things are looking good at this early stage. Stay tuned, and be sure to check out review of the BlackBerry Z1) to see what we thought of the device!

[via CNET]

That’s not bad at all, and Honda seems to have struck gold with the 2013 Accord. Other cars, like the Pilot SUV and the Crosstour, saw sales grow too (a 38.2% increase over a year ago for the Crosstour), but none of them were able to top the growth of the Accord. Things were looking pretty good for Honda’s Acura division too, as the RDX set sales records once again last month, and the MDX retained its position as Acura’s top-selling model.

This isn’t the first time today we’ve been talking about the Accord. Honda announced earlier today that it will be offering Siri Eyes Free technology in the 2013 Accord along with the Acura RDX and ILX. Siri Eyes Free will obviously help drivers keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel, which is important given the recent cut down on distracted driving coming from the government.

With the announcement of Siri Eyes Free and now the excellent sales report, it seems that Honda is off to a pretty good start in 2013. It’ll be interesting to see where 2013 Accord sales go from here now that Siri Eyes Free has been announced, if the feature has any sway on sales at all. Stay tuned.

[via USA Today]

According to the report, Samsung shipped 396.5 million phones last year, with Nokia coming in a tad lower at 335.6 million. Apple is third in the list, with total shipments coming in at 135.8 million, followed by ZTE at nearly half that with 71.7 million. Total shipments from other vendors totaled 635.4, for a grand total of 1.6 billion phones shipped globally in 2012.

This represents a slow but steady increase in mobile phone sales annually, with 2012 growing over 2011 by about 2-percent. Samsung nabbed 25-percent of the market share and experienced fairly substantial shipment increases, with 2011 coming in at 327.4 million units. Nokia, meanwhile, suffered a large drop in shipments, with 2011 coming in at 417.1 million units and 2012 falling to 335.6. ZTE also experienced a relatively large drop over 2011 from 78.1 to 71.7.

Nokia is said to have experienced its drop due to competition from Samsung, which dominated the mobile market, and Apple, which interfered with sales in several locations. Speaking of Apple, 2012 proved to be a record year for it, with the company experiencing 46-percent in growth, largely due to increased demand in Asia and the US/Canada.

[via Business Wire]

As he mentioned in the TV interview with Brian Williams a while back, television is “an area of intense interest” for Apple, and what was once a small niche for Apple, is now an area that the company wants to capitalize on. Cook says that “there is a lot we can contribute to the space,” but he resisted sharing any more information on the subject.

We’ve already heard plenty of rumors about an Apple television set, including hearsay that Sharp is working on some display panels for the rumored television, while Foxconn is said to be testing various models of the Apple television, including sizes that range from 46 inches to 55 inches. Obviously, we’re keeping the salt by our sides until we hear something from Apple, but it leaves us with many questions.

So, while we didn’t really get anymore information out of the Apple execs as far as their plans for a possible Apple television set, we were told that the television sector is something that Apple is at least interested in, so we wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up diving deep into the industry to supplement its Apple TV STB.

This quarter also represents a lovely jump for the iPad with 22.9 million units sold compared to just 15.4 million one year ago this same quarter. This is largely due to the iPad mini we must expect, while the iPhone’s jump is certainly due to the launch of the iPhone 5 and its fully-active status in this quarter’s reading.

The full financial results of this quarter include a massive 61 percent of all revenue for international sales, while average weekly revenue for the company jumped nearly a full billion dollars compared to one year ago with $4.2 billion per week. This report includes 12.7 million iPods sold compared to a slightly larger number a year ago at 15.4 million, letting us know that Apple’s sales aren’t all going up – some are merely adjusting, so to speak.

You’ll be able to see the full results of this quarter’s announcements through our own massive Apple hub right this minute if you check the must-read and daily news sections, with Apple letting the world know once again that they remain dominant. Let us know if you feel this quarter’s iPhone sales numbers represent what you expected them to sell now that the iPhone 5 is on the market and iOS 5 is running strong!

The following comparison you’ll have to take with a bit of salt water because it’s certainly not perfect, but it can be used as a general guide for what we’re about to see from Apple. If you take Apple’s previous sales quarter announcement (which again, doesn’t line up perfectly with Verizon’s month-to-month quarter), you’ll find that Apple sold a total of 26.9 million iPhones. That includes 9 days of iPhone 5 sales while, again, Verizon’s includes 10 days of sales (so the quarters are pretty close, anyway.)

The amount of iPhones sold by Verizon compared to Apple’s total altogether shows that Verizon was responsible for 11.52% of all iPhone sales. If this number holds true through the quarter that’s being reported by Verizon today, Apple is about to report a quarter where they’ve sold one entirely massive amount of iPhones. Keeping in mind this number is entirely based on the percentage of iPhones Verizon sold compared to Apple’s total in the past, Apple may well be announcing a financial quarter in which they’ve sold 56 million iPhones total.

That’s a massive amount of iPhones, needless to say, and it’s well above projections no matter where you’re looking for early guesses. According to the SF Chronicle and analyst Brian White, this projection isn’t just a guess – they’ve got the Wall Street analysis showing 48 million units sold, too. Take that with some salt, of course, but stick around this week to see what Apple’s numbers are this week and come back to see how accurate these numbers were. It could be big, massive, gigantic!

However, while the growth of Lenovo seems significant, outpacing everyone else in the PC industry, it still wasn’t a good as the growth the company had earlier in 2012. Q3 saw Lenovo’s shipment growth up a whopping 30%. According to IDC, that didn’t give Lenovo quite enough momentum to pass HP, which held a slim third quarter lead, holding 15.9% of the PC market, while Lenovo held 15.7%.

However, if Lenovo keeps up the effort, they could easily see themselves blasting past HP before long. It seems many are questioning HP’s commitment to the PC business in the first place. After deciding to stay in the PC business after announcing that they would possibly sell it off, many potential customers remained skeptical.

Finishing out the top five PC makers on the list, according to IDC, include third-place Dell, whose shipments declined by 20.8% in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier, Acer, whose PC shipments declined by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, and ASUS, whose shipments grew by 5.6%, making them the only company besides Lenovo to see a gain in sales.

[via Computerworld]

Thus far, Nintendo has raked in about $300 million from U.S. sales of the Wii U, compared to the $270 million or so it made with the Wii when it was at this stage in its life cycle. Overall, December proved to be a good month for the company, with it selling over 2.65 million hardware units total, as well as achieving some other notable milestones, including selling more than 580,000 copies total of New Super Mario Bros. U.

Likewise, the Wii console sold just under 475,000 units, bringing the all-time sales number up to 40.8 million. Following on its heels, Just Dance 3 earned the honor of being the tenth Wii game to sell over 5 million copies. The DS sold almost half a million units for an all-time total of 53 million sold, while the 3DS sold 1.25 million units for a lifetime total of 7.7 million.

Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing Scott Moffitt offered this statement. “While the Wii launch established new benchmarks in the United States, Wii U has surpassed its predecessor in perhaps the most important category: revenue generation. The demand for the Deluxe SKU, which was essentially sold out at retail this holiday, and the strong attach rate of New Super Mario Bros. U, shows that we have the value and the games to drive momentum in 2013.”

Likewise, the IDC report says that discs will be the main source of gaming revenue for quite some time despite the rough last two years developers and publishers have had. Game disc sales are expected to stabilize next year and then rise in 2014. This isn’t to say that discs’ digital counterparts aren’t having an effect, with the report stating that disc sales are expected to decline by 3-percent annually through 2016.

IDC’s Research Manager Lewis Ward offered this statement. “It doesn’t appear that alternative platforms – set-top boxes from cable companies, Web-connected smart TVs, and so on – are positioned to materially disrupt the trajectory of the ‘big 3′ console OEMs in 2013 or 2014. Discs will remain the console game revenue mainstay for years to come.”

As far as the Xbox 360 goes, Microsoft states that its console held 7 out of 10 top bestselling games, including Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed III, Halo 4, and Far Cry 3. Microsoft sold 1.4 million consoles last month, making its 24th straight top-spot month in a row. The company has stated it expects the Xbox 360 to hold strong through this year.

[via IDC]

In total, 2,241,475 people pledged $319,786,629, resulting in 18,109 successfully-funded projects. This means that backers pledged $606.76 per minute on average. Out of the more than 2.2 million people who backed Kickstarter projects, 570,672 of them backed two or more projects, while just over 50,000 back ten or more. 452 people backed 100 or more projects.

Kickstarter also notes that people in 177 countries have backed projects, which accounts for about 90% of all the countries in the world. Furthermore, out of the 13 categories that Kickstarter has, Music was the most-funded category, seeing over 5,000 successfully-funded projects, and the Games category saw the most money pledged, over $83 million.

Other categories, including Art, Film, Music, Publishing, and Theater each had more than 1,000 funded projects. Out of the 18,000 funded projects, 17 of them raised $1 million or more, which says a lot about what it takes to have a very successful project on the online service. 17 projects is only 0.0009% out of the funded projects on Kickstarter.

Overall, the latest results suggest AT&T smartphone sales for all of 2012 will be about 26.7 million units, slightly ahead of its previous forecast of 26 million. earlier last year. The carrier is trying to bounce back from the third quarter, when it added only 151,000 contract subscribers, compared to 1.5 million with Verizon.

AT&T averaged daily sales of more than 110,000 smartphones, which includes iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 devices. AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said that the carrier’s subscribers “are the industry’s most valuable postpaid subscribers with average revenues twice that of non-smartphone subscribers.”

Verizon had good things to say about its fourth quarter as well. CEO Lowell McAdam yesterday called their Q4 2012 “historic” and mentioned that it was their best quarter ever as they added 2.1 million net subscribers. AT&T plans to report its full fourth-quarter results on January 24, and Verizon on the 22nd.

Indeed, the Wii U sold 400,000 units in its first week on the shelves in the US, and while we don’t have any numbers for Europe, we do know that the console managed more than 300,000 sales during its first weekend of availability in Japan. Despite that strong start, Bhatia said that there has been an abundance of Wii Us on shelves at GameStop, which suggests slow sales. Bhatia also said that the attach rate for new console sales was “low,” so players aren’t buying many games when they go to pick up their new Wii U.

That may be easily explained – after all, a number of launch titles for the Wii U were simply ports of older Xbox 360 and PS3 games. Perhaps gamers are waiting for more new titles before deciding to splurge on Wii U games? Bhatia points out that the Wii U Deluxe bundles are selling better than basic models, which is hardly surprising considering the Deluxe bundle offers a 32GB hard drive to the basic set’s 8GB of storage.

The Deluxe bundle also bestows a pack-in copy of Nintendo Land upon consumers, so it’s pretty easy to see why customers are opting for that edition over the basic set. If this is true, it’s rather disappointing news, but remember that the Wii U is still very young. 2013 will be a big year for the new console, so we’ll be getting a better idea of how it’s performing as we slowly make our way toward 2014. Stay tuned.

[via GameSpot]

Developer 4J Studios tweeted the news on New Year’s Eve, saying that the Xbox 360 edition of Minecraft “passed 5 million sales.” A week prior to that, Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson tweeted that the game had sold over 453,000 copies on Christmas Eve alone, through both PC copies and the Xbox Live Arcade.

Another tweet from 4J Studios today announced that the development team has returned to work and is working on fixing a handful of bugs brought on by Minecraft’s Title Update 7, which launched last month. The team has promised that a patch for the update will be released sometime this month.

Title Update 7 introduced animal breeding, potion brewing, experience points, enchantment tables, and new biomes and items. Title Update 8, which is still in development, will bring “The End,” a floating island made of Obsidian, a material called End Stone, a home to a high concentration of Endermen creatures, and a boss called the Ender Dragon.

Of course, depending on who you talk to, you might hear that Torchlight II is better than Diablo III, despite the fact that it was developed by a smaller team and is offered for a fraction of the price. Torchlight II gave fans who didn’t care for Diablo III‘s skill and item system a more traditional action RPG experience, complete with attribute and skill points for each and every level up. Attribute and skill points – a staple of the action RPG to many – were missing from Diablo III, which didn’t sit well with some gamers.

Torchlight II likely has its low price point to thank for such success. Players get a lot of game for just $20, so it isn’t much of a surprise to see the game doing so well. If you haven’t picked it up and want to see what all of the fuss is about, you might like to know that it’s available for $15 in the Steam holiday sale from now until January 5.

Does this mean we’ll see another Torchlight? Perhaps, but it probably won’t be coming anytime soon. Runic recently said that it’s going to lay off the Torchlight series now that Torchlight II has arrived, ditching the plan to make an MMO set in the universe. The success of Torchlight II, however, might just make the studio change its mind when it comes to future installments. Stay tuned.

Ford’s announcement shoveled a lot of praise on the Focus, which is the best-selling nameplate of 2012 according to Polk new vehicle registration numbers. Those numbers show that 737,856 new Ford Focus cars were registered in the period between January and September, so the number of new registrations might be a touch higher here in December. In addition, Polk named the Ford Fiesta the world’s best-selling B-car, racking up 560,061 new registrations in the same period.

The accolades don’t stop with just the Focus and the Fiesta, though, as the F-Series’ 576,339 new registrations was enough to make it the world’s fourth best-selling nameplate of the year. This means that Ford has three cars in Polk’s top ten for 2012, making it the only company to pull that off this year. Not too bad, Ford.

Finally, Ford says that total EcoBoost-powered car sales should top 520,000 by the time everything is tallied up. This figure counts all of the sales since EcoBoost was introduced back in 2009, so no, Ford didn’t sell more than half a million EcoBoost cars in 2012 alone. Still, those a pretty encouraging numbers for environmentally-minded consumers, so let’s hope Ford keeps it up!

Samsung announced last month that they sold over five million Galaxy Note II units worldwide, and it’s very likely that number has grown since then, and will continue to grow for some time now. Sales of the Galaxy Note II were three times higher than its predecessor as far as early sales numbers are concerned.

The Galaxy Note reached 10 million-unit sales in 10 months after launch, but the Galaxy Note II is expected to reach that milestone in half the time given the current momentum that it has. Samsung says that a variety of new applications along with S-Pen functionality mostly contributed to the continued popularity of the device.

The Galaxy Note II features a gigantic 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1280×720 resolution. On the inside, there’s Samsung’s own Exynos 4412 quad-core chip clocked at 1.6GHz paired with 2GB of RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage. It also comes packing with a huge 3,100mAh battery for all day productivity.

[via MK News]

AppSales rounds up all of the price drops and discounts on Android apps in the Google Play store, and presents them in any to digest fashion that makes it easy to follow all of the holiday sales this year. The app seems to be really easy to navigate, and it actually looks and feels like an Android app, so users will have no problem getting accustomed to it.

However, one of the biggest features of the app is how it separates the good apps from the bad. It won’t show all the terrible apps that you’ve probably never heard of, and instead will show only the popular apps from reputable developers. This is a huge weight off of users’ shoulders, since there are literally hundreds of thousands of apps in the Google Play store.

The app also notifies you of price drops and allows you to like or comment on apps. Plus, it will even let you create your own custom filters for what kind of apps you’re interested in, and what kind of notifications you received based on that information. You can also look at detailed price history of an app to get an idea of when it usually goes on sale throughout the year.

AppSales is a free download and it’s available now in the Google Play store.

[via Android Community]

According to 12-week sales numbers from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech, a firm that tracks smartphone sales across several markets on a regular basis, Apple is at its highest-ever share of smartphone sales in the country, at just over 53%. In this case, Apple’s gain was Android’s and RIM’s loss. Android dropped 10% from last year, while RIM dropped 6%.

However, Android is still dominating in other parts of the world, mainly Europe, where Google’s mobile operating system is at its highest-ever share of sales at 61%, with Samsung leading the charge as far as manufacturers are concerned. Furthermore, Android is in the lead in the other important markets, including Australia, China, and Brazil.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone is gaining momentum, thanks to the platform’s big version 8 release a couple of months ago. Microsoft’s mobile OS has now surpassed RIM in the US market as the third-most-popular mobile platform, but of course, it’s still way behind iOS and Android by quite a bit.

Average estimates from several different Russian publications concluded that iPhone 5 sales over the three-day period were around 20,000 units, which may not sound like a lot, but that’s actually about 40% of all smartphones that have been legally imported into the country, and it seems most buyers bought the 32GB and 64GB versions of the new phone, according to the statistics.

However, it’s said that interest in grey-market iPhone 5 units is high, and that most people who bought an entry-level 16GB version of the new handset did so through grey-market avenues. Plus, a lot of grey-market customers were afraid that official pricing of the new phone was going to be too high.

Besides China and Russia, the other 31 countries that received the iPhone 5 over the weekend include Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Plus, the iPhone 5 is also launching in even more countries on December 21, including Egypt, Barbados, and Vietnam. Be sure to check out our full review of Apple’s new handset to learn more.

[via Applemix]

Up until the days of the launch of the iPhone 5 in China, wireless carrier China Unicom racked up 100,000 reservations on the first day of pre-orders, while in just three days, it racked up over 200,000 reservations. That’s quite in impressive number, but two million sold in three days is even more impressive.

China wasn’t the only country that the iPhone 5 launched in on Friday, though. Apple released their new smartphone in 32 other countries, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. The iPhone 5 is also launching in even more countries on December 21, including Egypt, Barbados, and Vietnam.

Both China Unicom and China Telecom have begun offering the iPhone 5 with the same options and color combinations that US users have been enjoying, including both black and white versions with different storage sizes available. The phone is available with either WCDMA or CDMA cellular technology depending on what Chinese carrier users prefer, and buyers can pick up a contract-free iPhone 5 starting at ¥5,288 (around $850 USD) in China.

The problem is not with the device itself, but rather the competition it is up against. When given the prospect of choosing either a dedicated ebook reader that can do little else than display text or a tablet running Android or iOS, the choice is obvious for most consumers. The increase in affordable Android tablets in particular has hurt the dedicated e-ink ebook reader market.

This information comes from the research firm iSuppli, which looked at sales data from the last five years and noted a sharp drop in sales. This comes after a rather robust and steady sales increase that held firm for five years. Perhaps the biggest blow to the market was when companies began offering Android tablets specifically as ereaders, such as the Kindle Fire and certain Nook devices.

In 2011, over 20 million dedicated ebook readers were shipped worldwide. If the current drop in sales figures holds, however, iSuppli estimates that only 7 million dedicated readers will go out in the 2015 – 2016 time span. As the agency points out, this is not an unexpected fate given the dedicated ereader’s rather singular function. Consumers are gravitating towards gadgets that can function as multiple pieces of technology, which tablets offer.

[via iSuppli]

The company shared an infographic today that breaks everything down. The infographic tells us that “US mobile transacted volume grew 133%” over last year’s biggest mobile shopping day. We can also plainly see that this is just the latest in a string of big Sundays for eBay, as December 9 managed to top December 2 and November 25, which round out the top three biggest mobile days of 2012 for the company.

eBay wasn’t the only one to experience massive mobile shopping volume on Sunday, as it was a big day for PayPal too. December 9 was PayPal’s second biggest shopping day of the year, coming in behind Sunday, December 2. On that day, PayPal’s “global mobile payment volume grew 221%” year-over-year, so it sounds like executives had a lot to smile about on Monday morning.

eBay also said that 1 out of every 3 purchases made on the website involve a mobile touch point, whether people are making purchases with their phone or simply checking out listings. While Sunday was undoubtedly a great day for eBay and PayPal, there’s a chance that December 9 will be topped by another day by the time 2012 is over – after all, the holiday shopping season isn’t over yet, and it’s bound to get even more frantic as we barrel toward the end of the month.

While 10 million isn’t nearly close to Samsung’s 30 million sold with the Galaxy S III, calling their 10 million achievement a “modest milestone,” LG still loves to boast sales figures. The company says the 10 million mark is “proof that many consumers want attractive smartphones with distinctive — not “me too” — styling.”

The L-series consists of the basic Optimus L3, the Optimus L5, the Optimus L7 and the aforementioned Optimus L9. The company promotes these handsets as fashionable alternatives to the sea of all the identical Android phones available to consumers, an argument that LG pushes for with these devices. And while even the L9 isn’t top-of-the-line, it’s a perfect example of a budget handset that performs.

10 million units sold is impressive for any smartphone, but we’re talking about four different handsets that have combined for 10 million sold, which comes down to 2.5 million per model on average. Personally, we’d love to see the breakdown of which L-series smartphone has proven the most popular out of the bunch.

De la Vega revealed that AT&T has sold 6.4 million smartphones during the first two months of Q4 this year, which he says puts the carrier on “record pace” for the quarter. The numbers have also caused the company to edit their projections for the full year, and they now expect smartphone sales of 26 million for 2012, which is one million more than they previously expected.

However, de la Vega was mum on tablet sales, but he noted that he “can’t fathom how many tablets will be under the Christmas tree.” He also didn’t break down the carrier’s smartphone sales by specific devices or brands, but he said that AT&T has improved its supply of iPhones, and he’s also “really excited” about Windows Phone sales.

It seems we should be looking forward to a rather excellent-looking Q4 2012 report from AT&T come January if de le Vega’s enthusiasm is any indication. Compared to this time last year, AT&T sold 9.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, so if AT&T keeps up their current streak, they’ll barely break that number with a possible 9.6 million phones sold this quarter.

[via CNET]

Previously, Activision announced shortly after Black Ops II‘s launch that the game made $500 million within 24 hours of release, eclipsing Modern Warfare 3‘s record of $400 million the year before. Of course, the lack of a five-day total from Activision gave some analysts cause for concern that Black Ops II wasn’t selling as well as expected, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

The sales number is based on the Chart-Track retail customer sell-through information, as well as internal company estimates, and it represents a milestone for the first-person shooter series. Black Ops II is now the fastest-selling Call of Duty game of all-time, and perhaps the fastest-selling entertainment product, having reached the $1 billion mark quicker than the film Avatar, which set the box office record in 2009 by reaching $1 billion in 17 days.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II launched on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 13 in North America, and a Wii U version was released on November 18. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick says that “life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for Harry Potter and Star Wars, the two most successful movie franchises of all time.”

Apple hasn’t officially said anything on the matter, but it has been noted that the stipulation “two per customer” for the iPhone 5 has been removed from Apple’s online store. In addition, it also seems the ten-per-lifetime rule is also gone. Says MacRumors, customers are instead imposed with a ten-per-transaction limit, with no lifetime limit on the number that can be bought.

This comes a few days after Apple began selling unlocked iPhone 5′s via its online store, which were limited to two-per-customer. A quick jaunt through the Apple Store’s checkout system confirms that more than two devices can be ordered at once. You can nab the 16GB model for $649, the 32GB for $749, and the 64GB for $849.

The iPhone 5 has a 4-inch Retina screen and an anodized aluminum body. The device runs an A6 chip, and is the same width as the iPhone 4S despite the bigger display. While last week shipping on the Apple Online Store stated “Available to ship: 1 week,” it now says “Available: 2 – 4 business days.” This is a big drop from the almost 4 week wait that it peaked at.

[via CNET]

Microsoft’s aim with Windows 8 (it’s aim amongst many, many aims, of course) was to make the upgrade process from Windows 7 to Windows 8 as easy as it could possible be. With news today from Microsoft’s own Tami Reller setting the tone, industry and financial analysts galore sat with their fingernails grinding into their kneecaps at the news at the Credit Suisse 2012 Annual Technology Conference. Reller’s presentation was brief, and let us all know the simplicity of the truth.

“The journey is just beginning, but I am pleased to announce today that we have sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses so far.”” – Reller

It’s worth mentioning that Microsoft’s latest update on the number of Windows 7 operating system licenses sold was over 600 million to-date in June – that more than a few months after the company announced 525 million Windows 7 licenses (in January.) This news was also accompanied (earlier this week) by a tip that Microsoft had sold a whopping 750,000 Xbox 360 gaming consoles over the holiday weekend – impressive for a system that’s more than its fair share of months in the market.

What’s missing from this equation is the sales numbers pushing the rest of the Microsoft made-and-sold products. If you’re thinking we’re going to get the low-down on how many Microsoft Surface tablets have been sold thus far, you might want to think again. With the less than pleasing press those bigs of hardware have received thus far, we wouldn’t be surprised if they keep said numbers under wraps until investors come knocking.

[via Microsoft]

According to estimates from Adobe‘s Dig­i­tal Index, online shopping on November 26 (Cyber Monday) grew 17% from last year to hit $1.98 billion. Shopping on mobile devices made up 22% of all Cyber Monday sales according to Adobe’s estimates, and toys, sporting goods, and health and beauty products were the retail categories that showed the most growth.

Adobe also states that social networks were responsible for only 2% of referral traffic to retail websites, but both Facebook and Twitter combined to account for 77% of all referrals from social networks. While Cyber Monday deals might have seemed underwhelming to some, it seems a lot of people were able to spot great deals this year.

Overall, from November 1 to November 23, $13.7 billion has been spent online, which is a 16% increase from last year. This year’s Black Friday sales resulted in a 26% increase from last year’s Black Friday. Thanksgiving Day was also a busy time to buy online. Shoppers spent a total of $633 million for a 32% increase compared to last year’s Thanksgiving Day.

“So what do you think of the autumn sale?” one of my friends asked.

“Not impressed,” I replied. The look his face indicated that he agreed with me.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good deal as much as the next gamer, and I am always willing to spill some serious cash during a Steam sale. I went into the autumn sale thinking that I was going to be buying up games left and right, but we’ve now entered the final day of the sale and so far I’ve purchased two games for a grand total of $17.48. I’m in fine standing with both my bank and my girlfriend as a result, but I can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed.

There have been some good deals, to be sure – earlier in the sale, Skyrim took the stage as a featured deal, and right now Dishonored and Torchlight II, the latter of which being one of my 2012 favorites, are both 50% off. The problem, though, is that there’s going to be another Steam sale in less than a month. It’ll be big too, as Steam holiday sales always are. The autumn sale just pales in comparison to the blowout events that the holiday and summer sales have traditionally been, which leaves me wondering why we even need the autumn sale in the first place.

I understand why the autumn sale exists – everyone is going nuts over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so Valve holds a sale of its own to net some of the shoppers who have cash and are ready to spend it, provided the deals are good enough. With the autumn sale, however, it’s hard to get excited in the same way I’m excited for the holiday sale. In fact, it feels like the autumn sale is intentionally watered down in anticipation of the incoming holiday sale. It’s shorter than its summer and holiday siblings, there aren’t any publisher catalogs on offer, and the discounts don’t seem as deep. So, what’s the point when the holiday sale is knocking on the door?

Maybe this is all in my head. Maybe the problem is with me and not with the sale itself. With the holiday sale on the horizon, I’m hesitant to spend money during the autumn sale because there’s a feeling that they might be even cheaper in just a few short weeks. Even if I see a deal I know is good on a game I’ve been wanting to play, I question whether or not I should take advantage of it since I know (or at least assume) I’ll spend a lot of money during the holiday sale.

I can’t be the only one who feels that way, can I? I’d be interested to see how many people bite during the autumn sale in comparison to the summer and holiday sales, because I would imagine that the numbers for the autumn sale end up falling short. Valve – and other digitial distribution platforms for that matter – have something of a unique problem here. Most retailers don’t hold a holiday sale on the scale of Valve’s, only hosting massive sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since PC gamers are used to blowout holiday sales and therefore expect them year after year, it makes pulling off an equally impressive Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale a bit trickier for those in the digital distribution arena.

What about you – has this been a great sale for you, or are you like me and feeling a little underwhelmed at the end of it all?

EBay saw a 133-percent increase in mobile payments over their 2011 figures. PayPal saw a bigger jump, with a 173-percent increase over last year’s figure. The most active time period for mobile payments was between noon and 1pm Pacific time (3pm and 4pm Eastern time). This is in line with the spike in mobile usage that has happened over the last couple years.

For PayPal, the cities that clocked the most mobile payments includes Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and New York, in order by quantity. Mobile payments from Thanksgiving 2010 to 2011 increased 511-percent. If the numbers are any indication, shoppers are embracing the convenience of shopping from the comfort of their home.

This time span lines up with when Instagram traffic reached its peek today. The photo-filter app experienced its biggest day ever today, with in excess of 10 million photos being shared over a 24-hour period. At the height of its traffic, 226 Thanksgiving images were shared per second. This trumped the 800,000 shared during Hurricane Sandy.

[via Venture Beat]

Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t teased any of their deals yet, but you can most likely expect the number of deals and the amount of savings to be minimal. Apple has never really taken part in Black Friday sales to a major extent, so we wouldn’t expect it to be any different this year. However, we can guess that they may have some good deals on iPads according to the teaser image above.

However, as far as other products from Apple, there’s been no word on what they’ll be discounting. The only way to find out is to wait until Friday in order to see what they have on sale. Online deals will start at midnight PST (3 am EST), so if you live on the east coast, be prepared to set your alarm for the middle of the night.

As far as retail locations, Apple’s flagship Fifth Avenue location in New York City will open its doors at midnight, but most locations will open up at a more reasonable hour around 6-7 am, depending on the location. You can see what the holiday hours are for your local Apple store by visiting the company’s website.

[via BGR]