Apple now represents about a fifth of all technology sales in the US, new NPD data showed Monday. By the end of 2011, 19 percent of revenue in the US was related to an Apple product. The company was now the top company selling technology in the US, topping HP, Samsung, Sony, and Dell even when the others could include their sales from all categories.
An upgraded Apple TV media hub might come sooner than thought after signs emerged that multiple stores ran low on stock. Amazon, Best Buy, Buy.com, Radio Shack, and Target all show the device either as out of stock or taking weeks to ship. Apple and others do have supply, but it follows a pattern of third-party resellers usually running out first.
Honeywell on Monday sued Nest Labs, makers of thermostats, for allegedly violating its patents in the US. Seven patents related to thermostat technology are in contention, with some focusing on methods of operating and programming the devices. The lawsuit also aims to involve Best Buy into it, which sells Nest Labs' thermostats.
A new Best Buy customer survey is asking for feedback on a potential "Apple HDTV," says The Verge. Mockup promotional text touts that "Apple finally reinvents what a TV can do," and describes the display as a 42-inch, 1080p LED model, running the same version of iOS used in the current Apple TV set-top. Like the set-top, the TV could be controlled via an iPad or iPhone, fetch content from iCloud, and access services like Netflix, YouTube, and Flickr.
Both Americans and Canadians alike got the opportunity to preorder the Samsung Galaxy Note on Sunday. An AT&T listing lets Americans pick the 4G device and a matching plan ahead of the February 19 release. Contract-free purchases aren't available ahead of time on the $300 Android phone, although both the very dark carbon blue and ceramic white colors are options.
Motorola has started up a return program after a minor but still significant privacy gaffe during a Woot auction. About 100 of 6,200 refurbished Xoom Wi-Fi tablets sold during auctions between October and December are believed to have still had some private data stored inside. These could have included anything from account logins through to personal files, Motorola said.
A few days later than expected, Acer's new Tegra 2-based 10.1-inch tablet has gone on sale in the US. The Iconia Tablet A200 is now available at Best Buy. The tablet had been anticipated to arrive on US shores this Monday.
Canadians have been hit by up to 24 known cases of iPad 2s being sold substituted with clay at major retailers in Vancouver, including Future Shop, Best Buy, Walmart, and London Drugs. According to CTV News, customers were sold boxes that looked like new. However, while perfectly sealed, they were given weight by clay, where in at least one instance, a charger was also replaced with clay.
The last-minute delay of the Motorola Droid 4 was inadvertently confirmed after a pair of sightings. Visting the Best Buy Reward Zone shows a picture of a bonus point giveaway with the unannounced Android slider clearly in view. Separately, a scrape of the DroidDoes.com page by a Droid-Life tipster has produced audio samples that showed Verizon had already prepared at least some of a Droid 4 page.
Best Buy kicked off a rare buy-one-get-one iPhone promo only for Saturday. Those who buy a 32GB iPhone 4 on a contract for $200 can get a second model for free. The deal requires the second be on a contract from the same carrier, though it can be AT&T or Verizon.
Early holiday shopping helped push Apple past some of the largest stores online for visitors, comScore said Thursday. Apple's website and iTunes combined got over 79.2 million unique visitors in November, large enough to push it past eBay (72.1 million) and even retail giant Walmart (58.5 million). Other major shopping sites it eclipsed included Best Buy (36.5 million) and Sears (31 million).
ASUS' claims of the Transformer Prime arriving on time have been cast into doubt on Monday. In spite of an intended launch Monday, new reports from Engadget readers buying from Amazon have seen their orders "inadvertently cancelled" and ask them to pre-order again with a $10 gift card as compensation. Best Buy, meanwhile, has told advance order customers that theirs have been "back-ordered" by one to two weeks.
Siri now indirectly lets iPhone 4S users have access to information from Best Buy, notes RazorianFly. Earlier this week Wolfram announced that its Wolfram Alpha service would integrate data based on public Best Buy APIs, covering some 35,000 products. Because of a built-in Alpha applet, 4S users can simply ask Siri questions related to appliances and electronics to pull up Best Buy results.
A series of newly leaked documents from retailer Best Buy and wireless provider Verizon reveal the two are already stocking Galaxy Nexus handsets. The screenshot of an internal memo shared by Android Central reveals Best Buy already has the handsets in stock but isn't yet allowed to share this information with the public. The launch date isn't being revealed, however, but the device is expected to come out on December 9.
TJ Maxx on Saturday acted on its recently rumored $399 iPad 2 promo. The 16GB Wi-Fi tablet costs $399, a full $100 less than it does officially, while supplies last. Stock is known to be low to start, if not already exhausted, and won't include every store.
RIM provided mixed details of its attempt to clear excess BlackBerry PlayBook stock. The company revealed that it was taking a provision of $360 million after tax, $485 million before, to account for the worth of its unsold tablets. There was still a "high level" of inventory, the company said.
Best Buy and Mophie have announced recalls for certain iPhone and iPod battery packs. In the case of the iPhone, Best Buy has issued a recall notice for its Rocketfish branded iPhone 3G and 3GS battery case. Mophie has also issued a recall notice for its battery cases for the iPod touch 4G. In both instances, the packs have experienced overheating problems, which could result in a fire.
"iPhone" was the top search term on Yahoo during 2011, the company has announced. Most of the top 10 list consists of celebrities, the second- and third-place spots in fact belonging to Casey Anthony and Kim Kardashian. Yahoo remarks that a piece of electronics hasn't dominated the list since 2002, when Sony's PlayStation 2 occupied the top spot. The last technology-related term to peak was filesharing service KaZaA in 2003.
The Galaxy Nexus could hit Best Buy shelves on December 11, according to a leaked inventory screen image sent in to Engadget. The handset has been pegged for a December 8 release elsewhere, including Verizon itself. While the Best Buy screen says the handsets will be in stock on the 11th, that doesn't necessarily mean that's when it will go on sale at the retailers.
ASUS' Transformer Prime tablet, the first to sport NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 chipset, will indeed ship in the US on December 8, the company confirmed. ASUS spokespeople revealed to Netbook News that the first market to receive the device will be Taiwan, with deliveries arriving tomorrow, December 1. The US is next, with December 8 shipments, while Europe will get it throughout January, depending on the country.
Best Buy on Monday explained the rationale behind its decision to cancel BlackBerry PlayBook orders and pull listings. The company responded that it still planned to carry the tablet and that shoppers had just "responded very positively" to the $300 price drop, selling out by mid-weekend. Its promo was still going on and would have a restock soon.
Signs that RIM has been growing increasingly eager to clear out BlackBerry PlayBooks grew on Monday with an apparent leak detailing an employee sale. Already cut to $199, the 16GB tablet is understood by multiple The Verge contacts to be selling at just $99 for RIM staff. Price drops are believed even steeper on the 32GB and 64GB models, which should cost just $149 and $199.
New analyst data may back up claims that Apple did extremely well on Black Friday. Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore says his firm checked with over 200 locations, divided between about 100 Apple Stores and 100 AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target outlets. Roughly 75 percent of Apple Stores were sold out of the iPhone 4S by the end of Friday, although by Saturday that number had dropped to 30 percent.
Best Buy raised questions on Thanksgiving weekend after it suddenly started cancelling Blackberry PlayBook orders. Shoppers have frequently reported orders being dropped, even if the order had already been charged and was virtually ready. Those on Best Buy's forums have mentioned the retailer being "overextended," while our own checks had one store say that "all" orders had been cancelled.
US retailer Best Buy has completely exhausted its online stock of the iPad 2, a check shows. All models are now listed as "sold out online," including even top-end 64GB 3G tablets. Stock was available as recently as earlier today.
Amazon has joined in a rare price race on Macs by dropping the price on the 11-inch MacBook Air. A brand-new, 1.6GHz Core i5 version of the ultraportable has dropped to $850, a full $150 less than its retail price. The discount is steeper than what's expected from Apple, which may stop at $898.
Best Buy and Target took turns at Thanksgiving deals with separate Apple discounts. Best Buy's iPad 2 lineup saw $45 taken off the price of every model. As of Thursday afternoon, all Wi-Fi versions save for the 64GB white model had sold out online, but the 3G versions were still in stock.
The Toshiba Portege Z830 series of ultrabooks is coming to Best Buy. An Intel Core i3-based version will be sold as an exclusive, available only though the national retailer. It will be priced at $899, $400 less than the category benchmark, the MacBook Air.
Amazon said Tuesday that it planned to bring all of its new Kindles to retail in sync with the Kindle Fire's November 15 ship date. Both the Android tablet as well as the regular Kindle and Kindle Touch will all be in stores at the same prices, including the $149 3G Kindle Touch. Best Buy, Office Depot, Radio Shack, Sam's Club, Staples, Target, and Walmart will all have them in stock.
Square, maker of the hardware and software required for vendors to take credit card payments, has recently landed Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group fame as one of its investors. This is the third piece of positive news for the company, which recently received $100 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Branson's investment amount isn't being specified, however.
Best Buy UK made an abrupt exit on Sunday. The British division, a collaboration with Carphone Warehouse, is now expected to formally announce a shutdown within the next few days. Ongoing losses as well as multiple executive departures have been cited as the causes.
Two retailers gave clues as to future plans for Android hardware on Saturday. A leak from Costco has put the Verizon edition of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus at a $290 price on a contract. The Android Central tip isn't concrete but suggests Costco will have a $10 discount off of Verizon's very common $300 price for new LTE-capable phones, like its Nexus model.
Best Buy is trying an unusual strategy to clear out phones tied to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launch. Those who pre-order or buy the first-person shooter between November 6 and 12 can get one of three HTC smartphones for free, including either the Droid Incredible 2, Evo 4G, or Inspire 4G. All of the free hardware requires a two-year contract.
Electronics retailer Best Buy has very little stock of the iPhone 4S remaining, claims RW Baird analyst William Power. "Best Buy was sold out at the vast majority of stores that we checked with, with many stores notifying customers of device shortages in their automatic greetings," he writes. The situation mirrors that of other US iPhone vendors.
(Update: HP runs out) Best Buy in an unusual Friday deal brought back the HP TouchPad for a special and possibly final deal. Anyone who buys an HP or Compaq desktop or notebook can add the 32GB version of the webOS tablet for the same $150 it cost during the fire sale period. The sale starts November 1 and doesn't have a specified end date.
Best Buy has launched a service targeting users of iOS and Android devices. The company's App Discovery Center makes it easier for recent smartphone and tablet owners to find and download needed apps. The center uses mobile app discovery technology from Appolicious to save time, organize options and make recommendations.
There are further indications that Samsung's newest flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus, also sometimes referred to as the Nexus Prime, may soon be hitting the streets. Earlier in this week, Samsung's UK sales director told an audience that it would be in stores "sooner than you think," and yesterday, the Android 4.0-based handset made its way into Verizon's Cellebrite inventory system. Today, Droid-Life reported that the phone has now appeared in Best Buy's inventory system as well.
The spied Motorola Xoom Family Edition tablet has now been made official. It runs on Android 3.1 and, as the name suggests, lets the whole family enjoy content thanks to the Kid Zone app from Zoodles that keeps kids away from inappropriate content. There is otherwise $40 worth of apps preloaded on the 10.1-inch slate.
Microsoft over the weekend provided a more definitive answer on the end of the Zune after repeatedconfusion as the Zune HD exited stock in earnest. Best Buy, the Microsoft Store, and Walmart all now show the MP3 player as out of stock. Microsoft had pulled the Zune HD from its Originals plan but, until now, still had supply in other stores.
CinemaNow is now offering 1080p HD movies for rental and purchase with the help of Intel. CinemaNow has added several hundred HD titles to their catalog. Previously, the division of Best Buy had only offered standard-definition media.
Many Canadian wireless providers have began offering the newly announced iPhone 4S for pre-orders. We've summarized the prices for the various capacity models at each. The device is available in either black or white at all, and the prices are in Canadian dollars.
Best Buy has begun accepting online and in-store preorders for the iPhone 4S. As with orders through Apple and its initial carrier partners, the retailer is promising availability on October 14th. One difference is the company's trade-in program, through which people can get a gift card worth up to $300 with the sale of an old phone in good condition. The card can be used towards a 4S purchase.
Intellectual Ventures swung back into its patent lawsuit campaign by targeting Motorola Mobility, with the company now filing a patent infringement complaint (PDF) in the US District Court of Delaware. According to the company's Chief Litigation Counsel Melissa Finocchio said Intellectual Ventures and Motorola Mobility weren't able to reach a licensing agreement after lengthy negotiations. It thus has a responsibility to its current customers and investors to defend its intellectual property rights, the company claimed.
The struggle for non-iPad tablets continued on Friday after Best Buy said it would permanently drop the price of the HTC Flyer down to $300. The cut is a steep $200 drop from its original price and will be permanent. Both online and retail stores should see the cut take effect October 1.
Price cuts on BlackBerry PlayBooks deepened on Thursday. A Best Buy deal is now dropping the immediate price down of a 16GB model to $300 without any qualifiers. It had already been offering discounts before but had previously relied on a $100 credit or gift card to go any further than $100.
In a sign of a less busy holiday shopping season, Best Buy announced it will hire about half of the temporary workers it did in 2010 in the US. The exact numbers are 15,000 compared to 29,000 from 2010, according to a Tuesday report. It's not alone either, with a quarter of the retailers surveyed by the Hay Group stating they are hiring less seasonal workers.
Toshiba has introduced an updated version of its 13.3-inch notebook for children, the Satellite L735D. The device, which was borne of collaboration between Toshiba and Best Buy, features bright green accents, a "wipeable" keyboard that is claimed to be easy to clean, and rubber bumpers on each of the corners.
Samsung's Series 7 performance notebooks are now up for pre-order over at Best Buy. Priced at $880, the 15.6-inch notebook on show uses a quad 2.2GHz Core i7 processor and is available in silver. There is 6GB of RAM onboard and a 750GB hard drive.
RIM's promises of cutting BlackBerry PlayBook prices to clear the slow-selling tablet have borne out as Canadian stores have started slashing prices. Best Buy and its sibling Future Shop, as well as Staples, have all dropped the price by $200 across the board to $300. The first two chains supply a gift card to get to the $300 price if bought in store, but all three give an immediate discount if the tablet is bought online.
Cricket made a big push to get prominence as a US cell carrier Thursday by unveiling a new Android smartphone as part of a larger push. The ZTE Score fits in the current entry level with a 3.5-inch, 320x480 capacitive touchscreen, a 600MHz processor, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. It carries a partly customized Android 2.3 but claims Cricket's Muve Music as its real advantage, with unlimited song and ringtone downloads when using the $55 combined data, text, and voice smartphone plan.
