WebProNews

Windows 7 Sales Outperform Vista Launch

Initial sales of Microsoft's Windows 7 software outperformed those of Vista's first few days on the U.S. market, according to the latest analysis from The NPD Group. Windows 7 software unit sales in the U.S. were 234 percent higher than Vista's first few days of sales. A combination of early discounts on pre-sales and a lack of promotional activity for the Ultimate version resulted in dollar sales that were 82 percent higher than Vista.

Word Of Mouth Has The Most Influence On Gamers

Among gamers, 41 percent report that they rely on word of mouth to get information on video games, according to a new report from the NPD Group. While this varies from one platform to another, all current platforms, including portables, rely on word of mouth above all other information sources. Followed by hands on play at friends or relatives friends homes at 31 percent. Magazines and online ads, along with incentives/coupons and social networking sites have the least influence on gamers at five percent.

Smartphone Sales Up 47% In Q2

In terms of sales of mobile phones in the U.S. feature phones still account for a considerable share of the market, even as smartphone sales continue to increase their share of overall handset sales, according to a new report from The NPD Group. Sales of new feature phones decreased 5 percent to 72 percent of new handset sales in the second quarter, while sales of new smartphones reached 28 percent of overall purchases, a 47 percent increase year-over-year.

Twitter Users Buy More Online Music

Active Twitter users are more engaged with online music and are more likely to make purchases than non-users of the microblogging service, according to a new report from the NPD Group. "NPD's latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool for communicating and networking," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

BlackBerry Outsells iPhone

An aggressive "buy-one-get-one" campaign by Verizon Wireless helped RIM's BlackBerry Curve overtake Apple's iPhone to become the best-selling consumer smartphone in the first quarter of 2009, according to a report by The NPD Group. RIM's consumer smartphone market share increased 15 percent to nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market in Q1 2009 versus the previous quarter, as Apple's and Palm's share both fell 10 percent.

Video Game Sales Dip In March

U.S. video game sales declined 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, compared to $1.72 billion in March 0f 2008, according to The NPD Group.

Online Music Purchases Increase

The number of Internet users paying for digital music increased by just over 8 million in 2008 to 36 million Internet users, according to a new study from The NPD Group. Purchases of online digital music downloads increased by 29 percent since last year; they now account for 33 percent of all music tracks purchased in the U.S. NPD's Digital Music Study, also found that there were nearly 17 million fewer CD buyers in 2008 compared to the previous year.

Online Gaming Continues To Grow

Online gaming for video game consoles and portables saw a significant increase from 19 percent in 2008 to 25 percent in 2009, according to a new report from The NPD Group. PC online gaming experienced a small decline over the same time period, but it was still the most widely used platform for online gaming.

Guitar Hero Reaches $1 Billion In Sales

Activision said today that its Guitar Hero franchise has sold $1 billion in North American sales in 26 months, according to the NPD Group.