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.

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.

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 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.

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