In 2012, global music sales rose by 0.3 percent to $16.5 billion. This marks the first good year for the music industry since 1999.The music industry’s 21st century renaissance comes down to four factors: Better mobile technology, a growing global middle class, more music-listening options, and an effective crackdown on piracy that is making paid music a more attractive option.
Continue reading… “Global music sales growing for first time this century”
Asia-Pacific surpasses North America to become world’s No. 1 market for B2C ecommerce sales.
B2C ecommerce sales grew 21.1% to top $1 trillion for the first time in 2012, according to new global estimates by eMarketer.
Continue reading… “Ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion in 2012: Study”
Three billion dollars is almost triple the entire 2011 Black Friday sales of e-commerce sites in the United States.
The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba shocked the web last week with the news that its subsidiaries Taobao (like a Chinese eBay) and T-mall (like Amazon) sold a massive $3.06 billion in product in a single 24-hour period.
Continue reading… “Chinese e-commerce company had $3 billion in sales in just one day”
Horace Dediu’s chart
An excellent chart has from analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco shows the ratio of PCs sold to Macs sold each year since the early 1980s (via Philip Elmer-Dewitt, who notes that the peak year for Microsoft dominance was 2004).
Continue reading… “Ratio Of PCs to Macs sold has fallen to levels not seen since the 1990s”
Is your e-book reading you?
On the Kobo e-reader the average reader will take just seven hours to read the last book in Suzanne Collins’s “Hunger Games” trilogy, that’s about 57 pages an hour. Nearly 18,000 Kindle readers have highlighted the same line from the second book in the series: “Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.” And on Barnes & Noble’s Nook, the first thing that most readers do upon finishing the first “Hunger Games” book is to download the next one.
Continue reading… “What your e-reader knows about you”
The average sales price of homes in foreclosure or bank owned was $161,214.
The leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, RealtyTrac® has released it Q1 2012 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report™ which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 26 percent of all U.S. residential sales during the first quarter. The sales are up from 22% of all sales in the fourth quarter and up from 25 percent of all sales in the first quarter of 2011.
Continue reading… “Sales of foreclosed homes account for 26% of all home sales in the U.S.”
Digital music revenues grew 23.6% year-on-year.
For the first time the amount of money made from digital music services has outstripped the sale of traditional CDs and records, according to first quarter revenue figures from music industry trade body BPI.
Continue reading… “Digital music spending accounts for 55.5% of total music sales”
Smartphone sales will exceed 1.5 billion units per year by 2016.
Last year smartphone sales blew past the number of PCs sold, and they’ll be nearly twice PC sales this year, analyst Alex Cocotas of BI Intelligence predicts.
Ticket sales and box-office grosses decline in 2011.
In 2011, Hollywood dropped the ball as the movie business saw a decline in ticket sales and attendance fell to a 16-year low.
Continue reading… “Moviegoers attendance drops to 16-year low”
Android and Apple lead smartphone market.
Android operating system’s smartphone sales grew to 53% from January through October, up from 42% in 2010, and Apple’s iOS share rose to 29%, up from 21% last year, according to research firm NPD Group.
Continue reading… “Android and Apple lead smartphone market in U.S.”
A record number of background checks for gun purchases were performed over the Black Friday weekend, the FBI says.
Black Friday shoppers seized hot items like sleek flat-screen televisions, smartphones, computers and cut-rate designer clothing, But the shoppers also seized on another hot item for 2011: guns.
Continue reading… “Gun sales spiked on Black Friday”
Total video game sales fell 20% from $855.3 million in July 2010 to $687 million last month.
Video game sales have been dropping monthly. But, between June 2010 and June 2011 the drop in video game sales has been really big.
Continue reading… “Video game sales drops 20% in July”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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