So why by all that’s holy, is “Transformers 2″ the best selling DVD/Blu-ray (in first week sales) of 2009? I think the issue is that this year has been somewhat dry as far as good movies go. “Transformers 2″ does appeal to a wider audience, and that’s why Paramount has sold 7.5 million copies in the first week that it’s been available. “Transformers 2″ did fall short of the 8.3 million discs sold in the first week by the original Transformers film.

This has been confirmed by both employees and witnesses. Microsoft has stated that the machines sold in their stores will be considered to be part of their signature line, and therefore will not include any unnecessary third party software. They will come preloaded with the optional Windows Live Essentials pack, Bing 3D Maps, Security Essentials, and the Zune client. Previously, the only PC manufacturer that has promised ‘craplet’ free systems has been Toshiba, however Sony and Dell have made such configurations available as an option.

[via electronista]

According to the press release, “Thousands of items are now available for Local Express Delivery. Amazon Prime members pay just $5.99 per item for the service.” Amazon Prime costs $79 per year and extends free two-day shipping or overnight shipping for $4 per item to subscribers. I have it and it’s totally worth it if you order a lot of stuff from Amazon.

Non-Prime members will pay quite a bit more for same day shipping, with items carrying a shipping fee based on the type of item ordered and, in some cases, the weight of the item. Certain items, like CDs and DVDs for instance, cost $10.99 per same-day shipment plus $2.99 per item. So order three CDs and it’ll cost you whatever the CDs are priced at plus $10.99 + $2.99 + $2.99 + $2.99. Not cheap but, hey, the heart wants what it wants.

Each of the seven eligible cities has a cutoff time by which products need to be ordered. In Seattle, where Amazon is headquartered, the cutoff time is 1:00 PM. In New York City and Philadelphia, it’s 10:00 AM; in Boston, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore it’s 10:30 AM; and in Las Vegas it’s 11:00 AM. Future cities include Chicago, Indianapolis, and Phoenix.

Amazon Launches Same Day Delivery in Seven Major Cities and Expands Saturday Delivery Options [Amazon.com]

Is it to early to proclaim—loudly, as you do—the practice of buying video games at retail dead? Yes, it probably is too early; yet we continue. Microsoft’s announcement today that it will make available, sometime this year, full retail games available for download via Xbox Live, may well be more important than Project Natal, or “Project Christmas” as I like to call it. (All those months spent learning Portuguese have finally paid off!) And while, yes, it make be too early to make any sort of rushed pronouncements, I’d say it’s say to start thinking about the future.

Now, to PC gamers, the ability to download full games via the Internet isn’t exactly shiny and new. Steam’s legitimacy has long been established, and smaller outfits like Good Old Games seem to be gaining traction. And, to be fair, console gamers have been able to buy older gamers, like Genesis-era Sonic, NES/SNES-era Mario and the original Halo, for a while. But the ability to buy something like Halo: ODST on launch day, right from the comfort of your couch, should be celebrated. (Note: I have no idea if Halo: ODST will be available for download. I just needed a new game to illustrate a dumb point.)

It’s a simple as this: would you rather download the game directly to your hard drive, and start playing it immediately, once the release date hits, or would you rather go to a store—wherever that it!—or wait for UPS to show up, care of Amazon.com? Provided you have the hard drive space—come now, Microsoft, you really ought to lower the price of the 360’s hard drive—I’s say the choice is obvious. Send me a PDF of the manual and we’re all set.

(I write this wondering how Sony will handle the PSP Go!. Assuming it is, indeed, UMD-less, will it totally move PSP game buying to the PSN Store, or will you still be able to walk into Wal-Mart and buy a box with a downloadable code inside? After all, not every young teen has access to a credit card; how will these kids buy games, hence?)

And you do wonder how companies like Best Buy and GameStop will react to this. Probably with some quick-fire PR speak: “We think gamers value the experience of going to a store, and speaking to a knowledgeable sales rep about all the latest titles.” Well, I don’t, but I’m not exactly Joe Sixpack when it comes to such things.

I, for one, welcome our download-only overlords.

Photo: Flickr

Though the kiosks, which are from a company called e-Play, are currently located in almost 80 Wal-Mart stores across the Northeast, you don’t actually get in-store credit for games and movies you trade in. Instead, the money is put onto your credit or debit card within 2-3 days. A Wal-Mart rep told Kotaku that if the program is successful, the retail giant would eventually let people receive Wal-Mart credit — presumably instant credit — that could be spent in the store.

Trade-in prices are set by e-Play and are “based on a proprietary algorithm that can change as regularly as daily based on a number of different factors,” according to Kotaku. A quick glance at the step-by-step trade-in instructions on e-Play’s website shows a $3.60 credit for either NCAA March Madness 06 or 08. The basic process involves scanning the UPC barcode of your game or movie, agreeing or disagreeing with e-Play’s price quote, and then swiping your drivers license and credit card before inserting the disc into the machine.

It’s a pretty good idea in theory. Yes, you might be able to get better trade-in values elsewhere but these machines will likely appeal to a more impulsive crowd, and the proposed Wal-Mart credit would certainly be a plus. “Hey, Ma! I’m on’ take muh video diskettes to Wal-Mart and wrangle me up a swap fur some Sam’s Choice cola bev-a-rines!” That’s how I talk in real life. I’m not making fun of anyone.

[NeoCrisis via Kotaku]

With retail electronics stores closing down faster than the backwards-spinning water in an Australian toilet bowl, Best Buy is now trying to figure out how to compete with remaining high-volume, low-price super retailers like Wal-Mart.

And while trying to take on Wal-Mart’s ultra aggressive pricing isn’t necessarily in the cards, “Best Buy supposedly intends to create differentiation by playing up its product demonstration ability,” according to Electronic House.

The problem with that strategy, however, is that in order to pull off effective and informative product demonstrations, you need a relatively highly-skilled workforce which, in turn, demands relatively high wages.

Take Magnolia Home Theater, for instance, Best Buy’s premium home electonics division. Average hourly wages currently hover around the $17-$18 range. However, effective June 3rd, Best Buy will be cutting pay for Magnolia personnel to $12.56 an hour according to CE Pro. Best Buy contends, however, that the wage cuts “aren’t that cookie cutter” and are ultimately a strategy to get more salespeople in front of customers.

Specialty electronics dealers aren’t convinced, though. Richard Gilkes, executive director of Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA) says:

“I don’t want Magnolia to fail. It’s very important for consumers to have a step-up buying opportunity that eventually leads to an HTSA member. It’s also important for vendors to have a company like Magnolia to fill their capacity. [However] when you’re going to offer $12.50 per hour to your sales people, you’re not going to get an educated sale. Quite frankly, the next step will be to shut the whole thing [Magnolia] down.”

Whatever the case, cutting the salaries of relatively skilled workers by around 30 percent will undoubtedly cause many of those workers to quit. In turn, their jobs will be filled by relatively unskilled workers willing to work for $12.56 an hour. If this all sounds familiar, it should, because it’s pretty close to what happened at Circuit City.

The major difference now, however, is that there are far fewer competing stores remaining for former Magnolia salespeople to find new jobs. Best Buy is quickly becoming the only big-box electronics game in town, a fact the company surely realizes.

Retailers: Big Changes Coming to Electronics Stores [Electronic House]

Sucks to be an Apple retail employee. Apple has reduced the hours of of their be-t-shirted geniuses have been fired this quarter, down from 15,600 in Q1. They are also planning fewer retail locations this year and are ramping down the use of part-time employees.

The SEC filing, which also said that Apple was doing amazingly well, considering the economy, noted retail store sales were generally down although they opened new 45 stores since last year.

Maybe the Gateway stores are hiring? Or Circuit City?

Hoping to woo gamers who somehow manage to plan ahead more than a day in advance, Target is implementing a new video game reservation program. The basic idea is that you pay $1 for a reservation card, which holds your game for seven days after the release date, and when you return to pick the game up, you’ll also get a $5 Target gift card good on future purchases.

That’s actually a pretty nice deal, although there’s no telling if the $5 gift card thing is just a promotion to kick this initiative into gear or if it’ll be a permanent fixture. The whole idea, according to Target, is “to make sure our guests find everything they need to work, live and play all in one convenient and simplified shopping experience.”

Oddly enough, though, this system is for in-store purchases only, so it’s a convenient and simplified shopping experience that you have to physically undertake with all the driving and the parking and the hey-hey-hey that runaway shopping cart just dinged my car.

The first games available to reserve include: Punch Out!! from Nintendo, EA Sports Active from Electronic Arts, Ghostbusters from Atari, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings from LucasArts, and UFC 2009 Undisputed from THQ.

Press Release [Target.com]

No real information on these stores just yet, but Dave is going to start planning a slow and steady roll-out. Will they have Smartie Stations with trained technicians? Training in Windows Paint? What I suspect will happen is that Microsoft will launch a set of pop-up stores using distressed retail space and then roll out if and when these spaces become popular. Nothing like a boom or a bust to build out bricks and mortar.

Microsoft Appoints David Porter as Corporate Vice President of Retail Stores
Twenty-seven-year retail veteran will focus on transforming the PC and device-buying experience for retail consumers and developing and rolling out new Microsoft-branded stores.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 12, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that David Porter will join the company as corporate vice president of Retail Stores. He will lead Microsoft’s efforts to create a better PC and Microsoft retail purchase experience for consumers worldwide through the development and opening of the company’s own retail stores. Porter will report to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner. He is joining Microsoft from DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he was head of worldwide product distribution.

“I am delighted to welcome David to Microsoft,” Turner said. “This is an exciting time with our strong lineup of upcoming product releases including Windows 7 and new releases of Windows Live and Windows Mobile. We’re also working hard to transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience at retail by improving the articulation and demonstration of the Microsoft innovation and value proposition so that it’s clear, simple and straightforward for consumers everywhere. David’s unique and diverse background, coupled with his deep retail roots and distribution understanding, will be an invaluable asset in this long-term effort.”

“There are tremendous opportunities ahead for Microsoft to create a world-class shopping experience for our customers,” Porter said. “I am excited about helping consumers make more informed decisions about their PC and software purchases, and we’ll share learnings from our stores with our existing retail and OEM partners that are critical to our success.”

Defining the time frame, locations and specifics for planned Microsoft-branded retail stores will be Porter’s first order of business. The purpose of opening these stores is to create deeper engagement with consumers and continue to learn firsthand about what they want and how they buy.

Porter, whose new role and focus will complement the work Microsoft is already doing with its retail partners, will work in close partnership with leaders of existing retail programs in Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division.

Before joining DreamWorks Animation in 2007, Porter spent 25 years at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in roles of increasing responsibility and seniority in store operations, merchandising and information technology. In his last role at Wal-Mart, Porter was vice president and general merchandise manager of Entertainment, where he served as a strategic point of influence throughout the Wal-Mart business.

Porter’s first day at Microsoft will be Feb. 16, 2009.

Check out Ars’ take on the stores and chime in on what you’d like to see at GatewayMicrosoft retail.

The “Curbside Pickup” program appears to be in some sort of testing phase – I searched for an item to pick up in the Minneapolis area and only one store, a relatively new one in Shakopee, was offering to bring my impulsively-purchased item out to my car. I wasn’t able to find pickup locations outside of Minnesota, either, so it might be a very-limited pilot program launching out of Best Buy’s home state. If it works, though, you can bet it’ll pop up elsewhere.

According to the FAQ, you have to actually call and schedule a pickup time with the store, which kind of defeats the purpose for those who want to avoid interpersonal communication until it’s absolutely necessary. Once you actually show up at the store, there’s a number to call to let them know you’re there or, if you don’t have a cell phone, Best Buy says, “We’ll be watching for you.” Sounds kinda creepy but if it means I can eat, sleep, and buy gadgets without ever leaving my car, I guess that’s something.

In all seriousness, there could be some very useful implications that go along with this. Handicapped people, the elderly, and anyone else with limited mobility might use a service like this all the time, so it’ll be interesting to see if it catches on.

Good news, everyone! Cyber Monday 2008: Great Depression Edition was a tremendous success for online retailers, which saw a 15 percent volume increase over 2007. That’s what Comscore says, at least.

Consumers were tricked into spending $846 million on Monday, compared with $733 million last year. Year-by-year growth isn’t exactly breaking news, but considering the sorry state of the economy this year, that consumers spent anything this year is fantastic news. So we’re lead to believe. People will be feeling pretty silly come January when America Express comes a-knocking, demanding 8,000 percent interest on that iPod touch you bought.

While $846 million isn’t anything to sneeze at, insofar as you can sneeze at sales info, something called Green Monday 2007 was an ever bigger success, with consumers spending $881 million. But again, that was before the economy broke, so I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that number.

Spending your fiat money from the comfort of your iPhone is even easier, now that Amazon has released an application (“App”) for Apple’s little wonder. The mundane functions are as you’d expect: you launch the app, then you can browse and buy goods from Amazon just as you would from your computer.

What’s worth singling out is this little photo-takign feature. Using the app, you take a photo with your iPhone then send it to Amazon. Then, after a bit of voodoo, Amazon sends you an e-mail with a link to products that match the photo (or its best guess). For example, you take a photo of a a french press, then Amazon sends you links to french presses you can buy from them. Technologically neat, sure, but you wonder how well it works in practice… and me without an iPhone!

Black Friday can be a tiring, stressful, and overwhelming ordeal. Here’s a list of which stores have the best deals on some of the top items for the holiday shopping season, along with our picks for Best All-Around Store, Biggest Disappointment, Biggest No-Show Product, Most Ubiquitous Bundle, and Most Confusing Ad.

If you see anything that you think should be changed or added to this list, drop a note in the comments section. Let’s try to keep things to nationwide brick and mortar stores, please. The true Black Friday experience entails actually leaving the house.

Blu-ray Player

• Magnavox NB500MG9 at Walmart for $128

Camcorders

• Flash Memory: Panasonic SDR-7K at Best Buy for $199
• Hard Drive: JVC Everio GZ-MG230 30GB at Walmart for $249

Computers

• eMachines desktop with 18.5-inch LCD at Best Buy for $299.96
• HP notebook with free Canon 3-in-1 printer at Best Buy for $349.98

Consoles

• Sony PS3 80GB with Ratchet & Clank + Casino Royale Blu-ray at Best Buy for $399
• Xbox 360 Arcade with Guitar Hero III and Wireless Guitar at Walmart for $199
• Xbox 360 Pro with LEGO Indy/Kung Fu Panda + $60 Gift Card at Target for $299

Digital Camera Bundle

• Kodak EasyShare C813 plus 7-inch Kodak digital frame at OfficeMax for $129.98

Digital Photo Frames (by size)

• Pandigital 3.5-inch digital frame at Sears for $29.99
• Nextar 7-inch digital frame at Sears for $37.99
• Sungale 8.5-inch digital frame at OfficeMax for $59.99
• Memorex 10-inch digital frame at OfficeMax for $89.99

DVD Player

• Memorex compact player at Target for $24.99

External Hard Drives (by size)

• 500GB Seagate FreeAgent at Walmart for $69
• 750GB Western Digital at Target for $88.88
• 1TB Maxtor OneTouch at Staples for $139.98

GPS

• Garmin nuvi 200 at Walmart for $97

LCD TVs (by size)

• Sansui 19-inch 720p LCD HDTV at Walmart for $178
• Westinghouse 26-inch 720p LCD HDTV at Target for $299
• Emerson 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV at Walmart for $388
• Polaroid 42-inch 1080p LCD HDTV at Walmart for $598
• Samsung 50-inch 720p Plasma HDTV at Walmart for $798

Monitor

• Acer 19-inch at Best Buy for $99, Soyo 19-inch at Office Max for $99

Best All-Around Store: Walmart

Walmart’s got the best all-around deals if you can stomach the 5am start time and the ravenous crowds. If you can only make it to one store, you’ll get the best bang for your buck here. The prices on Walmart’s TVs are especially nice.

Biggest Disappointment: Best Buy

What happened to Big Blue this year? It didn’t bring its A or B game. That’s what happens when all of your competition goes out of business, apparently. There are some okay desktop and notebook deals, but you’ll have to get there early and snag a special coupon-type ticket to get your mitts on the best deals. Aside from a few gems, most of Best Buy’s Black Friday ad was pretty nonchalant about doling out deals.

Biggest No-Show Product: PlayStation 3

With aggressively-priced Xbox 360 bundles and Nintendo Wii consoles finally in stock, Sony’s best showing this year is a $399 bundle with Ratchet & Clank and Casino Royale on Blu-ray at Best Buy? What’s that all about? When you can get an Xbox 360 with Guitar Hero III + guitar bundle for half the price at Walmart, it’s gonna be a slow holiday season for Sony. Yes, it has a built-in Blu-ray player. We know.

Most Ubiquitous Bundle: Digital Cameras

Look just about anywhere this year and you’ll find digital cameras either bundled with digital frames, printers, memory cards, cases, or a combination of those things. If you buy JUST a digital camera this year, you’re not looking hard enough.

Most Confusing Ad: Kmart

Four circulars? Really Kmart? There’s the Thursday ad (yes, Kmart is open from 8AM to 10PM on Thanksgiving – sheesh), the Friday ad, the Friday and Saturday ad, and the Saturday ad, each with specific deals during specific times on specific days.

Apple retail stores will now price match any item that can be found more cheaply somewhere else. So, if Amazon is selling, say, the iPod touch for $100, you can walk into your nearest Apple store, printout in hand, and get the same price then and there.

This price matching only applies to authorized sellers of Apple products—the guy on the corner of the street selling MacBooks for $200 a pop doesn’t count.

via MacBlogz

Adios, Circuit City. You will be remembered forever as a not-good-enough version of Best Buy (even though Best Buy is pretty suspect, too.)

Yes, Circuit City has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It did so last week, when we were busy talking about store closings and fake sales.

It is, I think, the biggest tech-realted failure (if that’s the right word to use) of the current economic downturn.

Be sure to watch its stock price this morning.

Circuit City’s awful, awful loss is our gain. The company is starting to close all those stores now, and is subsequently marking down the prices of all sorts of electronic gizmos.

You can expect to save up to 30 percent on merchandise.

My local Circuit City, which has always served me well, is staying open, so I won’t get to partake in the festivities.

Case in point, a guy dropped his year-old $2000+ VAIO TZ laptop and sauntered into Best Buy to get everything sorted out with the accidental protection damage he purchased on the machine. Best Buy was about to give him a $2,000 gift card for his troubles, but at the last minute decided that the Asus Eee PC would be fitting instead since, spec-wise, the VAIO TZ and Eee look somewhat similar on paper.

After some hemming and hawing, Best Buy finally decided to give the customer a $1,200 gift card towards a lumpy, heavy Dell with a 15-inch screen. The fine print found in some of these service plans allow such exchanges to take place, so make sure to read over all that stuff first despite what the salespeople tell you.

If you happen to live near a Meijer store – Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan – and you’re looking for an iPod Touch, you can pick up the 8GB version for $229.99 which includes a free $50 iTunes gift card.

There’s also some loose talk (according to FatWallet) that there’s a coupon floating around Meijer’s Sunday circular for 10% off any electronics item, which would bring the price down to $206, although I wasn’t able to find that particular coupon anywhere. Your mileage may vary. Still, even the regular price plus a $50 iTunes card is nice.

Consumerist.com is reporting that Circuit City may be announcing at 8 AM tomorrow morning that it’ll be closing 155 of its stores. This is still a rumor, so take it with a grain of salt, but it wouldn’t be surprising in lieu of the company’s recent financial woes.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago saying that Circuit City was “considering a plan to close at least 150 stores,” so this may just be all of that stuff coming to fruition. So that makes two retail stores that I worked for in my younger years that have either gone completely out of business (CompUSA) or look like they’re about to crumble (Circuit City). I worked at Best Buy, too, so watch out.

An electronics store in trouble always gets me right here, but this one is particularly affecting because it’s in, perhaps, the most gadgety square mile on Earth. I’d like to think it’s an isolated case, but I’m afraid it’s probably more an indicator of things to come. Next time I’m in Japan I’m going to make a point of patronizing these fantastic shops, because apparently they’re an endangered species now.

[image credit: Akihabara News (nice picture!)]