Hasta La Gadget!

Surprisingly, the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S seem to account for nearly half of all of the iPhone sales in Q1 2013. According to new research data from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the older iPhones made sales that went neck-to-neck with Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 5. The CIRP discovered that in Q1, 14% of consumers purchased an iPhone 4, 33% of consumers purchased an iPhone 4S, and 53% of consumers purchased an iPhone 5.

Analysts believe that its the low prices of the older generation of iPhones that is driving the high sales rates. With consumers being able to purchase the iPhone 4 for $0 on a new two-year contract, and an iPhone 4S for only $99 on a new two-year contract, they’re more prone to opt for those devices than the more expensive $200+ iPhone 5. But the wide adoption of older iPhones isn’t a bad thing for Apple.

According to AllThingsD, and their interview with CIRP co-founder Michael Levin, low cost iPhone 4/4S devices have been helping Apple drive up sales. According to CIRP, 29% of iPhone buyers were previously feature phone users before upgrading, and another 29% of iPhone buyers came from another mobile OS like Android or Blackberry. A majority of those people are apparently not opting for the iPhone 5, but instead for the iPhone 4 and 4S. Michael Levin says,

“There’s plenty of demand for low- and no-cost phones, which tend to flow toward basic phone owners. On average they don’t seem to jump from a cheap or free flip phone all the way to iPhone 5.”

Jumping back to sales in Q4 2012, iPhone 4/4S sales generated exactly 50% of all iPhone sales. Perhaps these statistics show that it would be a good move for Apple to build that budget iPhone it has been rumored to be working on. According to analysts, if Apple were to create a budget iPhone, it could grab nearly 75 million sales for the phone by 2014. If you’re debating on joining the iPhone crowd, check out our reviews for the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5 to see which one will be enough to suit your needs.

[via All Things D]

CIRP: Older iPhone models accounted for nearly half of all iPhone sales in Q1 is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

At his keynote at Digital Dragons, Quantic Dream COO, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, stated that innovation and experimental games doesn’t always result in unprofitable games. He cited Quantic Dream’s PlayStation 3 game, Heavy Rain, as a prime example of that. He states that it cost a total of $40 million to produce, market, and distribute the game. The game successfully generated $100 million for Sony, making it extremely profitable.

Foundaumiere says that Heavy Rain was highly experimental, and it pushed the boundaries of gaming, but it still became widely successful. The experimental game was not only successful in sales, but also in bringing exposure to Quantic Dream as well. Foundaumiere says that now gamers who loved Heavy Rain will be more likely to purchase the company’s next game, Beyond: Two Souls. Foundaumiere states that the game industry as a whole needs to start taking more risks and being more creative, instead of just creating the same games over and over again.

Fondaumiere also cites ThatGameCompany’s game Journey as an example. While he wasn’t able to release any sales figures for the game, or how much it cost to produce, he says that the game was both profitable for the company as well as Sony. He uses the Tomb Raider series as an example as to why lack of innovation can be deadly to the game industry. The franchise became irrelevant because the game company behind it overkilled it with too many similar sequels. By completely revamping the game’s story and gamestyle, Crystal Dynamics was able to revive the franchise.

At the keynote, Foundaumiere also touched on many other topics, including campaigning for the implementation of tax breaks for the game industry, as well as getting developers to be more responsible when developing their games. He says that children play their video games, and that even an ESRB rating won’t stop them. To make develop games more responsibly, he says that developers should “ban gratuitous violence in our games, that would be one step in the right direction.”

To conclude his keynote, Foundaumiere states that the gaming industry is currently going through a financial crisis. Part of the reason is due to the economy, but he also says that another part of it is the lack of creativity from developers. He says that the lack of creativity is the reason why gamers are “playing less.” He concludes that by offering new IPs and creations, developers will be able to get gamers, old and new, interested in their products once again.

[via Games Industry International]

Heavy Rain proves experimental games aren’t always unprofitable is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A new legislation, known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, will allow states to require online retailers to collect and remit use tax on purchases shipped into their states. The new legislation will only affect businesses that generate over $1 million in out-of-state sales, however, John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, says that merchants who generate less than $10 million in sales, and/or have less than 50 employees, should also be exempt.

Donahoe began sending out emails earlier this morning and hopes to reach at least 40 million eBay users within the next few days. He encourages users to send a message to the members of Congress asking them to consider some changes to the legislation. In the email Donahoe states that the legislation puts both small merchants, and big retailers like Amazon in the same category, which is unfair to the vast majority of merchants. In an email viewed by Reuters, Donahoe wrote,

“This legislation treats you and big multi-billion dollar online retailers – such as Amazon – exactly the same. Those fighting for this change refuse to acknowledge that the burden on businesses like yours is far greater than for a big national retailer.”

Amazon stated in regards to the legislation that giving merchants who generate more than $500,000 in annual sales would give them an unfair tax advantage over large retailers. However, compared to eBay’s small merchants, Amazon has less to lose if this legislation passes. Donahoe stated in the email that Amazon makes over $10 million in sales every 1 1/2 hours, giving it more resources than a small merchant to remit taxes. Many speculate that many major retailers are in support of this legislation because it would limit the powers of smaller merchants.

This new legislation will affect both eBay users and small merchants alike. Merchants will be required to pay sales tax to the state that its product is shipped to, meaning they will have to familiarize themselves with the 9,600 separate tax jurisdictions. With smaller merchants requiring to pay sales tax to the states, much of the slack will fall upon consumers. eBay encourages its users to send a message to the members of congress within the next few days and ask that amendments be made to the legislation to make it less burdensome.

[via Reuters]

eBay seeks help from users to fight an upcoming federal sales tax legislation is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yahoo has just appointed Tekedra N. Mawakana as its Deputy General Counsel and Vice President of Global Public Policy. Mawakana used to be the Senior Vice President of Pubic Policy and Deputy General Counsel at AOL, where she worked for around 12 years. At her new position, she will be working together with industry and government agencies to work on global governmental affairs and help develop policy initiatives.

Mawakana has an excellent resume. Before spending 12 years with AOL, she worked as the Senior Corporate Counsel at Startec Global Communications, and before that she worked in the Telecommunications and Intellectual Property group at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington D.C. She is fully prepared for her new position, where she will directing and working together with her new strategy team.

According to The Motley Fool, Mawakana will be working on issues surrounding privacy, intellectual property, business and human rights, high-skilled immigration reform, cyber-security, and much more. In a press release from Yahoo, Mawakana discussed her new position and how she will do her best to represent both Yahoo as well as all of the users who use its services. She says,

“The complexity of technology platforms and the pace of innovation creates unique challenges as governments work to develop smart policies for online and mobile businesses around the world. There is a critical need for public policy engagement, and I look forward to advocating on behalf of Yahoo! and the hundreds of millions of users, advertisers, partners and employees who rely on its platform.”

Mawakana isn’t the only former AOL exec that Yahoo is looking to bring onto its team. A couple of weeks ago, Ned Brody, a former sales executive for AOL, reportedly received an offer from Yahoo. Sources close to the situation said that Yahoo offered Brody a generous salary, however, things are a bit difficult because Brody is currently under a 12-month non-compete order. However, if Yahoo is able to figure a way around the order, and if Brody accepts the offer, Brody is expected to be an huge addition to Yahoo’s team.

[via Motley Fool]

Yahoo appoints former AOL exec as new Global Public Privacy head is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On Thursday, Google announced a new Android charity app initiative called One Today, which makes it easy for users to donate $1 to various causes every day. Rather than searching out different projects and donating to each individually, which can be as difficult as it is time consuming, the One Today app provides a new project every day, supplying all the relevant info needed.

For now, the app is only available through an invitation, which can be requested over at Google.com/OneToday. Once the limited pilot is over, we imagine the app will be freely available to everyone, but Google doesn’t say when that will happen. The app is offered for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows Phone, but during the limited pilot only the Android app is available.

Google has several of the projects available for review on the website, providing an example of the charities that users will support. Among those is a project that teaches children empathy, scholarships for students in Laos, Rhino protection, a tree-planting project in Kenya, and more. Non-profit organizations can register with the service to have their own project featured.

The project only allows the donation of $1 per project in a single day, but Google says that higher donations can be made via challenges to friends. All the projects featured through the app are part of the Internet giant’s Google for Nonprofits, and specific projects cannot be selected, instead with projects being auto-offered based on past donations. To see answers to a host of other questions, head over to the project’s FAQ page.

[via Google+]

Google unveils One Today charity app, makes giving easy is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.