Apple wants more money for iPad newspapers

Apple reportedly has told European publishers that print subscribers will not be able to offer those customers "no incremental cost" access to the same content on Apple iPads.

Apple apparently wants to encourage print publishers to create separate digital editions, including either single-issue access or subscriptions, that allow Apple to capture 30 percent of the gross revenue, rather than allowing iPad access for no additional cost.

Apple wants more money for iPad newspapers

Groupon Turned Down $6 Billion, Thinks it is Worth t $15 Billion

Groupon, the social buying site that rejected a $6 billion offer from Google, is pushing ahead with plans for its initial public offering, a debut that could value the company at $15 billion or more. That would be a high multiple for a company with perhaps $1 billion of revenue.

Many have speculated that a new Internet bubble is forming. Of course, bubbles build and then burst with no warning, sometimes leading to a loss of 99 percent of equity value. That is not likely "this time around," as firms generally have some basis in revenue reality.

But whether you think a new Internet bubble is forming, or not, valuations and interest are much higher than at any point in the last five to 10 years. So we are likely to see a rush to go public. Inevitably, insiders will do well. It isn't so clear how well the public investors will do, given the passage of some time.

With I.P.O., Groupon Is Said to Value Itself at $15 Billion - NYTimes.com

63% of Millennials Use Social Media to Engage with Brands

About 63 percent of Millennials use social media to engage with brands, a new study by McKinsey & Company has found.

A Majority of the the Emerging Affluent Uses Social Media to Engage with Brands

Twitter is full of regional 'accents'

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University examined 380,000 messages from Twitter during one week in March 2010 and found that the social networking site is full of its own kinds of geographical dialects.

Take the word cool. Southern Californians tend to write the shorthand 'coo,' while their neighbors up north use the phonetic shorthand 'koo.'

The 4.5 million words the researchers examined were full of similar examples. Some were obvious — like 'y'all' in the South or 'yinz' in Pittsburgh.

Twitter is full of regional 'accents,' study finds - Yahoo! News

Projecting iPhone's Effect on Verizon's 2011 Wireless Revenues - Seeking Alpha

By one survey conducted by Compete, about 8.7 percent of Verizon Wireless customers are waiting for a specific phone model before upgrading to a smartphone, and most assume that means the Apple iPhone.

According to Verizon’s third-quarter 2010 financial statement, only 23 percent of Verizon’s 82 million post-paid subscribers currently had a smartphone. This means that there is a potential pool of some 63 million post-paid cellphone owners that Verizon can convert to the iPhone, without stealing away a single new net add.

If the 8.7 percent of existing Verizon's customers who are waiting for a specific phone choose to upgrade to an iPhone, Verizon could enjoy a spike of more than 5.4 million new iPhone customers in 2011.

Even if just three million existing non-smartphone Verizon Wireless subscribers upgrade to the iPhone, Verizon Wireless could earn more than a billion dollars in additional data revenue over a two-year period, assuming new monthly data plan revenues of $15 a month and two-year contract lengths.

That does not even account for net customer gains Verizon might pick up as customers from AT&T and other service providers move over to Verizon Wireless to use the iPhone on the Verizon network.

Projecting iPhone's Effect on Verizon's 2011 Wireless Revenues - Seeking Alpha

U.S. Game Revenue Flat in 2010

Total U.S. consumer spend on gaming content in all forms, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile game apps, is between $15.4 to $15.6 billion. That's a range that would make 2010 activity about the same as 2009, or just slightly less, according to NPD Group.

Spending on new physical content at retail continues to account for the majority of the total consumer spend on games content. U.S. retail sales of new physical video game content, which includes portable, console and PC game software, generated revenues of $10.1 billion, a 5 percent decline over the $10.6 billion generated in 2009.

2010 TOTAL CONSUMER SPEND ON ALL GAMES CONTENT IN THE U.S. ESTIMATED BETWEEN $15.4 TO $15.6 BILLION

Shoppers Have More Information Than Store Associates, Motorola Says

The majority of surveyed retail associates surveyed by Motorola (55 percent) believe that 2010 holiday season’s shoppers were better connected to consumer information than in-store associates, particularly because consumers have online shopping tools and mobile phone applications that allow price comparisons, access to coupons and social-networking.

Motorola says that retailers that aren't investing in technology to stay ahead of increasingly tech-savvy shoppers are hurting their own bottom line. Nearly three in 10 (28 percent) store visits ended with an average of $132 unspent due to abandoned purchases driven by deal-habituated behavior, out-of-stocks, limited store associate assistance and long check-out processes, Motorola estimates.

On a positive note, the survey indicates that when surveyed shoppers received guidance from a retail associate armed with a handheld mobile computer, over four in ten (43 percent) reported the device improved their shopping experience. The survey also notes that an overwhelming majority of retailers - 87 percent - believe that shoppers can easily find a better deal so customer service - aided by access to real-time information -- is 'more important than ever.

Motorola Solutions Media Center - Press Releases - 55 Percent of Retailers Cite Shoppers as Better Connected To Information than Store Associates, According To Motorola Solutions Survey