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Oct 29, 2008 Priceline Fare Index Pinpoints Biggest Fare Swings

Priceline.com’s Airfare Index has found the markets with the largest week-to-week swings in average published-price roundtrip airfares. They are Charlotte to New York City, $254, up 21 percent; Dallas to Washington, D.C., $491, up 15 percent; New York City to Atlanta, $332, up 11 percent; Philadelphia to San Juan, $468, up 10 percent; New York City to Tampa, $329, up 9 percent; Chicago to Phoenix, $370, up 8 percent; Philadelphia to Orlando, $244, down 5 percent; Seattle to Los Angeles, $242, down 6 percent; Chicago to Washington, D.C., $283, down 7 percent; Los Angeles to San Francisco, $156, down 7 percent; New York City to Chicago, $285, down 11 percent; and Chicago to Tampa, $288, down 13 percent. For more information, visit www.priceline.

El Paso Is Largest U.S. Market For Text Messaging

There’s a direct correlation between the average age and cultural makeup of an area and its residents’ propensity to text message, according to new data from Scarborough Research. The firm found that El Paso has the highest rate of text messaging, followed by Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis. Adult subscribers in El Paso text at a rate of 57 percent, compared to the national average of 48 percent. The other three top cities clocked in at a text-messaging rate of 55 percent. Sitting at the bottom half of the charts is Fort Myers, Fla. (36 percent), Charleston, W. Va. (36 percent), and Grand Rapids, Mich. (35 percent). Texters are 49 percent more likely to be between the ages of 18 and 24, 14 percent more likely to be Latino and 24 percent more likely to be black, the research found.

8 Out Of 10 People Revealing Sensitive Personal Data Online

London, UK, November 10, 2008 –84 percent of the UK public are revealing highly sensitive personal data online, such as postcode and date of birth, according to the results of a survey announced today of more than 1500 UK residents aged 16 and over. Of the people who reveal their personal data online, 86 percent said they reveal their postcode and 84 percent their date of birth. Over a third (34 percent) also reveal their mother’s maiden name, 29 percent reveal their place of birth and 10 percent give bank account information. Personal information is revealed even though 79 percent of those surveyed are concerned about fraud. Tickbox.net conducted the survey for the world’s largest member organisation of information security professionals, (ISC)2.

UPDATE 1-Canada's economy robounds in Q3, but recession seen

OTTAWA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Canada's economy grew at a faster clip than expected in the third quarter, just before the global financial crisis intensified, as a rebound in goods-producing industries offset weak exports and consumer spending. Statistics Canada said on Monday Canada's gross domestic product expanded 1.3 percent on an annualized basis in the third quarter, beating the market forecast of 1.1 percent growth, after stagnating in the first half of the year. That compares with a U.S. economic contraction of 0.5 percent in the same period. Statscan revised the second-quarter growth figure to 0.6 percent from 0.3 percent previously and now says the economy contracted by 0.6 percent in the first quarter instead of by 0.8 percent. The government, under political fire for its management of the financial crisis, is now forecasting a rece

Yahoo gains Internet search share; Microsoft loses out

NEW YORK -- Yahoo! Inc. handled a larger chunk of U.S. Internet searches last month while Microsoft Corp. lost market share, according to researcher ComScore Inc. Yahoo had about 20.2 percent of queries in September, up from 19.6 percent in August, Reston, Virginia-based ComScore said Wednesday in an e-mail. Microsoft’s share fell to 8.5 percent from 8.9 percent. Google Inc. handled 62.9 percent, compared with 63 percent in August.

15:26 - Greece: Dresdner believes in Piraeus Bank growth story; At add

Romania's CIF imports were worth over 11.487 billion euros (10.603 billion euros in FOB prices) January through April 2006, up 24.6 percent from the same period in 2005, the National Statistics Institute said. Six of the 22 imported goods sections in the Combined Nomenclature cover 76.1 percent of the total imports, ACT Media news agency reports. The imports from the 25 EU countries, which accounted for 60.5 percent of the total, rose 20.3 percent. The first partner countries, which accounted for 72.7 percent of the imports, were: Italy (14.5), Germany (14.0), the Russian Federation (10.2), France (6.8), Turkey (4.7), China (4.1), Austria (3.9), Hungary (3.1), USA (2.7 percent), Britain (2.6) and Poland (2.5). Romania's commercial deficit stood at 3.

Study: iPhones Twice As Reliable As BlackBerries - 5.6% iPhone failure rate after one year of ownership...

According to a new study (pdf) by SquareTrade (via Mobile Crunch), the iPhone is about twice as reliable as a Blackberry after one year of ownership. The study, which looked at approximately 15,000 phones covered under SquareTrade's extended warranties, found that the failure rate for iPhones after one year of use is 5.6 percent, compared to 11.2 percent for the RIM Blackberry and 16.2 percent for the Palm Treo. The study predicts that after two years of use, the iPhone failure rate will be between 9.2 and 11.3 percent, compared to two-year failure rates of 14.3 percent for BlackBerries and 21.0 percent for Treos.

DoCoMo Net Income Climbs 37 Percent As Carrier Reduces Churn

NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) reported quarterly net income had climbed to 173.1 billion yen, a 37 percent jump from last year’s earnings of 123.7 billion yen. Sales in the quarter ended September 30, were down 4 percent to 1.1 trillion yen from 1.14 trillion yen. Last November, Japan’s largest carrier, shifted its business model, raising the price of handsets, which it used to subsidize nearly the entire cost, and lowering the price of its subscription plans. The result was a drop in customer defections, as it became more expensive to change carriers; DoCoMo’s churn rate fell to 0.52 percent, from 0.94 percent a year ago. Under its new plan, DoCoMo also sold fewer handsets--5.32 million, a decrease of 1.24 million. The incumbent carrier now has 53.

Earnings: SK Telecom Profit Plunges 57 Percent; Books Loss From Helio Sale

imageKorean operator SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) reported third quarter net income plunged 57 percent to 333.6 billion won ($225 million), from sales of 2.9 trillion won. Profit missed analyst expectations, which had been forecasted to reach 353.7 billion won, based on a Bloomberg poll. South Korea’s dominant carrier, which has a 50.5 percent share of the market, said sales—up 3 percent year on year, and down 1.1 percent sequentially, had been hurt by an increase in subscribers taking on more aggressively priced tariffs and on an overall decline in subscribers. It was also hit by the cost of foreign debt and reported a loss from the sale of its stake in Helio, its JV with Earthlink (NSDQ: ELNK), to rival MVNO Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM). Operating profit was also down, dropping 6.

Earnings: Electronic Arts Says Fiscal Q2 Mobile Revs Up 24 Percent Over Last Year

Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) said its wireless revenues jumped 24 percent to $47 million in its fiscal second quarter from $38 million in the year-ago period. However, the company’s wireless-related business still only comprises about 5 percent of overall revenues, which is slightly less than last year, when the mobile division brought in 6 percent of all revenues. Nonetheless, the company is still claiming the No. 1 spot for mobile game publishing. EA Mobile said it is releasing 12 mobile games in the third quarter, including FIFA, Need for Speed and Trivial Pursuit. In a transcript of the earnings call, John Pleasants, EA’s COO and president of global publishing, said wireless-related revenues are up 25 percent in the last six months.

Black Friday Sees $534 Million in E-Commerce Spending, Up 1 Percent Versus Year Ago

Black Friday Sees $534 Million in E-Commerce Spending, Up 1 Percent Versus Year Ago Upcoming 'Cyber Monday' Represents Strong Historical Bellwether for Total Holiday Season E-Commerce Spending RESTON, Va., Nov. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported its tracking of holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 28 days of the November - December 2008 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $10.41 billion has been spent online, marking a 4-percent decline versus the corresponding days last year, while Black Friday saw $534 million in online spending, up 1 percent. For the combination of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, online sales were up 2 percent relative to last year.

October Search: Google Gains but Growth Slows

ComScore released its October search-engine market share figures for the U.S. last night. Overall search volume grew 20.1 percent year-over-year to 12.6 billion queries, a decline in growth from the 25.5 percent pace we saw in September, but still quite healthy. Correspondingly, the annual growth in Google’s (GOOG) U.S. search volume slowed from 38.6 percent in September to 29.6 percent in October. Google still managed to eke out an overall market share gain of 0.2 point to 63.1 percent.

Online used market prospers in troubled times

According to Auction, Korea¡¯s biggest online shopping mall, yesterday, the amount of money spent buying used goods at the market increased 104 percent in September from a year earlier. Among the items bought, electronic home appliances such as laptop computers, televisions and refrigerators posted 140 percent growth, the company said. Golf gear rose 110 percent. Kitchen utensils and baby items followed with 97 percent and 90 percent growth, respectively.

Group claims iPhone twice as reliable as BlackBerry...

The iPhone is an extremely reliable smartphone, a study from a warranty extension company claims. SquareTrade says that within one year of ownership, the failure rate for the iPhone is just 5.6 percent; this is half the rate for Research in Motion's BlackBerry phones, and almost three times less than the 16.2 percent for Palm's Treo line. While no iPhone has been available for two years, the projected failure rate in that timeline is only 9.2 percent, compared to proven rates of 14.3 percent for BlackBerries and 21 percent for Treos.

iPhone overtakes Palm in US biz smartphones...

While already popular in the home space, the iPhone has now just outrun Palm for second place in the US corporate world, according to a new study from ChangeWave. Closing a gap that had already been narrowing in August, the Apple device now has a place in about 14 percent of companies in November versus Palm's 11 percent. The situation is a near-reversal of the situation three months earlier, when Palm held 15 percent and Apple just 9 percent. Research in Motion's BlackBerry line maintains a clear lead at 76 percent but has remained virtually flat in share since May.

Updated: Carriers Report Text Messaging Surge Following Election Results

imageTurns out Barack Obama’s campaign wasn’t the only one using text messaging during the elections. Wireless subscribers used election day to send them, as well, leading to at least a 10 percent spike above normal, according to three of the top four U.S. carriers. All the carriers extrapolated data a little differently, but they all recorded a bump. On Sprint’s CDMA network, the carrier saw 21 percent higher volume in text messaging nationwide than it had the previous four Tuesdays. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) saw a 21 percent jump in SMS traffic from a typical Tuesday as well; it also said MMS traffic was up 10 percent. Finally, T-Mobile said it experienced holiday-like SMS traffic levels, which were up about 10 percent from a typical day.

DEALTALK-Santander's deal bodes well for European banks

By Daisy Ku LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Top Spanish bank Santander's full take-up for its jumbo 7.2 billion euro ($9.3 billion) rights issue bodes well for other potential European issuers, but only for the strongest players. Santander sees its core tier 1 capital ratio rising to 7.7 percent from 6.3 percent when it gets its funds, putting pressure on other European rivals to move to new standards of 7 percent for retail banks and over 8 percent for wholesale banks. 'Investor and regulatory pressure mean the bar has been raised for banks,' said a London-based banker. Since July 2007, 33 European banks have raised $115 billion in equity capital in total, with rights issues accounting for $90 billion, or 78 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Nov 07, 2008 Priceline Reports Quarterly Bookings Up, Income Down

Pricline.com released its third quarter results, reporting GAAP net income for the third quarter of $88 million or $1.81 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $104.4 million or $2.27 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2007. Gross travel bookings for the third quarter, which refers to the total dollar value, inclusive of all taxes and fees, of all travel services purchased by consumers rose 47.4 percent year-over-year to $2 billion. Jeffery H. Boyd, Priceline’s president and CEO, said that domestic bookings grew 32.8 percent. International operations generated gross bookings growth of 58.6 percent (approximately 45 percent growth on a local currency basis) in the third quarter, with Booking.com growing its supplier base by 50 percent year-over-year.

Earnings: Gameloft Calls 2008 A Turning Point For Mobile Games; iPhone Lifts Q3 Revenues

Paris-based Gameloft (EPA: GFT), which distributes mobile games in 80 countries, reported limited figures for its third-quarter period, but used the event to declare this year as a turning point in the mobile game industry because of strong sales coming from new platforms such as the iPhone and Nokia’s N-Gage. In Q3, Gameloft reported sales of $33 million (26.2 million euros), an 8 percent increase over the year-ago period. In the nine-month period, the company’s revenues totaled $96.4 million (76.5 million euros), a 9 percent increase over the same period a year ago. In North America, sales jumped 18 percent, partly due to the success of such iPhone titles as RealSoccer 2009, Bubble Bash and car-racing game Asphalt 4. Europe still makes up the majority of the company’s business at 41 percent, but North America is now 31 percent and

Poll Finds 23 Percent of Texans Think Obama is Muslim

A University of Texas poll has found that 23 percent of Texans are convinced that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim. Only 45 percent of the people polled correctly identified Obama as a Protestant Christian. Nationwide, the number of people who believe in the "Secret Muslim Conspiracy" is about the same as those who believe that the moon landing was faked (5-10 percent), which makes the high numbers in Texas unusual.

Nikkei up 0.6 percent on China hopes, Panasonic dives

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average climbed 1.7 percent on Friday for its best week in a month on strengthening expectations that an aggressive Chinese interest rate cut may fight a slowing economy there, boosting shippers and trading houses. Electronic parts maker Kyocera Corp (6971.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) soared 17 percent on a share buyback, countering an 11 percent tumble by Panasonic Corp (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) after the plasma TV maker slashed its outlook, but otherwise bargain-hunting dominated in thin trade.

RBS says government to take 57.9 percent stake

LONDON -- British lender Royal Bank of Scotland said the government will take a 57.9 percent stake in the group after investors took up just 0.24 percent of the shares offered in its state-backed capital raising. Existing shareholders subscribed for just 55.98 million of the shares offered, leaving the government to take up the remaining 22.8 billion shares, RBS said on Friday. “As a result, HM Treasury will own approximately 57.9 percent of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital of RBS,� the bank said.

U.S. Retail E-Commerce Sales Growth Slows to 6 Percent in Q3 2008 Versus Year Ago

a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q3 2008 retail e-commerce report, which showed that online spending grew 6 percent in Q3 2008 versus the same period last year, a slowdown compared to the year-over-year growth rates of 12 percent in Q1 and 13 percent in Q2 2008. Total U.S. online retail sales (excluding travel) were approximately $30 billion in Q3.

U.S. Retail E-Commerce Sales Growth Slows to 6 Percent in Q3 2008 Versus Year Ago

PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- comScore, Inc. (SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q3 2008 retail e-commerce report, which showed that online spending grew 6 percent in Q3 2008 versus the same period last year, a slowdown compared to the year-over-year growth rates of 12 percent in Q1 and 13 percent in Q2 2008. Total U.S. online retail sales (excluding travel) were approximately

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