A new version of the Apple TV will help spearhead an Apple video offensive, a new report claims. BusinessWeek writes that it has learned of the new set-top with certainty, although it cannot say what particular features it will bring. Other reports have indicated that users may be able to buy or rent videos directly from the device, which would address one of its long-standing complaints and put it into competition with the video-on-demand services provided by cable and satellite companies.
Zune's New Tune
The Zune's marketers are having to play jujitsu, using the iPod's ubiquity against it. Microsofties won't put the message this bluntly, but the pitch goes something like this: Every dumb yuppie poser has an iPod. Your parents and grandparents have iPods. Do you really want to be like them? Or are you a rebel, a hipster, the first on your block to have something different?
Without talking numbers, Microsoft says Zune has gained a foothold among kids ages 13 to 24 and among fans of urban and hip-hop music. "We're developing a brand that is more warm, more welcoming, kind of a smarter alternative," says Jason Reindorp, a marketing director at Zune who earlier helped Audi position itself as the cooler alternative to the nouveaux riches' BMW. "The folks on the cutting edge of that group said, 'I don't want a waify little iPod. I like the color of the Zune. I like the chunkiness.'" To push this along, Microsoft is sponsoring concert tours by Velvet Revolver, Chemical Brothers, MIMS, Ladytron and CSS.
Trans World Conference Call Notes
Here are some notes on the transcript of the Trans World conference call after the entertainment retailer announced a disastrous Holiday season.
- November sales dropped 10% and December was down 13%. • Its top 50 music titles dropped 29% year over year.
- Music represented 33% of Trans World's business in November/December (down from 39%).
- Comp music sales were down 28%.
- Remodeled, prototype stores performed "slightly better" than normal stores.
- President Jim Litwak calls Trans World "really the only player left from a catalog perspective" and believes the company could eke out greater market share because of this.
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