Blackberry Leads Smartphones, Android Coming On Strong

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Research In Motion’s Blackberry had a 41.7 percent market share among smartphone platforms, according to comScore, making them the smartphone maker with the largest marketshare for the three-month period ending May 2010. They were followed by Apple’s iPhone with 24.4 percent, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile with 13.2 percent, Google’s Android with 13.0 percent, and Palm bringing up the rear with 4.8 percent.

It’s worth noting that this sales period does not include the launch of the iPhone 4 nor new Android devices like HTC Evo 4G from Sprint and Motorola’s Droid X from Verizon. Also, Google had a four percent gain over the last reporting period, making them the only smartphone company with a positive gain during that period.

Regardless of preference, smartphone ownership in the U.S. was up 8.1 percent over the last reporting period to 49.1 million people.

Source: USA Today

LeBron James: Cleveland’s Loss Is Miami’s Financial Gain

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LeBron James is a living, breathing stimulus package. Since James signed with the Miami Heat, local real estate agents and the Fountainebleau Resort are being asked about package deals with Heat tickets; and regulars to restaurant Prime 112 are calling to see if they can still get tables, with more celebrities likely to show up in the future. An AP report said that there’s even a food named for him in the “Le-Brat James” bratwurst at the Shake Shack in South Beach.

Meanwhile, the advertising for James in the city of Cleveland (which had been nearly ubiquitous in the downtown area) has come down with incredible haste. The USA Today reports that a 10-story Nike banner featuring James throwing powder in the air has been taken down. Nike says it has no plans for the mural, which hung on the Landmark Office Tower across the street from Quicken Loans Arena.

 

Infinity Ward Lawsuit Amended With ‘Police State’ Accusations

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A lawsuit by 40 Infinity Ward developers (both past and present) was recently amended to include accusations of Activision forming a “police state at the developer. The employees allege that Activision conducted “interrogations” and held $54 million ransom while they attempted to cajole the developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 into making the next Modern Warfare game.

The suit says that not only were secret interrogations held with employees, but security personnel were brought in and stationed at various exits. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick later attended an Infinity Ward meeting where he promised their full completion bonus at the end of the month, and when it wasn’t delivered, employees confronted CFO Thomas Tippl in April, and according to the suit, Tippl responded, “Get over it.”

The suit says that Activision paid 40 percent of the Modern Warfare 2 bonus money to the team, but withheld the rest, pending a developed, produced and complete Modern Warfare 3 by November 2011 to get the rest of the money.

A judge will decide on August 5, 2010 whether this suit and the one by Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella will be consolidated into one trial, which is set for May 23, 2011.

Source: Kotaku

V Magazine: Scratch Off For Sexy

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 V Magazine is taking a different approach with their “Sexy Body” issue this year. The five covers will feature the images of supermodels Adriana Lima, Lily Donaldson, Eniko Mihalik, Isabeli Fontana and Natasha Poly.

Lily Donaldson

The catch is that there will be limited edition “scratch off” versions of every cover (with the exception of Lima’s) that will feature a scratch-off “V” to make the image more revealing. The limited edition scratch-off versions are available exclusively at vmagazine.com

Source: Fox News

Google Investing In Zynga, Prelude To Google Games

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Reports are that Google has invested between $100- $200 million in Zynga. This money is a prelude to a larger partnership between the search engine giant and the social gaming company.

Zynga will apparently be the cornerstone of a newly launched Google Games later in 2010. This could mean that Google Checkout could replace PayPal as Zynga’s primary pay option.

Zynga expects revenue for the first half of 2010 to be $350 million, half of which is operating profit. Zynga is estimating roughly $1.0 billion in revenue in 2011, according to sources.

Source: Tech Crunch

Hulk Sulk: Norton Contentiously Out Of Avengers

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Rumors had been swirling that Edward Norton might not reprise his role as the Hulk for the film The Avengers. Now, Marvel has confirmed that the star of The Incredible Hulk will not appear in the blockbuster set to release in 2012.

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers, said Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”

In response to this somewhat pointed statement Norton’s agent, Brian Swardstrom of WME, remarked “This offensive statement from Kevin Feige at Marvel is a purposefully misleading, inappropriate attempt to paint our client in a negative light. Here are the facts: two months ago, Kevin called me and said he wanted Edward to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in The Avengers. He told me it would be his fantasy to bring Edward on stage with the rest of the cast at ComiCon and make it the event of the convention. When I said that Edward was definitely open to this idea, Kevin was very excited and we agreed that Edward should meet with Joss Whedon to discuss the project. Edward and Joss had a very good meeting (confirmed by Feige to me) at which Edward said he was enthusiastic at the prospect of being a part of the ensemble cast. Marvel subsequently made him a financial offer to be in the film and both sides started negotiating in good faith. This past Wednesday, after several weeks of civil, uncontentious discussions, but before we had come to terms on a deal, a representative from Marvel called to say they had decided to go in another direction with the part. This seemed to us to be a financial decision but, whatever the case, it is completely their prerogative, and we accepted their decision with no hard feelings.

We know a lot of fans have voiced their public disappointment with this result, but this is no excuse for Feige’s mean spirited, accusatory comments, continued Swardstrom. Counter to what Kevin implies here, Edward was looking forward to the opportunity to work with Joss and the other actors in the Avengers cast, many of whom are personal friends of his. Feige’s statement is unprofessional, disingenuous and clearly defamatory. Mr. Norton’s talent, tireless work ethic and professional integrity deserve more respect, and so do Marvel’s fans.

It is rumored that the principle cast of The Avengers, along with director Joss Whedon will appear at the 2010 Comic-Con International convention.

Source: HitFix

Facebook Gifts Shipped Off

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One of Facebook’s oldest ways to make money, the Gift Shop, is shutting down. The Facebook Gift Shop is closing on August 1 so the company can focus instead on improving other products.

Closing the Gift Shop may disappoint many of the people who have given millions of gifts, but we made the decision after careful thought about where we need to focus our product development efforts, said Jared Morgenstern. We’ll be able to focus more on improving and enhancing products and features that people use every day, such as Photos, News Feed, Inbox, games, comments, the ‘Like’ button and the Wall.

While the ability to give gifts will be gone, I am proud of the impact gifts have had on Facebook. Out of the Gift Shop’s ‘gift credits’ came the virtual currency, Facebook Credits, that now makes it easier for people to buy premium items across the many games and applications on Facebook. So while we’re returning one gift, we’re replacing it with another, one that will be used to improve the experience of even more people on Facebook, concluded Morgenstern.

Source: blog.facebook.com

Coca-Cola Celebrates The Beautiful Game

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The World Cup is behind us now, but it certainly gave us plenty of exciting moments in a wonderful event put on by South Africa. This is embodied well by this creative animation put together for Coca-Cola that aired during the pre-match show of the final.