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Thursday, under pressure from competition and complaints about inadequate manufacturing, Microsoft proactively announced substantial changes to the warranty for its Xbox 360 gaming platform.  The company also disclosed they would take an accounting charge in an amount likely above $1b to cover costs related to high repair rates.

In the gaming industry, Nintendo has been dominating the home console market with a less advanced console that wins on “Wow” factor and user-experience over technology.   That hasn’t stopped Microsoft and Sony from competing for second place with bigger and better technology.

Between the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 (PS3) the two have been doing battle with high-power high feature platforms for the title of top tech centric “next generation console.”  Microsoft, though short of its June sales targets (which were adjusted downward in January), has held the advantage with shipments of around 11.6 million units in total, and solid month to month sales. In May, the Xbox 360 outsold the PS3 by a factor of two to one. (Click here for full May sales data). 

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With the battle of HD DVD formats escalating into the summer, the launch of a consumer-friendly, potentially neutralizing dual-format disc has been delayed.

Warner Brothers has acknowledged that Total HD, a disc capable of housing an HD DVD movie on one side and a Blu Ray version of the movie on the other will be delayed until some time in 2008.

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Scientific studies testing the quality of TV programming or the efficiency of advertising aren’t a new thing.  In the children’s educational realm, esteemed programming from Sesame Street to Blues Clues has been built around detailed research.  Sesame Street actually has an Education and Research (E&R) department that reviews scripts and oversees studies aimed at revealing how to best deliver content to their target audience. In Universities, classes are dedicated to media and advertising, or psychology and advertising; all looking at voluminous studies about what does, or doesn’t, work in delivering a message (educational, advertising, or otherwise) to the audience.  For as long as someone has been selling a product, there has been someone else selling a means to be a better salesman.

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on one of the newest experiments in television advertising.  The study is being run for television network NBC.  What makes for an interesting twist is, in the new study, unlike prior examples, the immediate goal isn’t to sell products to consumers, rather, it is instead to help the network sell ad slots to advertisers. 

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It’s been said that “statistics are like bikinis.  What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.”  Similarly, Arthur Conan Doyle’s famed Sherlock Holmes once spouted off that it’s “a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.”

These days there’s usual more data than there is time to process it, and much might leave even Sherlock scratching his head, still some of the raw data can be revealing.  Over the past few weeks, Metue has published two collections of raw statistics (Click for Part one and Part two). Here’s part three of the three part series showcasing a sampling of recent media statistics that to lend themselves to insights into the crossed, intersecting world of media, entertainment and technology.

(Editors Note: In future weeks, a dedicated page may be added to Metue to house more of this kind of information. Stay tuned. Several site additions are in development or under consideration ):

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Shortly after a new car hits the market, there are a few gearheads who’ve looked under the hood, kicked the tires and are ready to report on the innards.   The same is true in technology.  The iPhone has been on the market but three days, it’s spawned long lines and moved upwards of several hundred thousand units (300k to 500k phones sold by most estimates)…and a few iPhones have already been intentionally disfigured in the name of curiosity.

Here’s recap of what they’ve found, and a listing of which hardware suppliers won the iPhone lottery:

   The screen – the impressive touch screen used on the phone is believed to be made by German company, Balda which specializes in scratch-resistant touch screens.  It is deemed “believed to be made” because the screen lacks specific markings that confirm the origin.  It’s estimated to cost about $30 per screen.

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After a month of rumors, it was officially confirmed Monday that Google is acquiring consumer telephony/internet integration company Grand Central Communications.  Official terms have not been disclosed but widespread speculation is that the price was surprisingly high; above $50m.  That’s hard to believe, improbable seeming but not impossible.  Reports are the  two year old company had raised approximately $4m in venture funding from investors including Micro Ventures.

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In part one of a two part article published June 19th, subtitled, “Record sales are tanking and there’s no hope in sight: How it all went wrong ” Rolling Stone magazine indirectly decreed the end of the music labels (the Big 4 at least) and the end of the music business as the world has known it.

Quoted in the article, industry attorney Peter Paterno said unequivocally “the record business is over.  The labels have wonderful assets – they just can’t make money off them.”    The numbers presented support his, and the article’s, claim. In 2000, for example, the top ten albums in the US sold 60 million copies combined.  In 2006, the top ten sold only 25m.  Digital sales (of both songs and ringtones) meanwhile, while booming, are largely in single song increments where revenues and the margins are much lower.

It’s for certain, the industry, as it once was, is on life-support.  The Big 4 (Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, and EMI) control nearly 70% of music distribution but they’ve been caught between a mess of conflicting needs and ideologies: the competing demands of traditional retailers (who themselves fear the loss of their business), the interests of the artists, and, of course the entrenched thinking of the labels themselves.    It’s been a struggle to balance those interests and adapt to the changing dynamics of the music marketplace – particularly online sales. 

The question is, is Peter Paterno correct, and is the inference in the Rolling Stone article right?  Click to Read More