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Ebay (NASDAY: EBAY), reported a rise in profits in Q1 earnings.

Net income ws up $377.2m (.27c/share) over $248.3m (17c) for the same period last year on income of $1.77m (above analysts’ expectations of $1.72m).

The Paypal payments division showed growth with revenue up 31% to revenues of $439m.  The communications division, home of Skype, showed revenue of  $ 79m  (up from $66m in Q4).  Skype saw an 11% increase in calls and a 135% increase of fees, numbers I suspect, much lower, than eBay has been hoping for.

While profit margins were up, along with revenue and that was spun as a very positive piece of news, auction volume in the increasingly efficient auction marketplace was flat.  Non-store listings were up 4% over last year, but down 4% from Q4.  It was the third time in the last four quarters eBay failed to see quarter-to-quarter growth in auction listings.  Its European focus was also less than expected.

Initial market reaction to the news was mixed.

More detailed press coverage on Ebay’s finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Netflix  (NASDAQ: NFLX), battling with an aggressive marketing campaign from competitor Blockbuster, reported Q1 earnings slightly below expectations and reduced its outlook for the year.

Revenue was up 36% to $305.3m but earnings fell in 2cents below estimates.  The company earned 14cents a share ($9.9m) for the quarter, up substantially from 7 cents a share ($4.4m) for the same period last year.

There were 6.8m total subscribers but churn (customer cancellations) increased to 4.4% from 3.9%in the 4th Quarter

Guidance was adjusted downward to fiscal year revenue of $1.21b to $1.26b, off initial estimates of $1.25-$1.30b and analysts consensus (Thompson) of 41.29b

More detailed press coverage on Netflix’ finances can be found at:

Yahoo Finance
Google Finance
Marketwatch

Earlier in the week Accenture released the results of its annual survey of executives in the media and entertainment industries. The survey questioned 110 Senior Executives at advertising, film, music, publishing, radio, Internet, gaming and Television companies. 60 percent of the executives were from North America and 40 percent from Europe.

Among the findings published:

• 32% thought content would drive their revenues, up from 21% in the prior year.
• 53% cited short-form video as having the highest growth potential for their industry over the next 5 years. (13% picked video games, 11% feature-length/long-form film, 11% music, 9% consumer publishing and 4% chose business publishing.)
• 68% of respondents thought they would make money from user-generated content within the next 3 years.

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In  a conference call yesterday, Yahoo and the so called “Newspaper Consortium,” which was formed in November, and  includes more than 250 newspapers across 44 states including the holdings of large publishers like McClatchy and Media News, announced an expansion of their advertising joint venture. (Notably absent from the Consortium are Gannet and Tribune (the two heavyweights). They have been reported to be developing their own Ad Network. McClatchy was going to be part of that effort but switched course to work with Yahoo)

Initially the papers represented in the Consortium and Yahoo worked together in a partnership for job related advertising with Yahoo’s Hot-Jobs property.  Now, in a second part of what has been described as a three part deal, the two will focus on broader, and more lucrative, joint advertising.

Under the terms of the deal, both Yahoo and the papers Click to Read More

James Brown once said “Music has to breathe and sweat. You have to play it live. ” For a long time, I thought the same logic applied to listening. For a real experience, I thought, to really feel it, you had to have the hum of the P.A. speakers and the sway of the crowd. You had to have that spirit, that buzz. 

I rarely go to concerts anymore.  Not too long ago I went to see at least one a month. I’d see U2 every time they came around.  I heard Norah Jones cover AC/DC at the famous Fillmore.  I saw Bonnie Raitt in her home territory at a restored Art Deco theater.  I saw Indie acts, blues greats, aging-rockers, and up and comers.   But I got tired.

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Since its release in November 2006, one of the questions that’s followed the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) platform has been whether the choice to offer  two versions of the console (varying primarily by the size of the hard drive and the inclusion of built in wireless support) was a wise product marketing move.

At the time of its initial release, a parts shortage attributed to laser parts for  the BluRay DVD player was slowing delivery on the boxes.    There was also heavy competition from the newly released Nintendo Wii and from Microsoft’s Xbox 360.

With a price difference between the two Playstation models of about $100  there was a question of whether consumers would find the value propositions distinct enough to influence their buying decision.  

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On Thursday, Apple announced it would delay the release of its latest Mac operating system (“Leopard”)  until October (versus a planned spring birth announcement) in order to divert greater corporate resources to insure the on-time, June, delivery of the hotly anticipated iPhone.

Bloggers and professional journalists are speculating that the delay is really for other reasons. Apple Insider, a popular blog on Apple and its issues, is reporting Wall Street analysts suspect “Secret” features of the operating system are really to blame. 

While there is nothing to substantiate those claims, it is clear that in recent years delayed release of keenly anticipated Apple products has been common.  Whether this delay, or others, have been the result of unforeseen development issues, parts shortages, overstretched assembly lines at contract manufacturers (like Taiwanese company Inventec which makes 5th Generation video iPod’s and is rumored to be assembling the iPhone), the result of overly ambitious timelines inside Apple or even part of a marketing effort to inflate demand, is unclear.    

Looking back over the past few years, here are just a few of Apple’s delayed launches:

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