According to research firm Gartner, global tablet sales will hit almost 20 million for this year, buoyed by strong sales of the Apple iPad.

Forecasting into the future, the group says sales will explode to 54.8 million units in 2011 and eventually 208 million units by 2014.

For 2010, North American consumers will purchase 61 percent of the 19.5 million expected tablet sales but by 2013 that number will fall to 43 percent.

Tablets are described as "slate" touch-screen devices running a mobile operating system such as WebOS, iOS, Android or Meego.

Apple has sold an estimated 8.5 million iPads this year.

Gartner also noted that netbooks will be cannibalized as tablets begin selling for under $300 in the next couple of years.

Permalink | Comments

---

Rovio has made the blockbuster smash hit Angry Birds game available for free on Android devices today.

The company offers a free "light" version via iTunes for iPhone owners as well as the full version for $.99.

Says the company: "We want to make Angry Birds available for as many people as possible."

The news managed to take down Rovio's web site earlier in the day, but the site has since returned.

You can download it here: Android Angry Birds

Permalink | Comments

---

NPD has released their latest U.S. video game industry sales report, for September, which shows a continued decline in overall sales.

However, the group did not give individual sales for Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft, instead preferring to report only that overall hardware sales had fallen a hefty 20 percent to $383 million.

Microsoft was quick to boast that they had sold 484,000 Xbox 360s for the month, a 37 percent year-on-year jump.

Sony saw 312,000 PlayStation 3 sales, a steep 37 percent drop, although in August 2009 the company dropped the price of the PS3, leading to extremely strong sales.

The Nintendo Wii saw a huge 45 percent drop to 254,000 units as it becomes increasingly clear that Nintendo's current generation console has reached sales fatigue and market saturation.

For software, game sales fell 5 percent to $655 million. Handheld and console game sales combined for $614 million meaning the PC market came in at a paltry $41 million for the month.

Permalink | Comments

---

According to Bloomberg and one analyst, Sony has sold 1.8 million PlayStation Move units since launch, with an overwhelming amount of sales coming from Europe.

Andrew House, Sony Europe's boss, says 1.5 million units were sold in Europe since launch on September 19th.

The company is now looking to ramp up production in the region.

"The initial sales response has been so far in excess of our initial plan that we'll probably be looking at accelerating production," says House.

Wedbush Morgan video game industry analyst Michael Pachter says Sony has sold 300,000 units in the United States, including console bundles. Sony America has not confirmed those sales, however.

Permalink | Comments

---

Following months of negotiations with no resolution, News Corp. has blacked out their Fox broadcast signal to over 3 million Cablevision subscribers in metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Cablevision refused to negotiate any longer and declared an impasse at 8 p.m.

Says president of Fox Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing Mike Hopkins: "We started this process in May and made numerous reasonable proposals. We remain far apart and Cablevision has made it clear that they do not share our view regarding the value of Fox's networks."

The blackout affects Fox, Fox Business, Nat Geo Wild and Fox Deportes.

Sports fans should be incredibly upset by the turn of events, as Fox is the broadcaster for Giants games and the MLB playoffs, where the Yankees are in the ALCS.

Following the impasse, News Corp. began urging Cablevision subscribers to switch to Verizon FiOS or a satellite provider.

Cablevision responded by saying News Corp. "failed to negotiate in good faith" and called the black out "a black eye for broadcast television in America."

Fox was looking for exaggerated fees for their signal that used to be free. Cablevision has so far refused as they do not want to tack on extra fees to consumer's monthly bill. Cablevision says they already pay $70 million per year for Fox's "retransmission fee" but now Fox wants $150 million per year. Cablevision was willing to submit the case to third-party arbitration but Fox refused.

News Corp. is also currently fighting the Dish Network over fees for Fox regional sports networks, and Fox has blacked out those sites for over two weeks now.

Permalink | Comments

---