Target testing online sales of used electronics (Reuters)

Target said on its Web site customers can purchase "pre-owned" Apple Inc iPods, video games consoles and televisions. While results have been positive, it has not made a decision on whether or not it will continue the business. The discount retailer, on a call with analysts held after it released its quarterly earnings. said it began the test about 30 days ago after seeing that many used electronics returned to its stores in "perfect working order." On its Web site, it says the used items listed for sales were checked, inspected and refurbished by "either a manufacturer-authorized or Target-managed third party." "This means they're essentially good as new," the Web site states. A look at the site on Tuesday showed many used iPods and high-definition flat-panel televisions listed for sale, but there were no used video game consoles available. (Reporting by Nicole Maestri, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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Vodafone Balks at T-Mobile iPhone Deal (NewsFactor)

Vodafone's German unit is behind the action. The company petitioned the court to block sales of the iPhone in Germany until its complaints about an exclusive agreement between Apple and T-Mobile are addressed. "We're not taking any plans to replicate these actions anywhere else, or in the UK," a Vodafone spokesperson was quoted by the Wall Street Journal as saying. "It's a different regulatory environment. We believe it's more to do with a breach of local German laws." Vodafone vs. T-Mobile The court order does not demand T-Mobile stop selling the iPhones altogether, but does, at least temporarily, prohibit the company from selling them with a two-year contract. The court has mandated that the product be allowed to function on other carriers' networks. Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile Deutschland, could not be reached for comment, but in a published statement early Tuesday, T-Mobile Deutschland said that it reserves the right to claim damages from Vodafone, which operates the second-largest wireless network in Germany. T-Mobile, with 34 million customers, is the largest there. Although no one has been willing to go on the record to discuss what the exclusive arrangements are, said Avi Greengart, a wireless analyst at Current Analysis, Apple has a revenue-sharing arrangement with its iPhone carriers in the U.S. and in Europe. "I've seen lots of financial analysts coming up with numbers that they clearly developed using a calculator, a napkin, a pen — and a lot of imagination," Greengart quipped, alluding to the speculation surrounding AT&T's five-year exclusive deal with Apple to sell the iPhone. Revenue Sharing Greengart said he figures the world will know sooner or later the extent of the revenue-sharing agreements because Apple is a public company. Apple might not break out the service agreement revenues specifically, he said, but financial analysts can look into the numbers to get a fairly close estimate. "If the service revenues becomes really healthy, Apple will probably want to break that out as well," Greengart said. "Apple still won't tell us, for a lot of good reasons, what specific deals they made with specific carriers. But if it becomes material, they will want to disclose some numbers around what they are generating separately between services and hardware." In the U.S., handset makers need to work with wireless carriers to get broad distribution. But in Europe that's not the case. Phones are typically unlocked. If not for service revenues, Greengart said, it would make much more sense to release the phones as broadly as possible in Europe and Asia. "Apple is going operator by operator in Europe, which means the company is clearly tying a service fee to that," Greengart said. "CEOs of some of the operators have said that publicly; they just won't say how much."

Wii is most-wanted widget in wintertime (AP)

But this year, it looks like the gift everybody is looking for is the same as last year: the Nintendo Wii. A year after its launch, the small video game console sells out almost immediately when it reaches stores, even after Nintendo Co. has ramped up production several times. “Right now, if you work at it, it’s not too hard,” said John Lawrence, of Fort Worth, Texas, who bought a Wii a few weeks ago for his 9-year-old grandson. It took him some online sleuthing to find one at a local GameStop. “People have not gotten into the Christmas shopping mode. Once people get into that mindset, this is going to be an impossibility as it was last year,” Lawrence said. With the Wii, Nintendo set out make a console that would entice people who were not hardcore gamers, and it has succeeded. Janet Presti stood an hour in line at the Nintendo World Store in New York on Tuesday last week to get a Wii for her three children, but it wasn’t just for them. “I played it at my sister’s house and I loved it,” she said. Her household already has three game consoles: an Microsoft Xbox 360, a Sony PlayStation 2 and a Nintendo GameCube. The Wii responds to the user moving the wand-like wireless controller, while other consoles are controlled by a confusing array of buttons and joysticks. It also comes with an array of casual, nonviolent games that appeal to adults. Sony and Microsoft have cut the prices of their consoles this fall, but continuing demand for the Wii has meant Nintendo hasn’t had to. Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs at Nintendo of America, said the console was “priced right from the beginning.” A look at eBay shows that Kaplan may be wrong: New Wii systems are selling about $100 above the $250 store price. Some of the demand for Wiis results from trouble in the toy industry, as well as the gadget’s cross-generational appeal. “No one is buying toys right now because of the recalls,” said Gerrick Johnson, a toy industry analyst at BMO Capital Markets. First, toys were recalled because of lead paint and dangerous magnets. Then, Aqua Dots — colored beads that were making their way to must-have status — were pulled because they were coated with a chemical that turned into the date-rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate if swallowed. “It’s really unfortunate for the toy industry, because the lead issue was starting to subside, was getting off the front page … and then along comes this, which is totally outrageous,” Johnson said. “Whoever thought that there’d be a day when parents say ‘Don’t play with your dangerous toys, go play with your video games’?” he asked. The console has been a tremendous boost for Nintendo, which lost out to Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. in the last generation of game consoles. In the quarter ended Sept. 30, it more than doubled its sales to $6.1 billion from a year earlier, just before the launch of the Wii. It sold 5.5 million Wiis in the U.S. since it went on sale on last Nov. 17. The stock market now values Nintendo at $75 billion, compared to $48 billion for Sony, which has six times the revenue. Nintendo has increased the pace of production, but acknowledges that it won’t be able to satisfy holiday-season demand. “It’s brand new technology, so you can’t build it on just any line,” said Nintendo’s Kaplan. In an interview last week, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer said the Wii shortages were “a little fortuitous,” and indicated that the PlayStation 3 was poised to benefit from the situation. U.S. sales of the console doubled to 100,000 per week soon after an Oct. 18 price cut, he said. The issue of demand outstripping supply has dogged Nintendo with the DS handheld game as well, which launched in 2004. “We’ve been struggling since launch to keep inventory — we finally have enough of that,” said Kaplan. ___ On the Net:

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Napster Mobile on New Samsung Phone from AT&T (NewsFactor)

The brushed-metal, clamshell-shaped device is the first of AT&T's phones to offer the music service. Five tracks can be downloaded each month from Napster Mobile under the five-track pack option for $7.49, or purchased one at a time for $1.99. AT&T Vice President Carlton Hill said that the SLM "represents the best collection thus far of our music, multimedia, and messaging services." Music Apps and More Other music services available through the phone include XM Radio Mobile, Pandora, and the MusicID song-recognition service. There is also AT&T Video Share, stereo Bluetooth, a 2.0-megapixel camera with video-capture capabilities, advanced messaging options, and download speeds of up to 1,400 Kbps through AT&T's HSDPA network. It is also the first phone to have AT&T's mobile banking application, a recently announced offering that allows customers of Wachovia and SunTrust Banks to view their bank account balances, move funds, or pay bills. But packing in features does not always mean the easiest-to-understand, media-oriented phone, said Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis. AT&T's music offerings are "the most confusing" of the big carriers, he said, with eMusic, Apple, and now Napster. He added that the AT&T services even differ by device, and "you would need a giant monstrous spreadsheet" to keep track of the configurations. Confusing Options? Greengart said this overabundance of options is evident for customers who go into an AT&T store and say they are interested in getting a music-oriented phone. Because it's too complicated for most of the store personnel to match services with the customer needs, he said, the customer is often simply asked, "How much do you want to spend?" He said that Verizon, by contrast, offers V-Cast to over-$50 phones. It is expensive and the experience is "sub-par," he said, but added that the Verizon model is less confusing. Greengart also said that the five-tracks package price has combined various pricing strategies. He noted that Apple's 99-cents-per-song price has become a reference point, with Sprint offering songs for that price as well. Verizon, on the other hand, is charging $1.99 for over-the-air downloads, he said, apparently based on the notion that over-the-air downloads should have a premium fee. AT&T has "split the difference," Greengart explained, determining that songs are $1.99 unless you buy them in a five-pack.

EU’s Mandelson: U.S. needs to change gambling laws (Reuters)

"The U.S. has so far opted for compensation to make right what is wrong. I don't think compensation does that job," he told members of the European Parliament on Tuesday. The European Union and other trading partners have been in compensation talks with the United States over Washington's decision to remove gambling services retroactively from commitments it made as part of a 1994 world trade agreement. Billions of euros were wiped off the market value of European online gaming companies when the United States closed off its market last year. "What we really need is for the legislation to be put right and for foreign operators to stop being excluded and discriminated against in the way the present U.S. legislation does," Mandelson said. Mandelson met U.S. Senator Barney Frank during a visit to Washington this month and he said on Tuesday he was hopeful the senator's attempts to change the law would be successful. "I will continue to make these arguments on behalf of the European industry," Mandelson said. (Reporting by William Schomberg; writing by Darren Ennis; editing by Paul Bolding)

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