Microsoft Builds A Browser-Based Windows Phone 7 Simulator To Woo iPhone/Android Users

While the features that Windows Phone 7 can call "exclusive" are few and far between, there's at least one aspect of it that is absolutely, undeniably original: the user interface. Called "Metro", the UI is so unique that it's almost polarizing ? you'll know whether you love it or hate it within a few seconds. Microsoft is counting on finding a few more lovers in the crowd, it seems: they've just launched a browser-based WP7 simulator, seemingly tailored solely to sing Metro's siren song to the wandering iPhone/Android user.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/O8nAu0UBctw/

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Amazon says Kindle Fire sold a bunch, but won't say how many

Amazon's Kindle Fire was expected to be a success because of the Amazon brand name and $199 price point, but the tablet has continued to outsell predictions and is now the best selling item on Amazon for the eighth straight week. Black Friday saw enormous interest in not only the Fire, but the entire Kindle family, Amazon said, though it didn't actually release any numbers to back that up.

See the full press release after the break.

Source: Amazon

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/01eicAuDfiA/story01.htm

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Black Friday online sales growth lags last year (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Amazon.com Inc, eBay Inc and other e-commerce companies had a strong "Black Friday," but the industry's growth rate lagged last year's surge in online buying on the traditional first day of the holiday shopping season.

Online shopping jumped 24.3 percent on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, versus the same period a year earlier, IBM Benchmark, which tracks transactions on websites of 500 retailers, said on Saturday.

IBM was expecting growth of about 15 percent. Higher-than-expected online buying was partly driven by increased use of mobile devices, it said.

Some of the best-performing retailers also did a good job informing consumers about online promotions ahead of the crucial post-Thanksgiving shopping day, said John Squire, chief strategy officer at IBM Smarter Commerce.

Mercent, a company founded in 2005 which helps retailers sell through e-commerce channels including Amazon, eBay and Google Inc's Internet search engine, reported a 23-percent jump in Black Friday same-store sales by clients.

"E-commerce continues to grow on an absolute basis and take additional market share from (traditional) bricks and mortar retailers," said Eric Best, chief executive of Mercent and a former Amazon executive.

Best expects a "huge" Cyber Monday - which this year falls on November 28 - but he warned that this doesn't mean the whole holiday season will be strong.

Cyber Monday is the first work day after Thanksgiving, when workers often use office computers to shop online. Last year, over $1 billion was spent on Cyber Monday, making it the heaviest online shopping day in history, according to ComScore.

"Holiday shopping is becoming more front-loaded around Black Friday and Cyber Monday," Mercent's Best said. "All of this is great news, but it's still early in this 45-day shopping season."

WEATHER EFFECT

Last year, Mercent clients saw same-store sales growth of 30 percent on Black Friday. Best said slower growth this year may have been caused by better weather.

"The weather was really good this year, which can have an effect on the amount of screen time," Best added. "People were outside shopping offline or they weren't shopping at all."

Amazon saw some of the strongest growth again this year, according to ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell on websites run by Amazon, eBay and other e-commerce companies.

ChannelAdvisor clients saw same-store sales via Amazon jump 49.8 percent on Black Friday, versus a year earlier.

Traditional retailers offered Black Friday deals earlier this year, but Amazon aggressively matched this strategy by running Black Friday promotions online starting on November 21, according to Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor.

Still, on Black Friday in 2010, ChannelAdvisor clients saw same-store sales growth of about 80 percent via Amazon, Wingo noted.

Sellers on eBay generated same-store sales growth of 15.1 percent on Black Friday this year, down from 15.5 percent year-over-year growth in 2010, he added.

MOBILE SHOPPING SURGES

Mobile shopping surged on Black Friday but remained a relatively small part of overall online commerce.

EBay said U.S. shoppers bought almost two and a half times as many items via mobile devices this past Black Friday compared to 2010.

PayPal, eBay's online payments business, saw a six-fold increase in global mobile transaction volume on Black Friday, versus the same day last year.

More than 14 percent of Black Friday traffic on retail websites came from mobile devices, up from 5.6 percent a year ago, according to IBM.

eBay said it offered an XBOX 360 250GB Kinect gaming system from Microsoft for $259.99 the evening before Black Friday that sold out in 20 minutes - at a rate of 75 units per minute.

Best sellers on Amazon.com on Black Friday included the company's Kindle Fire tablet computer, a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 Waterproof Digital Camera and a Mr. Coffee Single Serve coffee machine powered by Keurig, according to an Amazon spokeswoman.

(Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111126/wr_nm/us_usa_retail_ecommerce

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Oppenheimer: ClickSoftware Selected by Israeli Communications ...

By Phil Marsh

Benzinga Staff Writer
November 28, 2011 7:39 AM

In an industry update note, Oppenheimer says ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CKSW) announced that its ClickRoster Advanced Edition was implemented by 013 NetVision, a leading Israeli communications provider, to optimize management of its contact center.

In the report, Oppenheimer writes, ?ClickRoster is a workforce management solution that automatically schedules shifts and tasks of contact center staff. The solution also includes a travel module and employee self-service designed to facilitate the efficient planning of staff commutes. The solution also enables employees to update shift preferences and availability and to exchange shifts with colleagues. Given the competitiveness of its industry, 013 NetVision carried out a rigorous market analysis to find a built-for-purpose technology solution before selecting ClickSoftware.?

CKSW closed at $8,21, down 0.23 percent, on Friday.

Sign up for Benzinga's morning news summary - Bacon & Trades - for daily coverage of overnight and premarket news

(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga.

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Source: http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/11/11/2153891/oppenheimer-clicksoftware-selected-by-israeli-communicat

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Boy, 14, jailed for buying drugs on resort island

BALI, Indonesia?? An Australian teen was sentenced to two months in detention Friday for buying drugs while vacationing with family on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

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Presiding Judge Amzer Simanjuntak told the packed Denpasar district court that ? when taking into account time already served ? the 14-year-old would be freed in just over a week and immediately deported.

"It's better to give a jail sentence, but the shortest possible, which would enable him to be given back to his parents sooner," Simanjuntak said, according to a report in the Herald Sun newspaper.

The prosecutors had asked for a three-month sentence.

The boy, who cannot be identified by name because of his age, sat sobbing, his head bowed down, as his father patted him on the back consolingly while the judge spoke.

Remorse
Though he could have faced up to 12 years under Indonesia's tough narcotics laws, the panel of three judges said it decided to be lenient because he admitted to buying 0.13 ounces of marijuana from a man in front of a supermarket and repeatedly expressed remorse.

The teen, who has been in an immigration detention center since his Oct. 4 arrest, earlier promised to enter a drug rehabilitation program if he was allowed to return to his home in Morrisset Park, north of Sydney.

He said he had been struggling for some time with his addiction.

Australia ? which has seen dozens of its citizens jailed or placed on death row for drug possession in Indonesia ? had been closely watching the trial.

'Lessons to be learned'
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed the court verdict that he said meant the boy and his family would probably be back home by Christmas.

"I'm sure there are lessons to be learned by this young man as well," he told the Sun Herald.

Many argued the boy was too young to be jailed.

But critics noted that dozens of Indonesian children tied up in people-smuggling cases have been languishing for years in Australian detention centers.

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45433766/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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