According to new figures from Enterbrain, the Sony PlayStation 3 has now hit a new milestone in Japan, 5 million units sold.
The console launched in the nation in November 2006.
The figures also included the best selling games list, with Final Fantasy XIII becoming the biggest seller with 1.8 million copies sold. Metal Gear Solid 4 was a distant second, with 706,000 copies sold in the country.
According to VGChartz, the Wii is still the leader in Japan, with over 10 million units sold, but it appears the PS3 is trying to play catchup. The Xbox 360 has sold just over 1.28 million units.
Globally, the Wii is the dominant market share leader with over 70 million units sold. The Xbox 360 is in second with almost 40 million units sold, and the PS3 is in third with almost 34 million units.
Result for: market share leader
Apple will soon announce its intent to purchase Quattro Wireless for $275 million USD, says AllThingsDigital. The company specializes in mobile advertisements.
The move would mirror Google’s recent $750 million acquisition of AdMob, the market share leader in the mobile ad department, and Quattro’s biggest direct rival.
Although Apple has declined comment, the report says the announcement should be official this week. Quattro’s biggest clients are Ford, Disney, and the NFL.
The move would seem a a bit out of Apple’s comfort zone, which of late has been to focus almost exclusively on improving the software and hardware aspects of their iPod line of media devices and their smartphone, the iPhone. Many analysts see the move simply as a cheap way to defend against Google, who will be the clear leader of the mobile ad market when the deal is approved.
Result for: market share leader
According to a Financial Times report, the Big 4 labels are strongly considering building a streaming video site that will directly compete with market share leader YouTube.
The site will be modeled after the very popular Hulu service, which shows full TV episodes and movies with minimal advertisements.
Warner Music recently pulled their music videos from YouTube after contract negotiations fell through. Currently, the Big 4 labels get a fee each time one of their videos is played, but Google (owner of YouTube) wants to reduce the fees and instead share more of the ad revenue.
EMI, Sony and Universal are still in contract negotiations with YouTube but may pull their videos as well if terms can’t be agreed upon.
