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Microsoft

Consumers Embracing Online and ‘Green’ Shopping This Holiday Season

Online retailing will continue to grow this holiday season, with a record 71% of consumers spending at least part of their holiday budgets via the internet, according to Deloitte’s 23rd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends.

That figure is up 5 percentage points from 2004.

The online channel ranked No. 2 this year for holiday gift-shopping, behind only discount department...
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Microsoft Launches Online Store

Microsoft—one of the biggest and longest-standing hardware, software and online enterprises in the world—has finally launched an online Microsoft Store, MarketingVOX reports.

The Store was previously available to residents in the United Kingdom, Germany and Korea. Moving forward, US-based users may purchase games, software like Office 2007 or new Zunes for shipping or download (in the case of...
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Amazon Curtails ‘Wrap Rage’

To cut down on ”wrap rage” - the frustration of trying to free a product from its packaging - Amazon is unrolling a Frustration-Free Packaging initiative, starting in the US with 19 bestselling products from manufacturers such as Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft, and Transcend.

One of the first products to use the streamlined packaging system is a Fisher-Price Imaginext Adventures Pirate Ship,...
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Wal-Mart Shuts Down Support for DRM Music Files

Customers who bought DRM-restricted WMA (Windows Media Audio) music files from Wal-Mart’s online music store before Feb. ‘08 have to burn them onto a CD or risk losing them forever, the company announced via email (published on BoingBoing).

Wal-Mart is shutting down the servers that control reauthorization of purchased music files. This means that if users try to reload those music files onto a...
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Microsoft Deploys ‘Gurus’ to Points of Sale

Microsoft has announced its intention to deploy a customer-service team to 155 retailers that sell its products, such as Best Buy and Circuit City, by the end of the year, the LA Times reports.

Called “Gurus,” the representatives are not unlike Apple’s “Geniuses,” with one major exception: They do not provide technical support on already-purchased products, as Apple does for Macs and...
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Microsoft Buys European Comparison Shopping Site

To make its Live Search better for consumers seeking deals on retail items, Microsoft will integrate the offerings on Ciao, a European comparison-shopping site, via acquisition of Ciao’s owner, Greenfield Online, reports Internet Retailer.

The purchase price was set at $486 million in cash, or $17.50 per share.

Ciao, a US version of which was launched earlier this year, offers consumer reviews...
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