A General News Update

1) Radiohead has decided not to release sales numbers for their most recent album, In Rainbows, until the end of the year. However, several estimates from representatives 'close to the band' have surfaced. According several coinciding approximations, Radiohead made an average of $5 (or 2.5 pounds) on each album sold on the first day. British music review website Gigwise has published an article stating that the band sold 1.2 million copies of In Rainbows on the first day...meaning that Radiohead made over $6 million in 24 hours. Long term, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not the sales will continue to soar, especially after the release of the bonus tracks.



But regardless of the insane popularity of Radiohead, their newest album will probably never have a shot at coming close to the highest-grossing album of all time (the Eagles' Greatest Hits album, with over 29 million copies to date, according to Wikipedia). Why not? The music scene has inflated at an almost alarming rate since the days of the Eagles, in the 1970s. Add that to advanced technology and near-universal music availability/accessibility. Everyone can now whittle down their music selection to their exact eccentric specifications, whereas thirty years ago that wasn't quite as possible. You like ska funk with a pop edge and a gothic undertone? Yeah, there's some bands on iTunes for you to check out. In the times where genres are becoming obsolete and you need at least four or five adjectives and two band cross-references to describe the sound of your newest favorite group, it seems like there's no such thing as music that has global appeal. Regardless of how well Radiohead's new album does, they nor anyone else will get close enough to touch the days of the Beatles, the Eagles, and Michael Jackson.



2) According to recent financial estimates from Piper Jaffray, Apple's investment company, AT&T is paying Apple approximately $18 a month for EACH iPhone activated on its network. For a two year contract, that comes to $432. That means that Apple is receiving , on average, $831 per iPhone sold. In addition, Apple is predicted by executives to sell 3.4 million iPhones this year, 12.9 million next year, and 45 million in 2009 (the double-digit millions are supposed to be achieved by lowered prices, faster data speeds, and attractive new features such as navigation systems). $831 per phone, multiplied by 16.3 million (sales projections for the first two years) = 13.55 billion dollars from the iPhone ALONE.......thus bringing Apple one massive leap closer to owning the entire world as we know it. I wonder what effect this will have on the global economy? Actually...never mind...I don't want to know.

(And as a sidenote, the iPhone has been so popular that Apple has limited its sales to 2 phones per person as well as no longer accepting cash. Looks like those sales projections might actually be within the realms of possibility if this trend keeps up.)


3) Microsoft has won the battle vs. Google and Yahoo of "who gets to invest in the contemporary social networking global cobweb that is Facebook". The company is paying $240 million for a 1.6% share in Facebook, valuing the three-and-a-half year old company at $15 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, the 23 year old founder, is the owner of a 20% share in the company, making the Harvard dropout valued at over $3 billion. Not bad. "Stay in school, kids" has morphed into "drop out of school and found your own company, where you'll make more money than you could ever dream of from getting a REAL job". Sounds like Facebook may not be that far behind Apple in taking over the world. Unlike technology, which is ever-evolving, social networking will never become extinct.



That is all.