Since no one wants to carry two phones, most people use their personal handset for work activities. The BYOD (bring your own device) trend has businesses struggling to make work-related data and apps available on workers’ personal phones–and secure. VMware has an answer, which its partner LG is demonstrating at CES 2012: a tool to create a virtual work phone on an employee-owned device.
VMware MVP
VMware has extended its virtual machine environment tools to mobile devices with its Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP). This is meant to solve four key issues: securing employee-owned devices that access corporate resources; managing all mobile devices from a single interface; allowing employees to use their own devices; and letting a wide variety of devices connect to the company network.
VMware MVP could provide a secure environment on an employee-owned smartphone.VMware MVP installs like any other app on an employee’s device. Once installed, the user taps an icon to launch the virtual machine, which takes over the screen and displays the work environment your business wishes to provide. This will include custom settings that provide the desired level of security as well as a private app store, where only apps pre-approved by your company can be installed.
CES Demo
LG demonstrated an Android virtual machine on its Revolution VS910 handset.VMware has announced partnerships with both LG and Verizon on the effort. It appears the partnership is going strong, as LG is showing off its Verizon Revolution phone running Android virtual machines in VMware’s MVP. While the Revolution is just a demo, LG says the technology will be available through Verizon and Telefonica in “the coming months” on new devices only. The main difference between the two carriers’ solutions will be that Verizon’s will use only one telephone number, but Telefonica’s can enable two numbers thanks to dual-SIM cards.
The Catch
Though initially targeted at enterprises, this technology is likely to simplify and eventually find its way into small businesses. The catch is that it appears to only work on devices that have a VMware module loaded on them by the manufacturer or carrier. So far, VMware’s only hardware partners are LG and Samsung, and the only carriers are Verizon and Telefonica of Spain–and none have officially announced devices that will include the technology.
If, in the end, only select devices work with MVP, then it will limited to businesses that restrict employees to using only those devices. However, if it can be made to run on any Android or iOS smartphone, look for MVP to make waves in business as it brings order to BYOD.
For more blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation’s largest consumer electronics show, check out PCWorld’s complete coverage of CES 2012.
Joseph Fieber has 25 years of experience as an IT pro, with a background in computer consulting and software training. Follow him on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter, or contact him through his website, JosephFieber.com.
Article source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/247646/lg_verizon_and_vmware_demo_virtual_work_phone.html
DETROIT (WWJ) – The Detroit Police Department is moving ahead with its virtual precincts — starting today at the Northeast District.
The precinct will be closed to the public between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. — in an effort to put more officers on the street. Civilian and police desk jobs will be eliminated, and officers will be redeployed to patrols. Chief Ralph Godbee said there will be no change in police work — officers are still there to serve Detroit.
“Policing is a 24-hour a day, seven day a week, 365 day a year job,” Godbee said. A no-police precinct or district will ever be closed.”
Citizens will be able to report crimes during off hours via a telephone hotline. The virtual precinct idea will be implemented as a pilot program at the Northeastern District for the next 30 days. The department will be moving toward city-wide implementation by February 6th.
Article source: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/01/09/northeastern-district-transforms-into-virtual-precinct-monday/
LG have been showing off a Verizon Revolution that runs a virtual Android machine. So what? So, that means you can run a work phone as a virtual device on your personal phone — and junk your crappy second handset.
Just like running a remote desktop on your personal computer when you need to work from home, LG has decided that the time — and the technology — has come to do the same with your phone, reports The Verge from CES.
Running a VMware virtual Android machine, LG’s Verizon Revolution allows users to run their own smartphone, then click over to a totally sandboxed “work” phone that’s managed by an employer.
The best news is that this isn’t some crazy-ass prototype: LG are going to be launching a phone with this tech “in the coming months” according to The Verge. The feature will, apparently, only be available on new LG devices, so you’ll have to upgrade if you want to ditch your work phone for good. [The Verge]
Article source: http://gizmodo.com/5874236/lg-can-help-you-ditch-your-work-phone-using-a-virtual-android-os
EAST PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) – These days everything has gone high tech it seems, even when it comes to networking.
For the past three years, Marybeth Gillespie has been hard at work, looking for a new job.
“I used recruitment agencies, I had done cold calling, I had answered classified ads,” Gillespie says.
No job offers turned up, until she tried a career fair, right from her very own living room.
“I was able to study the companies that were offering local jobs, click through to their websites and learn their culture.”
With the unemployment rate inching towards 9% and companies looking to broaden the applicant pool, the virtual career fair has exploded in popularity.
“We have companies like Microsoft that we’ve done that with. Right now, we run probably a couple of hundred events every year,” says Malcolm Lotzof of INXPO.
Some organizations host their own virtual fairs, while others join group fairs held by sponsors.
Participants simply log on, upload your resume and visit a variety of virtual “booths” organized by company or by field.
Recruiters have the change to pre-screen resumes, then target potential employees.
Virtual career fairs are free.
You can learn about them through the newspaper, a company’s site, social networking services like Facebook and Twitter, even Google searches or word of mouth.
Copyright WPRI
Article source: http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/12_for_action/job-fairs-getting-virtual-makeover
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) January 07, 2012
In a world of iPads, Smart Phones, FaceTime and Skype, virtual reality is the new norm. The question is: “What’s the secret to dealing with it effectively?” That’s a question the Project Management Professionals (PMPs) at Cheetah Learning (http://www.CheetahLearning.com) are happy to answer. Based on 12-plus years developing high-function, virtual project teams, Cheetah Learning is now sharing its secrets in a new free 10-step downloadable guide that reveals “The Virtue of Working Virtually.”
Is working virtually worth the effort?
Verizon Conferencing commissioned a study of meeting trends; among their findings: “A five-person meeting conducted in-person (involving plane travel for four of the attendees) is over seven times more expensive than a meeting conducted by audio-conference, and nearly three times as expensive as a video-conference.”
“Once the tools that are right for your organization are in place, the biggest barriers are often around communications and work culture,” explains Michelle LaBrosse, CEO and founder of Cheetah Learning. “Virtual velocity can be hampered without the right tools and ground rules that can increase your team’s productivity, and let you reap the rewards of the virtual workforce.”
Below are Cheetah Learning’s “Ground Rules for Virtual Velocity.” An expanded version, titled “The Virtue of Working Virtually,” is available as a free download at http://Blog.CheetahLearning.com.
Build Trust in Person and Grow That Trust With Clear Expectations – In order for people to work effectively virtually, there has to be trust. Trust doesn’t happen magically. It’s built and then continues to grow with clear expectations consistently set by leaders and met by the team.
Hire People Who Work Well Virtually – Self-starters are the best in a virtual environment. People who love what they’re doing work well virtually. It’s difficult to keep anyone engaged when they don’t have passion for what they’re doing.
Make Flexibility Work for You – A big part of compensation can be the ability to work wherever and whenever you want. This means employees work when they’re in their own, most productive hours.
Manage Results, Not Activity – In the physical office environment, “busy work” gets mistaken for real work. In the virtual environment, the key is to manage results. Set expectations and monitor the results, not the daily activities.
Schedule Regular Communication – It’s important that there’s a time for reporting both progress and potential pitfalls to the team. This keeps people on track and gives everyone the discipline of a check-in.
Create Communication That Saves Time, Not Kills It – Does your team spend hours trying to solve an issue via email that could have been solved with a 30-minute conference call? Ask yourself: “How can I make my team’s email communication even more productive?”
Create Standards That Build a Cohesive Culture – What are your standards of quality? How do you define excellence? What does your brand mean to each employee? Make sure everyone knows the answers to those questions.
Rules of Responsiveness – When people work remotely, it’s important to define the rules of responsiveness. How quickly are people expected to return an email, an Instant Message or a phone call? What’s the protocol when people are out of the office or on vacation?
Make Sure There’s a Real System Under the Virtual Hood – Working virtually is about creating systems that enable people to work from anywhere and everywhere. There has to be a commitment to giving people the tools they need.
Embrace the New Water Cooler – The virtual world has become the new water cooler, even in physical locations. Why? Because everyone is communicating via email and IM chat. Email, IM, conference calls, and webinars are key to staying connected.
“Working virtually is not rocket-science, but it does require new rules for our workforce,” says LaBrosse, Cheetah’s CEO. “These tips are a good starting point for your team as you build your own best practices for effective Project Management in the virtual world. Enjoy the journey and invite your team to help you create a powerful work culture.”
Cheetah offers a variety of Tips, Tools and Deals at http://www.CheetahLearning.com. They include PMP Exam Prep SmartStart Guide, PMP Practice Exam, 2 PDU Skills Assessment Course, and the Getting Started with PM Guide, along with great deals on Professional Development Units (PDUs). For more information, call (888) 659-2013. Outside the U.S., call (602) 220-1263.
ABOUT: Cheetah Learning is a Project Management Institute Registered Education Provider and is International Association of Continuing Education and Training Certified. Cheetah was awarded the Project Management Institute Professional Development Provider of the Year for 2008 for the significant contribution it made to the field of project management with its accelerated approach to teaching and doing project management.
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Article source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9080839.htm
Detroit— Police officials plan to close the city’s precincts to the public at night in an effort to put more officers on the street.
Starting Monday, the city’s eight precincts and districts will be closed to the public between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m.
Civilian and police desk jobs will be eliminated, and officers will be redeployed to street patrols, according to a teletype distributed throughout the department last week.
Under the plan, touted by officials as the creation of “virtual precincts” in the Dec. 28 teletype, several job assignments will be eliminated, including desk clerks, Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) operators, timekeepers and vehicle and building maintenance personnel.
In addition, all detectives will be reassigned Feb. 6 to the Central District under the umbrella of Criminal Investigations.
Citizens will be able to report crimes during off hours via a telephone hotline. Detroit Police Sgt. Eren Stephens said Chief Ralph Godbee will outline further details of the plan on Thursday.
“For budgetary reasons, the chief has to take a proactive approach,” said Cmdr. Steven Dolunt, commanding officer of the Eastern District.
“I think it’ll work,” he said. “People are always resistant to two things: change and the status quo. But something needed to be done. If you look at other cities, a lot of them don’t keep their precincts open 24 hours a day.”
Although precincts in Chicago and Cleveland are accessible to the public around the clock, Boston’s stations close at 4 p.m. on weekdays. In Lansing, the precincts close at 5 p.m., and the lobbies aren’t staffed, although during off-hour emergencies, citizens may pick up a phone outside the building and ask a patrol officer to come to the precinct building.
Detroit resident Karen Campbell wasn’t happy to hear that public access to precincts will be restricted.
“They keep cutting services, but the crime doesn’t stop,” said Campbell, 62. “What else is there to cut? Now isn’t the time to do this, because it’s getting so crazy out here.”
But resident Melvin Valentine said the crime problem is why he likes the plan.
“Anything they can do to get more officers on the street is a good idea,” he said. “The crime is getting bad out here, so I welcome more officers patrolling.”
The “virtual precinct” plan is Godbee’s latest effort to get more of the department’s nearly 2,800 officers on the street. In August, Godbee instituted the “Inside Out” program, which required officers assigned to desk jobs to put in eight hours on street patrols each week.
That effort put an additional 50 officers on patrols, officials said.
Officials said the department also is seeking to change a grant to keep approximately 100 officers on the force. Department officials want to extend a 2009 Department of Justice grant to retain officers. But officials needed to send out layoff notices to 100 officers in order to prove a hardship to qualify for the grant.
Officer Carol Furstenau, a 16-year veteran assigned to the city’s Northwest District, said the “virtual precinct” effort has created an uproar among officers.
“Everybody’s mad,” Furstenau said. “The whole thing doesn’t make sense. They’re taking away the LEIN operator and the clerks, but an officer is still going to do those jobs, even though the public isn’t coming into the district.”
Furstenau, who works the afternoon shift, said she got a taste Monday of the new way the districts will operate.
“Those clerks stay busy, and the police officers are going to end up doing all that work,” she said. “Last night, I took 10-12 reports, plus the phone was ringing — and there were 2 report clerks, a desk clerk and a LEIN operator (on duty). I don’t think (department officials) have thought this through at all. They’re calling this ‘virtual precincts’ — what do we have, virtual crime?”
Furstenau also criticized the plan to move precinct detectives to a central location.
“These detectives work hand-in-hand with the officers in the precinct,” she said.
“They know the neighborhoods, and the people in them. When they take the detectives downtown, they’ll have to work on cases throughout the city, so we’re going to lose their knowledge of the community.”
Detroit has four districts — Central, Northeastern, Eastern and Southwestern — and four precincts: the 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th.
The department in 2005 combined some precincts into districts as a cost-saving measure.
ghunter@detnews.com
(313) 222-2134
Article source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120104/METRO01/201040372/1409/rss36
Among technologists, futurists and those working at cutting-edge companies, virtual teams and the realities of remote work may be fairly old news. But according to a recent article from the Canadian HR Reporter, the same doesn’t appear to be true for most mainstream HR departments, which the author Dave Crisp feels are badly behind the curve when it comes to understanding new ways of working and implementing the necessary policies and procedures.
Crisp notes that for many years most HR departments saw virtual work as the domain of a handful of road warriors who could be relied on to work with their managers to sort out their individual tools and needs. But HR failed to keep up with changing conceptions of virtual work as technology and shifting mindsets allowed the idea of location independence to spread through much larger swathes of organizations. He writes:
As time passed technology made most of us capable of working remotely at least part time with few special arrangements. It also enabled more people to tie into virtual meetings via various types of collaboration programs and online tools. The emphasis shifted away from remote workers as special cases that had to be monitored to an assumption entire teams might be assembled from workers who are located somewhere other than where the leader is or teams in one location being led by a leader located somewhere else.
Or as Wayne Turmel put it in his thoughtful meditation for Management Issues on the themes raised in the Canadian HR Reporter post, “it’s impossible not to acknowledge that while IT was busy building tools (and empires) to cut costs and minimize travel, the discussions frequently didn’t include HR beyond how much they could cut costs (and head count).” He concludes: “As often happens, HR is left to come in after the cow has run off and safe-proof the barn.”
So what questions is HR now scrambling to ask and answer about virtual work? Both Crisp and Turmel have suggestions, such as:
- Are employees expected to be connected 24/7? If so, should they be paid extra for it? And, I’d add, what are the longer-term risks of burnout created by such a policy?
- Are productivity and effectiveness being measured properly when it’s no longer possible to simply drop in on an employee’s cubicle and see what they’re up to?
- Do managers need training in how to communicate effectively at a distance? Issues like the tone of email, handling conflict across distance, making the most of virtual meetings and deciding who to include in which communications come up here, as do questions of how managers can maintain an “open door” policy when they have no door.
- How should managers or HR handle the situation when cliques or subgroups form within virtual teams and information isn’t properly shared?
- How should managers solicit feedback?
What other questions do HR departments have to confront as virtual work becomes more widespread?
Image courtesy of Flickr user x-ray delta one.
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Article source: http://gigaom.com/collaboration/is-hr-behind-the-curve-on-virtual-work/
by Mike Elgan,
Computerworld
Editor’s Note: This story is excerpted from Computerworld. For more Mac coverage, visit Computerworld’s Macintosh Knowledge Center.
We lost a legend this year. All Steve Jobs ever wanted was to change the world. And whether you love Apple or hate it, you have to admit that Jobs achieved his goal.
At a minimum, he mainstreamed a lot of things we now take for granted: downloadable music, super elegant hardware, multi-touch user interfaces, app stores, Apple Stores, voice-based virtual assistants, and white earbuds, to name just a few.
Jobs was as controversial in life as he has been since his death; his bio has only sharpened controversy over whether he was a brilliant visionary, a totalitarian task-master or, most likely, both.
I think one of the most interesting things about Jobs is his lifelong insistence that you could “change the world,” as he put it. With the right perspective, as well as determination and effort, any of us could “make a dent in the universe,” he believed.
Call me one of the crazy ones, but I think he was right. The world he and many other tech visionaries shaped now gives us the tools to connect with people almost anywhere; join movements that pressure companies and governments to change their policies; and learn just about anything.
So as we make our New Year’s resolutions, here are a few suggestions on how you can leverage new technology to change the world:
Embrace Google+
I know I’ve been a relentless cheerleader for Google’s social network in this space since it launched in the summer. But to me, Google+ is the most transformative new technology product to come out in the past decade.
For starters, Google+ is radically international. My Twitter followers, for example, are about 80 percent Americans. Facebook? Forget it. About 95 percent of my friends on Facebook are American—and probably 75 percent are in either California or New York, where I have lived and left behind a trail of family and friends.
But on Google+, fewer than 10 percent of the people who have circled me are Americans. As a result, I have meaningful conversations every day with people in Pakistan, Nigeria, India, Indonesia, and just about every country you can think of. And there’s something about the network, something about how conversations unfold on Google+, that favors substantive conversation rather than frivolous banter or pointless trolling.
I’ve traveled all over the world, but I find Google+ far more broadening and enlightening even than travel.
Facebook is easy and comfortable because most of the conversations are with and about people you already know. But Google+ involves deep conversations with brilliant strangers, and is mind-expanding and radically educational. At least, it has been for me.
Also: Google+ offers “hangouts,” which is a feature that lets you video chat with up to nine other users. Hangouts is also broadening, as various people from different places all over the world get together and just talk like they were in the same living room.
Google+ brings people together for meaningful conversation, and as such makes the world a better place. If you’re not on it, joining up and getting active would be a great resolution for the new year. Circle me here.
Join boycotts
It turns out that boycotts can work! A funny thing happened this month. While everyone was debating the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA), GoDaddy came out strongly in favor of the bill. GoDaddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company.
Prominent journalists and bloggers pounced on the company, calling for a boycott. Some 70,000 customers have since moved their domains to competitors.
But here’s the amazing part. As a result of this sudden and catastrophic financial and public relations disaster, GoDaddy reversed its position, and now claims to actively oppose SOPA.
The lesson here for all of us is that boycotts can work.
Why not make a resolution to get involved in boycotts related to issues you care about?
Learn something new
The Internet has become the greatest classroom ever. Apple offers iTunes U, which is a collection of lectures from some of the world’s greatest universities. Podcasts continue to be one of the greatest ways to learn ever invented. YouTube has instructional videos on how to bake bread, do yoga, brew beer or do just about anything you’d like to learn how to do. Teachers have taken to Google+, using hangouts to give instructions on how to play the guitar and a world of other subjects.
The whole problem of finding teachers and instructional materials has been largely solved by the Internet. No excuses! Make your resolution to learn something new!
Start your own company
If you think startups and entrepreneurship are for other people, you might want to reconsider. Social networks provide new opportunities for promoting your business worldwide. And options like Kickstarter give you new ways to fund your new venture.
Donate or sell old electronics
Sites like Gazelle will buy your used electronics at a pretty good price—and make good use of them.
The Environmental Protection Agency publishes a site that will tell where you can donate or recycle your old electronics locally.
Look, you’ve got a big, ugly pile of old electronics junk in your house or garage. So do I. Let’s take action, and resolve to get rid of this stuff.
If you’re going to make new year’s resolutions this year, think about all the new opportunities that exist to make a real difference in the world.
Think different! And in 2012 change the world.
[Mike Elgan writes about technology and tech culture. Contact and learn more about Mike at Elgan.com, or subscribe to his free e-mail newsletter, Mike’s List.]
Article source: http://www.macworld.com/article/164585/2012/01/five_new_years_resolutions_to_change_the_world.html
Editor’s note: Ruthann Weaver Lariscy, is a professor in the department of advertising and public relations in the Grady College at the University of Georgia. Her research in political and health advertising is published in academic and professional publications.
(CNN) — Negative ads in the Iowa caucuses are just the tip of the iceberg. While as recently as three election cycles ago there were still some reservations about slinging mud, in 2012 negative ads are a virtual must-have component of every political campaign.
Many people say they dislike how ugly American campaigns have become. In fact, some research explores whether political apathy and disengagement are associated with increasing negativity. But the evidence is inconclusive — about as many of us seem to be entertained by attack ads as are turned off by them.
Most of us maintain that we dislike negative ads, especially certain types of them. Among those that are strongly disliked are ads that are considered too personal or that shed a negative light on a family member. Running an ad that criticizes Newt Gingrich’s three marriages, for example, borders on dangerous.
The danger is that if people judge the attacking candidate as being “too dirty” there is a good possibility the ad will boomerang — that is, turn more voters against the attacker than the candidate being attacked. One way candidates slip around this possibility is to reserve the most harmful attacks for outside PACs and interest groups to sponsor.
We seem to dislike least those attack ads that stick to topics directly relevant to the campaign — most notably voting record and positions on issues. These ads are unlikely to boomerang and likely to have some impact. Other elements that are important for an attack to be successful include new information, being entertaining and being plausible.
So if we don’t like negative ads and even perhaps suspect they contribute to political malaise, why are they increasingly dominating candidates’ strategies?
The answer is simple: They work. And they work very well. Gingrich’s drop in polls in Iowa last month was no accident — it was choreographed by negative advertising.
Our brains process information both consciously and non-consciously. When we pay attention to a message we are engaged in active message processing. When we are distracted or not paying attention we may nonetheless passively receive information. There is some evidence that negative messages may be more likely than positive ones to passively register. They “stick” for several reasons.
First, one of the most important contributors to their success may be the negativity bias. Negative information is more memorable than positive — just think how clearly you remember an insult.
Explain it to me: Caucuses and primaries
Explain it to me: Early voting states
Second, negative ads are more complex than positive ones. A positive message that talks about the sponsoring candidate’s voting record, for example, is simple and straightforward. Every negative ad has at least an implied comparison. If Mitt Romney is “not a true conservative,” then by implication the candidate sponsoring the ad is saying he or she is a true conservative. This complexity can cause us to process the information more slowly and with somewhat more attentiveness.
I often use an analogy of running water from my garden hose. If I stand at the top of a smooth concrete driveway and turn on the water, it flows quickly, directly, and fairly seamlessly to the bottom. This is much how a positive message goes through the brain. If I take my same hose and stand at the top of a grassy hill and turn it on, the water travels more slowly than on the concrete hill, it picks up some loose dirt, and inevitably some of it gets “stuck” in grass along the way.
Negative information, too, travels more slowly because of its enhanced complexity. It benefits from the negativity bias, and inevitably some of that negative information gets “stuck” in our minds, even if we don’t like the ad or agree with its contents.
There is another benefit negative messages achieve that positive messages largely do not. In psychology the principle is called the sleeper effect.
Over time, a message is likely to become disassociated from its sponsor. There is some evidence that negative ads benefit from this effect: Immediately upon hearing and seeing an attack, you might dismiss it as being “just politics.” Then, typically several weeks later when you are making your voting decision, something in your mind recollects the negative information. You have likely forgotten when or where or from whom you heard it — but the negative content “stuck.”
I wish I could say that mud-slinging in politics will end — that since we are largely disgusted by its usage, negative political advertising will fade away. But I can’t. Though negative political messages have always been around, they are increasing in quantity and are reaching different kinds of campaigns. While at one time attacks were reserved largely for campaigns for national office, today they are evident in local and statewide campaigns as well.
Unfortunately, negative political ads work. And unless you live in a cave, you are likely not immune to their effects.
Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruthann Lariscy.
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Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/1ID1vfra7ng/
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, said its series of Kindle e-readers and tablets were the top three most-popular purchases in December.
As the company stated earlier in the month, customers bought more than one million Kindles a week during the holiday shopping season.
Since the Kindle’s 2007 launch, Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) has refused to disclose its actual Kindle sales numbers. Yet Amazon reiterated Thursday, in a statement on overall holiday sales, that the new $199 Kindle Fire tablet is the top-selling item on its website.
As the Kindle flew off virtual shelves, e-books did too. People gave 175% more e-books as gifts this holiday season than they did last season, Amazon said, noting that Christmas Day was the biggest day ever for Kindle book downloads.
Books were not only purchased in their digital form. Amazon said that customers bought enough copies of Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” biography — the season’s best-selling book on Amazon — to create a stack taller than Mt. Everest.
Rory’s Story Cubes were the top-selling toy, with about 1 million sold, and Amazon customers bought about 4 million copies of Just Dance 3, making it the best-selling video game of the season.
Levi’s jeans were the most-purchased clothing items. In fact, Amazon customers bought enough jeans that, when folded and stacked, would make 2,500 Statue-of-Liberty-sized piles.
Michael Bublé’s “Christmas” was the best-selling CD, and Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ was the top DVD of the season. Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), CNNMoney’s parent company.
Amazon also said that the Motorola (MMI) Droid RAZR was the best-selling cell phone, Baby Einstein Take along Tunes was the top item for babies, and UGG boots were the most-purchased shoes.
The company said the very last gift purchased in time for Christmas delivery was an order for a book called “The Cook’s Herb Garden” that was placed on Dec. 23 at 2:59 a.m. ET and delivered to Ballwin, Mo.
Though Amazon didn’t give any overall sales figures, it described the holiday season as a success, noting that third-party retailers experienced record holiday growth. Amazon said the number of sellers who exceeded $5,000 in sales during the holiday season increased 44% over last holiday season.
Online data tracker comScore said Thursday that the e-commerce industry as a whole grew 15% this holiday season over last, as U.S. online shoppers spent $35.3 billion in the past 56 days.
Yet Heather Bellini, analyst at Goldman Sachs, saw that as a warning sign.
Bellini noted Thursday that over the past five years, Amazon’s fourth-quarter growth has typically outpaced the e-commerce industry’s holiday season by 23 percentage points. That would mean that Amazon grew roughly 38% this quarter.
But that would translate to just $17.9 billion in sales, below the $18.2 billion median forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
“While the comScore numbers are just one data point which does not capture international sales or breakout individual companies’ sales, taken alone they seem to suggest the potential for downside risk to consensus forecasts for the fourth quarter,” Bellini wrote in an analyst note.
She also noted that Amazon is potentially overpriced, since investors expect analysts’ earnings estimate to be raised. But given her dour forecast, she now sees that scenario as “unlikely.”
Investors might have been a little rattled by Bellini’s note — shares of Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) fell about 2% on Thursday. 
Article source: http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/12/29/technology/amazon_holiday_sales/index.htm?section=money_latest
