In a effort to cut costs and improve its financial situation, Sony is eliminating two divisions at its main electronics unit, promoting three executives and keeping a close eye on its money-losing television unit, Bloomberg’s Businessweek reported on Tuesday. The Japanese company will shut down its consumer products and services group, which handled consumer-level electronics, and the professional device and solutions group, which handled business oriented products and components. Executive Deputy Presi...

Sharp on Tuesday announced that is has entered into an manufacturing partnership with Foxconn that will see the manufacturing giant take a 10% stake in the Japanese electronics company. Hon Hai has invested nearly 67 billion yen ($809 million) in Sharp in exchange for roughly 121.65 million new shares, which will be spread out between four Foxconn companies. Sharp CEO Takashi Okuda said, “Until now we have handled all of our R&D and manufacturing, but going forward we will need to include partnersh...

A new subscription service allows potential gadget owners to test out new devices like Apple’s new iPad tablet before committing to a purchase. YBUY, which bills itself as a try-before-you-buy online subscription service, charges users a flat monthly fee of $24.95 for access to a wide range of consumer electronics as well as home and kitchen gadgets. Users can choose one device at a time from YBUY’s catalog and trial the gadget for up to 30 days before returning it. Beginning in April, the compa...

Brick and mortar shopaholics have so few places to turn for an adrenaline rush these days thanks to the advent of online shopping, but Black Friday always promises to be a battle that tests even the most seasoned shopper’s will. Anxious consumers line up early outside their retailers of choice and prepare to push, shove, crawl and even trample their way to some of the deepest discounts of the year. It’s no holds barred and things are bound to get dirty, but those who plan to work off their Thanksg...

What are consumers planning to buy on Black Friday? Computers and tablets, according to data compiled by Mashwork, which gathered data from thousands of Twitter users. 18% of consumers discussed buying computers and tablets, 17% want to buy DVDs, music and video games, 16% are most interested in shoes, 14% will buy clothes, 12% want to buy a new television and 9% are planning to purchase a new cell phone or camera. The remaining 14% are planning to purchase items outside of those categories. The most talked a...

You are not alone if you walk into brick and mortar stores to check out a product only to turn around and buy it online later. According to a new study from Retrevo, 66% of all shoppers and 78% of smartphone owners “look at a product in a store” and then purchase the product online from a different outlet. Consumer electronics stores are taking the biggest hit; 58% of smartphone owners decide to buy products first spotted in a store online. Retrevo suggests that is because consumers feel overwhelm...

The advent of online shopping changed the retail industry forever, but many consumers are still not willing to shop for consumer electronics online despite potential cost savings. New data from market research firm The NPD Group shows that while nearly two-thirds of U.S. consumers use the Internet to research consumer electronics purchases, only about half go on to purchase electronics online. ”It’s not surprising to see that so many consumers won’t buy TVs, smartphones, and other popular CE produc...

A new study obtained by ABC News suggests that cell phones and other personal electronic devices might be causing electronic interference on airplanes. U.S. airlines all require that passengers power off any and all electronic devices, many claiming that “flight mode,” isn’t even allowed. Of course, if you’re like us, you may ignore those warnings and leave your phone on until the last possible second (or entirely with flight mode activated). The report, however, found that there were ...

Moments ago Amazon announced that its Trade-In program will now accept consumer electronics. That means anyone who wants to trade-in consumer electronics, along with other goods, can send a box to Amazon and receive an Amazon gift card in exchange. Amazon originally launched its trade-in program in 2009, and until now it only accepted games, text books, and movies. “We want to give customers the opportunity to get great value from their used electronics,” said Paul Ryder, vice president of electro...

iPhone 4GS and iPhone 5 rumors are so played out. Might as well move on to the iPhone 6, right? Blog AppleInsider is reporting that Apple, Inc. has selected Sharp Electronics as the display supplier for its next, next smartphone — being called the iPhone 6. The information comes courtesy of Japanese newspaper Nikkan, who writes that the purported agreement will have Sharp producing p-Si LCD displays for the iPhone maker — not OLED as previous rumors have suggested. The benefits of p-Si LCD displays includ...

You’re still stuffed from a supersized feast the day before but you manage to pry yourself out of bed hours ahead of sunrise. A quick shower does little to wash off the shame brought on by having ingested five slices of pumpkin pie, but at least it helps to wake you up. As you exit your home and click the unlock button on your car’s key fob, your mind strays as you think of a hundred different reasons to go back inside and get back in bed. But you can’t. Your local retailers are calling to y...

The month of November was a sweet one for the Amazon Kindle as the e-book reader posted its best sales month ever. The Kindle is the best selling electronics product on Amazon right now and hits the top spot as the most gifted and most wished for device. Seriously. With the Barnes & Noble Nook missing in action and Sony’s lineup of e-book readers still lacking wireless connectivity, the Kindle is the only game in town for the casual consumer looking to get in on the e-book explosion. It also doesn&#...

Circuit City closed its doors earlier this year following a last ditch effort to stay afloat that just didn’t pan out. Some, such as the 35,000 or so people left without a job, were pretty sad to see the company go — there isn’t much competition these days as far as brick and mortar electronics mega retailers go. While Circuit City’s physical locations have all been retired at this point, their spirit lives on in the newly revived CircuitCity.com. Earlier this week, Systemax completed ...

Recession? What recession? Best Buy posted its financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year ending February 28th yesterday and all things considered, business looked pretty darn good. In the 12 months leading up to March 1st — the same period of time that saw Circuit City tank and wither away — Best Buy added 213 new locations (net). Crazy. Q4 revenue rang in at $14.7 billion, 10 percent above Q4 in the company’s prior fiscal year. The big sellers? Laptops and cellphones. Prof...