Amazon announced on Thursday that the 2011 holiday season was the best ever for sales of its Kindle devices. While the online retailer didn’t specifically say just how many devices were sold by model, it did say Amazon customers purchased “millions of Kindle Fires and millions of Kindle eReaders” and more than 1 million devices per week during the month of December. The company also noted that its #1 and #4 best-selling eBooks released this year were published by independent authors through ...

The week ended December 18th was the heaviest week for online holiday shopping ever, with shoppers spending more than $6.3 billion, up 15% from the same period last year. Consumers have already spent about $31.9 billion this holiday season according to comScore, which published new figures on Tuesday. “With only a few more days until Christmas, the preponderance of Americans’ late season holiday shopping will shift to brick-and-mortar retail, although the procrastinators among us will still be able to tak...

This past Friday will go down in the record books as another heavy spending day this holiday season. Consumers spent a total of $1.07 billion on December 16th, otherwise known as “Free Shipping Day,” which was more than consumers spent during the entirety of the Thanksgiving weekend ($1.03 billion) and 14% more than consumers spent on the same day in 2010. Shoppers spent the most money on Cyber Monday so far this holiday season ($1.25 billion) followed by Green Monday ($1.13 billion) and Free Ship...

Flying home for the holidays and navigating through crowded airports — or facing flight delays, as is often the case — may be a hair less dreadful this year. Skype announced recently that it is sponsoring free Wi-Fi in more than 60 U.S. airports from December 21st until December 27th. To activate the service, simply follow these directions:Sign in to Skype.Go to Tools > Options… > Skype WiFi Access.Tick Enable Skype WiFi Access.Connect to a WiFi public hotspot.In the Skype menu bar, click T...

U.S. consumers have spent close to $25 billion so far this holiday season, up 15% from the same period last year, according to a new report from comScore. The research group studied holiday shopping trends beginning in November and found that $479 million was spent on Thanksgiving Day, $816 million was spent on Black Friday, $886 million was spent during Thanksgiving weekend and a record $1.25 billion was spent on Cyber Monday. That wasn’t the only record broken this year, however. “Monday, Decemb...

If you have children aged 6-12 in your family, chances are they want an iPad, iPod touch or an iPhone for the holidays. According to new data from The Nielsen Company, the iPad is the most desired electronic gadget this season. 44% of the children surveyed are interested in buying (read: receiving as a gift) an iPad in the next six months, 30% want an iPod touch and 27% want an iPhone. Those figures are on a par with last year’s numbers. In 2010 31% of kids aged 6-12 wanted an iPad, 29% wanted a compute...

Spurred by the iPhone 4S launch, several analysts expect sales of Apple’s iPhone lineup to explode during the fourth quarter of this year. “The timing of the 70 [international] launches could have some impact on sales ahead of the launch, the US/International split, and hence, our estimates look conservative,” UBS analyst Maynard Um said in a recent note to investors. “A similar 27.5 percent U.S. / 72.5 percent international split from this quarter would imply 42.5 million units in CY4...

Best Buy will hire fewer temporary workers for the 2011 holiday season compared to last year, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The nationwide electronics retail chain will take on 15,000 new temporary employees, compared to the 29,000 it hired in 2010. Best Buy is not alone in its decision. Research from the management consulting firm Hay Group suggests that about 25% of U.S. retailers will hire fewer temporary employees this holiday season. “The consumer is being really careful about where he or she is s...

We already brought you details on the Samsung Impulse 4G, which is expected to be one of AT&T’s first 4G LTE devices, and now new information is available on another 4G LTE phone dubbed the HTC Holday. Engadget recently published specs and photos of the Holiday, which is said to sport a 4.5-inch qHD display and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It is also equipped with an 8-megapixel camera, a 1.3-megapixel forward-facing camera for video chat, 1GB of memory, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0. The Hol...

The crew over at XDA-Developers recently spotted the HTC Holiday (with a cracked screen) for sale on Craigslist. We first saw renders of the Holiday in May and the leaked images supposedly confirm a number of the phone’s specs. Bound for AT&T, the Holiday appears to be equipped with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 4.5-inch 960 x 540-pixel display, 1GB of RAM, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread). It is unclear when AT&T pl...

GameFly announced on Wednesday it will soon offer a new service called “Unlimited PC Play” that will allow gamers to download an unlimited amount of games to their Windows or Mac computer. Much like Netflix’s business model, GameFly will provide instant access to more than 8,000 rental discs or more than 1,500 instant downloads for a monthly fee. The service will require a desktop client that will include news, a feed of HD trailers and screen shots of the latest games. GameFly also said the...

Sony’s brand new portable gaming console, the PlayStation Vita, could launch as soon as this fall according to IGN. A Blockbuster flier in the United Kingdom started the rumor. The advertisement suggests the PS Vita Wi-Fi edition and 3G & Wi-Fi model will both launch on October 28th. A Sony spokesperson confirmed with IGN that the company will begin a “phased global release” during the holiday season, but would not confirm specific dates. We already know that the Vita will cost $249.99 i...

On Wednesday, Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin said that an iPhone launch on Sprint is ever more likely since Verizon Wireless’ announcement that it will move from unlimited data plans to tiered data pricing on July 7th. According to Barron’s, Yin believes that Apple will be more compelled than ever to launch a device on Sprint, given that it’s the last remaining of the big four U.S. wireless carriers to offer a truly unlimited data option. “We believe Sprint could capture more t...

The HTC Holiday may soon join the Infuse 4G as AT&T’s second smartphone with a 4.5-inch display. According to information obtained by 911Sniper, the Holiday will offer a spec sheet that could put the Samsung GALAXY S II to shame. The Holiday will supposedly pack a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor, the large aforementioned 4.5-inch screen with a 960 x 540 qHD resolution, 1GB of RAM, Android 2.3.4, and an 8-megapixel camera. We’re also hoping HTC includes its latest Sense user interfa...