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But Nintendo said nah...

Thanks Frankie for sending us this news.. A REPORT ON GAMECUBE EUROPE said that Microsoft seriously considered buying Japanese console maker Nintendo for $25 billion.
The report is based on a book called Opening the Xbox: Inside Microsoft's Plan to Unleash an Entertainment Revolution, the author of which, Dean Takahashi,interviewed Nintendo's US president Minoru Arakawa.

While Microsoft was prepared to stump up the $25 billion, it appears that Nintendo wasn't as eager for the money as Bill Gates first appeared.

After the preliminary discussions broke down, Microsoft went on with its own plans to create the Xbox.

But to us at the INQ it illustrates just how far Microsoft will go with its plans to dominate the console market. We have reported here before that the firm is even considering designing its own CPU and graphics chipsets to cut down the cost of the bought in parts from Intel and Nvidia, and has also asked a number of other firms, including Via, to tender for designs for the Xbox II.

News source: The Inquirer
View: The Gamecube Europe report

Online jeweler Bluenile.com, which achieved a 10% sales gain and met Wall Street's profit expectations for the first quarter, has had a 30% increase in April from a year ago, according to Diane Irvine, chief financial officer. And Bluefly.com, which sells discounted designer goods, announced a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss and said it is even more confident it will be profitable by the fourth quarter.

"It is typical of emerging industries to usually top out. This industry slowed down and is now reaccelerating," said Chuck Davis, chief executive of Bizrate.com, a Web site and research firm that tracks and compares 2,000 online sites. He noted that the number of new shoppers on the Web is gaining momentum.

Bizrate.com estimated that this year's first-quarter Internet sales of new goods, not including travel, soared 41% to $11.6 billion, exceeding expectations of 27% growth. The better-than-anticipated first-quarter results prompted Bizrate.com to raise its expectations for sales growth this year to 44% from 26%.

In a separate report, comScore Networks said Internet sales, including travel, generated $17 billion for the first quarter, representing a 48% increase, compared to a year ago. Online sales, excluding travel, totaled $10.1 billion, reflecting a 30% growth from a year ago.

According to Bizrate.com, Internet sales rose 24% in 2001, helped in part by a rush of new Web users who logged on to donate money to various charities following Sept. 11 and then became shoppers.

There were 66 million new online shoppers at the beginning of this year, and Jupiter Research expects that figure to increase to 82 million by yearend, representing a 24% gain. That was on top of last year's 34% rise.

The strong first-quarter performance came as a surprise to analysts and retail executives because the period is traditionally slow, following the holiday season. Executives also were heartened by the increase in average purchases. At Bluenile.com, officials said sales of big diamonds, defined as two or more carats, doubled in April from a year earlier.

According to comScore, many retail categories did well, particularly the bruised travel industry, which had an 87% sales gain from a year ago. Lisa Strand, director and chief analyst at NetRatings, an Internet research firm, noted the increase in online travel sales came at the expense of brick and mortar businesses, but said it is too early to tell whether the gains in other categories are hurting offline retailing.

In any case, Internet executives acknowledge that the fight for consumers' dollars online remains fierce. For example, free shipping offers with a minimum purchase — a common strategy last Christmas — remains popular with many sites.

"E-tailers are fighting for share and loyalty and the way to get that is to offer bigger discounts and shipping offers," Davis said. "Offline, loyalty is created geographically. Online, loyalty has to be earned on every purchase."

Bluefly.com's chief executive Ken Seiff noted that the company is buying its goods more effectively and therefore can give consumers bigger markdowns. Discounts on average are more than 60%, compared to 50% a year ago, he said. Recent bargains included Prada sunglasses, marked down to $129 from $250, and $540 Fendi sandals marked down to $199.

Cutting prices and free shipping on orders over $99 appears to be working for Amazon.com, which forecast sales for the rest of the year will be better than anticipated. On Tuesday, the retailer, which has been working hard to cut costs and pass those savings to consumers, announced its third price cut on books in a year, giving customers a 30% savings on books over $15. Last July, Amazon introduced 30% discounts on books over $20.