“The continued economic turmoil, and in particular the troubling unemployment rate, is undoubtedly impacting industry sales,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “Our latest Economy Tracker indicated that although consumers’ general opinion about the economy is improving, their outlook on their own personal situation is worsening. If consumers’ personal outlook continues to erode, they could very well be much more conservative with their holiday shopping this year.”

A somber warning for the videogame industry. Even recent price cuts on game consoles have done little to spur demand.

“Year to date, the hardware category has experienced the sharpest decline in the industry, with unit sales down 10 percent compared to the same time period last year,” Frazier wrote. “Recent price cuts helped spur a one- to two-month increase in unit sales, and this month’s Wii sales reflect that boost, but the other platforms have not sustained the sales momentum after price reduction.”

The videogame industry may be recession-resistant, but it is clearly not recession-proof, as some once believed. Sales data, below.

U.S. Hardware Sales, October 2009

1. Wii 506.9K
2. Nintendo DS 457.6K
3. PlayStation 3 320.6K
4. Xbox 360 249.7K
5. PSP 174.6K
6. PlayStation 2 117.8K

U.S. Top Ten Software Sales, October 2009

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3, Sony) 537,000
2. Wii Fit Plus (Wii, Nintendo) 441,000
3. Borderlands (360, Take 2) 418,000
4. Wii Sports Resort (Wii, Nintendo) 314,000
5. NBA 2K10 (360, Take 2) 311,000
6. Halo 3: ODST (360, Microsoft) 271,000
7. NBA 2K10 (PS3, Take 2) 213,000
8. Forza Motorsport 3 (360, Microsoft) 175,000
9. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (DS, Square Enix) 169,000
10. FIFA Soccer 10 (360, Electronic Arts) 156,000

In fact, sales of netbooks are growing twice as quickly as those of full-sized laptops. According to DisplaySearch, a division of the NPD Group, netbooks represented 22.2 percent of portable computers shipped worldwide in the second quarter of 2009. That’s up from 5.6 percent a year ago, and 17.8 percent in the first quarter of this year (click on table below to enlarge).

Given Microsoft’s (MSFT) complaints about netbooks in the past, what will the company do now that the machines account for a fifth of the entire portable PC business? What will it do when more ARM-based netbooks, which can’t even run Windows, begin arriving at market?

Boy was he ever wrong. MarketWatch reports that revenue at Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices unit, which manages the Zune and Xbox 360, fell 42 percent to about $211 million in its most recent quarter. Microsoft (MSFT) shipped more Xbox systems this spring than last, so what could be driving that grotesque revenue shortfall?

Yep. After nearly three years at market, Zune has remarkably little share to show for it. In fact, recent data from NPD Group show Zune’s share of the portable media player market at about two percent, compared to about 70 percent for the Apple (AAPL) iPod. And with a sales trend like the one revealed in Microsoft’s January 10Q, market share isn’t likely to be growing much. According to that document, “Zune platform revenue decreased $100 million or 54 percent reflecting a decrease in device sales.”

And that was in a holiday quarter.

Little wonder, then, that some have begun to wonder if it might not be time for Microsoft to just scuttle the device. “The market reception for Zune is so disappointing that many retailers have even stopped selling it altogether,” Tradition Capital Management VP George Kurian told MarketWatch. “Microsoft should abandon Zune and follow Apple’s strategy to try to make its presence felt in the high-growth smartphone sector.”

According to new stats from NPD Group, Apple now claims 91 percent of the U.S. retail market for personal computers costing more than $1,000. Nine out of 10 dollars spent on such machines in June went to Cupertino.

Now, granted, Cupertino only sells three Macs priced below $1,000 (the 13-inch MacBook and both versions of the Mac Mini), and Apple’s (AAPL) rivals’ offerings typically price out in the $690 -to-$703 range. Still, that 91 percent metric is impressive.

As Joe Wilcox over at Betanews puts it, “A (higher pricing) doesn’t necessarily lead to B (greater sales). All major Windows OEMs sell PCs in the premium category, too. Apple’s charging more isn’t necessarily recipe for people paying more for Macs, or their capturing big revenue share.”

That said, as NPD analyst Stephen Baker points out, Windows product average selling prices have been falling pretty rapidly over time, especially at retail, so it was inevitable that Apple’s share of the high-end market would rise, since the company hasn’t really altered its pricing philosophy.

That’s a 16 percent spike, a far cry from the flat to five percent increase analysts had been anticipating. And if NPD is accurate, it means Apple has just had its best-ever June quarter for Mac sales.

Add to this indications that sales of the iPhone 3GS are tracking ahead of even Apple’s and AT&T’s expectations–remember, AT&T (T) said this year’s iPhone launch was its best-ever retail sales day and the largest ATT.com order day in the company’s history–and the quarter’s looking pretty damn good, even if the Apple’s iPod business is slowing down a bit.

So what can we expect? Apple (AAPL), known for giving conservative guidance, has said it expects earnings per share of between 95 cents and a dollar. Analysts are more optimistic. Consensus, as reported by Thomson Financial, calls for $1.16 per share. And folks like Andy Zaky over at Bullish Cross are betting on $1.35. Who’s right? We’ll find out tomorrow when Apple reports after market close.

Meanwhile, the market for traditional notebooks, which DisplaySearch defines as laptops with displays 12.1-inches and larger, will be flat year over year for the first time. And that’s interesting because one of the factors driving netbook sales, along with their lower price point, is screen size. Increasingly, consumers are looking for near-notebook-size screens in their netbooks.

“Mini-notes are forecast to continue to be a significant portion of the market. However, as display sizes of these devices have quickly moved from 7.0” to 8.9” to 10.1”, and now with the emergence of 11.6” and 12.0” mini-note products, it is clear that buyers want a light-weight device, but that they also want a bigger display,” said John Jacobs, director of notebook market research at DisplaySearch. “While these devices have certainly created a new market, our research indicates that they are predominantly used as secondary PCs by consumers, and are not replacing notebooks.”

It would seem then that the so-called “fastest-growing segment of the PC market” is also the most misunderstood. For what is a netbook but an underpowered laptop or a giant Gallagher-sized smartphone? Consumers are intrigued by the netbook’s low prices, but they don’t understand its value proposition.

“We need to make sure consumers are buying a PC intended for what they plan to do with it,” said NPD’s Stephen Baker. “There is a serious risk of cannibalization in the notebook market that could cause a real threat to netbooks’ success. Retailers and manufacturers can’t put too much emphasis on PC-like capabilities and general features that could convince consumers that a netbook is a replacement for a notebook. Instead, they should be marketing mobility, portability, and the need for a companion PC to ensure consumers know what they are buying and are more satisfied with their purchases.”

Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.

– Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008

2009 may prove to be the year that Blu-ray caught on. Sales of the high-definition DVD players–sluggish throughout 2008–are surging in 2009. According to the latest metrics from the NPD Group sales of standalone Blu-ray disc players in the United States rose 72 percent from the first quarter of 2008, driven by an increasing awareness of the technology. As NPD notes in its report, Blu-ray disc video technology is moving further into the mainstream. Consumer awareness of Blu-ray in the United States has grown 90 percent, and purchase intent is up as well. Six percent of the people NPD spoke to said they would be “extremely or very likely” to buy a player in the next six months. Apparently now that the average selling price has plummeted 34 percent–from $393 in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009–consumers find it easier to get past the “my current DVD player is good enough” barrier.

“The rising penetration of high-definition televisions and lower Blu-ray player prices are broadening the format’s market opportunity,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. “Even as options expand for accessing movies digitally, Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace.”

That said, Blu-ray titles are still being dramatically outsold by DVD–though sales are rising quickly.

[Image Credit: The Onion]

Wrong. According to market researcher NPD, the best-selling smartphone was Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry Curve, which slipped past the iconic device in market share, bolstered by Verizon’s (VZ) Buy One, Get One promotion.

That deal, which ran from Feb. 6 to March 31, offered a second RIM handset of equal or lesser value with the purchase of any Blackberry and a two-year contract–an attractive proposition and one that many a consumer took the carrier up on. NPD says RIM’s consumer smartphone market share rose to nearly 50 percent in the first quarter, an increase of 15 percent. Meanwhile, Apple’s (AAPL) and Palm’s (PALM) shares both declined 10 percent. “Buy one, get one free” trumps “what are the handy things about the iPhone” every time.

NPD’s Top 5 rankings:

1. RIM BlackBerry Curve (all 83XX models)
2. Apple iPhone 3G (all models)
3. RIM BlackBerry Storm
4. RIM BlackBerry Pearl (all models, except flip)
5. T-Mobile G1

“Verizon Wireless’s aggressive marketing of the BlackBerry Storm and its buy-one-get-one BlackBerry promotion to its large customer base contributed to RIM capturing three of the top five positions,” Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at The NPD Group said in a statement. “The more familiar, and less expensive Curve benefited from these giveaways and was able to leapfrog the iPhone, due to its broader availability on the four major U.S. national carriers.”

It’s not likely we’ll ever see a similar “buy one, get one” free deal from Apple for the iPhone, although if we did, one wonders how long the BlackBerry would be able to hold on to the top spot.

Not bad for a product that’s been around just 15 months. And, remember, these are pre-Beatles: Rock Band sales. When Viacom’s MTV Games ships that title on 9/9/09 (Get it? “Number nine, number nine, number nine.”), the franchise will be well on its way toward the $2 billion barrier, though it make take quite a bit longer to reach it. The public’s appetite for music games like Rock Band and rival Guitar Hero is said to be cooling, with sales expected to be flat in 2009. “[These games are] certainly losing steam,” Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson told the Los Angeles Times recently. “This year will establish the direction that this genre will go. Maybe it continues to take off. Maybe it tops out at 15 percent of the software market. Or it could just turn out to be a fad. I think the latter two scenarios are most likely.”

A remarkable metric, given the economic downturn. How is it that gaming is thriving at a time when the global financial crisis is squeezing wallets? “There are a couple of reasons,” Ron Meiners, director of community for the Hollywood Interactive Group, recently told News.com. “One is the traditional value of entertainment during tough economic times. Like the great fantastic musicals in the 30s. Movies did great, because they took people’s mind off of the troubles they were facing. [And] videogames have great value as entertainment. The number of hours of solid entertainment that comes from a videogame purchase is much greater than a movie, for example, for very comparable cost.”

An impressive showing. That said, NPD’s metrics don’t include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales, which likely favor the Blackberry above all. Presumably, the iPhone’s ranking would have been quite a bit different if it did. Still, 17 percent of the U.S. smartphone market is quite an achievement.