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Rupert Murdoch told a Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference that iPhone & BlackBerry users will be charged for the Wall Street Journal. Even if you already have a subscription to the Journal, users will have to pay $1 a week for access to content on a smartphone. Non-subscribers will have to $2 a week for the WSJ app, which was previously available for free.
Activision CEO Robert Kotick told a conference that Guitar Hero may skip consoles and develop a game that plugs directly into the television. Kotick said the system would help shrink the gap between for sales discs and downloadable games. The move, which would save users hundreds of dollars in console purchases, would also apply to many other Activision properties.
Adobe will acquire web analytics company Omniture for $1.8 billion. The move, which analysts did not foresee, has Adobe paying roughly $21.50 a share. Omniture, an analytics service often used by publishers, reported sales of 88% during the last quarter, a 10% increase year over year.
Facebook enjoyed a pleasant afternoon yesterday, reporting that the social network has over 300 million users, in addition to becoming cash flow positive for the first time in its history. While the company is still not earning cash, the positive cash flow signals that the company’s roots are beginning to take hold financially. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was proud, noting that “it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term.”
Fox has found that experimenting with adding Twitter to popular TV shows has its problems. The network, which began airing Twee-Peat’s of popular shows, found that adding Tweets to the process often confused and/or annoyed viewers who were watching the repeat for the first time. The network also ran into obstacles like censoring tweets for FCC violations and gimmicks from marketing companies using the Twitter avatar as a commercial for their company.