Amazon this morning pounded itself on the chest once more for selling Kindle devices as if they were hotcakes, particularly during last (Black) Friday. According to the company, it was the “best Black Friday ever” for the Kindle family, with Kindle sales “increasing 4x over last year”. As usual, don’t expect Amazon to share hard sales numbers, because they never do.

We’ll have to do with analyst estimates, which I’m sure will be rolling in during the course of this week (today is Cyber Monday and will likely result in another sales spike for Kindle devices). The number does run in the millions, of course, and Dave Limp, Kindle VP, is quoted as follows:

“Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we’d already sold millions of the new Kindle family.”

Amazon also reiterated, again, that its tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, is its bestselling product on Amazon.com. In fact, they say this has been the case for the past 8 weeks now, since the device was introduced on September 28.

Related: Black Friday E-Commerce Spending Up 26 Percent To A Record $816M; Amazon Most Visited Retailer

I’m not convinced these are discounts you’ve really been ‘waiting 364 days for’, but Apple’s Black Friday deals have gone live this morning. The prices leaked earlier, but hey.

If you were looking at buying a new Mac, iPod or the latest iPad, now’s the time, even if the discounts aren’t really that big in terms of percentages. You can also save some cash on a bunch of accessories, ranging from peripherals to iPad Smart Covers and even iTunes Gift Cards.

The iPhone gets no Black Friday love.

No worries: there are other gadgets that we think you should look for on Black Friday.

Third-party offerings are also on display on Apple’s site, with some interesting deals: Jawbone’s JAMBOX can be bought for $148 instead of $199.95 (a $51.95 discount) and the lovely Parrot AR.Drone is available for purchase at a price of $248 instead of $299.95 (also a $51.95 cut).

Here’s a limited list of promotions Apple is running today (and today only):

iPad 2

Store link

$41 off on 16GB — ($458 instead of $499)
$51 off on 32GB — ($548 instead of $599)
$61 off on 64GB — ($638 instead of $699)

iPod touch

Store link

$21 off on 8GB — ($178 instead of $199)
$31 off on 32GB — ($268 instead of $299)
$41 off on 64GB — ($358 instead of $399)

MacBook Air

Store link

$101 off on all models:

11-inch, 64GB — ($898 instead of $999)
11-inch, 128GB — ($1,098 instead of $1,199)
13-inch, 128GB — ($1,198 instead of $1,299)
13-inch, 256GB — ($1,498 instead of $1,599)

MacBook Pro

Store link

$101 off on all models:

13-inch, 2.4 GHz — ($1,098 instead of $1,199)
13-inch, 2.8 GHz — ($1,398 instead of $1,499)
15-inch, 2.2 GHz — ($1,698 instead of $1,799)
15-inch, 2.4 GHz — ($2,098 instead of $2,199)
17-inch, 2.4 GHz — ($2,398 instead of $2,499)

Alright folks. If you’re still young enough, immature enough, or bankless enough to own a piggy bank, it’s time to crack that thing open. Black Friday is (count ‘em) two days away, and if you don’t have a plan by now then let’s get to it.

In no particular order, here are some of the Black Friday gadget deals that stand out to us (some are still leaks and thus unverified, but we’ll make it clear which sales are official and which are still a bit mysterious).

Apple (unconfirmed leak):

Apple’s stuff tends to wear some of the highest price tags on the market, and the same will be true on Black Friday. However, rarely will you get the chance to buy an Apple product from an Apple store (with all the warranties and support) at a discount, so we suggest acting now if you’re in the market for an iThing.

Deals include an $101 discount on the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac, a $41 discount for low-end iPad 2s, a $61 discount on high-end iPad 2s, and $11 off the iPod Nano. Apple’s Black Friday sale only lasts for the one day, and even with the measly discounts I expect their inventory to go fast. That’s not to say the Apple store should be your first stop of the day, but don’t save it for last, that’s for sure.

Samsung (confirmed):

From November 20 to November 28, Samsung is slashing prices on home entertainment, digital imaging and storage products. There are quite a few products going on sale, and I haven’t nearly the time to list them all, but I’ll hook you up with some of the best along with a link to the list in full.

As far as TVs go, Samsung is offering its 46–inch D6003 Series 1080p LED Smart TV for just $799.99, while the D490 Series 720p Plasma 3D TV (which includes four pairs of 3D glasses) will be on sale for $499.99 (43-inch model) and $599.99 (51-inch model). Then we have a couple cameras/camcorders that are certainly worth a close look. The MV800 point-and-shoot camera, which I happen to adore, is usually priced around $279 but will go for $199 during the sale. Meanwhile, Samsung’s W200 1080p Rugged Pocket Camcorder, which can be submerged in water up to 3 meters for as long as 30 minutes and dropped from as high as 2 meters, will be available this week for $99.99.

Here’s a full list of Samsung deals to watch out for.

Walmart (unconfirmed leak):

Obviously, Walmart has a lot going on this Black Friday, which extends way past gadgetry. But when you can get a brand new tablet for half-off who gives a damn about coffeemakers? That said, Walmart (like most of these retailers) has way too many deals to list them all, but here are a few that stuck out to me.

You’ll be able to get a 4GB Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle including a free $50 gift card for just $199.99. There are also two Emerson models, a 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV and a 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV going for pretty low prices: just $188 and $248 respectively. As far as computing goes, you’ll also be able to find three AMD-powered computers from HP, a 15.6-inch laptop for $248, a 17.3-inch laptop for $388, and a desktop with a 19-inch LCD monitor for just $298.

Sony (confirmed):

Sony has put a lot of its goodies on sale this Black Friday, from computers to TV sets to gaming consoles. You can scope out the full range of savings at Sony’s weekly deals site, but here are some of the deals we thought worthy of a closer look. You’ll have until Cyber Monday to make your decisions, but be aware, this stuff literally flies off of online shelves.

First up we have a couple amazing bundles, including home theater bundles for Sony’s 46 and 55-inch NX720 Internet HDTV, a 3D Home Theater system, and a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies. You’ll have to pay $1399.99 for the 46-inch bundle and $1699.99 for the 55-incher, compared to original pricing of $2599.99 and $3399.99 respectively. Sony is also hooking up customers with a 320GB Sony PS3 Move bundle at the low price of just $349. The bundle includes a 320GB PS3 (obviously) a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller, a PlayStation Move controller, the PlayStation Eye camera, and Sports Champions.

Then again, if all you need is a small upgrade to your home theater experience and are looking to save some change, Sony’s discounted Internet-ready Blu-ray player is an awesome steal at just $79.99. Sony is also discounting members of its Vaio laptop family, as well as a couple other tablets, TVs and digital imaging products.

Amazon (confirmed):

Amazon is going big this Black Friday, with deals on gadgets and gizmos ‘aplenty. However, Amazon is doing an incremental roll-out of its Black Friday deals, with some only lasting for a day on the retailer’s web site. I’d suggest checking in on Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store site as often as possible, or at least once a day, to keep up with what’s available on the cheap.

Some of the best deals we’re seeing include a couple cameras, the Fujifilm FinePix F505 Digital Camera for $179, the Canon PowerShot SX230HS Digial Camera for $199, and Nikon’s Coolpix P7000 Digital Camera for just $249. If you’re on the market for a smartphone, AmazonWireless is hooking up customers with all phones from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon for just a penny (along with a two-year agreement, of course). Amazon is also offering up a PS3 bundle in the 160GB flavor that includes two games, Rachet & Clank: All 4 One and LittleBigPlanet 2 for $199. You’ll also be able to snag a 5-inch TomTom XXL GPS system for just $79.99, compared to its $169.95 list price.

If all you can afford on Black Friday is a couple new apps, Amazon has you covered there, too. Amazon’s Appstore for Android is offering 50 percent off on the following games between Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Plants vs. Zombies/Plants vs. Zombies HD, Exchange By Touchdown, LogMeIn Ignition, Sims, Safari! HD, Shazam Encore, SwiftKey X, and Kids ABC Letters.

Best Buy (unconfirmed leak):

Well, after flipping through the 38 pages of Best Buy’s Black Friday deals, it’s apparent that Best Buy should probably be the first place you stop Friday morning. The big box retailer is discounting everything, from computers to tablets to smartphones to TVs to teleportation devices. OK, I lied. The teleportation devices are going at full price, but the rest is a steal.

Here are some of my favorite deals from Best Buy: First up they have about seven different HDTV’s going for below $600 from makers like LG, Panasonic, Insignia, Samsung, and Toshiba. They’re also pricing the 10-inch Asus Transformer tablet at $249, while the Toshiba Thrive has been marked down to $279 and the Acer Iconia tab will go for $189. You’ll also be able to snag a 23-inch HD monitor from HP for just $119.99.

Stores open at 12:00am on Friday, but we’d suggest a careful look through this 38-page ad before making any decisions.

Sears (unconfirmed leak):

Sears’ Black Friday offerings aren’t quite as amazing as I’d expected, but they’re still rockin’ it in the TV department. You can get yourself a 47-inch LED 1080p HDTV from LG for $679.99, a 42-inch LED 1080p Smart HDTV from Panasonic for $599.99, or a 26-inch LCD HDTV with built-in DVD player for a $50 discount at $249.

In the gaming department, Sears is offering the same $199 160GB PS3 bundle as Amazon along with a $199 Nintendo 3DS with the Super Mario 3D Land game included. And while they don’t necessarily beat the price of that 5-inch TomTom at Amazon, a 7-inch Magellan RoadMate 1700 GPS and a 4.3-inch Garmin 40LM GPS will be available at Sears for $129.99 and $99.99 respectively.

While Sears’ sale will continue throughout Friday and Saturday, the Black Friday proper sale will only last between 4am and 1pm.

Target (unconfirmed leak):

Target wins on some fronts and loses on others come Black Friday. Its $157 Acer 10.1-inch Netbook should be a steal, as should Philips 9-inch dual-screen headrest DVD players. You’ll also find the same Nintendo 3DS bundle as we saw at Sears but for $20 cheaper.

On the whole, however, Target shouldn’t be your one-stop shop for gadgetry. It is going to be a great place to shop for content like movies and TV on DVD, with some DVDs going for as low as $1.99. Doors open at midnight and the sale lasts for four days.

Be sure to check out our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide for some extra inspiration, and try not to get trampled in the madness. Happy shopping, everyone!

The ratio of awful tablets to good ones in this year’s Black Friday ads doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence, but there are some good deals to be found even at this early stage. Case in point: Best Buy’s leaked Black Friday circular has the first generation 16GB Asus Transformer for $250, a respectable $150 drop from its current price.

Much like with Staples and their bargain-basement BlackBerry PlayBooks, this doorbuster deal is only for people with the guts to wait in line for it. The big question though, is whether or not it’s worth risking life and limb to acquire. Let’s not forget, after all, that the Transformer Prime is barreling down the pipeline with a better processor and camera in tow as we speak.

Still, the Transformer’s solid Tegra 2 chipset and 10.1-inch display make it one of the better tablet options available during the post-Thanksgiving mayhem. Better one of these than a Coby Kyros or a “Polaroid Internet Tablet,” after all.

I’m sure the temptation of a low price already has some bargain hunters working out their Black Friday logistics, but here’s a thought — why not stay at home as see what Cyber Monday has to offer instead? Call me lazy, but in this case, I’d rather my credit card and clicking finger get a workout instead of schlepping around in the cold with 1,000 other people.

Black Friday is behind us, but we’re currently in the midst of its pale imitation of a sibling, Cyber Monday. (Not to say that the Cyber Monday deals aren’t worth your time, but the name grates on my soul.) Great, great… but not as great as Nintendo’s sales! Yup, the company has revealed just how well it did during the week. Spoiler: 1.5 million consoles in total were sold. Not too shabby, no.

This breaks down to 600,000 (!) Wii consoles sold, with 900,000 Nintendo DSs making up the remainder. That counts all the various models of the DS, by the way.

Reggie Fils-Aime does the maths for us, and that breaks down to 9,000 Nintendo consoles sold every hour of every day of the week.

Remember that Nintendo has limited edition Mario 25th anniversary hardware out there, including a red Wii bundle that includes New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports (plus red Wii everything) for $199. There’s also a red DSi XL that includes Mario Kart DS.

So, plenty of Nintendo stuff out there for your perusal this holiday season. But you don’t need me to tell you that because you’re already buying it in droves. Droves!

And no, I don’t have a better picture of the red DSi XL—ripped straight from the Nintendo site. Classy, to be sure.

Well here’s something to freak you out as you brave the Black Friday crowds today. (Remember: Matt wrote a nifty little survival guide for today’s insanity.) A local TV station in Florida has warned its viewers to be on the lookout for so-called electronic pickpockets. Using “a credit card scanner attached to a battery pack,” an evildoer can quite easily obtain sensitive credit and debit card information—without you even knowing! Yes: it’s yet another warning about the dangers of RFID.

The story says that many of today’s credit and debit cards have RFID chips built into them (as do new passports here in the US), and that a person so inclined could be able to rig together a simple device that scans for these chips. The implied threat is that some nefarious individual could be walking around the local Wal-Mart or Best Buy, device in hand, and steal your credit card information. The worst case scenario would be for someone to take this information and then use it to clone your credit card.

Now, the actual odds of this happening at your local Middle America Wal-Mart probably aren’t too great, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take a few steps to keep yourself safe.

You could ask your bank for a non-RFID card, for one. You can also buy a specialized wallet (the one mentioned in the story is here) that shields the cards from scanning devices.

Or, most fun, you can destroy the RFID chip while it’s still inside the card. See YouTube for fun videos to that effect.

Our good friend Phil Torrone sent us this list of cool homebrew deals on Chumby devices, Adafruit boards, and other goodness.

Fist, you’ve got some Chumby-powered devices that are actually little Linux PCs. The Infocast, for example, is $129 on Best Buy. This thing has an 800MHz processor and small screen and can be used either as a little info monitor or as a fully-fledged Linux device.

Our friends at Adafruit are offering 10% off of everything including their excellent testing boards. Just check out with the code BLACK.

Finally, Seeed is offering 20% off of everything including PCB manufacturing with coupon code TG2010. Most of the stuff they sell there baffles me.

Yes, “most retailers” will have this deal, limited to stock on hand, of course, and a PSP 3000 bundle as well. The latter includes LittleBigPlanet, but the PSP Go bundle comes with fully three games: LBP, SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3, and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters.

For one hundred and fifty American dollars, my friend! If you’ve been waiting on picking up a PSP (or maybe waiting for the PSP Phone), you’re not going to see a lower price than this until the PSP 2 comes out and knocks these suckers down a bit.

The deal will be going live on Black Friday (the 26th) at 9AM Pacific. So when you get back from your savings spree at Best Buy and Walmart, you can save some more!

Remember, supplies are limited, so get in early, and try not to trample anybody over the internet.

Starting this Black Friday, T-mobile are including their entire line of Android devices (including the Galaxy Tab), as well as the WinPho7-powered behemoth that is the HD7, in a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.

Here’s what you need to know: if you purchase either a myTouch 4G, G2, Galaxy Tab, or HTC HD7, and sign onto a family plan for two years, then you’ll get your choice of a myTouch 4G, G2, HTC HD7, BlackBerry Bold 9780, Motorola DEFY, Motorola CHARM, LG Optimus T, or T-Mobile Comet for free (on another two-year contract, that is)!

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line.

If you’re not the type who wants to venture outdoors on Black Friday, then you’ll be chuffed to hear that the promo will run until January 18th, 2011.

Here’s the official release from T-mobile:

Just in time for the kick-off to the busy holiday shopping season, T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of a new in-store BOGO promotion for families. Starting on Black Friday, new and existing customers who sign up for a T-Mobile family plan with a two-year agreement and purchase a featured smartphone, such as the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ from T-Mobile can get a new featured smartphone or affordable Android™ handset for FREE!

Featured smartphones from T-Mobile include the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, T-Mobile® G2™ with Google™, HTC® HD7 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9780. Affordable Android smartphones include the Motorola DEFY™ with MOTOBLUR™, Motorola CHARM™ with MOTOBLUR™, LG Optimus T™ with Google™ and T-Mobile® Comet™. The new in-store BOGO promotion will be available Nov. 26 through Jan.18, so families who would prefer to avoid the Black Friday crowds this week will still have an opportunity to take advantage of the offer.

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line. Mail-in rebates are applicable on all devices and data plans will be required.

[via Android Police]
[image via T-mo News]

Wish someone had plotted out all the Black Friday sales in your area, allowing you to use your iPhone or Android to easily find the closest way to save by spending? Well, you know the drill …

The folks at The Dealmap have done you a solid and mapped out more than 165,000 Black Friday deals at 52,000 retail locations in the US so you’ll never have to miss a post-Thanksgiving discount opportunity again.

For the first time ever, both The Dealmap Android and iPhone apps will use location awareness to help you find the Black Friday sales nearest you and if there happens to be a deal super closeby, The Dealmap will notify you of its location. Businesses can also submit their sales here, tagging them with “Black Friday.” The app unfortunately does not calculate the risk of getting trampled on by rabid sales-crazed shoppers.

When not contributing to the chaos surround traditional consumerist “holidays,” The Dealmap is the largest mobile deal aggregator with around 350,000 live deals per day. Let the sales-related injuries begin!

This could be eminently useful. It’s an Excel spreadsheet for Black Friday deals put together by DealsVista. On the left you’ve got the store, then it’s category, then item. MAGIC.

For example: Best Buy will have Halo: Reach for $39.99, down from the usual $59.99. BJs has $50 off any Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii system. And look at that: Dicks Sporting Goods has Adidas socks 50 percent off~!

Hopefully the spreadsheet is of some help to y’all.

Black Friday sales are already all over the place online, particularly for those shiny new tech toys we all love so much. But here’s the thing: nobody has a job anymore. Well, not “nobody,” but with unemployment currently hovering around 10 percent, you’d have to expect that people will curb their spending this year. So goes the conventional wisdom, and you know what they say about conventional wisdom: it’s wrong~! A new survey from Retrevo shows that 78 percent of respondents are willing to spend the same or more on electronics this year as they did last year. Twenty-two percent of people plan to spend less this year on electronics than they did last year.

What’s the number one item on these people’s wish lists?

Let’s see, it begins with an “i” and ends with “pad”…

Right.

The last item people are interested in? 3DTVs. Ouch.

Of course, who needs Black Friday this year when you can listen to Ron & Fez in December and win fun and exciting prizes?

Protip: shop online to avoid Wal-Mart stampedes or crushes. You don’t need to fight your neighbor over a no-name flat screen TV.

You’ll recall that Amazon (and several others, actually) has started the Black Friday sales a little early this year, and today’s deals may be worth looking into, particularly for you gamers out there.

The “deal of the day” is Medal of Honor, EA’s, well, so-so attempt to take on the almighty Call of Duty franchise. The game is $39.99 today, down from $59.99. I’d be shocked if you’d be able to find the game for a better price than that.

I’d pop into Amazon every so often today to see what else you can grab.

Just like how Amazon (and it was also brought to my attention, offers.com) has started offering Black Friday sales early, so, too, has Newegg. The site began its Black November promotion today, and while there doesn’t appear to be anything too crazy right now, it’s literally Day One of the sale. I, for one, am waiting for a Blu-ray drive to put into my PC. Not that I need one, but I’ve been adding components piecemeal for several months now, and it’s the next logical upgrade.

Black November consists of a few things. There’s the normal deals that Newegg runs (you really ought to subscribe to their newsletter to get the e-mail updates), and then there’s going to be a daily discount for certain items.

Today’s there 10 percent off video games, 15 percent off relevant accessories, and 10 percent of AMD and Intel motherboards.

We’re one month away from Thanksgiving, and therefore Black Friday, so prepare yourselves for all sorts of sales and deals. There’s probably no better time to look for games, movies, and various equipment. (I’m looking to add a discrete sound card to my PC, for example. Should I go with Asus or Creative?) Amazon’s festivities begin tomorrow, so you can expect all sorts of discounts on things like TVs, Blu-ray players, games, speakers, etc. You know: things you care about.

The pre-Black Friday sales begging tomorrow, October 29, on the usual Amazon Gold Box site. Each Friday from here till Black Friday will feature different deals built on four separate themes: Connect, Play, Watch, and Listen. Play being games, listening being audio-related tech, and so on.

It all kicks off at 3:01am ET tonight.

And I’m going to assume the other big online retailers (read: Newegg) will also have some stuff coming up, so we’ll keep an eye out.

American exceptionalism! Don’t scenes like this make you proud of your country? Then again, maybe these people really wanted that copy of Guitar Hero World Tour? ::shoulder shrug::

1. Doorbusters are stripped-down crap

What we call doorbusters, stores call loss leaders. These items are heavily advertised and retailers will lose money on them. Because of this, the doorbuster items are generally older products repackaged as something new or current models stripped down to the bare essentials.

Take a look the advertised doorbusters this year. Best Buy has a notebook for $197, but it’s built around a Celeron CPU. Walmart has a $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player, but is only Profile 1.1 compatible. These are older items with a new model number. They will probably work, but you’re not getting a gadget worth your time.

The goal of these doorbusters is to draw in people that will hopefully buy other merchandise and extended warranties.

2. Don’t buy non-advertised items

Just because it’s Black Friday, it doesn’t mean everything is on sale. In fact, a lot of retail stores mark up items from their standard price hoping to squeeze a little extra out of unknowing shoppers brought in by the doorbuster items. Other retailers like jewelery or specialty stores will not offer any additional discounts at all.

Black Friday isn’t a day for impulse shopping. It’s a day that needs to be carefully planned. Know what you are buying and avoid everything else.

3. Shop now or on Cyber Monday instead

Half the fun of Black Friday is the experience of waking up at 3 a.m. and standing in line at Target for a mini fridge that’s $15 off. Fine, but if you’re sane, you’ll shop the deals available now or wait until Cyber Monday instead when online retailers put up their best sales.

BlackFriday.info has all of the Black Friday deals listed. Spend some time there and ensure that you’re not wasting your time on Friday morning. For instance, West Marine has the same deal right now on the Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS that Radio Shack will make you wait in line for on Black Friday. Staples is also advertising the Sony Reader Pocket Edition for $199 for Black Friday; it can be had for less online now. Shop around.

4. Partner up for maximum efficiency

Shop in groups of three. Two people rush around the store while one person stands in the long line. This works especially well if you’re not the first person in the store. Generally Black Friday involves 5 minutes of crazy shopping and 5 hours of waiting to check out. With this strategy you can get in and out of the store quickly.

5. People are crazy, but you should be nice

Black Friday can be scary. Children and small men often get trampled by large women rushing to score special deals. Parking lots are filled with NASCAR drivers and everyone is hopped up on coffee and Red Bull. The best thing to do is sleep right through it, but if you must shop, please be nice.

Smile at the cashier. He doesn’t want to be there and hates you for perpetuating the tradition. Smile at other shoppers too because you are all in this together. If you must shove someone out of the way to grab the last $79 GPS at Radio shack, do it gently.

This year 25 winners not only gets the $1000 gift card, limo ride, early store admittance, but also an Insigna 2.3MP digital camcorder to record the experience. All you have to do is submit a 250 word or less essay that describes what you are most excited about this Black Friday. Chances are that writing about sleeping in and not standing in line for three hours at a Best Buy probably won’t win, but that’s what I’m most excited about after working retail for so long.

There’s no doubt that modern smartphones are challenging to engineer and produce. Form factor, battery life, durability, and processing power all work against one another. Bugs and shortcomings are to be expected during the design and development phases. But is it really the “new reality” that complex smartphones are going to ship with more and more bugs? This is not news. I complained about id Software‘s “release buggy software, and then issue patch after patch” way back in 2003. I’m no historian, but I’d wager that as long as there have been companies producing goods there have been companies taking shortcuts to get their goods to market first.

I think we, the consuming public, have some culpability in this issue. We’re all too eager to buy into the marketing hype of things like Black Friday and Cyber Monday — so eager to get a good deal that we all but force companies to hurry up their development cycles to make sure they have a product to deliver to us on these holy shopping days. And then we have the gall to wonder why things aren’t better, or why our new smartphone locks up.

Wall Street deserves some blame, too, for the trigger-happy buying and selling of stock based on forecasts and predictions. Companies are rewarded for being first, not being the best. A company that takes its time to develop and release a stable, high-quality product is penalized. A company that rushes to market with a mostly-functional product gets rewarded even as customers are made to suffer through patches and product updates.

Are you willing to wait a little longer to get a smartphone — or any other gadget or piece of software — that is robust and reliable out the gate? Or is the “Oooh, shiny!” factor so strong that you’ll happily suffer through upgrades just to get your grubby mitts on that new piece of tech?

Via Register Hardware