[by Damon Poeter, PCMag.com]

LG Electronics has a mobile digital TV (MDTV) that displays 3D images and delivers social networking services like Twitter, all on a device that fits in the palm of your hand, the company said Monday.

The company said its prototype 7-inch receiver will be demoed this week at the 2011 National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas. The device will be the first MDTV that displays 3D images broadcast via the ATSC Mobile DTV Standard, according to LG Electronics.

And there’s no need for special glasses to view 3D images on the device—the prototype’s auto-stereoscopic capability means users can see 3D TV images with the naked eye, the company said.

“The ATSC Mobile DTV standard offers broadcasters remarkable flexibility to address the changing demands of consumers and advertisers,” said Skott Ahn, LG Electronics president and chief technology officer, in a statement.

The prototype also features a new application developed with Roundbox that LG is calling “Tweet-TV.” The MDTV app displays viewer tweets interactively on the prototype MDTV receiver while a program is airing. An MDTV transmitter from Harris delivers tweets received as data files, displaying them on a transparent panel that covers part of the LG device’s MDTV screen.

The prototype also delivers electronic couponing and video-on-demand, according to LG.

At the NAB Show, LG Electronics will also show a prototype of its first Android-enabled smartphone prototype with MMDTV reception. The 3.2-inch smartphone runs Google’s Android 2.2 Froyo operating system and is powered by LG’s second-generation MDTV chip, the company said Monday. It has a 3-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, accelerometer and digital compass.

See the original story here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383415,00.asp

[by Eric Caoili, Gamasutra]

Though the system moved a record number of units for a Nintendo handheld on its launch day in the U.S., sales for the 3DS have experienced a notable decline since, according to Lazard Capital Markets.

Nintendo of America introduced its latest, stereoscopic 3D-enabled portable on Mach 27 in the U.S., and while it declined to provide specific numbers, the company said the 3DS enjoyed the highest day-one sales of any handheld in its history. In Europe, the 3DS sold some 303,000 units on its opening weekend, and was the fastest selling Nintendo console ever in the U.K.

But Lazard believes that 3DS hardware sales in the U.S. have dropped since, as they have in Japan, where Sony’s PSP has outsold the new system for the past two weeks.

The group’s senior analyst Colin Sebastian said, “Based on our recent checks, we believe that sales of the 3DS have slowed considerably since the initial launch window.”

“The Easter holiday could provide a near-term boost,” he added. Sebastian also noted in his forecast for video game sales in March that the 3DS’s launch launch last month provided “incremental traffic” to game stores, but he said that “the impact of new hardware platforms on software sales is more meaningful after they reach a larger installed base.”

Other analysts predict that the 3DS sold anywhere from 500,000 to 750,000 systems last month in the U.S., and that the handheld will go on to sell 11.6 million units globally by the end of the calendar year and 70 million units worldwide by 2015 — an impressive amount but smaller than the 91 million sold by the previous DS line at the same point in their sale cycles.

Sebastian provided his forecast for future Wii sales, too: “We believe that Nintendo is likely to consider additional console price/bundle offerings in order to stimulate Wii sales into the summer months.”

See the original story here: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34048/Analyst_3DS_Sales_Have_Slowed_Considerably_Since_Launch.php