Price War

NEW YORK -- Internet phone company SunRocket Inc. is introducing a calling plan with unlimited calls to about 35 countries for $25 a month, lowering the bar even further in the price wars that have unnerved investors about the young industry's long-term viability. The plan includes unlimited calls to any landline anywhere in about 30 countries, regardless of whether it's over a traditional phone or another Internet service, plus 10 cities in other countries. As with most services, calls to mobile phones in the listed countries will still cost extra, with the per-minute rate ranging from 3 to 30...

A British company has taken the price war for music subscriptions to a new level. Rara, a startup led by serial entrepreneur Rob Lewis, this week launched an all-you-can-listen music service that gives users unlimited access to 10 million tracks over mobile phones for an introductory price of just $2 per month for the first three months. The trial period allows for use on mobile devices for much longer than competitors, including Rhapsody, the market leader in the U.S., which has a free 14-day trial.

A British company has taken the price war for music subscriptions to a new level. Rara, a startup led by serial entrepreneur Rob Lewis, this week launched an all-you-can-listen music service that gives users unlimited access to 10 million tracks over mobile phones for an introductory price of just $2 per month for the first three months. The trial period allows for use on mobile devices for much longer than competitors, including Rhapsody, the market leader in the U.S., which has a free 14-day trial.

Hewlett-Packard's new TouchPad hasn't laid a glove on sales of Apple's ferociously popular iPad 2. But maybe, just maybe, a weekend price of $299 at Staples could change that.

DALLAS -- Blockbuster Inc. is cutting the cost of its monthly online rental service, the latest salvo in a price war with Netflix Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Blockbuster, the largest movie-rental chain in the country, said yesterday it was cutting the price of a monthly subscription to its online ordering, mail delivery service to $14.99 from $17.49. The Dallas-based company said it was also expanding its online inventory to 30,000 titles from 25,000. For the $14.99 service, Blockbuster lets customers rent three movies at any one time with no due dates or late fees.

NEW YORK - First it was books. Now it is DVDs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started another price war Thursday, trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following its price cut on books last month. And again, competitors Amazon.com and Target scrambled to match the prices. It was the latest salvo in an ongoing online push by Wal-Mart designed to ensure everyone knows it intends to be the low-price leader on the Web, as well as in stores. The retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., said late Thursday that it would lower the online prices of new DVDs...

NEW YORK — A price war is heating up in the electronic reader market, as Amazon cut the price of its Kindle e-reader below $200 yesterday just after Barnes & Noble did the same with its competing Nook device. The moves are fanning flames in the still-small but growing market that the book industry sees as a major part of its future. Yesterday, Amazon.com Inc. slashed the price of the Kindle by $70 to $189, just a few hours after Barnes & Noble Inc. reduced the price of the Nook by $60 to $199 and said it would also start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Discount stock brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. said yesterday that it will reduce its online trading commissions for the second time in eight months, delivering the latest blow in an escalating price war. Beginning Feb. 8, the San Francisco-based company's commission for an Internet stock trade will decrease by 35 percent to $12.95 for customer households with combined assets ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. The reduction affects nearly one-third of the 3.5 million US households with Schwab accounts, said company spokesman Glen Mathison.

LONDON -- Maybe it should be called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Discounts. " British retailer Asda Group Ltd. said yesterday it would sell the final book in the Harry Potter series for $10, just over one-fourth of the recommended retail price. Such price-cutting in Britain is alarming some US industry analysts who fear it could set a dangerous precedent for the US market, where discounters are already waging price wars with traditional book sellers for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and last title of the series.

Hewlett-Packard's new TouchPad hasn't laid a glove on sales of Apple's ferociously popular iPad 2. But maybe, just maybe, a weekend price of $299 at Staples could change that.

THE WAR is over — “Bin Laden is gone, and there is zero Al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. We have done our job.” So says Representative Walter B. Jones, a conservative North Carolina Republican who has thrown in with liberal Democrat James McGovern of Massachusetts in demanding a swift end to the war in Afghanistan. Late last month, Congress nearly approved the McGovern-Jones amendment to accelerate withdrawal of US forces. Jones started out as an enthusiastic backer of President Bush’s war policies, but he became an opponent of the Iraq War, and now regards the Afghanistan War as pointless.

NEW YORK — A price war is heating up in the electronic reader market, as Amazon cut the price of its Kindle e-reader below $200 yesterday just after Barnes & Noble did the same with its competing Nook device. The moves are fanning flames in the still-small but growing market that the book industry sees as a major part of its future. Yesterday, Amazon.com Inc. slashed the price of the Kindle by $70 to $189, just a few hours after Barnes & Noble Inc. reduced the price of the Nook by $60 to $199 and said it would also start selling a new Nook with Wi-Fi access for $149.

NEW YORK — You should be tickled by the talking babies, even if you’re sick of E-Trade’s ubiquitous TV ads. They show discount brokerages are vying for your business. In the past few months, a price war among the biggest brokerages has dropped trade commissions to their lowest levels ever. Fidelity last month slashed its rate to a flat $7.95 per trade, from a sliding scale that ranged from $8 to as much as $19.95. The move came just weeks after Charles Schwab lowered its price to $8.95.

NEW YORK - First it was books. Now it is DVDs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. started another price war Thursday, trimming the online preorder prices of some upcoming DVDs following its price cut on books last month. And again, competitors Amazon.com and Target scrambled to match the prices. It was the latest salvo in an ongoing online push by Wal-Mart designed to ensure everyone knows it intends to be the low-price leader on the Web, as well as in stores. The retailer, based in Bentonville, Ark., said late Thursday that it would lower the online...

LONDON -- Maybe it should be called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Discounts. " British retailer Asda Group Ltd. said yesterday it would sell the final book in the Harry Potter series for $10, just over one-fourth of the recommended retail price. Such price-cutting in Britain is alarming some US industry analysts who fear it could set a dangerous precedent for the US market, where discounters are already waging price wars with traditional book sellers for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and last title of the series.

NEW YORK -- Internet phone company SunRocket Inc. is introducing a calling plan with unlimited calls to about 35 countries for $25 a month, lowering the bar even further in the price wars that have unnerved investors about the young industry's long-term viability. The plan includes unlimited calls to any landline anywhere in about 30 countries, regardless of whether it's over a traditional phone or another Internet service, plus 10 cities in other countries. As with most services, calls to mobile phones in the listed countries will still cost extra, with the per-minute rate ranging...

NEW YORK — You should be tickled by the talking babies, even if you’re sick of E-Trade’s ubiquitous TV ads. They show discount brokerages are vying for your business. In the past few months, a price war among the biggest brokerages has dropped trade commissions to their lowest levels ever. Fidelity last month slashed its rate to a flat $7.95 per trade, from a sliding scale that ranged from $8 to as much as $19.95. The move came just weeks after Charles Schwab lowered its price to $8.95.

THE WAR is over — “Bin Laden is gone, and there is zero Al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan. We have done our job.” So says Representative Walter B. Jones, a conservative North Carolina Republican who has thrown in with liberal Democrat James McGovern of Massachusetts in demanding a swift end to the war in Afghanistan. Late last month, Congress nearly approved the McGovern-Jones amendment to accelerate withdrawal of US forces. Jones started out as an enthusiastic backer of President Bush’s war policies, but he became an opponent of the Iraq War, and now regards the Afghanistan...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Discount stock brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. said yesterday that it will reduce its online trading commissions for the second time in eight months, delivering the latest blow in an escalating price war. Beginning Feb. 8, the San Francisco-based company's commission for an Internet stock trade will decrease by 35 percent to $12.95 for customer households with combined assets ranging from $50,000 to $1 million. The reduction affects nearly one-third of the 3.5 million US households with Schwab accounts, said company spokesman Glen Mathison.

DALLAS -- Blockbuster Inc. is cutting the cost of its monthly online rental service, the latest salvo in a price war with Netflix Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Blockbuster, the largest movie-rental chain in the country, said yesterday it was cutting the price of a monthly subscription to its online ordering, mail delivery service to $14.99 from $17.49. The Dallas-based company said it was also expanding its online inventory to 30,000 titles from 25,000. For the $14.99 service, Blockbuster lets customers rent three movies at any one time with no due...