How to spot dangerous links before you click them

 Internet crooks are adept at breaching Web security techniques, which makes it more important than ever for people to verify sites before they visit them.

You probably got to this page by clicking a link. Links are the ties that bind the Web. But each click is also a leap of faith. How do you know you're going to the page you think you're going to?
Google search results let you preview pages before you follow the link, but elsewhere the best you can do is hover over the link to see at the bottom of the browser the URL of the page the link will open. (See below for more on free browser add-ons that rate the security of links in search results.)
Since 1994 a Certificate Authority based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) standard has managed the validation of Web sites. Several private companies sell various levels of certificates to organizations that own domain names and host Web servers.
According to the recently released Volume 17 of Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, on at least 10 occasions in 2011 an SSL certificate authority came under attack by Internet criminals.
One of the handful of successful attacks targeted a Comodo affiliate that had been granted authority to issue SSL certificates. The bad guys had stolen a user name and password. Elinor Mills and Declan McCullogh describe the attack in the Privacy, Inc. blog.
SSL implementation survey gives sites low grades for security
Last week more questions arose about SSL's ability to secure Web transactions. The Trustworthy Internet Movement's SSL Implementation survey of 200,000 popular SSL-secured Web sites found that only 10 percent of the sites were safe.
The organization's SSL Pulse page includes a link to SSL Labs' free service for testing a site's SSL security. Simply enter a domain name to run it through the labs' SSL Server Test.

SSL Labs' domain-name checker gives sites an overall letter grade and rates their SSL security in various categories.

(Credit: screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

There's nothing new about SSL vulnerabilities, which have been reported regularly by researchers since at least 2003. After nearly two decades and despite all the criticism, SSL has proven itself secure enough to protect nearly all online purchases and other sensitive Internet transactions. At least so far.
Browser add-ons add a safety rating to links
Unless you're a network manager, there's not much you can do to ensure that the sites you visit are secure. One way to lower the risk is to be warned about a potentially insecure site before you click the link that opens it.
My favorite link authenticator is the free Web of Trust (WOT), which is available for Firefox and Google Chrome. WOT adds a green-yellow-red rating to links in Web search results and to the top of each page you visit.
When you install WOT the program asks you to choose one of three settings: Basic (recommended), Light, and Parental Control, which blocks adult sites.

The Web of Trust add-on for Firefox and Google Chrome lets you choose one of three presets, one of which automatically blocks adult sites.

(Credit: screenshot by Dennis O'Reilly/CNET)

(I first wrote about WOT in a post from 2009 that also described McAfee's free SiteAdvisor and the LinkExtend add-ons for Firefox, as well as several other security extensions for the browser.)
The Tech Support Alert site describes several services that let you copy and paste a link into a text field and search the URL in databases of known dangerous domains. The downside of these services is the extra time required to run Web addresses you're leery about through the checkers.
Personal sites and blogs most likely to be infected
Conventional wisdom says malware lurks in the seamy regions of the Web. Certain to be one of the most-discussed findings of Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report is that pornographic sites are less likely to be infected than any of the 10 categories of sites in the survey.
Only 2.4 percent of adult sites scanned by Symantec were infected, the lowest infection rate of the 10 site categories, which include shopping (7.7 percent), education/reference (6.8 percent), entertainment and music (3.8 percent) and automotive (also 3.8 percent).
Be careful when you visit your brother-in-law's site highlighting his collection of 19th century beer bottles, though: nearly 20 percent of blogs and more than 15 percent of personal sites had malware, according to the report.
When it comes to browser plug-in vulnerabilities, ActiveX continues to be the most likely source of a Web-borne infection, accounting for 29 percent of the 308 vulnerabilities Symantec detected in 2011. That's a decrease from the 34 percent of the 346 plug-in vulnerabilities detected in 2010.
Java vulnerabilities accounted for 20 percent of the total recorded in 2011, up from 17 percent the year earlier. Likewise, Adobe Flash vulnerabilities represented 20 percent of the total number of browser plug-in vulnerabilities in 2011, a 2 percent increase from 2010.
As for the future, Symantec anticipates an increase in targeted attacks and advanced persistent threats, as well as malware authors using Facebook to take advantage of the lack of tech savvy among the service's users.
All the security software in the world will never take the place of a healthy dose of skepticism regarding the safety of any site. Whatever the address bar may say, if you get a bad feeling about the page you're on, close your browser (not just the suspicious tab).
And while we're talking paranoia, when was the last time you ran a full manual scan on your PC? (I'll leave Macs out of it... for now.)

Is RIM getting its mojo back with BlackBerry 10?

RIM shows off its new software at BlackBerry World to rave reviews. But can the company deliver? And will it be enough to compete with Apple and Google?

RIM's CEO Thorsten Heins shows off the company's new BlackBerry 10 software at the BlackBerry World event.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

ORLANDO, Fla. -- BlackBerry maker Research In Motion showed off some cool new features today for its upcoming BlackBerry 10 software, but will it be enough to stop the company's free-fall into the smartphone abyss?
That's the big question that fans of the once mighty smartphone and other industry watchers are asking here today at the BlackBerry World conference. Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said he is optimistic about the company's prospects, if the company is really able to deliver on its promises.
"RIM's sneak peek of the new BlackBerry 10 shows the company is focused on details that differentiate meaningfully," Gartenberg said. "But the key will be shipping and execution."
Indeed, RIM did not show off any actual devices here at the conference, the company's annual pow-wow where customers, partners, fanboys, and press descend to hear what's next from the handset maker. Instead the company showed off reference devices it's calling BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha. It's even been handing out these reference devices to developers to help seed the market ahead of the launch of new smartphones that actually run BlackBerry 10.
RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins said he understands that the market is anxious to get its hands on BlackBerry 10 devices. But he said the company is taking its time to make sure it is getting the software and the hardware just right. He didn't give any indication when the new devices will hit the market. But some rumors peg the launch as early as August of this year, while others say it could be October.

One thing is clear -- the longer that RIM waits to launch its device the more it risks losing even more market share to competitors, Apple and Android. In the past year, RIM has lost nearly half of its market share, according to Gartner. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the company had about 14 percent global market share. By the end of 2011, it had about 8.8 percent market share. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue told Reuters that RIM's market share could go down to less than 5 percent.
The problem that RIM faces as it tries to retrench and get its new software in order is that its competitors are not holding back. Google Android and Apple continue to pick up share from customers who are fleeing the tired and stale BlackBerry platform. A major worldwide outage in 2011 also didn't help build confidence among loyal enterprise users, who are now looking to other platforms as more and more of their employees bring their own devices to work.
But Heins said that the company is on track to deliver the devices this year. And he said he doesn't foresee any delays, something that has plagued the company in the past as it tried to launch new products.
"We are on schedule with the launch," he said. "And we are really close."
What's more, he indicated that the new BlackBerry devices will be using fully baked software. This was a problem with the launch of the BlackBerry PlayBook table a year ago. When the device launched, the software was still nearly in beta testing. Few apps existed and the software was buggy. The device has largely been a flop, and devices still sit on shelves unused and unsold.
Some of the new features that RIM showed off during its demo here today included a revamped virtual keyboard that learns not only the words users might use but the typing behavior of that user to make typing more accurate. It also showed off a camera app that allows users to recapture moments they may have missed because their fingers were too slow in hitting the shutter. The camera actually caches frames in view of the lens, so that users can roll back to images that may have been captured seconds earlier. And the company showed off the multitasking chops of the new device showing how apps can run in the background and can easily be tabbed and navigated.
Analysts, BlackBerry fans, and partners were generally impressed with the new features and what they foretell for the upcoming devices.
"If these demos are representative of the final BB10 experience, then RIM has its groove back," Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD Group, tweeted during the keynote speech this morning.

RIM showed off its new virtual keyboard as part of its demo of the BlackBerry 10 software here at BlackBerry World 2012.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

Still, there's no question RIM has a long road ahead of it. And many here were reminded of the failings of other companies that developed slick new software that came much too late to the market. Palm, which essentially invented the smartphone market with its early Palm Pilots, had lagged behind its competitors for years. The company tried to revive its fortunes with the WebOS platform, which got rave reviews from the technology press and from some consumers. But the software came much too late. And the hardware was only so-so. Palm, which didn't have the scale to compete against the likes of the iPhone and the growing dominance of Google, sold out to Hewlett-Packard. And with that sale, the WebOS platform died a quick death.
But Kevin Michaluk of the blog Crackberry said that BlackBerry is in a far different place than Palm.
"BlackBerry devices are in the mainstream," he said. "Palm was for early adopters. It never had the scale that BlackBerry has had."
Indeed, even with RIM's declining market share, BlackBerry still has more than 77 million customers. And its reach is global. RIM says that its customers are in 164 markets and territories worldwide. And it has plans to roll out devices in additional countries.
RIM executives also say the company is making headway with developers. And at the BlackBerry World conference here the company highlighted the fact that it's seen a 240 percent growth in Playbook apps over the past year. Of course this growth isn't so impressive when you think that it was starting from zero. But executives say that even this growth shows that some developers still see RIM as a valuable company to develop applications for. And the company sees Playbook app development as a precursor to BlackBerry 10 apps.
Alec Saunders, vice president of developer relations for RIM, said that his team is working hard to sign up new developers and to get them excited about the platform. He said that apps will be an important selling point for the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones because they must be able to compete with the iPhone and Google Android devices. But he said that the company's real focus and differentiation is creating devices that will help communicate more efficiently. After all, he said that is what BlackBerry has always been about.
"BlackBerry users are people who are hungry to get something done," he said. "They aren't the ones sitting on the train watching episodes of Seinfeld."
Still he said that carrying all the popular apps and having a good multimedia experience for users is necessary to compete.
"It has to be a great multimedia device," he said. "That's table stakes these days. But that doesn't mean we have to go out and build an iTunes-like store."

Best iPad accessories

The iPad doesn't need much in the way of extras, but these essential peripherals are, for the most part, highly useful (that iCade's just fun).
peripherals are, for the most part, highly useful (that iCade's just fun).

by Scott Stein May 1, 2012 9:30 AM PDT

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

(Updated May 1, 2012 with one new accessory.)
I've owned an iPad since 2010, and I have to admit, it's pretty self-sufficient. That's the appeal: one simple slab that can do everything. Or, nearly everything.

Must-have iPad accessories (photos)

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Of course, we all know the iPad has its limitations. That's where peripherals can come in handy. For instance, how do you connect a camera? What about streaming audio or video out to a TV or stereo? How do you go about protecting your investment with a case?
Here are some of the most useful iPad accessories you're likely to find. You probably won't need all of them, but you're almost guaranteed to get serious use out of more than one of them. New to the list, and perhaps one of the most impressive accessories I've seen, is the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover.
Any I left out? Share below.

Apple doesn't want jurors to see Samsung logo at trial

Obscuring Samsung's logo from the court's video equipment is just one of the requests to be made by Apple for the upcoming patent trial between the rivals, a report says. Samsung has its own requests as well.

Apple doesn't want jurors to see Samsung's logo on court video equipment, which is just one of many courtroom requests the two companies have made as they prepare to take their patent issues to trial.
With the upcoming jury trial currently set for July 30, the two have already revealed the issues they plan to raise ahead of their courtroom showdown, according to Foss Patents' Florian Mueller.
Apple's intention to file a motion to obscure the Samsung logo on the court's video displays may seem "funny," says Mueller. But Apple doesn't want to create an impression among jurors that Samsung equipment and the company itself are somehow favored by the court.
Apple also wants to ban any statements attributed to Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, author of the recent biography about the late Apple leader. As Mueller points out, Apple clearly does not want jurors to hear Jobs' comments about destroying Android because it's a stolen product and going thermonuclear war about it.
Further, Apple doesn't want any references to Foxconn or working conditions in China to enter into the trial, Mueller says. Of course, the situation in China has little relevance to the claims to be made at the trial, so this may be a non-issue.
Samsung naturally has its own laundry list of requests, according to Mueller.
The Korean mobile phone maker wants to exclude "Apple-related blogs and articles by non-expert newspaper reporters, regarding any assessment of Apple and Samsung and/or their products."
It also wants to eliminate any testimony from Henry Urbach, "Apple's expert on the alleged cultural significance of Apple." Samsung believes Urbach's own opinions about Apple products are subjective and therefore "not helpful to the jury."
Finally, Samsung also wants to keep out the opinions of Sanjay Sood, "Apple's expert on consumer decision making," who it considers an unobjective and unhelpful source about Apple's design prowess.
At this stage, these are all just motions the companies plan to file. It will be up to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to decide which ones have merit and which ones should be dismissed.
Source: news.cnet.com

Android's new ally against the iPhone: Ubuntu

Strong sales of the iPhone 4S are putting renewed pressure on Android to innovate. Ubuntu for Android could give the platform a key capability iPhone is still missing.

(Credit: Canonical)

Last year was a long time ago for Android.
That was when Google's mobile platform was stealing market share from all the other smartphone platforms -- winning even against the iPhone -- and beating a path toward market dominance.
But Android is now facing a renewed challenge from its archrival. Android's vulnerability against the iPhone can be summed up by looking at the two biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. -- AT&T and Verizon. At AT&T, the iPhone represented 78% of all smartphone sales in the first three months of 2012. At Verizon, which had been an Android stronghold since the launch of the original Motorola Droid in October 2009, the iPhone has picked up over 50 percent of all smartphone sales for each of the past two quarters (Q4 2011 and Q1 2012).
How'd that happen? Android won over more users than Apple during 2010 and 2011 because Android devices were available on more carriers and there were Android phones that cost a lot less than the $200 base model of the iPhone. But now the iPhone has spread to virtually all of the major carriers and there are now iPhone models available for under $100.
Android badly needs a new advantage against the iPhone in the next stage of the mobile platform fight. It may get it from Canonical's Ubuntu for Android.

The Ubuntu factor

Ubuntu is a friendly version of Linux aimed at the masses. Unfortunately, the masses have never embraced it on a large scale, but it has proven to be usable enough that even your technophobic uncle can easily use Ubuntu to do things like surf the Web, check e-mail, and download photos from a digital camera.
While the iPhone is winning on simplicity, Android is winning on expanded features (and it's still expected to have a 50 percent market share this year). One of those expanded features that the iPhone doesn't have is the ability to dock and act like a computer. Last week we looked at how Motorola Webtop pioneered this concept. However, Ubuntu has an alternative vision for smartphone/PC convergence and it's teaming with Android hardware makers on devices that will hit the market later in 2012.
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has slowly and quietly evolved the Linux desktop into a legitimate low-cost alternative to Windows and Mac. Ubuntu's focus on usability with its Unity Desktop and Heads-Up Display (which is like a Google search for all of the menus on your computer) has given Ubuntu the simplicity it needs to compete in an era that's about to be dominated by touchscreens and cloud computing.
That's why when Canonical announced and demonstrated Ubuntu for Android at Mobile World Congress in February, it generated a lot of interest across the mobile industry. Users liked the idea of a more full-featured desktop than Motorola's Webtop. Android phone makers liked the idea of using the software to build high-powered multi-purpose devices and make more money off smartphones accessories like desktop docks. And, wireless carriers loved the idea of powerful smartphones running desktop-level applications that will demand more data than ever.

Mobile World Congress 2012 attendees flock to see Ubuntu for Android. Photo credit: Canonical

"The feedback has been great," Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth said. "People that really got their hands on it have raved about it."
After the announcement, the Canonical booth at MWC 2012 was flooded with interest from corporate tech managers, consumers, and representatives from telcos and handset makers. All of them wanted to see what Ubuntu for Android could do. Everyone has seen the capabilities of Motorola Webtop -- as we talked about last week -- but it's limited to mostly desktop Web browsing and it's only available on Motorola phones. Ubuntu takes the concept a step further by opening it up to more apps and to all Android phone makers.
Shuttleworth said, "Webtop reminds [me] of ChromeOS. It's a browser story. We've pulled off a very different feeling... The full range of desktop apps are there."
When Ubuntu is loaded on an Android phone, the two platforms share the same Linux kernel, so it's not like running two operating systems. The two pieces act like complementary partners. The Android phone functions normally when used as a smartphone or when making calls, but when it docks then the Ubuntu desktop pops up and acts like a standard computer. You can open a desktop Web browser, but you can also install and run standard Ubuntu desktop software for photo editing, word processing, etc.
Because Ubuntu is so lean, the entire Ubuntu software stack only takes up about 2GB, and that includes apps for e-mail, Web browsing, photo editing, music, and other basic stuff. If you install more applications from the large Ubuntu repository of open source apps then that will obviously take up more space, but there's still plenty of storage on most modern smartphones to handle it. While Ubuntu takes up more storage than Webtop, it's also giving you a lot more capabilities.
"The Ubuntu solution is providing a complete PC operating system," said Richard Collins, the Product Manager for Ubuntu for Android. "Canonical has always seen the opportunity for Ubuntu for Android. It's something that's always been discussed, but once the hardware was ready then we realized the timing was good for this. [The software] is mature enough for us to engage with an OEM today."
Before joining Canonical in December 2011, Collins previously worked on smartphones for Symbian -- the operating system that used to power Nokia smartphones before CEO Stephen Elop dumped it for Windows Phone 7 last year.
For Ubuntu for Android, Collins added, "We haven't touched Android at all."
But, while the Ubuntu solution doesn't alter Android, it provides deep integration with Android on the Ubuntu side, and that's where Canonical is bringing value that goes above and beyond what Motorola accomplished with Webtop.

Going beyond Webtop

Here are some examples of the ways Ubuntu integrates with Android:

• Web pages that you have open on your Android phone are automatically opened in Ubuntu when you dock. It even switches from the mobile site to the desktop version of the site, in many cases.
• View, search, and launch Android applications from within the Ubuntu desktop
• Access and edit photos and videos and then save them back to Android
• Wi-Fi networks and settings are shared between Android and Ubuntu
• View and search phone contacts from the Ubuntu desktop
• Use Dialer app to make calls on the phone while docked in Ubuntu
• Read and respond to text messages with full keyboard in Ubuntu
• Android calendar app is synced with Ubuntu calendar software
• Social networking account credentials are synced between Android and Ubuntu

Again, the other thing that Ubuntu has going for it over Webtop is that Webtop is currently only available on Motorola smartphones. In my Webtop article last week, I suggested that when Google buys Motorola Mobility it could choose to directly integrate Webtop into the next version of Android, which would turn almost every new Android device into a PC replacement.
In the meantime, Ubuntu for Android is bypassing Google and making its pitch directly to Android handset makers. Interestingly enough, once the announcement was made in February, several of the handset makers actually came and sought out Canonical to start the dialog on how to get it on their devices. Canonical said that virtually all of the major Android phone makers are considering Ubuntu for Android.

"We've engaged all the handset manufacturers that we feel were relevant to this solution," said Collins. "They were beating a path to our stand [at MWC]."
Collins said Ubuntu for Android is not something that is meant to be released as a download on the Internet and installed on existing Android phones. It's going to take close cooperation with the phone makers in order to optimize performance of the hardware for each smartphone and to build in all the hooks that are needed for the deep integration that Ubuntu is doing with Android.
Since Ubuntu for Android runs alongside Android, Collins argued that a handset manufacturer can integrate it with a phone that is currently in development without having to completely reboot the product. He said manufacturers that are planning to launch multi-core smartphones this year can still take this and launch with it before the end of the year. While that sounds a little oversimplified, the key is that Collins thinks we'll see Ubuntu integrated into high-end Android phones by the end of 2012.
Collins also said that Ubuntu would love to work with some Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core devices. That's where the possibilities of this type of solution could start to shine through, since performance has been one of the big drawbacks of Motorola Webtop as well as the Motorola Atrix 2 device that Ubuntu of Android was demonstrated on at MWC.
While it's uncertain what Google is going to do with Motorola Mobility once the acquisition is complete, the search giant has said that it intends to run Motorola as a stand-alone business. If that's the case, then Shuttleworth said he's even open to collaborating with the Webtop creator. "I'd love to work with Motorola because I know the courage it took to bring Webtop to market."
One thing that's very clear in talking with Shuttleworth is that he has completely bought into the idea that the smartphone is the future of the PC. His only question was the timing. "It's a very natural step for us to be taking," he said. "[This is] an upcoming phase change. It might take five years. It might take 10 years."

Microsoft deal allows B&N to go toe-to-toe with Amazon and Apple

Microsoft's $300 million investment not only offers a big cash infusion to beleaguered Barnes & Noble but also sends a message to consumers that it's here to stay.

On a conference call today announcing a new partnership with Microsoft, Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said the company's new $139 Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is currently sold out but would be in stock soon.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

In the last couple of years Barnes & Noble has made some big inroads into the e-book market, cutting into Amazon's huge lead. As it stands, Amazon still has about 60 percent of the e-book pie, Barnes & Noble has around 25 percent, and Apple sits at around 15 percent, with smaller players like Sony and Kobo left to fight over the crumbs. Of course, those numbers are just estimates, and depending on who you talk to, Amazon's share might actually be closer to 65 percent.
While a strong second place is not a bad position to be in, the problem for Barnes & Noble has been how much it cost to get there and how much it's going to cost to pick up more market share from Amazon and Apple, which has steadily ramped up its iBooks digital reading platform and recently launched a major digital textbook initiative. Both Amazon and Apple, needless to say, have huge cash reserves to dip into for marketing, engineering, and R&D, while Barnes & Noble has appeared at times as if it's simply battling for survival.
Enter Microsoft and its $300 million investment in what amounts to a spinoff of Barnes & Noble's Nook digital media business, which includes e-books, textbooks, and all those digital newspapers and magazines its been selling on Nook devices. So far the new "subsidiary" of Barnes & Noble doesn't have a name (it's simply referred to as Newco) but you might as well call it Nooksoft (read more here about the announcement here).
Obviously, the cash injection is important because Barnes & Noble has been hemorrhaging money as it beefs up its Silicon Valley-based digital operation with expensive software engineers and hardware designers (a New York Times article noted that Barnes & Noble already has 300 employees in its Palo Alto, Calif., office). The new company also frees up additional cash for Barnes & Noble to compete with Amazon and Apple's huge marketing machines and attract more talented engineers with potentially lucrative stock options. The other obvious benefit to the deal is it allows the bookseller to bring the Nook e-bookstore to Windows 8 devices, whether they be PCs, tablets, or smartphones, though Amazon's Kindle app will be available for the Windows 8 platform as well.
Today's announcement also marks the first time that Barnes & Noble has openly talked about going global, though it remains unclear when it will bring its Nook devices to overseas markets. In a conference call, CEO William Lynch said that few companies were "on more screens than Microsoft" and that the new partnership would allow Barnes & Noble to to extend the Nook digital bookstore to thousands of users in the U.S. and globally. Amazon is also making a big push into global markets and Apple, of course, is already selling millions of iPhones and iPads around the world.
Here in the U.S., in the wake of the government's lawsuit against Apple and five of the "big six" publishers (and subsequent settlement with three of them), there's talk of Amazon once again lower prices on e-books and selling certain titles at a loss. In the past, competitors had trouble matching Amazon's prices, but Microsoft's cash infusion would make it easier for Barnes & Noble to go toe-to-toe on pricing.
Ultimately, however, the biggest benefit of the deal may be a change in consumers' psyche about Barnes & Noble. In the commodity world of e-books, branding is important, and many consumers fear that their purchases, which are stored in a "digital locker," will vanish if a company goes out of business. When Borders went belly up, consumers were simply migrated over to Kobo because Kobo already powered Borders e-book store. But no one knows exactly what would happen if Barnes & Noble went down the tubes, and not a Nook story goes by on CNET without a commenter voicing some concern over Barnes & Noble's longevity.
"I've always thought that the Nooks were a bit better designed than the Kindles," said CNET reader tgibbs in a recent comment concerning the arrival of the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight. "But I bought a Kindle because I'm more confident that Amazon will be still be around in the future."
With a giant like Microsoft backstopping the Nook, consumers may now have more confidence that the Nook platform will indeed be here to stay. And that type of peace of mind is just as essential in helping Barnes & Noble gain market share than money alone.

Grand Theft Auto V launching Oct. 23, 2012, predicts analyst

Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter expects Rockstar Games' open-world title to ship one week after BioShock: Infinite this fall season.

The much-anticipated open-world action game Grand Theft Auto V will ship on October 23, 2012, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. Speaking on the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, Pachter acknowledged that shipping on that date would be just a week behind another major Take-Two property, BioShock Infinite (October 16), but he did not budge on his belief.

Pachter has a specific date in mind for GTAV: October 23, 2012.

"I know that's too close to BioShock Infinite," he said. "I don't think the Rockstar guys care about a 2K game."
If GTAV ships on October 23, 2012, gamers will be barraged with high-profile games in consecutive weeks. The October-November release calendar could shape up to be: BioShock Infinite (October 16), GTAV (October 23), Assassin's Creed III (October 30), Halo 4 (November 6), and if rumor proves accurate, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on November 13.
As for when new GTAV details might arrive, Pachter believes Rockstar will let loose new information the Monday before the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo commences.
"My read on those guys, is they like stealing the thunder from everybody else," he said. Pachter went on to explain offering new details about the game on this day would make GTAV the most-talked-about game of the show, despite not actually having a presence there.
This is not the first indication of an October 2012 release date for GTAV. Earlier this month, a Rockstar North employee's resume pointed to the action game shipping during that window.
Not all are on board with a 2012 release date for GTAV. Janco Partners' Mike Hickey and Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia are expecting the game to arrive in 2013, and specialty retailer GameStop is not counting on it to ship this year.
When GTAV does eventually arrive, it will do so with lofty sales expectations. Multiple reports suggest the game could sell many millions of copies, with one projecting it could sell 24 million units if it maintains historical attach rates.
Rockstar took the wraps off GTAV in October and issued the game's first trailer in early November. The game will be set primarily in present-day Los Santos, a fictional town modeled on Los Angeles. Rockstar has also said that GTAV boasts the largest scope of any installment in the franchise to date.