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Show Saturday. April 7. 2007 DAILY Electrchics goes a long way in a shopper's experience. Continued from D6 At another Best Buy in Sunnyvale, for instance, the music MP3 players A friendly greet er is stationed just on display were in good working inside Best Buy's front door order, and a patron could test the -How's going? Welcome to Best controls and use headphones to listen Buy," he repeats. to them. By contrast, the Palo Alto Within a minute of browsing in a Circuit City's portable players with section, a Best Buy associate swings 'the exception of a separate display by to offer assistance. The staffer for Microsoft Corp.'s Zune player casually dispenses product info or were not powered and lacked comparisons, and just as quickly lays headphones so a shopper couldnt get if back you decline the help. a good test run of the devices. ProdA visit to Palo Alto's Best Buy and uct information placards were also Circuit City to pick up a component-vide- o missing from some models. cable illustrates the differences. "I like how it's easier to find things At the Circuit Ctty, it took some (at Best Buy), and it's cool when you effort to find a store employee to walk in and they greet you," Dustin ask where to find the cables and Durham said outside the store, clutchthe employee who was ing a new projector. Durham used to tracked down misdirected this shopshop at a Circuit City when he lived per to cables for TVs. in Kentucky but moved a year ago At Best Buy, the greet er at the to the San Francisco Bay area where door quickly responded with a more both stores geographically compete specific question, "What kind of comHe hasn't been back to ponent video?" By asking, he learned a Circuit City since because he said the cable's purpose was for a game the store just felt "like a maze." console and pointed to the video Devoe, who bypassed Circuit City ' game section. in his search for a computer monitor The desired d cables this week, first tried the local Costco, were sold out, but the Best Buy asthen a Fry's electronics store and sociate did double check the store finally Best Buy, where he admittedly inventory. was pleasantly surprised with its seThat kind of attention to detail lection and knowledgeable staff. i d neck-in-nec- k. Sony-brande- HERALD D5 At Costco, displays weren't powered on, and at Fry's, he couldnt adjust the display resolutions. But at Best Buy, he was sold on a $700 display after he was able to actually compare and adjust the resolutions of various models. In some cases, it just comes down to location. With more than 800 Best Buy stores in the U.S., compared with Circuit City's 650, Richfield, Minn.-base- d Best Buy Co. Inc. has an upper hand at the moment. "I dont have anything against Circuit City, but this one is just closer to me," Daisy Zhao said, as she stepped out of a Best Buy with a new digital camcorder. e It was just a difference from the next closest Circuit City where Zhao said she used to shop before the Best Buy opened in her Sunnyvale neighborhood about three years ago. Since then, the home-makhas bought a DVD recorder, TV a DVD player, a small, and some other computer accessories from Best Buy. On the same day Richmond, Circuit City Stores Inc. reported its disappointing fourth-quartresults, A. J. Sanchez and his son emerged from one of its stores with two new video games. He chose that store because it's closer recently spurned both in favor of a n high-de- f good deal for a h TV at Sears store going out of Clear contrast ini-tio- Best Buy and Circuit City are the nation's top two consumer electronics retailers. h, business. But Sanchez said there seem to be fewer sales representatives at Circuit Qty and the store layout is confusing. Titles for the Xbox 360 were limited Revenue comparison Fiscal year 2007 Circuit City and spread across different areas, which made his shopping mission Wednesday just a tad frustrating. "But they both beat Target and Sanchez other stores, hands-downadded Representatives of Best Buy and Circuit Qty did not return calls for $12.4 billion Best Buy ," Revenue sources Fiscal year 2007 Circuit City one-mil- comment. Information technology Analysts agree that Best Buy and Circuit Qty do a better job of training employees on high-tecproducts than Audio h Best Buy Consumer electronics Entertainment other large general retailers. Indeed, a Qrcuit Qty employee spent a good five minutes explaining as well as a good the pros and cons dose of history of Intel and AMD processors during a recent visit to check out Windows Vista laptops. "One of the key differentiators of retail stores is the person on the floor," NPD's Baker said And that customer interaction, he said, will be all the more important as Circuit Qty and Best Buy continue to battle not just each other but the grow- 12 Entertainment software flat-pan- Home office Appliances 7 Va.-base- SOURCE: The companies AP to his home. But for electronics, he has shopped at both leading chains, looking for the better bargain. He ing conveniences of online shopping. Vonage Continued from D6 4 . .. A.... mill BM u.4. injunction because of the chance it would irreparably its harm Vonage's business. Had the injunction been applied to existing customers, they only would have been able to place i U''" calls to other Vonage customcourt ers, according to papers. Hilton said the compromise of applying the injunction only to new customers is a good way of maintaining the status quo during a potentially lengthy appeals process. But Vonage's lawyer argued that because the company loses more than 50,000 subscribPAUL SAKUMAAssociated Press ers per month, an injunction preventing new signups would Micro Center computer store saleswoman Christine Canasa result in a slow bleed in busifixes up a display of Vonage products in Santa Clara, Calif. ness. Without new customers, Warin estimated that Vonage would lose 650,000 subscribers Another problem "Vonage doesn't have for Vonage potential is a hearing Thurswithin a year. "In effect what you're doing day to set a bond amount that very many attractive is slowly strangling our custhe company must post while it tomer base," Warin said. options except to hope pursues its appeal. Vonage has Rebecca Arbogast, an for an emergency stay." already been ordered to post a $66 million bond to cover industry analyst with Stifel the jury award and related Nicolaus, said Verizon was Rebecca Arbogast smart to suggest a compromise expenses. Verizon is seeking industry analyst that was nearly as stinging, another bond of $189 million to with Stifel Nicolaus cover the monetary damages yet more likely to withstand for continued infringement of appeal. "I think Verizon's legal stratthe patents by Vonage's existShe also said Vonage could ing customers. egy has been very aggressive Warin said a requirement and very effective," said Ardeploy a workaround technolto post more than $250 million bogast, who attended Friday's ogy to keep its network operhearing. "Vonage doesn't have ating without infringing on the in cash to cover bonds could three patents. The company cripple the business. very many attractive options has continued development of "Vonage needs to have except to hope for an emera workaround, Schulz said, but money to continue to operate," 7 gency stay." Warin said. she declined to discuss the isIndeed, Warin also argued Verizon lawyer Dan Webb sue in detail. to Hilton that it may be more countered that Vonage should difficult to obtain relief from Vonage, based in Holmdel, have plenty of cash on hand, the compromise injunction as N.J., has been optimistic about its chances of overturning the given the fact that it had opposed to a blanket injunction. verdict on appeal Warin has planned to spend $400 million a year on advertising to draw said the federal circuit overVonage spokeswoman new customers. turns district court judges 40 Brooke Schulz said Vonage "Now they don't have to will continue to sign up new percent of the time on claim customers through Thursday, construction a narrow, get any more new business and might not stop even then. technical part of the law that is because they cant" under the court's order, Webb said. Schulz said it was possible crucial in patent cases. the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which . hears patent appeals, could provide instantaneous emergency relief. T I. ROSS O. FRANKUNAssociated Press ' works on the frame of a roof at a new housing development on Friday in Phoenix. Employers ramped up hiring in March, driving the unemployment rate down to 4.4 low, with the construction sector adding 56,000 jobs. percent, matching a five-ye- A construction roofer Jobs hurting workers' wallets. The Federal Reserve's biggest concern is that inflation could Continued from D6 flare up. Even so, many economists unemployment fell from 4.5 percent in February to 4.4 per- predict the Fed will keep intercent in March That matched est rates where they are for the rate in October the low- much of this year. est in five years. In a separate report, the Fed said consumers borrowed Here, too, there were winless freely in February; they ners and losers. The unemployment rate for boosted their use of credit at a 1.5 percent pace, the slowest Hispanics dropped to 5.1 perh low, while in four months. The moderacent, a tion reflected less demand for the rate for blacks climbed to 8.3 percent, a three-mont- h auto, educational and other high. The rate for women held loans. The new employment figsteady at 3.8 percent. The rate for men declined to 4 percent. ures come as President Bush continues to cope with a lackThe economy ended up luster rating of adding 32,000 more jobs in 35 percent from the American January and February combined than the government public, according to a new estimated a month ago. EconopolL On the economy, mists found that encouraging just 38 percent approve of the in assessing the health of the president's stewardship while 60 percent disapprove, the poll job market and the overall shows. economy. Workers' paychecks grew Tapping into that disconlast month. tent, Democrats are championing policies to close the gap Average hourly earnings e between low- - and climbed to $17.22, up from workers and make it easier $16.55 a year earlier. That for workers to form unions represented a solid 4 percent increase. against company wishes. also taking a harder for is They're good Wage growth stance regarding the adminisworkers and supports cone deals. tration's sumer spending, which is inCarCommerce to the Secretary economy's dispensable los Gutierrez, in an interview good health. But a rapid with The Associated Press, pickup if prolonged and not blunted by other economic said the latest employment forces can raise fears about figures are a testament to the administration's economic inflation. policies and to the drive of the Spiraling inflation would whittle away any wage gains, U.S. work force. "These numbers show we are competing successfully in a very competitive global economy," he said Addressing the weakness in factory employment, Gutierrez said: "Any job lost is painful ... We need to stay focused on job training and preparing ourselves" for an even more competitive climate in the future. In March, there were some challenges for jobseekers, too. For one thing, the job hunt got longer. The average time that the 6.7 million unemployed people spent searching for jobs was 17.3 weeks in March, compared with 16.4 weeks in February. ' "Opportunities are expanding, but it doesnt mean everybody's job search is easy," said Challenger. "But people who really want to look hard and stay at it are finding work." three-mont- AP-Ips- On Herniated l i l i n H m So Much More tmmm gO I iJOm" V' web Hi KNM. I I r'o) SV2)2AI lLJZL0mMtS V . 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