Analyzing data provided by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the Center projects the following statistical portrait of privately-held women-owned businesses.

50% or More Women-Owned Businesses, 2006

As of 2006, the Center projects that as of 2006, there are an estimated 10.4 million privately-held, 50% or more women-owned firms in the U.S., accounting for two in five (40.2%) of all businesses in the country. These firms generate $1.9 trillion in annual sales and employ 12.8 million people nationwide.

Majority (51% or more) Women-Owned Businesses, 2006

As of 2006, there are an estimated 7.7 million 51% or more women-owned firms, accounting for 29.7% of all businesses in the U.S. Majority (51% or more) women-owned firms in the U.S. generate $1.1 trillion in annual sales and employ 7.2 million people nationwide.

Between 1997 and 2006, the percent growth in the number of 51% or more women-owned firms was nearly twice that of all U.S. firms (42.3% vs. 23.3%). Employment among 51% or more women-owned firms grew 0.4%, and annual sales grew 4.4%.

Industry Breakdown

The largest share of 51% or more women-owned firms is in the service sector. More than two-thirds (69.0%) of these firms (5.3 million) are in services; 14.4% (1.1 million) are in retail trade; and 7.7% (0.6 million) are in real estate, rental, and leasing.

From 1997 to 2006, the greatest growth among 51% or more women-owned firms has been in:

“One million iPhones in 74 days—it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season.” Which is why many suppose the price has dropped $200. Which at $300 for the 4 gig and $400 for the 8 gig isn’t that unreasonable. Much respect for the Apple marketing geniuses. First they planted the seed, got people talking and dreaming about how sweet it would be to combine an iPod and cell phone and then the selling frenzy and now this announcement. I don’t have any figures for the marketing budget for the iPhone, but I dunno if it was necessary at all.

In other iPhone news, it’s been confirmed that this iPhone unlock software works. The bad news is that if you want to build a business around selling unlocked iPhones, it’ll cost you $99 per iPhone. Maybe they’ll put something in place for that?

Due to a federal take over of the prison medical system in California, the new man in charge, Robert Sillen threatened to “back up the Brink’s truck” to the state’s treasury, if need be, to finance better medical services for the states’s 173,000 inmates.

And if you’re on Facebook, you know that you can find tons of information willingly posted by users about themselves. This is a direct marketers dream and Facebook is about to cash in on it big time, even more than MySpace who uses Google for a small fraction of 1 cent CPM. According to the same article, Facebook is charging around $10 CPM.

According to TechCrunch, if this ad delivery system delivers, it could very well become the next Adwords.

In the FTC complaint, it is charged that the defendants misrepresented that consumers who purchased their business system were likely to earn a substantial income with little risk, and that they would receive substantial assistance from a staff of business experts. They claimed that some of their purchasers were making over $50,000 per month in commissions. In fact, most consumers never earned any income.

Here we list the top 10 companies in this list.

According to this Wikipedia article, the Tianya Club is one of the most popular Internet forums in China. It was founded in Feb 14, 1999. Politicians have used Tianya Club to campaign, answer questions from constituents, and gather grassroots support.

So, not only is it a major Chinese online player, it’s used by Chinese politicians for campaigning. You would think after all the problems Yahoo and Google had with Chinese Internet censorship, that they would stear clear of the Politics?