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Glowacki Out as Editor of Residential Systems

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BREAKING NEWS

Major Restructuring at Leading Publication by New Owners

Photo of Jeremy Glowacki

This week, subscribers of the digital version of Residential Systems Magazine are getting more than the usual expert advice and latest news on the custom integration business in their newly received June issue – they’re getting a farewell message from the magazine’s editor-in-chief – and founding editor – Jeremy Glowacki. In a surprise move, new owners Future Plc, a global British media company, has launched an aggressive restructuring program which, as is typically the case, has resulted in staff cuts at multiple levels, up to Glowacki’s senior position.

See more on this shocking exit of a popular CI industry editor… [Read more…] about Glowacki Out as Editor of Residential Systems

Sonos v. HEOS – War is Over, Peace Has Come

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hippie family w/peace signOn Friday last week, we learned that Sonos and D&M Holdings have settled their litigation, first begun in October 2014. Although the terms of the settlement are confidential, all actions taken by each party are now moot.

It is likely that the parties now enjoy some form of licensing arrangement that put all adversarial issues behind them.

See more on what we know about the end of the Sonos and D&M patent war… [Read more…] about Sonos v. HEOS – War is Over, Peace Has Come

9 Years After Recession, Americans Still Feel Frugal

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Gallup logoMy grandparents lived through the Great Depression (1929-1939) and it changed their lives forever. As kids, we used to think they were weird. They never threw anything away. Bent nail? “I can hammer it straight again!” Small amount of left-over paint? “You can add thinner and turn it into plenty of white wash.” Hole in a sock? They would darn it! Clearly, dealing with that time of great financial distress changed forever the way they felt about money, spending, and saving.

Since the last recession in 2009, Gallup has been conducting a poll on Americans’ attitude on spending. Read on to see the results – they just might surprise you…

See the results of the latest Gallup poll showing American frugality continues… [Read more…] about 9 Years After Recession, Americans Still Feel Frugal

Sonos Cuts Nearly 100 Employees or 6% of Staff

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BREAKING NEWS

Sonos logoSonos Inc. confirmed late yesterday that it has cut 6% of its staff, or 96 employees, just days before a highly anticipated public offering expected as early as next month. The cuts are said to have been across all department and at all levels.

See more on what we know about the Sonos staff cuts… [Read more…] about Sonos Cuts Nearly 100 Employees or 6% of Staff

Painting the Gibson Bankruptcy by the Numbers

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Gibson Memphis facility artworkWe have been closely following – first Gibson Guitar and then Gibson Brands – from their decision in 2012 to shoot for the stars by using OPM (other people’s money) to make highly leveraged…and highly questionable…acquisitions of various consumer electronics brands (a category in which the CEO and his team had no experience) to their recent 2018 bankruptcy. Gibson was trying to diversify their musical instrument business into something that now former CEO Henry Juszkiewicz called a music lifestyle brand. Instead, they wound up in bankruptcy.

Let’s look at what some of the numbers in the Gibson filings reveal… [Read more…] about Painting the Gibson Bankruptcy by the Numbers

Who Launched New Experience Centers Yesterday?

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Amazon/Lennar Experience CenterYesterday, a major manufacturer who is very influential in the industry announced it was launching a series of “Experience Centers” across the country to help promote its brand. Perhaps you think I’m referring to Control4, who did announce such a program yesterday in partnership with 140 integrators around the country. But no, I’m referring to Amazon.com, who has partnered with one of the largest home builders in this country – Lennar – to build Amazon Experience Centers all around the U.S.

See more on this Amazon and Lennar program… [Read more…] about Who Launched New Experience Centers Yesterday?

Tidal Accused of Manipulating Stream Counts

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Changed Data Favors Payouts to Two Owners of the Service

Tidal logoA report by Rolling Stone magazine says that Tidal, the troubled streaming service owned by rapper Jay Z and a consortium of music industry personalities, has been accused of faking their data, manipulating stream counts to artificially boost figures for certain Beyoncé and Kanye West projects. Although Tidal denies the reports, some of the facts being reported are indeed troubling.

See more on the accusations against Tidal… [Read more…] about Tidal Accused of Manipulating Stream Counts

3 Out of 4 Say the Customer Experience You Deliver is Essential

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Researching on you phoneQuestion: Think about 100 of your best customers. If that group of 100 good, loyal customers had one bad experience with your company, how many of them do you think you would lose? A couple? Maybe 10%? You will find the answer to this question, based on a new research from PwC, at the end of this post.

Have you ever stopped and considered just exactly what is it like for your customers or clients to do business with your company? You might want to think about that very deeply, as new research from PwC shows that three out of four Americans say that the customer experience is a critical factor in their decision to do business with you (or to continue to do business with you)…and this is a global phenomenon, according to the survey’s findings.

See key takeaways from this important research on your customers… [Read more…] about 3 Out of 4 Say the Customer Experience You Deliver is Essential

Best Buy Rebranding Reverses Historic Course

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Old Best Buy logoBest Buy has launched a corporate rebranding that is both sweeping in style and represents a shocking reversal of course, undoing much of its original mission that was created when founder Dick Schulze, President Brad Anderson and crew launched an entirely new store concept known as “Concept II.” Concept II was a reinvention of their formerly more traditional superstore design to a new warehouse style discount store designed to deliver the “Best Buy” on all things tech. This new branding change is to such a significant degree that even Advertising Age Magazine (AdAge) devoted significant space to an analysis of it.

See more on this surprising reversal of the genesis of Best Buy’s founding concept… [Read more…] about Best Buy Rebranding Reverses Historic Course

Amazon Echo Market Share is Slipping

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eMarketer logoIn a new analysis by eMarketer, we learn that Google has made significant inroads into the smart speaker market, causing Amazon’s Echo to begin to lose market share. So far, they remain the number one smart speaker, but projections show continued erosion, as consumers are embracing Google’s, as well as other’s, smart speaker options on the market.

See more on this early but meaningful research on Amazon’s declining share… [Read more…] about Amazon Echo Market Share is Slipping