Strategy in TECH...
THX announced this week that it has joined the Streaming Video Alliance, an organzation that addresses ongoing video streaming issues through the development of best practices. THX says it is “uniquely qualified to make significant contributions to the Alliance.”
Although many analysts criticize slowing innovation at industry powerhouse Apple, Inc., final results for global smartphone shipments shows Apple with four of the top five models. Not bad for a technology slacker!
Samsung Electronics has made another major investment in the Internet of Things (IoT) space, becoming an early stage Series A investor in Bayshore Networks. The company made the investment via its Samsung NEXT Venture fund, an investment fund created by the company to find and take positions in companies that are driving businesses that will yield future profits for the company.
Integrated Systems Europe announced today that their ISE 2017 show drew 73,413 attendees making it the largest ever trade show servicing the international residential and commercial integration industries. The show, which is a 50/50 partnership between CEDIA and InfoComm, saw attendance swell 11.7% over the level in 2016.
Reuters is reporting that Emerald Expositions LLC, the major trade show exposition company that bought the CEDIA show last week, is considering putting itself up for sale. This report became public on Wednesday, January 25th…the day before CEDIA announced it has sold its trademark show to Emerald. All of which leads to the distinct possibility of the show changing hands again, in just a matter of weeks.
The Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) announced today that it has sold off their annual show – previously called the Expo, now known simply as CEDIA2017 – to Emerald Expositions, a company that they say is the largest trade show operator in the United States. The news, likely to be a surprise to many in the industry, is effective immediately, although CEDIA will continue to have a prominent role in the 2017 edition, with Emerald taking full control in 2018.
Tidal, the musician-owned music streaming service put together by rapper Jay Z, announced this week that it has sold a third of the company to telecom giant Sprint. Although the original announcement did not disclose the price, Billboard, the music industry trade journal, said that Sprint invested $200 million for a 33% stake in the company.
ResiWeek, a podcast from AVNation.tv focused on the residential audio/visual market, once again invited Strata-gee editor Ted Green to participate on this week’s episode, recorded on Monday, January 9 and hosted this week by AVNation founder Tim Albright. The show, which has a strong bias towards the integration community, is known for its at-times vigorous and at-times humorous conversations with a rotating series of guests commenting on the topics of the day.
The data coming out of the most recent holiday shopping period continues to offer up some surprises. Take for example, the concept of “webrooming,” or the practice of researching products online, then purchasing them in a brick-and-mortar retail store. This is sort of the opposite of the dreaded “showrooming,” where the shopper goes to a retail store to select an item…then buys it online.
In an interesting new study from ORC International conducted in September 2016, a surprising number of consumers – fully 85% – said they would be webrooming this holiday shopping season.
It was a strange press conference as compared to those held by Sony in the past – only one speaker (Kazuo Hirai) who methodically gave a summary of the new models the company was launching at this CES. The whole press event lasted a mere 24 minutes. No Hollywood movie stars…no musical performances…no custom video clips…no movie clips…no cars driving on the stage. Just the Sony CEO calmly listing the new models. In fact, at one point, Hirai introduced Sony US President Mike Fasulo who stood and waved to the audience – then was told to sit down and not steal Hirai’s spotlight. Strange…
But there was one really big star of the conference – the company announced the new Bravia OLED TVs, a major expansion of the OLED camp.
