Osaka, Japan-based Funai Electric announced earlier this month that it will release a line of inexpensive 4K televisions in the North American market this fall, in time for the region’s major selling season. The company expects this year to be the year when 4K UHD TVs hit it big and they want to be ready to grab market share with their lineup.
Industry Trends
Hitachi Jumps into Wireless Speakers Biz
Hitachi America, Ltd. announced on Tuesday that it has entered the wireless speaker business with three self-contained wireless speaker systems using Qualcomm’s AllPlay technology. According to Hitachi, their new hardware/software “smart media” platform makes it simple for consumers to stream any local or cloud-based media from any type of device via Wi-Fi.
Learn more about Hitachi’s new wireless music system… [Read more…] about Hitachi Jumps into Wireless Speakers Biz
Savant Offers App for Apple Watch
Savant, a leading home control & automation company, announced today that it is making an app available for the Apple smart watch – called, logically enough, the Savant App on Apple Watch. Since Savant is one of the only home automation companies to base their control systems on the Apple operating system, it only makes sense that they would be one of the first in the tech business to offer an Apple Watch app.
See more on Savant’s Apple Watch App… [Read more…] about Savant Offers App for Apple Watch
At Tidal – A Wave of Layoffs & New CEO
Tidal, the music streaming service recently purchased by rap star Jay Z and more than a dozen of his closest music superstar friends, is already feeling the impact of its new ownership. Moving quickly, Jay Z and his team has taken several steps including dismissing the existing CEO Andy Chen and what the company says is a “handful” of other executives from the service.
See more on this rapid and surprising move… [Read more…] about At Tidal – A Wave of Layoffs & New CEO
HTSA & Nationwide Partner to Create HTSN
In a joint release this week from both Nationwide Marketing Group (NMG) and the Home Technology Specialists Association (HTSA), the partners announced the creation of a new entity that they call the Home Technology Specialists of Nationwide (HTSN). The announcement, that surprised many in the industry…and had some scratching their heads trying to see the fit…said that this new alliance will offer new business opportunities for their respective members and vendors. It also, largely due to the size of Nationwide, creates the “largest buying and marketing collaboration” in the industry.
Is this the organization of the future? Or are they just strange bedfellows?… [Read more…] about HTSA & Nationwide Partner to Create HTSN
Hey Retailers – Forget the Millennials, Follow the Money
New data from market researcher Forrester Research Inc. suggests that retailers should forget about trying to attract millennials or other younger shoppers and instead shift gears to reach out to baby boomers. Why? Quite simply, that’s where the money is.
See the interesting results from this new research on buyer trends… [Read more…] about Hey Retailers – Forget the Millennials, Follow the Money
Tidal Narrative Turns from Quality of Sound – to Quality of Royalties
Soon to Face New Competitor in Service Created by Apple and Beats by Dr. Dre
The narrative surrounding Tidal, the latest music streaming service to enter the increasingly crowded music delivery market last year, has taken a new and unforeseen turn with the purchase of the service by Jay Z. Originally conceived as a pay music streaming service offering a higher performance alternative to the ad-driven free services of highly compressed music streamers such as Pandora and Spotify, the Tidal narrative was one of quality. Now?
See more on our thoughts on this dramatic new development… [Read more…] about Tidal Narrative Turns from Quality of Sound – to Quality of Royalties
IBM to Invest $3 Billion to Launch ‘Internet of Things’ Unit
Momentum Building in Emerging IoT Market
See more on why we feel this story is significant… [Read more…] about IBM to Invest $3 Billion to Launch ‘Internet of Things’ Unit
Apple Acquires Empty Panasonic Factory for R&D Facility in Japan
Is the pendulum swinging back? The mayor of Yokohama, Japan, Ms. Fumiko Hayashi, said today that Apple, Inc. has purchased an empty Panasonic factory and will turn it into a state-of-the-art research and development center. For many Japanese, this is likely a highly ironic turn of events, as for decades, Panasonic was the leading edge technology developer.
But the mayor of Yokohama, seems excited at the prospect. See why we say that below… [Read more…] about Apple Acquires Empty Panasonic Factory for R&D Facility in Japan
Interesting Twist: Autonomic Passes Savings On to Dealers, Consumers
In an announcement that is a bit unusual for a manufacturer, Autonomic announced on Tuesday that it is reducing the MSRP on its popular Mirage Audio System (MAS). Not only that, but the company says it will actually increase the dealer margin at the same time. Normally, a price reduction is a sign of a slow selling product – but Autonomic says that is not the case here.
