Strategy in TECH...
Monster Products Inc. announced today that it has cut a deal with basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal to endorse and otherwise market select Monster-branded products. The company says that O’Neal will aid in the marketing of Monster products in multiple categories “from personal audio to headphones and beyond.”
Not having learned their lesson last time, AV Nation once again invited me to participate in the latest edition of their AV Week webcast to discuss the hot A/V topics of the day. Also appearing in this week’s episode of AV Week was Sam Malik of ASK Proxima and Kevin Iselli of Crestron Electronics. And, of course, AV Week is hosted by the incomparable Tim Albright, founder of AV Nation.
The Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) on Tuesday announced their top vendor awards for 2013. These awards were handed out at their Fall 2013 dealer conference held last week and included a special Lifetime Achievement Award.
Lenbrook America held a media event last week in Manhattan where they announced the birth of a new brand of multi-room wireless (and wired) music streaming systems called Bluesound. Bluesound is designed to be positioned above brands like Sonos in terms of price and performance…but tuck underneath some of the higher-end solutions such as those offered by NAD and others. The company hopes to create a profitable step-up market for higher priced, better performing solutions in the digital domain – as once existed in the analog realm years back.
Last week, I witnessed a miracle. The miracle was…a birth. It was a birth like no other, as every proud parent believes is the case with THEIR child. There was a proud Papa…and a large assembled family…brought together to celebrate the event.
This birth, like any birth, was wondrous. And…for the parents…this was an event full of hopes and dreams of what their “bundle of joy” will become. At this joyous event was a group of observers, like me. But not like me.
As D+M Group (formerly D&M Holdings) continues to work on improving their efficiencies through restructuring and consolidation, well-known industry executive Stephen Shenefield leaves the company to pursue new opportunities. Shenefield originally joined the company to help with the re-invigoration of their Boston Acoustics brand, but went on to see his involvement expanded into related products under the Denon nameplate as well.
After only a little more than one year in operation, AudioXperts – a new specialty brand of audio electronics targeted at the luxury consumer market – has closed down operations. According to AudioXperts President Eli Harary, the company was forced to shut down last Friday after a key investor stopped all funding.
OEM Systems Company announced at CEDIA that it has appointed industry veteran Richard Frank as its new Director of Marketing/Sales, effective immediately. Saying it sees “favorable market conditions” that it wants to be prepared to take full advantage of, the Reno, NV-based company noted Frank’s extensive marketing and sales development experience in its announcement.
We first met the Rosewater Energy Group at the 2012 CEDIA Expo – a coming out party for the new company that makes a residential energy storage hub with batteries to store your energy from either the power company or renewable sources (i.e. solar or wind) and a capacity large enough to power your whole home with processed and purified 115 volt sine-wave power. Founded by well-known industry personality Joe Piccirilli, Rosewater is on the leading edge of a new concept in energy delivery, storage, and usage.
Multiple news outlets including Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Nikkei reported today that sources at Panasonic are saying the company will exit the plasma TV business by the end of this fiscal year, which ends in March 2014. The news, while not totally surprising, means that there will be no plants anywhere in Japan producing plasma sets, and is likely the beginning of the end for the technology as LCD continues to take a greater share of even larger screen sizes.
