Strategy in TECH...
One of the more interesting booths I visited at CE Week earlier this month was by a company called Plott, a startup that offers very cool digital interactive measuring tools featuring augmented reality (AR) – or what they like to call extended reality (XR) – technology that interacts with an app on your smartphone in remarkable ways. This could be a game changer not only for the consumer, but for the construction, remodeling, custom integration communities as well.
Showing they can effortlessly walk and chew gum at the same time, SnapAV announced today the have reached a distribution agreement with Klipsch – an action they are taking while still in the middle of the process to buy Control4. As SnapAV has taken aggressive actions to grow their distribution infrastructure, they have been seeking these types of partnerships with brands to help better leverage their investment. This new agreement with Klipsch helps drive that goal.
Strata-gee reported yesterday that late last week Sonos had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America. This suit, which is almost identical to the one Sonos had successfully pursued with D&M Holdings and Denon over its HEOS line, was resolved in Sonos’s favor a little over a year ago.
Now we have Lenbrook’s response to this development – the company says it will “defend vigorously the claims of patent infringement made by computer audio company Sonos…”
Strata-gee reported just yesterday that Sonos, Inc. has sued Lenbrook Industries Ltd. & Lenbrook America – the maker & marketer of Bluesound – for patent infringement. Undoubtedly emboldened by their near-complete victory over Denon’s HEOS brand a little over a year ago, Sonos appears to have targeted Lenbrook to be next in line.
However, Strata-gee has learned that Lenbrook is not the only company targeted for such potential actions by Sonos. There are more – perhaps many more – in our industry lined up for this “hit” parade.
On Thursday last week, Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) filed another patent infringement lawsuit, this time against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America Corp. At issue here is Lenbrook’s Bluesound brand launched back in 2013 to great fanfare as Strata-gee reported on at the time…and also discussed here…and which Sonos claims infringes on multiple Sonos patents.
On Tuesday, Lenbrook invited members of the media to an “intimate album listening party” in Manhattan’s trendy Soho district. Despite the fact that the weather was less than cooperative – with warm, extremely humid temps, and at times torrential rainfall – there was an bar and hors d’oeuvres, which is always a strong draw. Maybe a strong enough draw to entice an editor from New Jersey into Manhattan in the traffic and the rain!
But this listening party turned out to be a bit of a preview opportunity for an interesting and relatively new product – a streaming amplifier. And not just any streaming amplifier, mind you – but a streaming amplifier being launched in the NAD Master series. That got my attention…
CE Week, a production of the folks from CT Labs (publishers of Dealerscope, Technology Integrator, Connected Design), launched their latest iteration of of the event last week again at the Jacob Javits Center in midtown Manhattan. The gods were smiling on the promoters…granting them stunningly beautiful weather that was brightly sunshiny, with deep blue skies, and insanely comfortable temps in the mid-70s. What a dramatic contrast from the normal mid-June heat, humidity, and rain that is much more typical.
Last week’s Strata-gee story on the final liquidation of what remains of Thiel not only drew a huge number of readers, it also sent a big chunk of them on to the auctioneer’s website (McLemore Auctions). Many of those readers who journeyed to the auction were in search of a great deal on a good line of Thiel speakers. But then, in an unexpected twist, a source reached out to Strata-gee to offer a warning to those in search of a great deal on Thiel.
Popular home automation systems provider Savant Systems has been extending and expanding their product line-up with ever newer, ever smarter solutions for years. And now Savant says audio too can be smarter thanks to its new SmartAmp smart audio amplifier, being launched now in conjunction with their participation in the Pacific Coast Builder Conference.
The long sad saga of Thiel is just about over for good. Having entered bankruptcy in October 2018, an auction house has finally been selected and started the process of liquidating all that remains of the former Nashville, Tenn-based Thiel…including Thiel Loudspeakers, Aurora by Thiel wireless music systems, and detritus from the Aurora Studio live streaming music studio.
