Strategy in TECH...
Redwood Marketing, Inc. announced the dates and plans for this year’s CI Expo 2025, taking place at a new, expanded venue at the Doubletree Hotel at the Club in Pleasanton, CA. The Expo is scheduled for May 29, 2025, and will offer new upgraded features such as multiple upscale outdoor vignettes, an expanded exhibit space, a new program, and more participating brands.
Sonance has introduced an expansion to its very popular VX or Visual Experience line of architectural loudspeakers with a new Thin-Line Series. An ultra-thin option, the Thin-Line Series opens up even more installation opportunities for integrators, especially in space-challenged locations.
The latest reading on the current mood of consumers – the Consumer Confidence Index produced by The Conference Board – dropped by 7.2 points in March to a reading of 92.9. This is the fourth consecutive month of decline. The Expectations Index, consumers’ expectations for conditions within the next six months, dropped a startling 9.6 points to 65.2…the lowest level in 12 years.
Surprising news out of South Korea reported just today – Samsung Electronics CEO and Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee died on Tuesday morning of cardiac arrest, the company confirmed. He was just 63 years old.
Recent developments and reporting within the last week seem to suggest that Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) is adrift and directionless as its new Interim CEO tries to right the ship. It has even canceled its next big product introduction. Is the company flailing? Or is it finally getting its act together?
More signs of a potential downturn in the economy are emerging almost every day now, causing red flag warnings to be popping up just about everywhere. The fact that there are multiple warning signs that come from different sources tends to reinforce the general thinking that the U.S. economy is quickly entering the danger zone.
Premium Audio Company (PAC), a subsidiary of Voxx International Corporation (Nasdaq: VOXX) and soon to be a subsidiary of Gentex Corp. (Nasdaq: GNTX), announced that it is entering into a “strategic partnership” with the National Alliance of Trade Merchants (NATM). PAC calls NATM “a leading national buying co-op of top independent retailers in the United States.” The move appears to be a pretty transparent effort to replace sales volume lost when major buying group ProSource dropped all PAC brands from its list of supported products.
Is this new partnership a good alternative? Read on…
On Tuesday, New York University (NYU) and Sony Corporation announced a new partnership to establish the Sony Audio Institute, which is “…a multifaceted partnership at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.” Sony has donated $7.5 million to create the institute, which is expected to launch this spring.
There is a major shakeup in the executive management team at Sony Group that will take effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year, which, as is true for most Japanese companies, starts on April 1, 2025. These are big changes to important roles, including Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and President.
But the change that most Sony employees are buzzing about is the person that was named as its new CFO.
No doubt about it, for the last few weeks, storm clouds have been gathering as many are seeing a darkening outlook for the U.S. economy. In just the last few days, three key pieces of data – red flags, really – suggest we all need to be vigilant in tracking where the economy is headed. These three pieces of data include: 1) another consumer survey showing eroding confidence; 2) key retailers warning of slowing sales from tariff increases; and 3) a new Fed estimation that the GDP will contract -2.8% in the first quarter of 2025.
