Strategy in TECH...
We learned today that Peachtree Audio will name Andrew Clark as its new President, effective October 1st. Clark, a long time industry executive with experience at company’s large and small, is currently employed at D&M Group as its Global Business Team Leader, Soundbars & Speakers. He will leave his position in one week to take over at Peachtree Audio.
We have learned today that former President of Niles Audio, Frank Sterns, is now the Vice President of Custom Installation at Sony Corp. This new appointment, effective this week, marks a significant change for Sterns who has been consulting to a variety of primarily smaller custom integration brands for the last two years.
John Badovinac, one of the partners of New Jersey-based specialty electronics distributor CAVD (Custom Audio Video Distributors) passed away suddenly Tuesday night, the victim of an apparent heart attack. Badovinac, well known throughout the New York metropolitan market in the electronics industry, has been selling CE products for nearly 40-years both at the retail and wholesale level.
In yet further indication of industry consolidation, Tampa, FL-based Dow Electronics announced this week that it would acquire Shifting Sands Stereo Distributing, Inc. of Dania, FL. Shifting Sands (SSSD) is a well-known custom electronics-oriented distributor that was also one of the founding members of the Digital Delivery Group – a national distributor group.
In an announcement considered a surprise by most in the industry – Core Brands announced that it has named Joe Roberts as VP of products and marketing. Roberts will replace Paul Starkey, the former President of Core Brands’ Elan division and, most recently, Senior VP of Marketing for the company.
Granite countertops – at one time considered an amenity – are now considered a standard option for most folks building new homes. Now, Bloomberg is reporting that the next granite countertops – is solar panels.
How hot are solar panels? According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, demand for systems that generate electricity at home will jump 56 percent nationwide this year. In fact, two communities in California have passed legislation mandating solar panels in all new construction.
A chemical company in Japan announced today it may have had a breakthrough discovery in the design and construction of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that could increase their capacity by as much as a factor of 10 times. Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. says there is still much more testing to be done, but could potentially begin selling the new technology batteries within the next three to four years.
In new data released today by the Consumer Electronics Association, consumer adoption of one of the hottest technologies in tech today – tablet computers – actually (and unusually) slowed in the second quarter of 2013. This unexpected downturn comes after several consecutive quarters of growth for a product category that the CEA itself identifies as one of the two major drivers (along with smartphones) for the entire electronics industry.
Finding themselves at the crossroads of two struggling industries – consumer electronics and traditional publishing – Source Interlink Media, the owners of both Home Theater and Sound & Vision magazines, has decided to merge the two properties into one entity. The combined entity will be known as Sound & Vision – apparently leaving the Home Theater name plate to the annals of history.
The theme for CEWeek this year – as far as we’re concerned – was “CHANGE.” There were very few “traditional” products shown or updated – and a plethora of new products and categories, such as wireless systems, mobile devices, innovative [predominantly mobile] accessories, new app concepts, and more. And one interview we conducted – with AudioSource CEO Tom O’Mara – seems to embody that sense of change, as he seeks to – while keeping the company’s foundation – build a whole new (and changed) company.
