Nokia will let its 92,000 employees in 130 countries continue to work remotely up to three days a week after Jan. 1, increasing support for “flexible working hours and fully virtual working,” said the company Tuesday. Nokia canvassed employees in late 2020, and 91% said they maintained or increased their productivity working from home. The average employee wants to work two to three days a week remotely, up from an average of two before COVID-19. And 81% still prefer to come into the office “for at least some of the time during their working week to collaborate and connect with colleagues,” said Nokia.
Display Supply Chain Consultants seeks speakers for the online forum it’s producing Nov. 3-4 on displays for artificial- and virtual-reality applications, said the company Monday. Presentations are sought on next-generation displays with high resolution and wide field of view for AR and VR products, plus on advances in OLED patterning and OLED brightness for microdisplay headsets. DSCC is projecting that annual revenue for AR/VR displays will expand by a 51.6% compound annual growth rate, reaching $4.2 billion in sales globally by 2026.
An Insignia 55-inch F30 Series 4K Fire TV is an exclusive deal for Amazon Prime members at $349, Amazon emailed members on Friday. Regular price for the smart TV, which is sold and shipped by Best Buy through Amazon, is $499, it said, though it was marked as a 10% discount. Best Buy’s website showed the set at $389 Friday. Amazon and Best Buy signed an exclusive multiyear arrangement in 2018 (see 1804180002) to sell Insignia- and Toshiba-branded Fire TV Edition smart TVs exclusively via the retailer and from Best Buy as a third-party seller on Amazon. “Data shows that what’s good for Amazon is good for the entire retail ecosystem,” said Seraj Bharwani, chief strategy officer at AcuityAds, citing the “halo effect” of Amazon's high-profile summer sales event that also benefits retail competitors. Sales volume on products with deals grow by 40%-70% during Prime time, he said. This year’s 24-hour Prime Day event, the first to be held in June, is expected to generate more than $12 billion, 20% above last year’s October event and more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, he said.
Advocates of third-party independent device repairs hailed Thursday’s congressional introduction of what they called the first "broad" federal right-to-repair legislation. The Fair Repair Act, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., would require tech manufacturers to give device owners and independent repair shops access to parts, tools and information they need for fixes. “Electronics manufacturers have locked down our tech,” said iFixit. “Big tech companies shouldn’t get to dictate how we use the things we own or keep us from fixing our stuff.” Consumer Reports almost immediately endorsed the legislation, saying it “would ensure that consumers have real choices for fixing the devices they own,” saving them money and preventing waste from devices that need to be discarded if not fixed. IFixit isn't aware of any right-to-repair "movement" in the Senate, said Policy Lead Kerry Sheehan. Right-to-repair opponent CTA didn’t comment.
Ikea took the wraps off the Symfonisk picture frame Wi-Fi speaker that was leaked early this month, then yanked from the home furnishings maker’s online catalog (see 2106070034). The $199 speaker will be available in stores and online July 15, Sonos said. A product photo shows the frame hanging on a wall with a cord running from the bottom of the frame to an AC outlet behind a credenza; it also has flip-out feet for mounting on a surface. Instead of a digital photo frame that displays photos, the frame speaker will have interchangeable fronts consumers can select to match the decor, said the product listing. It will ship with a black or white frame and additional fronts will be available as accessories at $19.99 each. The frame will connect wirelessly over Wi-Fi to other Sonos and Symfonisk speakers.
Americans own on average eight smart devices, and they plan to buy four more over the next 12 months, said a Reviews.org survey of 1,000 consumers. Categories with the highest purchase intent are smartphones, smart speakers, smart hub displays, Wi-Fi-enabled headphones and smartwatches. About 85% of consumers own two or more smart devices, the same percentage as those owning smartphones. Over a third of U.S. households have a smart speaker, 26% a smart TV, 15% video doorbells and 26% smartwatches.
May retail sales through electronics and appliance stores, though down 3.4% sequentially from April, were up 90.8% from May 2020 when many physical store operations were closed or curtailed, reported the National Retail Federation Tuesday. Online and other non-store sales were down 0.8% from April but up 8.2% year over year, it said. NRF attributed the marginal month-over-month declines in electronics and other sectors as “largely due to supply chain constraints.” Consumer demand “has continued to be strong even as the concentrated impact from government stimulus has faded,” said NRF. “There is still pent-up demand for retail goods and consumers are likely to remain on a growth path into the summer.”
Newegg kicked off its FantasTech presale Monday, the latest e-tailer to hop onto Amazon’s Prime Day (June 21-22) draft. Featured Newegg sales include a Klipsch K-100SW 10-inch powered subwoofer for $139 (vs. $169 at Amazon Monday) through Sunday, a Polk Audio TL1600 home theater system ($169 vs. $199) and a Samsung M7 32-inch UHD smart monitor ($249 vs. $349). Newegg’s presale segues into the “official” FantasTech Sale June 21-23. Best Buy’s The Bigger Deal Savings Event ends June 22 with “limited quantities.” An Apple “event” at Best Buy Monday showed savings up to $400 on select iMacs, $50 off an iPhone SE, $200 off iPhone 12 mini, a $350 Best Buy gift card with select iPad trade-in, and savings up $240 on a Series 6 Apple Watch with trade in of a Series 1 or newer model. Target added a day to Deal Days stretching the busy shopping week from June 20-22. The retailer is touting same-day fulfillment, no membership fee required and a 5% discount on digital Target gift cards online Wednesday-Saturday. Walmart has a day’s jump on Amazon, starting Deals for Days on Sunday. “Sneak peaks” on the website Monday included a Hisense Roku TV for $178 from $228, an HP laptop at $159 from $179, and an iHome robot vac for $299, from $599. Amazon’s 48-hour Prime Day event will generate sales of $11.8 billion worldwide, said eMarketer Friday. Amazon's Prime Day growth will slow to 19% vs. 43% last year and 68% in 2019, but it's projected to exceed October's Prime Day by $2 billion, it said.
The smart plug market is forecast to expand at a 30% compound annual growth rate to $13.99 billion by 2024 driven by demand for remote access to appliances, reported Technavio Thursday. A third of the growth will originate from North America, it said. Top players in the “fragmented” market include Belkin, D-Link, Edimax, Insteon, iSmart Alarm, Leviton, Panasonic, SDI Technologies and TP-Link, it said.
Retail sales are expected to grow 5.5% in the back-to-school selling season July 15-Sept. 6 compared with the similar 2020 period, reported Mastercard’s SpendingPulse Thursday. It’s projecting 6.7% growth this year compared with the similar pre-pandemic period in 2019. Electronics sales are projected to grow 13% year over year and 9.6% compared with 2019, it said: “If we learned one thing this past year, it’s that technology keeps us connected.” SpendingPulse measures in-store and online retail sales across all payment forms.