COVID-19 forced Mozilla into a restructuring that will eliminate 250 jobs, including the shutdown of operations in Taiwan, said CEO Mitchell Baker in a memo to employees Tuesday. Mozilla’s pre-pandemic plan for 2020 was “a year of change” by speeding the infusion of more “product value” in Firefox and “adjusting our finances to ensure financial stability over the long term,” she said. The pandemic “accelerated the need and magnified the depth for these changes,” said Baker. “Our pre-COVID plan is no longer workable. We have talked about the need for change -- including the likelihood of layoffs -- since the spring. Today these changes become real.” Mozilla’s “new focus” will be on product, technology, community and economics, blogged Baker: “Recognizing that the old model where everything was free has consequences, means we must explore a range of different business opportunities and alternate value exchanges.”
COVID-19 forced CTA to scrap New York’s Rainbow Room as the venue for its annual Consumer Tech Hall of Fame dinner in early November, emailed Cindy Stevens, senior director-publications. CTA “is currently planning to move ahead with the Hall of Fame dinner at this time but we are tracking the situation in NY closely,” she said Tuesday. “We plan to host it at the Metropolitan Pavilion with CES Unveiled to be held earlier in the day, and the dinner that evening.” CTA’s online calendar lists both events as “not yet announced.” New York state is in phase IV of its reopening plan, with social gatherings limited to groups of 50 people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) continues to bar indoor dining at New York City restaurants. CTA canceled CES 2020 as a physical show, announcing July 28 it will hold it as an all-digital event in early January (see 2007280034).
Starting this week, visitors to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit must have their temperature taken using a contactless temperature kiosk at the 3rd Street NW entrance, the federal court said Tuesday. It said anyone with a fever of 100.1 or higher won't be allowed entry.
Nearly half of U.S. broadband households have taken at least one step to protect a senior family member against COVID-19, including shopping, video chatting or buying new devices for entertainment and health monitoring, said Parks Associates Tuesday. Companies are developing technology to help seniors live comfortably in their own homes, including home automation, health monitoring and on-demand services for transportation and grocery delivery, said analyst Brad Russell. They can also provide critical services and social connection, he said.
Though COVID-19 is obliterating virtually all physical trade shows on the calendar, the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) is forging ahead with its Certified in Exhibition Management credentials program and plans to convene the instructional CEM Week as a virtual event Aug. 24-28. “Earning your CEM designation sets you apart from others by showing that you have the academic and practical knowledge to efficiently and successfully produce exhibitions,” emailed IAEE Monday. “Now more than ever, it is crucial for you to stand out in the field of exhibitions management. Employers are looking for professionals that will get them quickly back on track when face-to-face events are back in full force.” COVID-19 forced the cancellation of physical CEM conferences in Baltimore and Austin, so IAEE is combining them in a single virtual event. By taking 10 classes over five days with five exams, participants will meet five of the nine criteria required to earn a “globally recognized” CEM credential, it said. IAEE said it created the CEM designation 45 years ago “to raise professional standards in the event industry and it continues to be the premier mark of professional achievement.”
Retail landlord Simon Property Group took a $315 million hit to its Q2 operating profit from COVID-19 through “rent abatements” and a “higher provision for credit losses,” said CEO David Simon on a quarterly call Monday. The company runs about 200 malls and other retail properties in 37 states. “Given the lack of local, state and federal government support for our industry, we went out of our way to abate rent for thousands of local small businesses, entrepreneurs and restaurateurs and other retailers for the period they were closed,” said Simon. The company estimates 91% of its properties were “open and operating” through Aug. 9, he said. Reopened stores reported their June sales exceeded 80% of their 2019 volume, he said. Movie theaters, gyms and restaurants are the bulk of “remaining tenants” that are still closed due to “restrictive governmental orders limiting or prohibiting their operations,” he said. The Great Recession of 2008 “pales in comparison to what we're dealing with” in the pandemic, said Simon. The number of bankruptcies “in our sector” is “tremendous,” he said.
U.S. online sales in July trended downward as states began to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, said a Tuesday Adobe report, but computer sales surged 288% year on year, “to facilitate online learning.” Daily CE sales were flat vs. June, it said. States that are reopening are having smaller increases in online spend than those maintaining stricter COVID-19 lockdown protocols. Buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) orders are back up with a rise in COVID-19 cases in July, it said. Some 31% of online consumers prefer BOPIS to curbside pickup or delivery, it said. After months of volatile increases, prices are beginning to stabilize in categories -- grocery, computers and pet products -- that experienced higher inflation, it said.
Q2 trial subscriptions at Dropbox were 20% higher than before COVID-19, said CEO Drew Houston on a quarterly call Thursday. Conversion rates stayed "consistent" with trends, he said. He thinks the shift to “distributed work will ultimately be as significant as the shift to mobile or the shift to cloud." Dropbox's recent deployment with the University of Michigan was “one of our largest educational deals to date, as institutions around the world look to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and shift to a remote-learning environment,” said Houston. “Companies are also increasing their reliance on Dropbox as they make the transition to distributed work.”
K-12 educators bought nearly 600,000 more notebooks January through June than a year earlier, boosting spending 56% on notebooks and 30% on desktops, blogged NPD's Mike Crosby Thursday. In May, they stepped up efforts to buy notebooks and tablets earlier and in larger quantities to help prepare for a potential COVID-19 resurgence in fall, the analyst said. Chromebooks, with an average selling price of $200, comprised 86% of volume vs. WinBooks at a $600 ASP. Tablet sales grew 179% through the education channel, an increase of 58,000 units, Crosby said. The pandemic spurred “historic” growth in consumer demand for most consumer tech products since March, Stephen Baker, NPD vice president-industry adviser, technology and mobile, told the Display Week 2020 virtual conference last week (see 2008030032). Shelter-in-place restrictions are generating “record historic demand” for consumer tech goods, generating momentum that’s likely to have “staying power” over the next few quarters, Baker said.
COVID-19 dealt Universal Display a significant Q2 blow, with revenue down 48% from Q1 and 51% from the 2019 quarter, said CEO Steve Abramson on a Thursday call. The OLED materials and technology supplier's customer orders and shipments declined, he said: “While COVID-19 uncertainties will likely weigh on consumer demand in the near term, we continue to invest and further strengthen our leadership position in the OLED ecosystem.” OLED’s long-term growth path is “unchanged and remains robust,” he said. Customers are expressing “cautious optimism” about 2020's second half, fueled by a “pickup in demand” in July, he said. But “significant uncertainties still loom,” and it’s “prudent” that Universal continues to refrain from giving 2020 guidance, he said. Despite the significant increase in July orders and shipments, "the real question is whether it is sustainable," said Chief Financial Officer Sid Rosenblatt.