CTA is “seven months away” from CES 2021 and is “looking at all health and safety options,” emailed Karen Chupka, executive vice president-CES, when we asked if the show plans to use any COVID-19 contact tracing protocol. “We'll share more updates in the coming months," she said Thursday. CES 2021 is scheduled for Jan. 6-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. CTA will "continue to evaluate and expand the measures we put in place" for CES, it said in a May 7 update that didn't mention contact tracing. If a CES attendee who isn't a Clark County, Nevada, resident is diagnosed with COVID-19 after returning home from Las Vegas, it would not be reported to Clark County but to the patient’s state or local health department, said the Southern Nevada Health District in April (see 2004240041). The protocol, common to local health jurisdictions throughout the country, points up the difficulty of confirming whether COVID-19 can be traced directly to CES.
Despite stabilization in other market indicators over the past month -- and many countries’ moves into a “gradual recovery phase” from the COVID-19 pandemic -- information technology buyers’ economic confidence levels declined in the last week of May, said IDC Friday. Confidence levels are especially weak in the U.S., where they have continued to trend down since the crisis began, IDC said. U.S. firms are “a little more confident about the overall economy than two weeks ago, but conversely less confident about their own IT budgets for the year as a whole,” said the research firm. Significant spending declines are predicted for traditional technologies including PCs, peripherals, software applications and project-oriented IT services.
Half the readers participating in a poll that technology consultant Shelly Palmer conducted in his daily newsletter Thursday said it’s “too early to tell” if they will attend CES 2021 “physically or virtually.” Others were split between venturing to the Jan. 6-9 Las Vegas event in person (21%) and staying home and participating remotely (19%). There’s strong support for wearing face masks on the CES exhibit floor, with 77% agreeing or strongly agreeing it’s a good idea, compared with only 12% who disagree. Half the respondents said they would be willing to attend a CES cocktail hour or dinner party where masks and social distancing were the norm, compared with 28% who would decline. Nearly half (47%) said they would be willing to attend a CES keynote in a theater or ballroom with masks and socially distanced seating, compared with 28% who would prefer to stay away. The overwhelming majority (80%) said they still fear COVID-19 as a health threat, disagreeing with the statement: “I feel safe enough now and do not need to worry about masks or social distancing at a trade show.” CES 2021 is proceeding as planned with masks, social distancing, wider aisles and “options to expand the show digitally," CTA told us in April (see 2004210054).
When the pandemic first hit, Walmart sales shifted heavily toward “food and consumables,” followed by a “do-it-yourself phase related to home projects, entertaining and educating,” CEO Doug McMillon told his company’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday. “We saw a third phase begin influenced by stimulus dollars.” Sales increased in TVs, videogames, toys, sporting goods and apparel, he said.
Fifteen percent of U.S. broadband households said they used more telehealth or remote doctor services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Parks Associates survey fielded March 8-April 3 found. Parks’ Connected Health Summit, originally scheduled for Sept. 1-3 in San Diego, will now be a virtual event.
The 2020 Radio Show is canceled, emailed NAB's Gordon Smith and Radio Advertising Bureau's Erica Farber Wednesday. They cited “circumstances of the ongoing pandemic," so “instead, we will produce a digital event incorporating the best of what the Radio Show has to offer.” The Radio Show was to begin Sept. 13 in Nashville. NAB and RAB announced the 2021 show is Sept. 21-24 in New Orleans, and the 2022 in Nashville Oct. 5-7. NAB canceled its annual show in Las Vegas in April (see 2003110036).
ABI Research slashed its 2020 wearables forecast by 27 million. The researcher cited a falloff in consumer demand for nonessential devices in Q1 due to the pandemic and supply chain issues. Shipments of smartwatches and activity trackers -- representing more than half of wearable shipments -- were 26.5 million in Q1, emailed analyst Stephanie Tomsett. For the year, ABI now forecasts wearables shipments of 254 million. That’s 5% over 2019 vs. the previously forecast 17% rise. Wearables shipments grew 23% in 2019.
Global smartphone shipments are expected to decline 11.9% this year to 1.2 billion, reported IDC Wednesday. It follows the largest year-over-year Q1 decline in the product's history, it said. “Smartphone shipments are now expected to decline 18.2% in 2020's first half of the year as the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect consumer spending.” IDC doesn’t expect the global market to return to unit growth until after Q1 2021.
A slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic could combine with rising U.S.-China trade tensions to pose a big risk to U.S. investment-grade tech companies, S&P Global Ratings reported Wednesday. “Unprecedented measures from the U.S. government and Federal Reserve will be sure to mitigate the effects of the sharp decline in economic activity due to COVID-19,” said the debt ratings firm. “But the path to recovery remains uncertain both in terms of timing and trajectory.” Until there’s an effective COVID-19 treatment or vaccine, “significant uncertainties surround the resolution of the pandemic and its effects,” said S&P. The “near-term risk” to the semiconductor industry would be “manageable” amid heightened U.S.-China trade friction, said the report. But it “adds incremental pressure on an industry that we already forecast will shrink by 7% in 2020.”
Israeli printed circuit board supplier Eltek sees an opportunity to grow its U.S. business “due to the worsening of the relationship between the U.S. and China,” said CEO Eli Yaffe on a fiscal Q1 call Tuesday. “The impact of any trade war between the U.S. and China will also impact the Israeli market.” Any heightened U.S.-China trade tensions would likely accompany increased “U.S. pressure on the Israeli government to reduce the Israel-China trade activity,” he said. The company's Q1 ended March 31. A coalition of 14 Republican attorneys general wrote President Donald Trump last month urging him to hold China accountable for damages from the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2005140054). Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said punitive tariffs against China are being considered (see 2005180020). COVID-19 “created new operational and business challenges” for Eltek, said the CEO. The stock closed down 13% at $4. The pandemic required “quick adjustment to enable us to maintain our production of PCBs while maintaining the safety of our workforce,” he said. “We see both risk and new opportunities in the existing business environment and are making the necessary adaptations to meet customers’ demand and our revenue and profit margin goals.” The stock closed 13.5% lower Tuesday at $4.05.