Contactless transactions grew twice as fast as noncontactless ones in grocery and drug stores as the COVID-19 pandemic spread between February and March, said a Mastercard study released Wednesday of 17,000 consumers in 19 countries. Some 79% of consumers used contactless payments in the period, citing safety and cleanliness as drivers. Worldwide, 46% of respondents said they have replaced their most-used payment card for a contactless one, 52% among those under 35. Three-quarters of those surveyed said they will continue to use contactless post-pandemic.
China is “not interested in meddling” in the November election, said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday regarding President Donald Trump’s suggestion Wednesday in a Reuters interview that the COVID-19 pandemic was proof the Chinese “will do anything they can” to make Trump lose his re-election bid. On Trump’s suggestion China should have been more transparent with the world in December to contain the pandemic, the spokesperson said China “contained COVID-19 at home and made important contributions to the global fight.” The coronavirus “is a common enemy to all mankind,” said the spokesperson. “China is a victim, not an accomplice.” He urged “certain people in the U.S.” to make themselves aware “that their enemy is the virus, not China.”
“Imagine this pandemic without the internet,” CTA President Gary Shapiro told the Fox Business network Thursday. “It’s changed our lives in so many different ways, and this whole experience will change our lives forever in the future.” Thursday was the 25th anniversary of the decommissioning of the National Science Foundation Network, effectively turning over the internet from the government to the private sector, said Shapiro. He thinks all the big tech companies will “do well” post-pandemic “in the long term,” he said. “In the short term, obviously there’s ups and downs.” All are “very well positioned” for the post-COVID-19 economy, he said. “They’ll do well because in the long term, people will value what they’re providing.” Shapiro, speaking moments before Apple released its quarterly earnings, described the iPhone maker as “one company where you’re talking about just a momentary hiccup” because of COVID-19 supply chain “challenges.”
CEDIA Expo is pushing ahead with plans for its annual trade show, scheduled for Sept. 8-12 at the Colorado Convention Center, said show sponsor Emerald Wednesday. It's also launching a “virtual component” to run concurrently with the live event that will “accommodate those who may be restricted from attending the show this year.” The trade show company is “trying our best to navigate and adapt to doing business during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Executive Vice President Brian Pagel, saying it's following guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local officials. Emerald said it's working with the Colorado Convention Center, closed until May 11 after it was designated in March as a temporary hospital to treat COVID-19 patients. "Until we receive some notice on mass gatherings" from government and health authorities, "I’m hesitant to name any events as the 'first'" that will return to the convention center once it reopens for regular trade show business, emailed Rich Carollo, the convention center's sales and marketing director. Emerald hopes to implement in September enhanced cleaning measures, sanitation stations and ways to reduce crowding and maintain social distancing in lobbies, classrooms and on the show floor, it said. Emerald didn't respond to questions.
Advance Micro Devices expects 25% revenue growth in 2020, plus or minus 5 points, “despite expectations of weaker COVID-19-related consumer demand," said Chief Financial Officer Devinder Kumar on a Q1 call Tuesday evening. It's one of the few tech companies since the pandemic began not to suspend or withdraw 2020 guidance. CEO Lisa Su concedes “there’s a lot of questions about visibility as we go into the second half.” AMD has “a lot of positives in terms of market drivers” that give the company “good visibility,” she said. Console gaming is one such “positive,” she said. “There’s lots of anticipation around the consoles” launching in time for holiday, she said of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. “There’s no change in our view, as it relates to COVID-19.” The PC business “has actually held up pretty well,” said Su. The PC market got “some benefit from some of the acceleration in demand” toward the end of Q1 as lockdown orders became common in much of the world, she said. “We have seen that pick up as we’ve gone through the month of April.” There remains “accelerated notebook demand,” she said. Desktop PC volume will be “sequentially lower” in Q2, “just based on sort of the preference around notebook versus desktop in this framework,” she said.
Internet use during the COVID-19 is “at a scale that the world has never experienced,” said Akamai CEO Tom Leighton on a Q1 investor call Tuesday. Traffic on the Akamai platform increased by about 30% over a four-week period at the end of Q1, he said. It peaked at 167 terabits per second during the quarter, more than double the peak of Q1 2019, he said. Q1 revenue in Akamai’s media division jumped 8% to $358 million, said Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan. The “outperformance” in media was mainly due to the “surge” in traffic from over-the-top video, gaming, social media and news and information sites, “as more and more people around the world began to shelter in place,” he said.
Garmin is “no exception” to COVID-19's “unprecedented economic changes," said CEO Clifton Pemble on a Q1 call Wednesday. Though Garmin, like most others, is withdrawing 2020 guidance, it’s “optimistic for the long term,” he said. “Our supply chain is healthy, and we've not missed any opportunities.” But April sales to retailers “are trending about 40% lower than last year, as many retailers have curtailed operations and consumer activity has been severely limited by government restrictions,” he said. “We expect these trends to continue throughout the second quarter as restrictions remain in place.” Product registrations “are strong in those regions where restrictions allow the kinds of activities our products are known for,” said Pemble. “We're encouraged by that.” With much brick-and-mortar retail activity shut or inhibited, “online and web has been very strong,” he said. “Our website growth has been phenomenal during this period, and we've been adding to our capabilities on the website to be able to support sales strategies there. With all of that said, our retailers remain very important to us. And as soon as they can come back online, we'll certainly be supporting them.”
High-end brand Cary Audio slashed pricing for most products on its e-commerce website, it emailed Tuesday. The “largest savings we can offer to our customers during this difficult time” include $2,198 off the VT-500 phono preamplifier and the DMS-550 network audio player, bringing each to $3,297. Special pricing for a pair of CAD-805RS monoblock amplifiers fell to $9,597 from $15,995. Citing canceled live music events and stay-at-home directives, the company said, "The closest thing to a live concert right now is your home audio system."
The Americans for Free Trade coalition wants the Trump administration to defer due dates for all federal duties and import fees payable through June, it wrote the White House and members of Congress Tuesday. Doing so would “immediately free up billions of dollars of working capital for American companies,” it said. “This cash is even more important for companies that have had to close their doors because of stay-at-home orders, leaving them with little to no revenue to make ends meet. Companies facing urgent liquidity issues need their duty payments deferred in order to succeed when the economy reopens.” More than 470 companies signed the letter, including Audio Control, Fossil, GameStop, JL Audio, Jasco Products and Voxx. CTA was among seven tech groups also signing, including ACT|The App Association and CompTIA. The White House didn’t comment.
With New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) asking the Trump administration to keep the Javits Convention Center open as a 2,500-bed COVID-19 Army field hospital through the fall flu season (see 2004270032), NAB is “carefully monitoring this new development,” emailed spokesperson Dennis Wharton Monday. “Safety of our NAB community will always be our number one priority, but at this point, we are committed to NAB Show New York at the Javits Center and look forward to helping the industry get back to business in October.” The show is scheduled for Oct. 21-22.