COVID-19 brought “the biggest workforce shift and reallocation of skills since World War II,” said ManpowerGroup CEO Jonas Prising on a Q2 investor call Monday. There’s evidence “this crisis is accelerating the technical and soft skills transformations that we have been tracking and predicting for some time,” said Prising. “Acute skills shortages” in tech, cybersecurity, software development and data analysts for “continue unabated,” he said. The need for a “skills revolution is here in force,” he said.

Some in the tech sector backed fighting Nokia’s July 2 International Trade Commission complaint on banning imports of Lenovo laptops, tablets and desktop PCs for allegedly violating five patents. That would block access to affordable Lenovo Chromebook computers, said Google Friday (login required): As most schools worldwide “have begun adopting online learning in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, demand for mobile computing devices from many countries’ K-12 education sectors has been rising with Chromebooks currently seeing the highest shipments.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association commented against Nokia’s assertion that excluding Lenovo PCs won’t harm the public health and safety. “That does not reflect modern society,” said CCIA. “Computers are no longer optional entertainment devices.” They're the “main or even exclusive portholes through which nearly every American interfaces with nearly every aspect of modern life,” especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. Four of Nokia’s “asserted” inventions on video compression are H.264 “standard-essential patents” (SEPs), wrote Lenovo in docket 337-3466. The fifth describes user interfaces for better information searches through communications devices. Nokia committed to license SEPs to anyone on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, said the PC maker. The FTC warns such SEP-based exclusions “may adversely affect competitive conditions and harm consumers,” said Lenovo, citing a March 2011 FTC report on the “evolving” intellectual property marketplace and the need to align patent "remedies" with competition. The report recommended the ITC “consider these adverse effects in evaluating the public interest impact of proposed remedial orders,” said Lenovo. Nokia didn't comment Monday.

Verizon Wireless received emergency relief from the FCC for installing small cells and other wireless facilities serving tribal areas, the University of New Mexico and the university’s hospital. Verizon sought relief under a June 25 Wireless Bureau notice “announcing an electronic process for FCC licensees to apply for emergency authorization to resume standard historic preservation review for qualifying critical infrastructure projects during this COVID-19 crisis,” staff said Monday.

Even consumers more inclined than others to return to stores during COVID-19 are buying online more than ever, Sucharita Kodali, Forrester Research vice president-principal analyst, told the National Retail Federation Monday. Forrester estimates about 40% of U.S. consumers are in that category, compared with 53% who prefer to continue sheltering at home and are fearful the economy is reopening too quickly. Of those who say they want to go back to stores, 30% "are choosing to purchase online,” said Kodali. “Almost half of them are purchasing their groceries online. This is an important observation because among people who may want to go back to stores, you’re still seeing them consuming online.” That’s the factor that’s “certainly driving e-commerce forward, but continues to be a challenge for physical stores,” the analyst said. Forrester found 37% of consumers “don’t want to pay anything” even for a same-day transaction. Another 22% said they are willing to pay $3-$6 for same-day delivery. With the e-commerce supply chain stretched to the limit during the pandemic, Forrester estimates 22% of consumers experienced late deliveries during the crisis, said Kodali. “That has also led to greater dissatisfaction with players like Amazon.” Of the Amazon Prime members Forrester canvassed, 24% said they were “frustrated” with the service, she said. Dissatisfaction was 10 points higher among Generation Z respondents, she said. Amazon didn’t comment Monday. Consumer resentment toward Amazon during the crisis “has provided oxygen” for other e-commerce giants like Walmart and Target, said Kodali. Though Amazon’s Q1 e-commerce sales were 25% higher than in the 2019 quarter, Walmart’s were up by 77% and Target’s 141%, she said.

LG Electronics Chief Technology Officer Park Il-Pyung will keynote the global news conference at IFA 2020 Special Edition, said show organizers Friday. The sharply downsized in-person event is Sept. 3-5 and will be livestreamed (see 2005190035). IFA didn’t say what date Park will appear or whether he will attend physically or virtually. Organizers didn’t respond to emails Friday. “LG will take part in IFA 2020 Special Edition and focus on the consumer situation in times of the new normal,” they said. Rival Samsung announced this month it was pulling out of IFA and will stage its own virtual event in early September (see 2007020030).

About 12 million U.S. students pre-COVID “were in households without adequate internet access,” Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., told an Axios webinar Friday. In her travels around the country, Meng met “one too many kids who were unable to do their homework at home,” she said. “Much of the assignments, unlike when I was a kid, are given online or completed online.” When the pandemic hit, 55 million students were “not able to physically go to school, and many were not able to do their homework,” she said. It suddenly became “a very dire and time-sensitive issue,” she said. The Moving Forward Act (HR-2) would establish a $2 billion grant to localities for lending devices and hot spots to needy students, said Meng, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “Because of the coronavirus pandemic, we are trying to figure out the fastest and the most efficient ways” of getting relief to students in need “without having to reinvent the wheel,” she said. It would allow students to “get online as soon as possible” after the legislation is signed, she said. It has bipartisan support and the backing of more than 50 organizations, she said.

COVID-19's supply chain disruptions and sharply lower demand sent Volvo’s Q2 revenue plunging 38%, including a 46% decline in vehicle sales, said CEO Martin Lundstedt on a Friday investor call. Volvo also incurred a 15% revenue decline in services, he said. “We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Lundstedt. “Even if we see positive signs in utilization of installed fleet and the demand of equipment and services, we also must be clear that numerous uncertainties remain,” he said. “The risks for further and repetitive lockdowns are still relatively high.”

T-Mobile and Sprint customers can get MLB.TV for free beginning Tuesday, said T-Mobile Friday. The perk includes a free one-year subscription to The Athletic; both services are regularly $59 annually. Spring training games will be played Tuesday and Wednesday; regular season games begin Thursday in the COVID-19-shortened MLB season.

Smartphone shipments in India fell 48% in Q2 to 17.3 million units due to a “complete halt in production” and lower demand due to COVID-19, said Canalys Friday. Third-place Samsung, whose shipments dropped 60% to 2.9 million for 16.8% share, also had exports hit “as its largest manufacturing plant outside of Vietnam shut down for most of Q2,” said the research firm. Xiaomi led the market with 5.3 million shipments for 31% share, followed by Vivo shipping 3.7 million units for 21.3% share.

GameStop joined the growing list of retailers requiring customers to wear masks inside stores, saying Friday the “safety measure” will take effect July 27 in all U.S. locations. The 10-day lag will give GameStop time to inform customers of the change, post signage and train employees on the new protocol. Best Buy, Costco, Target and Walmart are among the growing number of retailers requiring mask use in stores (see past two issues of this publication). GameStop didn’t respond to questions.