​Vizio sold nearly 2.1 million TVs in Q3, a 15 percent increase from the same 2014 quarter, according to our comparative analysis of the company’s second and third amendments to its S-1 initial public offering registration statement filed at the SEC. Vizio’s third S-1 amendment, filed Thursday, and the second, filed Sept. 28, break out sales not by quarters, but by 2015's first nine and six months, respectively, along with comparisons with 2014. Vizio filed the S-1 in late July for a long-expected initial public offering to raise $172.5 million to expand internationally and broaden its brand and strategic reach (see 1507260001). For Q3, Vizio had $859.5 million in sales, a 4.5 percent increase from Q3 a year earlier, the filings show. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Vizio had a 9.4 percent net profit increase to $44.3 million from the same period a year earlier, on a 6 percent sales increase to $2.2 billion, they show. No quarterly net-profit breakdown is disclosed in the filings, but sequentially, Vizio’s $44.3 million net profit for the nine months ended Sept. 30 was 13 percent lower than $50.8 million for the six months ended June 30, the filings show. Vizio cumulatively sold 17.4 million smart TVs through Sept. 30, up from 11.6 million sold through Sept. 30 a year earlier, the latest S-1 amendment shows. Citing NPD data, Vizio in its various filings has claimed to have 35 percent share of the smart TV market, based on NPD rules that define a smart HDTV set as having connectivity apps included and a display resolution of 1336 x 768 or higher.

Twitter’s 8 percent workforce reduction, announced to employees in a letter and in an 8-K SEC filing Tuesday, had been rumored in tweets going back to Friday. CNBC reported companywide layoffs in the week ahead as Jack Dorsey moved from interim to permanent CEO. Twitter said in the 8-K that the board voted Monday to cut 336 members of its global workforce as part of a plan “to organize around the Company’s top product priorities and drive efficiencies throughout the Company.” Twitter plans to reinvest savings in its most important priorities to drive growth, it said. Severance costs are expected to run between $10 million and $20 million, with restructuring expenses estimated to be $5 million to $15 million. In the employee letter, Dorsey said the restructuring would put the company “on a stronger path to grow.” Dorsey referred to a “streamlined roadmap” for Periscope, Twitter and Vine and a focus on experiences expected to have the greatest impact. One of those experiences, Moments, launched last week with “a great beginning” giving a “bold peek into the future of how people will see what’s going on in the world,” Dorsey said. Cuts will affect product and engineering teams the most, he said. Engineering will remain the biggest percentage of the workforce but will "move much faster with a smaller and nimbler team," Dorsey said. Twitter users commented on the news, led by Dorsey, whose Twitter handle is Jack: “Made some tough but necessary decisions that enable Twitter to move with greater focus and reinvest in our growth.” Anita B. wondered if the social media upward trend is “slowing down.” Jischinger observed: #twitterlayoffs not trending.” B_Meson pointed to Dorsey’s promise in his letter to “give it to you straight” rather than using corporate speak while following with the term “streamlined.” Predictable Twitter humor ensued: Zach Zimmerman said: “We’re limited to 129 characters now.”

Sprint Chief Financial Officer Tarek Robbiati confirmed reports (see 1510020053) the company is planning to cut $2.5 billion in costs, an article posted on SeekingAlpha.com said Friday. While in Tokyo for a meeting with SoftBank executives, Robbiati said Sprint's cost structure is "bloated" and it will cut $2 billion in operating costs and an additional $500 million in equipment spending, according to Seeking Alpha.

Three models priced $899 to $1,399 comprise the LG gram series of laptops now making their U.S. debut through Microsoft brick-and-mortar stores and online through Microsoft and Amazon, the company said in a Monday announcement. The laptops are named gram “as a nod” to their “extremely light weight,” LG said. For example, the LG gram 14 “is among the lightest laptops in the 14-inch category, weighing only 2.16 pounds -- less than the MacBook Air,” the company said. Its body is made of carbon-lithium and carbon-magnesium, “the same materials found in spacecraft and race cars, giving the LG gram 14 an exceptionally strong rugged framework that stands up to everyday life while remaining lightweight,” it said. The LG gram 14 also is just a half-inch thick, it said. LG has had “laptop success in other markets,” so it’s bringing them to the U.S. for the first time in the gram series, David VanderWaal, LG Electronics USA vice president-marketing, said in a statement.

Samsung Electronics formally opened its new Device Solutions America headquarters in San Jose Thursday. Jaesoo Han, president of Device Solutions America operations, called the research and development operation the “most strategically important Samsung facility in the U.S. and also our biggest investment in Silicon Valley.” The building is on the same corner where Samsung’s original San Jose campus was built 30 years ago and represents both Samsung’s “long heritage in Silicon Valley” and its focus on innovation and growth, the company said. As part of the opening, Samsung established a $1 million STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) scholarship fund for deserving students enrolled in STEM-focused programs at a California State or University of California school. The fund will launch with a $50,000 gift to San Jose State University this year, and each scholarship will cover tuition and living expenses for one year, Samsung said.

One month in, the Samsung Pay digital wallet platform is off to "a successful start” in South Korea, having amassed more than $30 million in “accumulated transaction volume” through Sept. 20, the company said in a Wednesday announcement. Samsung Pay accounted for more than 1.5 million “total transactions,” 60 percent of them completed through the Galaxy Note5 smartphone, it said. The company estimates that 10 percent of Samsung Pay’s “active users” performed transactions on the service daily in the first month. Samsung Pay launches Monday in the U.S., with plans soon to bring the service to the U.K., Spain and China, Samsung said.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam responded to a barrage of disparaging comments by T-Mobile CEO John Legere in recent weeks (see 1509180053). During a CNBC interview Thursday, which a Verizon spokesman pointed us to for comment Friday, McAdam dismissed Legere's comments -- which have frequently included referring to both Verizon and AT&T as "dumb and dumber." To "be honest, I don't pay any attention to it," McAdam said. "You know, I think it has worked for him. That is part of the persona of [T-Mobile]. I think if our customers and our investors, if I tried to do that, would look at me like I was crazy." Verizon is focused on customers' needs, as well as network and product improvements, he said. "We are doing a pretty good job at that and we will stay that course."

Ericsson and LG Uplus signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of IoT and 5G technologies, Ericsson said in a news release Monday. The agreement will run until 2020, Ericsson said, and covers the areas of IoT infrastructure and narrow-band LTE, software-defined networking and network functions virtualization, readying the core 5G network, global content delivery networks and advanced IoT technologies. The companies will share research and testing results and "work together to prepare a roadmap for long-term network development," Ericsson said.

One For All, the consumer brand of Universal Electronics, is now offering an easy option for people who have lost or damaged their original remote controls, the company said. Manufacturers’ branded replacements can be expensive and need special ordering, it said. Programmable remotes can be tricky for dealers or users to program and learning remotes can learn only from a working original, so OFA is offering a range of dedicated replacements that have been preprogrammed at the factory, it said. Once batteries are fitted they work out of the box, it said. OFA guarantees them to be 100 percent compatible, the company said.

AT&T Digital Life will begin offering a limited number of its existing security and automation customers a free trial of a personal security app in November, it announced Thursday. The app will offer trial users access to Digital Life’s professional monitoring service for support when problems arise while they are outside their home, said the provider. Components of the service include professional monitoring, messaging and a mapping feature, said the company. A user who is traveling can use the app’s one-click alert feature 24/7 to contact Digital Life’s monitoring center, which can dispatch emergency services and provide first responders with information such as health conditions and allergies from the user’s profile, said AT&T. Users can opt in to have the monitoring center view live audio and video of their location or condition, it said. Another option is to set a timer at the start of a trip -- such as walking to a parked car in a dark location -- which will trigger an alert unless canceled, said AT&T. The messaging function sends an alert to a programmed list of contacts within the app to let them know information such as a safe arrival or that the user has been in an accident, it said. A map feature shows the user's location, with the individual's permission, for use by monitoring professionals in case of emergency. The trial service will be available to a limited number of existing AT&T Digital Life Premium Security and Automation subscribers and AT&T plans to launch Personal Security to a broader audience in the future. The company plans to add features “to continue extending Digital Life beyond the home,” it said. Questions to AT&T on length of the trial, how trial customers will be chosen and planned date to begin broad service weren’t immediately answered.