Huawei opened its first Middle East customer service center in Dubai as part of the company’s ongoing expansion in the region, it said Monday. The center will cater exclusively to customers using the company’s flagship device series, it said. The Middle East region, with 48 percent growth year over year in the first half 2015, played a significant role in Huawei’s growth in the period, the company said. Huawei had revenue of $9 billion in the first half, compared with $12.2 billion for all of 2014, it said. Total smartphone shipments in the Middle East and Africa are forecast to reach 155 million units this year, Huawei said, citing IDC figures, which showed Huawei as the No. 2 smartphone brand in the Middle East and Africa region with 8.9 percent of shipments in 2014. Huawei operates in more than 170 countries, with two-thirds of its revenue from markets outside of China, it said.

The Panasonic Industrial Devices (Tianjin) design center in China, about three miles from the epicenter of Tianjin port explosions earlier this month (see 1508170032), is a subsidiary of Panasonic’s Automotive & Industrial Systems Co. and does research and development of car electronics-related products and systems, but not consumer electronics, Panasonic spokesman Jim Reilly told us. “The facility does design, so the number of employees is not large." There were no injuries, but the facility incurred “light damage,” he said, and quickly returned to normal operations. “We are not able to comment” on the broader question of whether Panasonic sustained any disruptions in its northern China supply chain in the aftermath of the explosions, Reilly said.

Spotify is rolling out an updated terms and conditions of use and privacy policy to customers during the next few weeks, the company said Monday. “We want to be as open and transparent as possible when it comes to how we describe our business, how we work with advertisers, what information we collect, and what we do with it,” Spotify said about the changes. The company also wants to ensure it's “up-to-date with all the latest features we are offering.” Some of the changes in the privacy policy include: an expansion of the Information We Collect section to include technical data like cookies, device information and network information; notice that customer permission will be requested to collect information from new sources like an address book, location and sensor data from mobile devices; and clarity was added regarding how Spotify shares data with marketing and advertising partners.

German audio company Thonet & Vander has begun selling its flagship Bluetooth speakers in the U.S. The 140-watt Kugel ($369/pair) and 160-watt Koloss speakers ($399) boast Rage Bass, a bass-extension feature, and Glow fx that’s said to provide smooth mid-range frequencies and definition. The Kugel and Koloss have the company’s Antimagnetic Shield that’s designed to isolate sound and eliminate external interferences. Both speaker models feature an active crossover with two amplifiers working in each frequency range to provide precision in the division of treble and bass, the company said.

Eligible Microsoft shareholders are able to nominate candidates for positions on the company's board due to a newly adopted corporate policy, the company said in a blog post Friday. The policy allows up to 20 shareholders -- having each held the stock for at least three years -- collectively holding at least 3 percent of the company's outstanding shares to nominate up to two individuals or 20 percent of the board for election, the software maker said. "This proxy access framework strikes the right balance for Microsoft by ensuring that board nominees are supported by long-term shareholders representing a significant, but attainable, proportion of outstanding shares."

Harman gave revenue guidance of $7 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, at its investor conference in New York Thursday. Total company revenue is forecast at $7 billion, vs. $6.2 billion for FY 2015, it said. By division, revenue forecasts are $3.2 billion in connected car, $2 billion in lifestyle audio, $1.1 billion for professional solutions and $735 million for connected services, said Harman. Q4 sales, reported Tuesday, were $1.7 billion, up from $1.4 billion in Q4 2014, it said. In a statement, CEO Dinesh Paliwal highlighted an increase in Harman automotive backlog to a record $23 billion. Paliwal also noted the company diversified its portfolio through expanding software services and positioning itself to take advantage of IoT opportunities.

Pioneer’s fiscal Q1 net loss widened 20.3 percent to $20.1 million ($1 = 124 yen) on a 3.8 percent sales decline to $872.8 million, the company said in a Wednesday announcement. It attributed much of the sales decline in the quarter ended June 30 to last year’s transfer of the Pioneer home AV business to Onkyo and a private equity firm (see 1406260035). Sales in Pioneer’s core car electronics business grew 5.4 percent in the quarter. Sales of car audio products increased, though overall car aftermarket sales declined, despite higher sales in North America. OEM sales were 62 percent of total car electronics sales in Q1, compared with 56 percent a year earlier, Pioneer said.

Harman announced a corporate brand refresh Thursday designed to represent a shift to connected lifestyles threading its home, car, stage and enterprise businesses with audio, infotainment systems, software and connected services. It also updated the names of its divisions to reflect the “evolution of the business,” said CEO Dinesh Paliwal in a statement. The changes are designed to reflect “a powerful, proven and progressive technology company at the center of a connected and ever-changing world," Paliwal said. The reinvention of the Harman logo symbolizes the evolving spirit of the company and its commitment to developing solutions that “truly integrate our connected lifestyle," he said. Harman also introduced the “Expect Brilliance” tagline. It updated its division names “to better reflect the evolution of the business," said Paliwal. The Infotainment division will now be known as Connected Car; Professional becomes Professional Solutions; Lifestyle becomes Lifestyle Audio; and Redbend, Symphony Teleca and Harman Automotive Services all fall under Connected Services, it said.

Philips said it teamed with the Silicon Valley Plug and Play Tech Center to mentor and partner with IoT innovators. The Plug and Play Tech Center introduces start-ups to corporations and investors to accelerate commercial development of products. The center will work with Philips to filter “hundreds of IoT-orientated start-ups” that match the company’s technology needs in sensor data, analytics and connected lighting for buildings and smart cities. The ability to connect LED lighting to IP networks, sensors and software control systems is “transforming the lighting industry,” Philips said in a Thursday news release.

ZTE’s tri-fold product introduction Tuesday, announcing the Axon Watch, the flagship Axon phone for the China market and the China debut of the Spro 2 smart projector, is part of the company’s commitment to becoming “more consumer-centric in the global market,” said CEO Adam Zeng in a news release. The launch of the Axon phone in China, which adds features for that market, follows the Axon phone launch in the U.S. last week. ZTE’s goal is to be among the top three smartphone vendors within three years, said Zeng. The Axon phone for China is the first smartphone that can be unlocked with three biometric authentication options: fingerprint, voice control and eye-scan, said the company. The fingerprint scanner also offers support for NFC (near field communications) payments, it said. The Axon Watch, meanwhile, features a 1.4-inch Gorilla Glass screen with sapphire coating and is IP67 certified against shock, water and dust, said the company. The Watch has 512 RAM, 4 GB storage and Bluetooth 4.1 and runs on the Tencent operating system, ZTE said. The device supports voice and gesture control and can be used for voice calls and messaging, said ZTE. The ZTE Spro 2 smart projector, meanwhile, which launched in the U.S. on the AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks, had its China debut with an exclusive voice control feature for that market, said the company.