Little will be known about the level of broadcaster participation in the TV incentive auction until the auction actually takes place, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday during a news conference after the commission's open meeting. "This is a marketplace that we're talking about here," he said. "We're creating a marketplace. We're trying to provide information that's relevant to that marketplace so that people can make decisions." Wheeler declined to say whether any incentive auction-related items will be on the agenda for the November meeting. The FCC is sticking with the "agenda" for the auction established by the FCC right after he took office, Wheeler said.

MobileBench, a six-company consortium that’s working to develop uniform "performance assessment tools" for Android smartphones and tablets, used its General Assembly in Shanghai Thursday to release a beta version of new MobileBench testing software for consumer use, the consortium said (http://bit.ly/1rz4nfs). Since being created about a year ago, the consortium has been working on two professional engineering tracks -- the MobileBench platform for overall hardware evaluations of a smartphone or tablet and the MobileBench-UX for testing system-level applications "that address factors affecting the user experience," it said. It touts MobileBench as an "all-in-one solution" that can test the CPU, memory and storage components of a mobile device in different modes. The release of the beta version for consumers is "a major step forward in a collaborative process that will eventually allow consumers to evaluate personal mobile devices on their own," it said. The finished version will be released publicly later in the year "after undergoing an extensive verification process," it said. The consortium plans to expand its membership over the next year, "with the intent of increasing the range and applicability of its evaluation tools," it said. Its six founding companies are Hewlett-Packard, Huawei, Intel, Marvell, OPPO and Samsung Semiconductor.

The idea that the FCC should pass mandates requiring FM chips in smartphones, as United Methodist Communications urged the commission to do (see [Ref:1410150101]), "is deader than a door nail," CEA President Gary Shapiro emailed us Thursday. "Even broadcasters say they are not seeking government action on this. The marketplace is resolving this and many cell phones with radio options are available for purchase, plus most cars have radios."

United Methodist Communications urged the FCC to require mobile phone manufacturers and operators to provide access to FM radio through mobile devices. It’s a matter of public safety “in addition to convenience for individual users of these devices,” UMC General Secretary Larry Hollon said in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. When residential power is out, cell service and the Internet are also out, he said. The only battery device may be a smartphone, “but it is useless without cell service,” he said. With an activated radio chip, a smartphone will function similar to a transistor radio, “providing people with information essential for survival,” he said. CEA and CTIA are among those that have long opposed FCC mandates for requiring FM chips in smartphones [Ref:1208070001]. CEA representatives didn't immediately comment on the UMC letter. CTIA continues "to believe consumer preference, not government mandates, should drive decisions about mobile device functionalities," said Jot Carpenter, vice president-government affairs, by email. "Some consumers value radio capabilities and there are devices available to meet their needs. At the same time, other consumers have no interest in those radio capabilities. The current marketplace serves both segments well.”

Leon Speakers joined ProSource, building out the buying group's roster of customized speaker offerings. Leon Speakers' lineup ranges from soundbars that can be ordered to match the width of a flat-panel TV to the Media Decor line of flat-screen frames and covers. Joining ProSource is part of Leon's plans for "aggressive growth" in 2015 and beyond, said Colin Wilcox, residential sales director of Leon Speakers.