"Strides” made by Chinese smartphone makers has for Sony caused a “worsening” of the market in mid-priced handsets, spurring Sony to impose an impairment charge of 180 billion yen in its mobile communications business, CEO Kazuo Hirai said in a hastily called news conference Wednesday in Tokyo. The impairment charge means Sony now expects to record a 230-billion-yen net loss for the year ending March 31, vs. the 50-billion-yen loss predicted in its July forecast, the company said. Sony finished last fiscal year with a 128.4-billion-yen net loss. In its smartphone business, Sony now will forego higher unit sales and market share in exchange for profit, Hirai said, without giving specifics. The “overarching strategy” for mobile communications will be to “reduce risk and volatility, and to deliver more stable profits,” Hirai said. Again without giving specifics, Sony will change its smartphone strategy “in certain geographical areas, concentrating on its premium lineup, and reducing the number of models in its mid-range lineup,” Hirai said. A restructuring of Sony Mobile Communications will mean a 15 percent headcount reduction, but more details on that will be released later, he said. Though Sony on Wednesday didn’t offer a regional breakdown of where its smartphone business has hit potholes, the company as recently as mid-June said it would use the digital imaging technology and content “assets” unique to Sony as differentiation tools to build a bigger foothold in the U.S. smartphone business in the fiscal year that runs through March 31 (CED June 10 p4). That followed earlier vows by Hirai to “grow our presence” in the U.S. smartphone market, but to do so in a “prudent” way that won’t jeopardize profit (CED May 23 p1).
The federal complaint alleging the InfoComm 2014 show gave “safe haven" to HDMI trademark infringers (CED Sept 15 p4) “is the only suit that HDMI Licensing has ever filed against a trade show operator,” HDMI Licensing President Steve Venuti told us by email Tuesday. “HDMI’s intellectual property forms the backbone of our company and the continued development of our IP is fundamental to the success of our business, that of thousands of our licensees, as well as to millions of consumers who use and depend on our technology,” Venuti said. “Unfortunately, there are many infringers of HDMI’s valuable IP and we undertake a thoughtful effort to enforce our rights and to bring infringing behavior into compliance. When companies display infringing products at trade shows, we always work within the guidelines established by the trade shows to engage with these exhibitors.” As described in the complaint, InfoComm “prevented interaction with unlicensed exhibitors at InfoComm2014 in Las Vegas, thereby creating a platform for the marketing/sale of infringing products,” he said. “We brought legal action to ensure that InfoComm, like a swap meet or flea market that permits the sale of counterfeit goods, not be allowed to continue their behavior.” HDMI “has no plans to bring other legal action at this time” against organizers of other trade shows, Venuti said. InfoComm has said the HDMI Licensing complaint has no merit and that it plans to file counterclaims.
Yantouch introduced a “3-in-1” Bluetooth speaker that also includes an LED smart light and alarm feature. The $149 device offers colors that can be set to pulse with music, and sleep and wake natural-light settings that simulate sunset and sunrise, it said Tuesday. The Diamond+Bluetooth speaker is positioned as an “all-in-one entertainment system” for camping and outdoor parties.
Pioneer will spin off its DJ equipment business into a joint company, Pioneer DJ, of which it will own 15 percent, so it can better deploy its assets on vehicle infotainment and other car electronics sectors, the company said Tuesday. The global investment firm KKR will be the majority owner in Pioneer DJ after it pays Pioneer $551 million to acquire all shares in the spinoff and Pioneer then pays KKR an undisclosed sum to buy back 15 percent of the shares, Pioneer said. “As we accelerate our efforts to concentrate management resources on our car electronics business, Pioneer has been seeking the optimal partner to further the globalization of our DJ equipment business and expand the brand.” In KKR, Pioneer found a company with “a wealth of experience in the technology and media industry globally, and we are confident it has the expertise to drive Pioneer DJ forward,” it said. Pioneer wants to be a top “comprehensive infotainment” supplier that “creates comfort, excitement, safety and reliability in vehicles,” the company said. It aims to do so by becoming “an indispensable key supplier to automakers and their mega-suppliers, based on the expertise and customer confidence we have gained in the OEM market,” it said. In the consumer aftermarket, “we will drive the car electronics industry as a pioneer in providing new value in the connected car life market, by being the first company to provide and expand world-first, cutting-edge solutions,” it said.
To serve the growing implementation of 4K video capture in smartphones and tablets, SanDisk bowed what it’s calling the world’s fastest microSD UHS-I memory card. The 64 GB SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDXC UHS-I card has enough storage to “address consumers’ desire to generate high quality 4K Ultra HD content,” the company said Tuesday. With transfer speeds of up to 95 Mbps, “users can shoot like a pro and still experience world-class responsiveness from their smartphone, tablet or action camera,” it said. Ultra HD video capture “is being implemented in smartphones and ‘prosumer’ cameras and camcorders much more quickly than was the case when HD was launched,” the company said. “Features like 4K Ultra HD video recording, which were once only available on high-end devices, have quickly gained popularity and adoption,” it said. “There is no doubt 4K Ultra HD is a game-changer.” Performance won’t come cheap in the 64 GB memory card, which lists for $299, though there is a 16-GB version at $79.
Pushing design and affordability, Sprint said Tuesday the HTC Desire 510 will be available Friday for postpaid and no-contract customers. Qualifying Sprint Easy Pay customers can buy the Desire 510 for no money down and 24 monthly payments of $8.34 (based on a $199 suggested retail price) with a service plan, it said. Sprint’s prepaid Boost Mobile unit will sell the Desire 510 in white for $99 beginning Sept. 23, and Virgin Mobile will sell a blue version for $99, also beginning Sept. 23, it said. The 4.7-inch phone has a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz processor and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, Sprint said.
Dish Network and Scripps Networks renewed a deal that expands Dish subscriber access to the programmer’s entire content portfolio. It includes over-the-top multistream rights for live and VOD content, Dish said Tuesday. It also expands Dish’s distribution of authenticated live and VOD Scripps programming on Internet-connected devices, it said. “With this capability, the content will be available to an untapped segment of customers that is seeking a flexible, content-driven, Internet-accessible service.”
Sixty percent of U.S. consumers expect to have experienced a house that speaks or reads to them by 2025, said a study on the impact of technology commissioned by Intel’s McAfee. Seventy-seven percent of consumers think the most common device in 11 years will be a smart watch, and 70 percent believe overall wearable devices will be common personal accessories. Seventy-two percent of consumers expect connected kitchen appliances will be a household item by 2015, six in 10 expect their refrigerators to automatically add food to a running grocery list when items are running low, and 84 percent believe their home security systems will be connected to their mobile devices, McAfee said. Almost 70 percent of respondents expressed concern over the state of cybersecurity in 2025, with identity theft, monetary theft and fraud the leading issues. By 2025, 38 percent of U.S. consumers expect to unlock their mobile device by eye scan followed by a thumbprint, McAfee said. On mobile pay, a third of consumers believe they'll be able to pay for items using their fingerprint, while 22 percent expected to use their mobile device. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they planned to still pay by credit or debit card. The online survey was done Aug. 1-12 by MSI Research among 1,507 U.S. citizens ages 21-65, split evenly by age and gender.
Global smartphone shipments will approach 1.2 billion units this year, up 19 percent from 2013, Juniper Research said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1wnNdGq). Growth in emerging markets on the “continued surge” in sales of “economy” and “ultra-economy” smartphones priced under $75 will drive much of the increase, it said. “While Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the ultra-premium end of the market, these vendors are facing significant pressure from local players in the emerging markets,” it said. “These new players are beginning to build market share and achieve larger economies of scale, which eventually will enable them to expand their offering and challenge other smartphone sectors in the future.” Still, Apple and Samsung will have nearly 45 percent of the smartphones shipped globally this year, it said.
CEA’s Video Division approved the use of “4K Ultra HD" as uniform terminology to describe “the emerging category of display products” with more than 8 million pixels, CEA said Tuesday. The change, which was made “to provide more consistency across the market,” updates the terminology CEA adopted two years ago when it agreed to call the technology “Ultra HD,” but dropped “4K” from the moniker to the apparent anger of a few member companies like Sony (CED Oct 19/12 p1). The new terminology will be reflected in two new logos -- “4K Ultra HD” and “4K Ultra HD Connected” -- that CEA also released Tuesday. “The new logos mark another important milestone as the inevitable evolution to 4K Ultra HD continues,” said CEA President Gary Shapiro. “These logos and consistent nomenclature will help consumers navigate the 4K Ultra HD marketplace and assist them in having a great experience at retail and at home.” Announcement of the CEA logos follows by nearly two weeks the IFA debut in Berlin of DigitalEurope’s pan-European “Ultra HD” logo (CED Sept 4 p4) that bears no resemblance to the CEA marks, though both logo programs support similar technical characteristics and were fashioned by many of the same member companies.