Cobra Electronics will enter high growth product category at CES in Jan. as it forms partnerships with “some significant” U.S. companies, CEO James Bazet told analysts in conference call, declining to disclose details. Cobra, which markets Family Radio Service (FRS) devices, radar detectors and CB radios, has sought to expand business through acquisitions in past, but agreements with Beltronics and Lowrance Electronics collapsed. Providing hint of new strategy, Cobra said 3rd quarter net income declined to $1.3 million from $1.9 million year ago and revenue to $36.2 million from $38.5 million. Downturn in revenue was related to “significant shortfall” in radar detectors, with some retailers “backing off” earlier orders, Bazet said. Drop in radar detectors was partly offset by gains in FRS category, which benefitted from introduction of models based on General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) standard. Latter extends transmission distance to 5 miles from 2 miles. GMRS devices typically are priced $30-$45 more than FRS models, which retail for $40-$60. Cobra also has signed distribution deal in Italy for Private Mobile Radio (PMR) service, version of FRS targeted at Europe. PMR business in Europe operated at “slightly above break-even” in 3rd quarter and would have had better results had sales not been halted in Belgium, where authorities are weighing licensing requirements for PMR, Bazet said. In long term, Europe could represent $30-$35 million in PMR sales, he said.
Sim2 Seleco USA will ship high-end front projector based on Texas Instruments’ 2nd generation Digital Light Processing (DLP) chip in Nov. at $14,999. New projector has single 0.8W DLP chip with 1,280x720p resolution, 1,100:1 contrast ratio, 600 lumens and anchors high end of Sim2’s DLP line. New model, which also has Sage’s Faroudja video enhancer and deinterlacing chip, was assembled at Sim2’s parent Seleco’s factory in Pordenone, Italy, using Fuji optical engine, Vp Daniel Drook said. Among other things, HT300 has optical engine that eliminates need for filters, move designed to boost lamp life to 5,000 hours from 2,000, company said. It also uses 6-segment color wheel. As it introduced HT300, Sim2, which entered U.S. with Grand Cinema line last year, cut price on existing HT200 DLP projector (800x600 resolution, 800 lumens and 600:1) to $7,000 from $8,999, Drook said. While Sim2 has focused on front projectors, it also is weighing adding DLP-based rear-projection TV, although such product isn’t likely before 2003, Drook said. In expanding DLP line, Sim2 is continuing to maintain CRT-based Millennium projectors topped by SVD 800 HD, which has 7” tube, 1,280x1,024 resolution, 1,050 lumens, $20,000 price. While Drook conceded that Sim2’s midpriced CRT projectors had suffered most from lightweight DLP and LCD-based models, he said company had no plans to abandon market. Seleco, which controls 33% of Sim2 subsidiary, says it has 26% share of global market for CRT front projectors, followed by Sony (23%) and Barco (18%). “To our eyes CRTs still deliver the best picture, but Sim2 has taken on the goal of matching the performance of CRTs” with DLP, Drook said. In focusing on DLP and CRTs, Sim2 has no plans to add LCD projector, he said, and current price war has driven low-end models to $2,000.
Echoing most competing videogame makers who have reported results for their most recent quarters this month, Electronic Arts (EA) said it was “enthusiastic about the upcoming holiday season” thanks largely to PlayStation 2 (PS2) and didn’t see much impact on its sales in wake of Sept. 11 attacks.
Sega started House of the Dead 3 contest in time for Halloween. Gamers were being asked to create and wear original zombie costume, take picture, write short explanation about what would make him or her scary videogame zombie, send it all to Sega’s hq. Details of contest are available at http://score.sega.com/games/HOD3/contest/index.html. Third entry in House of the Dead series is to ship for Xbox in early 2002.
Day after Sony reported $111 million loss on sluggish worldwide demand for core electronics, Toshiba and Sanyo were among Japanese majors echoing similar doom and gloom over prospects for 2nd-half results.
Capcom will ship enhanced version of its videogame Onimusha Warlords for Xbox “in early 2002.” New version -- Genma Onimusha -- will support Dolby Surround technology and offer new attack system. Battle scenes in M (Mature) rated game were inspired by movie sequences created by late Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa.
Samsung installed store-within-a-store format in 7 CompUSA outlets featuring plasma and LCD displays as well as DVD and digital audio players, VCRs, camcorders. Format, which has been tested since July in 6 Fla. stores including some in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, since has been added to CompUSA flagship outlet in N.Y., which is scheduled to open formally Nov. 2.
As Samsung ships 15” ($749) and 17” ($1,299) LCDs with optional HDTV tuner ($99), it’s expected to unveil 40W at Comdex in Nov. and is adding 5th production line to build larger sizes, company said. SyncMaster 15” and 17” have 1,280x1,024 and 1,024x768 resolutions, respectively, and connector that allows optional tuner to slip into back of panel. While Samsung is debuting 40W in U.S., no delivery date or specs have been set. Display represents significant leap over Samsung’s 28” LCD, which has been shown several times but never delivered. Samsung also will add 19” LCD monitor at Comdex, filling gap that existed between its 17” and 21” models. New 19” has 1,280x,1024 resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio.
Clarity LCC will add optical “lip reading” to voice recognition technology through 24-month joint development project with IC Tech. Defense Dept. (DoD) is interested in visual speech recognition for applications such as noise-immune voice command and control or whisper-level commands for privacy in public settings, but technology also will have application in consumer electronics products, Clarity CEO Raymond Gunn said. He cited hands-free mobile phone kits and voice command for automotive telematics, medical devices and “even games and toys.” Optical hardware, including cameras, will show up in hand-held phones, computers, laptops and PDAs, he said. Although separate company, IC Tech shares founders and is described as Clarity’s “think tank,” which has first refusal for technology developed, Vp-Sales Norman Torrey said. IC Tech won Small Business Innovative Research contract from DoD to develop software “to read lips and interpret speech.” As condition of grant, “Clarity provides commercial backing for IC Tech,” he said. New audio-visual speech recognition technology will work with existing Clarity voice extraction software that deciphers voice information from background noise and further focuses on single voice within environment. System developed by IP Tech will use optical tracking to interpret movement of lips, adding information to help interpret audio phonetics. For example, Torrey said, M and N sound similar but with M lips are closed, with N lips don’t close. “The way the human brain works, the eye looks at a speaker’s lips and interprets what the ear has missed. This is why the brain is much better at speech recognition than a computer,” Torrey said: “Up to now voice recognition accuracy, whether it is 70% or 90%, only goes so far. Adding on this visual technique allows us to get it 100% correct.”