Worldwide smart speaker sales grew 8.2% year on year in Q1 to 28.2 million units, reported Strategy Analytics Wednesday. Amazon had 23.5% share, up from 21.5% a year ago; Google's share grew to 19.3% from 17.9%. Shares of Chinese vendors Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi dropped due to pandemic-related supply and demand challenges. Normalizing supply chains will bring growth for Chinese vendors in Q2, it said. Smart speakers have a role during lockdown by giving consumers access to video chat services, said analyst David Watkins.
The U.K.’s COVID-19 lockdown is sending viewers flocking to BBC iPlayer streaming in “record numbers,” said the broadcaster Tuesday. Sunday was the biggest day in the history of the service with 22.1 million streaming “requests,” it said. BBC recorded 927 million requests since the lockdown started March 23, a 67% increase from the same seven-week period in 2019. April was BBC iPlayer’s biggest-ever month with 564 million requests. Q1 had a record-high 1.4 billion requests, up 34% from the 2019 quarter.
Sonos and Tile landed List 4 tariff exclusions for wireless devices imported from China under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule’s 8517.62.0090 subheading. Sonos won exemption for its wireless mesh network audio components. Tile’s exclusion was for a Bluetooth tracking device that meshes with a smartphone app for finding misplaced keys and other common household articles. The exclusions are retroactive to Sept. 1 when List 4 took effect and expire Sept. 1. About 50 exclusion requests were filed for 8517.62.0090 goods, mostly for Bluetooth devices, of which 45 remained in a stage 1 or stage 2 administrative hold when we checked the docket Monday. Sonos landed an exemption on its wireless network speakers in March, as did the Apple Watch and Fitness activity trackers.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr endorsed legislation Thursday to name the area in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington in honor of Li Wenliang, the physician who first went public with warnings about the spread of COVID-19 and later died of the virus. Four Republican senators -- Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Marco Rubio of Florida -- filed the Senate version. House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney of Wyoming led the companion. The bills “remind the world that Communist China’s brutal crackdown on free speech exacerbated the spread of COVID-19,” Carr said. Carr has repeatedly drawn attention in recent months for his comments about China (see 2004240045).
Chinese smartphone imports to the U.S. recovered somewhat in March after setting record lows in February, said Census Bureau data accessed Wednesday through the International Trade Commission. China’s supply chain was in lockdown for much of February during the COVID-19 outbreak. Factory production resumed in mid-February. U.S. importers sourced 7.16 million smartphones from China in March, up 23% from February, when the 5.81 million smartphones shipped to America was the lowest monthly Chinese volume since Customs and Border Protection began tracking the category in 2007. Chinese smartphone imports in March were 38% fewer than the 11.69 million handsets sent here in the same 2019 month. Q1 Chinese smartphone imports of 23.9 million were 37% below the volume in Q1 2019. Q1 smartphone imports from all countries declined 32% from a year earlier to 35.97 million handsets.
Most of the 138 nations tracked by BroadbandNow had slower average download and upload speeds in April than in January and February, it said Wednesday. Among the 10 largest nations, the U.S. is the only with no download speed degradation, though many countries saw slight declines. Countries with the most new virus cases had some download and upload speed degradation, while China has begun to climb again and Italy leveled off in April. BroadbandNow said 45 countries had no drop in average upload speeds in April, and 52 saw no drop in average download speeds.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative wants comment by June 8 whether to extend by up to another year 11 sets of tariff exclusions granted on List 3 Section 301 Chinese import. The exclusions being considered for extensions are all the List 3 exemptions granted through March 26 that are set to expire Aug. 7, it said. “USTR is not considering product exclusion notices issued after March 26,” That includes one granted April 22 to iRobot (see 2004230045). Each extension request will be evaluated independently, said the notice.
IRobot expects to save $30 million this year by reducing its employee headcount 5% and shelving the planned 2021 launch of its Terra robotic lawnmower, among other spending cuts, said CEO Colin Angle on a Q1 investor call. Coronavirus supply chain disruptions in March necessitated the belt-tightening measures, he said. “Inability” to “completely” meet Q1 demand was the “largest factor associated with the shortfall,” said Angle Wednesday. Supply chain challenges “were unexpectedly complicated by the impact of COVID-19 on our organization, our contract manufacturers and some suppliers,” he said. Chinese factories “did not ramp back up to full capacity until late March” after shutting down completely for much of February, he said. As much of the U.S. went into lockdown in March, retailers canceled, reduced or deferred some product orders, he said. Revenue in Q2 “will be heavily influenced by the steps that our retailers continue to take to manage their businesses during this pandemic,” said Chief Financial Officer Alison Dean. “We currently expect a Q2 operating loss that would reflect the combination of relatively soft anticipated revenue.”
The International Trade Commission issued another limited exclusion order banning import of Comcast X1 set-top boxes that infringe patents held by Rovi, says Wednesday’s Federal Register. The ban, which concludes an investigation that began in 2018, is the second issued against Comcast at Rovi's request, after Customs and Border Protection in 2018 ruled Comcast's redesign of the X1 set-tops got around a limited exclusion order. A third investigation requested by Rovi on the cable operator's X1 boxes is ongoing. The ITC also issued cease and desist orders against Comcast but set no bond during the 60-day period of presidential review on whether to leave the exclusion order in place. Comcast didn’t comment Tuesday.