About half of all “knowledge workers” globally will work remotely at year's end, compared with 27% in 2019, reported Gartner Tuesday. The hybrid workforce will continue to increase demand for PCs and tablets, shipments of which are expected to exceed 500 million units this year for the first time, it said. Gartner estimates remote workers will be 32% of employees worldwide by Dec. 31, up from 17% in 2019. It defines knowledge workers as those in “knowledge-intensive” occupations, such as writers, accountants and engineers. Remote workers by Gartner's definition spend at least one day a week working from home. The U.S. will lead other regions with 53% of its workforce working remotely in 2022, followed by the U.K. (52%), Germany (37%), France (33%), India (30%) and China (28%).
Hyundai completed its $1.1 billion buy of a controlling interest in mobile robotics company Boston Dynamics from SoftBank, said the companies Monday. Hyundai will own 80% of Boston Dynamics, SoftBank the rest, they said.
Opposing sides in the Section 301 litigation sparred heatedly in the closing minutes of oral argument Thursday (see 2106170047) about the role the plaintiffs’ steering committee should play should the U.S. Court of International Trade grant the motion of sample-case plaintiffs HMTX and Jasco for a preliminary injunction to freeze the liquidations of unliquidated customs entries from China with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure. DOJ’s May 14 “alternative proposed order” would require the steering committee to furnish the government a spreadsheet with the import data that Customs and Border Protection would need to suspend liquidations, and to update it every 30 days (see 2105160001). “The government proposes having the steering committee play a role that it never volunteered to take on,” said Matthew Nicely, Akin Gump’s lead HMTX-Jasco lawyer. “It was never this court’s intention to have the steering committee do the government’s job, which is exactly what the government proposes.” DOJ’s proposal “is simply untenable,” he said. The government tried to “think of any possible way to make this process easier,” responded DOJ trial attorney Jamie Shookman of the rationale for proposing the steering committee role. “One that seemed sort of easy to take on and manageable by plaintiffs was this first step of compiling the importers and the information CBP would need to suspend their entries.” CBP is staring at the possibility of processing “thousands” of suspension requests, much of that by hand, if the court grants the injunction, she said. Nicely replied that “the amount of work here” is of DOJ’s “own making” for refusing to support a refund stipulation if plaintiffs win the litigation, as DOJ has done in previous cases. The government “undertook an unlawful imposition of Section 301 duties on a massive amount of trade,” he said. “That was not the plaintiffs who did that. That was the government who did that, so now they’re in a position of having to defend it.”
Samsung and Vivo were the fastest-growing smartphone vendors globally in Q1, reported Strategy Analytics Wednesday. Samsung’s shipments grew 78% sequentially from 2020's Q4, while Vivo’s were up 62%. Global 5G smartphone shipments grew “a healthy” 6% quarter on quarter, reaching a quarterly record 136 million handsets in Q1, said analyst Ken Hyers. Demand for 5G smartphones “remains very strong,” especially in China, the U.S. and Western Europe, he said. SA forecasts global 5G smartphone shipments to reach 624 million handsets this year for 132% year-over-year growth.
Privacy watchdogs may enforce breaches even if they're not the lead authority -- under certain conditions -- the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. ECJ's decision prompted cheers from consumer groups and a cautious response from Facebook and the tech sector. The case arose when the Belgian Privacy Commission tried to stop Facebook Ireland, Facebook Inc. and Facebook Belgium from allegedly collecting personal information on the browsing behavior of account holders and non-users via cookies, social plug-ins and pixels. In 2018, a Brussels court held that it had jurisdiction and that Facebook wasn't adequately informing Belgian users about its data collection. The court ordered the social media giant to stop gathering the information in Belgium. The company appealed; that court said its jurisdiction covered only Facebook Belgium, not Facebook Ireland or Facebook Inc. The appeals court asked the ECJ to determine whether Belgium's data protection authority had the required standing to bring the proceedings, given that general data protection regulation created a "one-stop shop" for enforcement actions, and that only the Irish Data Protection Commission had jurisdiction because it's the controller for Facebook personal data in the EU. The ECJ held that a national data protection authority has the power to pursue alleged GDPR violations involving cross-border data processing even though it's not the lead supervisory authority and that it's not necessary that the controller of such personal data have a main establishment in that country. However, the ECJ said the non-lead authority can enforce only if it complies with rules governing the relationship between itself and the lead authority. The one-stop shop mechanism "requires close, sincere and effective cooperation" between authorities to ensure consistent application of the rules, the court said. Facebook said it's pleased the court "upheld the value and principles of the one-stop shop mechanism, and highlighted its importance" in ensuring uniform application of the GDPR. "While the Court has upheld the one-stop shop principle ... it has also opened the back door for all national data protection enforcers to start multiple proceedings against companies," said the Computer & Communications Industry Association, adding that this risks compliance becoming more fragmented and uncertain. "Given the existing bottlenecks in the GDPR cross-border enforcement system, all national authorities must be able, under certain conditions, to proactively take matters into their own hands, said the European Consumer Organisation.
Accenture is buying German engineering and testing company umlaut. Accenture said Monday the move is aimed at increasing engineering capabilities in areas including 5G, cloud and artificial intelligence. Accenture said it’s picking up more than 4,200 umlaut engineers and consultants in 17 countries.
The U.S. Court of International Trade scheduled oral argument for 10 a.m. June 17 via Webex on the preliminary injunction Section 301 sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products seek to freeze the liquidation of unliquidated customs entries from China with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure. Akin Gump lawyers for HMTX and Jasco asked for oral argument last week (see 2106060001). They filed for the injunction April 23 after the government refused to stipulate that the plaintiffs will be entitled to refunds of liquidated entries if they win the litigation and the court declares the tariffs unlawful. DOJ opposes the injunction.
The Commerce Department is unsure if Wassenaar Arrangement stakeholders can meet in person this year, after the 2020 plenary was canceled, potentially creating more uncertainty about the group’s next batch of multilateral export control proposals, said Bureau of Industry and Security's Hillary Hess. Wassenaar is “putting in a lot of effort” on holding physical meetings, but the process has been “very difficult,” she told a Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee meeting. “I've heard that they will try to figure out a way to do it virtually or hybrid or something,” said Hess, BIS regulatory policy director: “I have not heard that they were successful in figuring out” in-person meetings. Tuesday's virtual meeting also heard tech industry concerns (see 2106090054).
More than six in 10 mobile gamers increased gameplay during lockdowns, and 75% of the heightened activity is expected to remain two years after the pandemic subsides, reported IDC Tuesday. It teamed with LoopMe to canvass 3,850 smartphone users in Brazil, Germany, Japan, Singapore, the U.K. and U.S. in April, finding 6% of current mobile gamers didn't play pre-pandemic. “These new gamers appeared to skew male and a few years younger in age than the broader base of pre-pandemic mobile gamers,” said the companies. They estimate the global base of mobile gamers jumped 12% last year, reaching 2.25 billion. “Mobile gaming activity tended to increase more in the countries with the highest COVID-19 death rates,” said IDC analyst Lewis Ward. “Gamers in these same countries expected a larger pullback in gaming once the pandemic has subsided.”