Sixty-three percent of Amazon’s global workforce is male, said the company’s diversity report released Friday. Whites made up 60 percent of Amazon’s workforce in the U.S.; blacks, 15 percent; Asians, 13 percent; Hispanics, 9 percent; and “other” races made up 3 percent, it said. Amazon said it gathered its employees' gender statistics in September; its racial statistics in July. Amazon’s racial disparities increased when applied to manager positions in the U.S., it said. Blacks and Hispanics each were 4 percent of Amazon's managers, compared with 71 percent for whites and 18 percent for Asians, it said.
Rovi acquired Fanhattan, provider of cloud-based, content programming products. Rovi said Monday. Fanhattan's Fan TV integrates linear TV, over-the-top capability and other sources of programming through one device with a touch remote, Rovi said Monday in a . With Fanhattan's capabilities, Rovi will offer customers faster "time-to-market" and improved flexibility deploying next-generation discovery and media experiences across multiple screens, it said. The combined solution supports IP and hybrid set-top boxes, DVR functionality and "personalized interactive user-interfaces through reference design hardware and a software development kit," it said.
Best Buy is poised for “strong market share” in the connected home space, said Janney Capital Markets in a report on retail store observations done during the Halloween to Christmas season transition. Among retail chains with electronics products, Janney said Best Buy’s recent expansion into the connected home market in 400 stores initially focuses on home security. Wireless cameras dominate shelf space in stores, Janney said, with Next thermostats, smoke detectors and automated door locks “less visible.” The connected home market will drive traffic in Best Buy stores in the near future “as it improves and becomes more consumer friendly,” said Janney. Lowe’s and Home Depot have laid claim to the connected home customer, but Best Buy will take share through its service capabilities, Janney said. In TVs, 4K Ultra HD and other large-screen TVs have started to show momentum that’s likely to continue through 2015, Janney said. At Target, meanwhile, Janney cited a “half-hearted” approach to consumer electronics, and questioned the retailer’s commitment to the CE category long term. It said Target didn’t have the iPhone 6 Plus on display, the TV category was “lacking the newest technologies” and overall Target stores seemed to “lag other players in newness.” While Janney didn’t see the strategy as wrong, it did say it was different “and could lead to lost relevance in the space.” Lack of branding power, relatively low margins and general “difficulties in merchandising this space” could be holding Target back from a “more substantive offering” in tech, Janney said. Target “may be making the right move, and perhaps it's best to leave the newest technologies to stores like [Best Buy], which has delivery, installation abilities, and infrastructure,” it said.
Level 3 Communications completed its acquisition of tw telecom, said the acquirer in a news release Friday. The companies had argued through the regulatory approval process that the deal would make the combined company more competitive, a position with which the FCC agreed in granting approval last week (see 1410270047). Level 3 President Jeff Storey said "the combination of tw telecom's rich metro footprint with Level 3's global network, positions the company to provide local-to-global business solutions and deliver a world-class customer experience." The release said tw telecom stockholders are receiving $10 of cash and 0.7 shares of Level 3 common stock for each share of tw telecom common stock owned.
More than eight in every 10 of the 320.4 million smartphones shipped globally in Q3 were Android devices, Strategy Analytics said Friday in a blog post. It estimated overall shipments jumped 27 percent from the 252.9 million smartphones shipped in Q3 a year earlier. "Smartphone growth continues to be driven by robust demand in emerging markets, particularly Asia and Africa Middle East," Strategy said. Android's domination of global smartphone shipments remained strong with an "impressive" 83.6 percent share, vs. 81.4 percent a year earlier, it said. Android's gain "came at the expense of every major rival platform," as BlackBerry's global smartphone share fell slightly to 0.7 percent from 1 percent a year earlier, it said. The iPhone’s share dipped to 12.3 percent from 13.4 percent "because of its limited presence at the lower end of the smartphone market," it said. Microsoft Windows Phone continued to struggle in China and Japan, and its global smartphone market share fell to 3.3 percent from 4.1 percent, Strategy said. "Android's leadership of the global smartphone market looks unbeatable at the moment. Its low-cost services and user-friendly software remain attractive to hardware makers, operators and consumers worldwide. However, challenges are emerging for Google. The Android platform is getting overcrowded with hundreds of hardware brands, Android smartphone prices are falling worldwide, and few Android device vendors make profits."
SES and Global Eagle Entertainment formed a partnership to deliver global Ku-band satellite in-flight connectivity to airlines. SES will provide the satellite bandwidth for use in Global Eagle's in-flight connectivity system, SES said Thursday in a news release. The agreement includes access to the existing SES network, and to upcoming high throughput satellite spot beam-based systems, "providing significant increases in bandwidth speeds," it said.
Comcast Xfinity customers can bring leased equipment such as set-top boxes to The UPS Store retail outlets to return to Comcast free of charge, the cable company said in a news release Thursday. “Equipment can be returned as-is, without wrapping or a box, and customers will receive a confirmation of receipt and tracking information from UPS.” Xfinity customers already were able to return equipment to Comcast’s 500 Xfinity Stores, and the deal adds 4,400 UPS stores as options. The collaboration is part of Comcast’s effort to improve customer service, said the cable operator. “Comcast is looking at every interaction it has with customers -- from the moment they order a new service, to the installation, to how issues are addressed -- in order to deliver an excellent experience and make customers’ lives easier.”
Lenovo completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google (see 1401310060) for $2.91 billion, including $660 million in cash, stock and a $1.5 billion three-year promissory note, the companies said Thursday. Lenovo will operate Motorola as a subsidiary that will stay headquartered in Chicago, it said. Google will continue to own most of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, but Motorola Mobility under Lenovo’s ownership will control more than 2,000 "patent assets" and a "large number of patent cross-license agreements," plus the Motorola Mobility brand and trademarks, they said.
The Samsung Gear S smart watch will go on sale at Sprint and AT&T stores Nov. 7, the carriers said Thursday. Gear S owners will be able to make and receive phone calls, send and receive text messages and reply to emails, said Samsung. The Gear S, running on the Tizen platform, has a two-inch touch-screen display, an onscreen keyboard and S Voice, which lets users respond to incoming messages. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are built in, along with sensors including an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and sensors for heart rate, ambient light, UV and barometer, Samsung said. The water-resistant watch can play songs stored on the device or control music stored on a companion smartphone, according to literature. Memory is 512 MB and storage is 4 GB, Samsung said. Clock faces can be customized and wristbands are interchangeable, it said. The smart watch can be added to a Sprint Family Share Pack for a $10 per month line access charge, but Sprint is waiving the access charge through December 2015 for customers who add the watch as a new line of service to a Share Pack plan of 20 GB or higher, it said. Suggested retail price of the Gear S is $384 with a service plan or for no money down and 24 monthly payments of $16 under Sprint’s Easy Pay plan, it said. At AT&T, the Gear S will be available for $199.99 with a two-year agreement, and users can add the Gear S to a Mobile Share plan for $10 per month, the carrier said.
Panasonic released a firmware update for its AX800 4K Ultra HD TVs, enabling North American users able to stream Netflix 4K programming including House of Cards and Breaking Bad. Panasonic’s 65-inch-class AX900 and 85-inch class AX850 4K Ultra HD TVs, due to ship next month, will be compatible with 4K Netflix streaming out of the box, it said. The subscription cost for Netflix 4K streaming is $11.99, which includes the ability to view up to four screens simultaneously, compared with a standard Netflix new subscriber fee of $8.99 per month. A firmware update for European TV models will be available next month, Panasonic said.