With low-ticket soundbar systems comprising 75 percent of Boston Acoustics’ U.S. revenue, the company is hoping to boost sales of its higher margin products through a renewed commitment to the specialty channel for high-end products and in-store demo kiosks for a mid-priced system, company executives said Thursday at a New York press event.
Glu Mobile is “disappointed” with the performance of most of its new releases in Q3, CEO Niccolo de Masi said on an earnings call Thursday. While new title launches were “well received by consumers and critics and downloaded well,” the games “exhibited weak average revenue per daily active user” (ARPDAU), he said. Glu is “implementing a number of measures to ensure that our next product cycle will deliver higher ARPDAU,” he said. Glu shares closed 21.5 percent lower Friday at $2.56. In Q4, Glu has already launched Death Dome and the sequel to its most downloaded title of all time, Contract Killer 2, it said. As with most Q3 titles, “downloads and reviews are strong,” but ARPDAU on Death’s Dome is “below expectations,” said the CEO. Contract Killer 2, however, is “off to a solid start” and is among the top 25-grossing iPad apps and top 40-grossing iPhone apps, he said. To “prevent a reoccurrence of our weak Q3 new title performance,” and to “maximize Glu’s long-term growth,” the CEO said he decided to delay five Q4 title launches until Matthew Ricchetti, its new president of studios, can review them. As a result, by year-end, Glu expects to launch only two more titles: Dragon Slayer and Contract Killer: Zombies 2, he said. Glu Q3 revenue grew to $21.3 million from $16.9 million in the year-ago quarter and its loss narrowed to $3.6 million, or 6 cents a share, from $6.2 million, or 10 cents (CED Nov 2 p15). But of the 11 titles that Glu launched in Q3, only Eternity Warriors II and Blood & Glory: Legend were “financially successful,” said Chief Financial Officer Eric Ludwig. Sixty percent of Glu’s Q3 smartphone revenue was on iOS, 32 percent on Android and the rest on other smartphone platforms, he said. In the quarter, “the consumer smartphone upgrade cycle slowed in anticipation” of new iOS and Amazon device launches, the CEO said. That “resulted in slower sales for some device manufacturers and a restrained expenditure by consumers on their associated ecosystems,” he said. Ad budgets were also “soft due to the consumer pause,” he said. But Glu “maximized our positioning for Apple fall iOS launches,” he said. Glu “optimized and had five titles featured” in the new iOS 6 store and on the launch weekend of the iPhone 5, he said. All of Glu’s “most significant titles have now been optimized” for the iPhone 5, he said. Glu also recently “experienced degradation” in iOS ad revenue as Apple “extended it prohibition of incentivized advertising to include any linkage to external HTML 5 sites,” reducing sales via the Tapjoy iOS channel, he said. As a result, Glu’s Q4 forecast was “substantially lowered,” he said.
The Department of Energy will issue a rulemaking notice on set-top box energy efficiency standards, a spokeswoman said Friday. That’s now that talks lasting for most of this year for some multichannel video programming distributors to agree on voluntary guidelines broke down (CED Nov 2 p2). Stakeholders each blamed the other side for why the negotiations ended Oct. 26 at the request of advocates.
The Department of Energy will issue a rulemaking notice on set-top box energy efficiency standards, a spokeswoman said Friday. That’s now that talks lasting for most of this year for some multichannel video programming distributors to agree on voluntary guidelines broke down (CD Nov 2 p8). Stakeholders each blamed the other side for why the negotiations ended Oct. 26 at the request of advocates.
Negotiations for energy-saving commitments by cable companies for set-top boxes ended, advocates for energy efficiency who had sought rules and the cable and consumer electronics industries that had opposed them told us. They said talks ended last Friday with CEA and NCTA on one side and groups including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on the other. The continuing talks had prompted the Department of Energy (DOE) to delay issuing a rulemaking on such standards until at least Oct. 1 (CD July 6 p4). The notice has not been issued, and a DOE spokeswoman had no comment.
Negotiations for energy-saving commitments by cable companies for set-top boxes ended, advocates for energy efficiency who had sought rules and the cable and consumer electronics industries that had opposed them told us. They said talks ended last Friday with CEA and NCTA on one side and groups including the Appliance Standards Awareness Project and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on the other. The continuing talks had prompted the Department of Energy (DOE) to delay issuing a rulemaking on such standards until at least Oct. 1 (CED July 6 p2). The notice still has not been issued.
"People ought to have more choice about what happens to their information” online, and companies should be altering behavior to reflect those concerns, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a Ford Foundation panel Tuesday. Consumers are worried about their privacy, and “if the industry doesn’t get its act together and give consumers more choice … they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said. The FTC is going to “try to influence the rules of the road going forward,” he said, but it will “use our stick when we need to."
"People ought to have more choice about what happens to their information” online, and companies should be altering behavior to reflect those concerns, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a Ford Foundation panel Tuesday. Consumers are worried about their privacy, and “if the industry doesn’t get its act together and give consumers more choice … they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said. The FTC is going to “try to influence the rules of the road going forward,” he said, but it will “use our stick when we need to."
Bang & Olufsen unveiled the latest addition to its Play product line Wednesday, a saucer-shaped single-enclosure stereo music system with AirPlay that the company hopes to sell in high-end furniture, kitchen and lifestyle stores. Bang & Olufsen launched the $2,699.99 system at the posh Trump SoHo hotel in Manhattan, where guest rooms are outfitted with BeoSystem TVs and motorized drape systems. The 480-watt circular sound system -- 2.3 feet in diameter -- packs two 3/4-inch tweeters and a pair of 3-inch midrange drivers, each powered by an integrated 80-watt Class D amplifier. The 8-inch bass-reflex bass unit, with a 160-watt amp, was designed into a convex section of the enclosure, the company said. The BeoPlay A9 will sell through Bang & Olufsen and select Apple stores when it ships in late November, Zean Nielsen, Bang & Olufsen America president, told us. The company is also targeting lifestyle stores such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s, hoping to appeal to customers it wouldn’t typically reach, Nielsen said. Nielsen said since the launch of the Play line, which debuted at CES in January, 60 percent of B&O’s new customers have come in through the fledgling product series, which also includes a portable powered speaker system, iPad speaker frame and shelf-mounted music system. Bang & Olufsen is “not necessarily” looking to display the new A9 system “next to a bunch of electronics,” said Nielsen, saying the company is also looking at selling through electronics retailers but “it’s not our primary focus.” The “trick” feature inside the A9, the industrial design statement B&O is known for integrating into most of its products, is a touch-controlled volume up/down wheel that traces the outline of the circular frame of the system. Users turn up and down volume and pause the music by sliding or tapping a finger along a path of raised dots on the top rear side of the enclosure. The wireless A9 system streams music using DLNA or AirPlay, relying on the smartphone or tablet used as the source device for control of tracks, station or playlist selection. Customers have a choice of grille fabric color: black, white, red, silver green and brown, and the three supporting wooden legs are available in oak, beech or teak, executives said. Rear-panel connections include mini audio, USB and Ethernet jacks, the company said.
T-Mobile USA’s proposed buy of MetroPCS is not expected to generate much opposition, as regulators take a deep dive at the FCC and Department of Justice, say officials from many of the groups that previously lined up to oppose AT&T’s failed attempt to buy T-Mobile last year and the Verizon Wireless/cable deals, which were approved by federal regulators this summer. T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile said Wednesday they signed an agreement to create what they say will be “the leading value carrier in the U.S. wireless marketplace."