Viewpoint
TWICE Editor-in-Chief Steve Smith discusses the latest headlines that ae affecting the consumer electronics industry.
Happy Birthday To Harry and Jack
I returned a call this morning to a CE Hall of Famer who picked up his phone with his distinctive New York accent — Harry Elias. Ironically, I returned the call right around the time we received an email from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) saying that it would be honoring its first president and founder of International CES, Jack Wayman, who is celebrating his 90th birthday. B ...... Read More
Comments (0)Best Buy Turns The Page
The news from Best Buy yesterday was a jolt to start the work week - Dick Schulze, founder and chairman of the chain, will step down to become chairman emeritus, an honorary position, this June and will keep his board seat through June 2013. The reason? Schulze failed to report to the board in December that he became aware of allegations of an inappropriate relationship between former CEO Brian Du ...... Read More
Comments (0)Introducing CE Newswire
Do you know what CE Newswire is? Obviously, more than a few of you do based on the open rates for this relatively new emailed newsletter we send out at the end of each workday, Eastern time. For those of you who don’t, here’s the scoop: TWICE introduced CE Newswire in March without fanfare based on an idea developed by other publications here at our parent company NewBay Media. The p ...... Read More
Comments (0)Architect Of Change
Looking back, it was somewhat ironic that I found out about the resignation of Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn two weeks ago while on a flight to attend the Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) meeting in San Diego. You would think HTSA, a buying group of custom installers and high-end retailers whose individual sales volumes are miniscule in comparison with Best Buy, would have little in common ...... Read More
Comments (0)Dunn’s Departure & Best Buy’s Future
News of the end of the Brian Dunn era at Best Buy broke today while I was flying from New York to attend the HTSA meeting in San Diego. I saw the news on my Delta flight while watching CNBC, and although I was surprised, I was not completely shocked. What was surprising was he resigned and left a lot sooner than many thought he would. Dunn was CEO of Best Buy for almost three years and was handpic ...... Read More
Comments (1)Best Buy’s Road Ahead
In the past 24 hours or so since Best Buy’s financial was released, the current condition and eventual fate of the No. 1 retailer of consumer electronics has been sliced, diced and dissected in more ways than I care to imagine. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, but I read many of them. And I vowed as of last night that I wouldn’t add to the Google list of bloggers about Best ...... Read More
Comments (3)‘Spring Black Friday’?!?
It’s none of my business, since it doesn’t involve the CE or major appliances (thank God), but I just saw this headline: ‘Spring Black Friday’ happening earlier than usual. The story is about Lowe’s and The Home Depot reacting to the warm early spring weather and having sales that rival Black Friday. We all know Black Friday in the CE and major appliance busine ...... Read More
Comments (0)Technics Revival
During Panasonic’s formal unveiling of its 2012 audio and video lines here in New York Tuesday and Wednesday, which included more pricing info on its flat panels, the company went retro.Panasonic reintroduced the Technics brand … for headphones. The Technics brand was around for 31 years and was dropped in 2001 in favor of the Panasonic brand. Technics was always positioned as a high ...... Read More
Comments (0)Change Is Never Easy
Changing business strategies is never easy. It can cause friction and generate mixed feelings. Just ask brick-and-mortar retailers who lauded recent manufacturer plans to unilateral pricing programs (UPP) and channel-management changes, only to find out it may hurt them too. The new rules come at a time where retailers that are brick-andmortar based have upgraded, or are beginning to upgrade, ...... Read More
Comments (1)Justin
We just got the sad news that Justin Camerlengo, a veteran Panasonic communications and public relations exec, died this week. Justin was a pleasure to work with even when you got a scoop, such as details on a product that a company didn’t want to talk about yet. I once called him on that type of a scoop in the late 1980s. I found out about a “breakthrough” Panasonic product ( ...... Read More
Comments (1)Reflections On Buying Group Meetings
After a hectic two weeks I haven’t had a real chance to reflect upon something that has never occurred in my years covering the consumer electronics industry: two buying groups held their meetings in the same city and the same exact dates. The only other comparable occasion was in the early ’90s when the NATM Buying Group held its meeting in South Florida on the same dates the old In ...... Read More
Comments (2)Unilateral Pricing A Good First Step
While I mentioned that changes in CE business model were overdue, I didn’t think the changes would be announced so rapidly. I guess that’s what happens when two of the industry’s major buying groups, Nationwide Marketing Group and Brand Source, hold their winter meetings in the same city (Orlando) and on the same dates (Feb. 26 to 29). The unilateral pricing changes and change ...... Read More
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