Bill Matthies

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Time for the New Action CE Industry!

In 1967 I joined the “New Action Army”, not to be confused with the “I Want You !” Army of my predecessors, or the “Today’s Army Wants to Join You” Army, the “Be All You Can Be” Army, the “Army of One” Army, or today’s “Army Strong” Army, all of which came in sequence after my time. While I... More

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“We’ll Lose A Buck On Every One We Sell But Make It Up In Volume”

“ Some 152 million shoppers say they will hit stores on Nov. 25, the day after U.S. Thanksgiving, up 10.1 percent from 138 million people last year, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation, an industry group.” Reuters November 17, 2011 “It’s an $800 TV for $200, so we figured people would be out here really early, and that’s a deal... More

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Consumer Reports: Buy Your Electronics On The Internet

This headline, and many others similar to it, recently appeared online and in newspapers across the country, summarizing the findings from the latest (December 2011) Consumer Reports (CR) retailer satisfaction survey. No doubt, many who do not subscribe to CR, but who saw these stories, would never have heard of the survey were it not for the brief synopsis appearing in their newspapers and... More

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Memo To Mr. Stringer: You Might Want To Rethink That

“Yes, yes, Apple makes an iPad, but does it make a movie?” Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said in a presentation at Berlin’s annual consumer electronics fair yesterday. “We will prove that it’s not who makes the tablet first who counts but who makes it better.” Bloomberg/BusinessWeek September 1, 2011 The combination of the first... More

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Buzz: You Know It When You Don’t Hear It

By the time you read this the fact that Best Buy’s quarterly profit is off 30 percent, a figure close to the decline in their stock price over the last year, will be old news, as will explanations of why that is (”the economy is bad”, “there are no really cool new things to sell”, “others are struggling as well”, etc.) Some of that is true but... More