Viewpoint

April 23, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

Yesterday I was pleased to attend the kickoff press conference for this year’s Hope For Education program, developed by Samsung. Since it began in 2004 the program has provided more than $7 million in technology and software to schools in the United States. Hope For Education is an essay-writing contest for students, teachers, administrators and community people. Check our story from yesterday for details. 

I was at the Samsung Experience at the Time Warner Center, here in Manhattan, not only to cover the event but because I’ve been lucky enough to be a Hope For Education judge since it began.

But what happened yesterday really opened my eyes. I was sitting up front with fellow judges and execs from Microsoft and DirecTV with wh...Read More

April 15, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Like many others, a day after the announcement that Blockbuster put in a bid to buy Circuit City, I’m still scratching my head. I just don’t see what Blockbuster brings to the party and how it plans to make a winner out of a combined Blockbuster/Circuit City operation.

Freelance contributor David Elrich forwarded to me Dan Burrows’ analysis of the deal for SmartMoney.com which provides a good view of the ins and outs of this bid.

While Circuit City did post a profit in its most recent quarter, sales were down. The chain made a profit by cutting costs, through improvements in its Canadian division, and with some one-time items. Circuit City itself admits it h...Read More

April 14, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The D&M rumors continue to fly in fast and furious from Japan. It could still be another illustration of what news coverage has become on the Web.

You may have seen or heard about a JCN Network story filed on Friday, April 11, headlined, “U.S. Retailer Best Buy Joins Race For D&M”. The story seems to be a follow-up to a report from last week that our Joe Palenchar blogged about concerning potential suitors for D&M.

I contacted both Best Buy and D&M in the U.S. this morning to see if there was any truth to the report and, not surprisingly, both said they have policies of not commenting on rumors or speculation. We w...Read More

April 10, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

While it is always good news when a company posts a quarterly profit, sometimes it doesn’t tell the entire story.

Such is the case of Circuit City, which yesterday reported that for the first time in several quarters it posted $4.5 million in net earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Feb. 29. The chain posted a profit by lowering expenses, reducing capital expenditures and an improved performance of its Canadian operation InterTAN

That’s good news for the chain, which has been pounded by stockholders such as Ultimate Electronics’ and Wattles Capital Expenditures’ boss Mark Wattles, among others, for poor performance in the market and financially.

The bad news was that for the same-quarter sales were down 5.5 percent and same-store sales were down 10.4 pe...Read More

March 25, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (5)

Consumer electronics prices across the board will be going up this year.

(Let me repeat that in italics, so you can re-read it with emphasis.)

Consumer electronics prices across the board will be going up this year.

That’s the word from well-placed sources in the industry who have told me this, but wish to remain anonymous for fear of being the bearer of bad news. (As we all know in consumer electronics, the only time prices go up is when a new technology or format is introduced, or when manufacturers introduce next-generation products with added features)

What’s the reason this time? China.