TWICE News

• 100th Radio Station Goes Digital
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 20, 2004
  Las Vegas — iBiquity Digital announced that 100 radio stations across the country are delivering digital programming using its HD Radio in-band on-channel (IBOC) technology.
  
• Spencer’s Joins NATM
  
  Alan Wolf, April 19, 2004
  Mesa, Ariz. — Spencer’s TV & Appliance, a 30-year-old white and brown goods independent based here, has joined NATM Buying Corp., effective this month.
  
• Mitsubishi Announces Return To DLP TV
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 19, 2004
  Huntington Beach, Calif. — Mitsubishi formally announced plans to expand its microdisplay-based rear-projection television assortment with the addition of six high-definition sets based on Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology.
  
• FCC Prepares To Draft IBOC Rules
  
  By Joseph Palenchar, April 19, 2004
  Washington D.C. — The launch of in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio service entered a new phase with the FCC decision to develop formal rules for digital radio broadcasting and to hear the music industry’s copyright concerns.
  
• Sony Ericsson Cellphone Q1 Sales Rise 66%
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 19, 2004
  Stockholm, Sweden — Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, a cellphone-making joint venture between Sweden’s LM Ericsson and Japan’s Sony, enjoyed a 66 percent sales increase in the first quarter, hitting $1.6 billion, up from $968.7 million in the year-ago period.
  
• Thomson Bows Parent-Friendly DVD Players
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 16, 2004
  New York — Thomson is preparing to market, through Wal-Mart and Kmart, a pair of RCA-branded DVD players that automatically block out potentially offensive language, sexual content and graphic violence from select pre-recorded DVDs, a Thomson spokesman confirmed.
  
• Best Buy Begins Rolling Out Customer-Centric Stores
  
  By Alan Wolf, April 16, 2004
  Minneapolis — Best Buy has seen the future of the $25 billion company and it is customer centricity.
  
• Sears Sets Sights On Innovation, Distribution
  
  By Alan Wolf, April 16, 2004
  Chicago — Following last year’s overhaul of its major appliance business — which focused on wider selection, more opening price point SKUs, increased take-with inventory, new compensation formulas, an overhauled Web site and a department redesign — Sears is now taking its battle for market share to the streets.
  
• Retailers Say Sales Roared During March
  
  By Alan Wolf, April 16, 2004
  New York — March went out like a lion for most publicly held merchants selling CE and/or major appliances, who reported solid gains against easy year-ago comparisons.
  
• PC Sales Show Double Digit Growth
  
  By Doug Olenick, April 16, 2004
  New York - PC shipments posted very healthy double-digit growth during the first quarter with Dell again leading the way, selling about one-third of all PCs in the United States, according to reports from International Data Corp. and Gartner.
  
• Mainstream CE To Make RetailVision Debut
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 16, 2004
  Indian Wells, Calif. — RetailVision is introducing mainstream consumer electronics products as part of its semiannual event here next week, when the four-day meeting brings together some 90 retailers and 120 vendors at the Hyatt Grand Champions resort, April 26 through 29.
  
• Samsung Q1 CE Segment Sales Rise 19%
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 16, 2004
  Seoul, South Korea — With flat-screen televisions blazing a hot sales trail for Samsung Electronics in the year’s first quarter, the company’s digital media segment, mainly consumer electronics, enjoyed a 19 percent sales increase, reaching $1.9 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the year-ago period.
  
• Nokia Cellphone Sales Drop 15%
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 16, 2004
  Helsinki, Finland — Despite higher unit volume of mobile phones, first quarter dollar sales at Nokia dropped 15 percent, down to $5.1 billion from $6 billion in the year-ago period. Sales to North America were flat in the year’s opening three months.
  
• Retail Digital Imaging Printing Makes Gains
  
  By Greg Scoblete, April 15, 2004
  New York — Thanks to a widespread manufacturer and retail education effort, consumer awareness and the use of retail digital printing solutions is on the rise, but home printing still remains the method of choice for making digital prints.
  
• Kim Named LGE Marketing VP
  
  By Greg Tarr, April 15, 2004
  Englewood Cliffs, N.J. –Sam Kim has been named LG Electronics U.S.A.’s consumer electronics marketing VP.
  
• Apple iPod Sales Boost Overall Revenue 29%
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 15, 2004
  Cupertino, Calif. — The public’s love affair with the iPod portable digital music player has snowballed into a near 30 percent increase in quarterly sales and a tripling of profit at Apple Computer.
  
• SanDisk Q1 Revenue, Net Jumps SanDisk Q1 Revenue, Net Jumps
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 15, 2004
  Sunnyvale, Calif. — SanDisk more than doubled its total revenue in its traditionally slower first quarter, while net income nearly tripled.
  
• Audiovox Electronics Group Posts 70% Q1 Sales Jump
  
  By Jeff Malester, April 14, 2004
  Hauppauge, N.Y. — Increased sales in sound and CE product lines, in addition to $15.7 million in revenue related to Audiovox Germany, acquired as part of the Recoton purchase, helped the Audiovox Electronics Group (AEC) record a fiscal first quarter year-over-year 70 percent sales increase.
  
• Thomson Q1 CE Segment Revenue Flat
  
  by Jeff Malester, April 14, 2004
  Paris — Thomson’s cverall first quarter revenue was flat in its Industry & Consumer Solutions segment, with the company’s consumer electronics and components business coming in at $1.21 billion, compared with $1.23 billion in the year-ago period.
  
• Yanks Go To Bat For Joe Torre Charity
  
  By TWICE Staff, April 14, 2004
  Ridgefield Park, N.J. — The New York Yankees will help in the fight against domestic violence every time the players go to bat at Yankee Stadium this year, thanks to a fund-raising program sponsored by Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope and Circuit City.