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T-Mobile To Offer Sony Xperia Z Flagship

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:08:51 +0000

Bellevue, Wash. — Sony’s flagship water-resistant Xperia Z smartphone, which launched amid great fanfare at International CES, will enter the U.S. market in the coming weeks exclusively on the T-Mobile network.

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The phone is already available in other parts of the world.

T-Mobile declined to specify an exact availability date or price but said the water-resistant Android device is expected to be available nationwide at T-Mobile retail stores, select national retailers, dealers and online via T-Mobile.com in the coming weeks. The smartphone will be available in a black finish and a limited-time purple finish.

The device is water- and dust-resistant and can hold up for 30 minutes when submerged in 10 feet of water. It also features quad-core 1.5GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 5-inch 1080p display with a pixel density of 443 ppi, and 13-megapixel main-camera resolution.

Sony is “thrilled to bring a breakthrough smartphone to T-Mobile, the breakout carrier in the U.S.,” said Timothy Hernquist, North America marketing VP for Sony Mobile Communications.

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Jun 18 2013 - 12:07pm

CEA’s Demo Days To Be Held At CE Stores Nationwide

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:06:59 +0000

Arlington, Va. – The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is holding its Demo Days campaign for the fourth straight year at retailers nationwide starting this weekend.

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Arlington, Va. – The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is holding its Demo Days campaign for the fourth straight year at retailers nationwide starting this weekend.

The campaign gives consumers the opportunity to see, hear and touch the latest innovations at electronics retail stores across the country and is designed to educate consumers about the latest consumer electronics products and encourage them to experience those products first-hand at their local electronics retailer for an immersive viewing experience, CEA said.

Two Demo Days will be held during two weekends this month, Friday through Sunday: June 21-23 and June 28-30. This year’s Demo Days will focus on Ultra High Definition, 3DTV, connected TV, digital audio and accessories to enhance any home theater experience.

“CEA Demo Days is an excellent opportunity for consumers to interact with the latest technologies for TV viewing, movie watching and music listening,” said Kerry Moyer, member relations senior director for CEA. “Go to your local electronics retailer, get a demonstration and get ‘wowed!’ ”

Participating electronics retailers and installers across the country will hold special product demonstration events in their stores and showrooms. Expert sales staff will be on hand to answer shoppers’ questions and find the best home theater setup to meet their needs and budgets, CEA said. For more information and to find participating retailers, visit CEADemoDays.com.

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Jun 18 2013 - 12:05pm

Goal Zero Bringing Public Solar Charging To New York

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:47:28 +0000

Brooklyn, N.Y. — Solar-charging supplier Goal Zero will unveil today a collaboration with AT&T and Brooklyn design studio Pensa to offer public solar-powered charging stations around New York City.

Goal Zero’s Street Charge stations will be rolled out to high-traffic areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn this summer.

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Brooklyn, N.Y. — Solar-charging supplier Goal Zero will unveil today a collaboration with AT&T and Brooklyn design studio Pensa to offer public solar-powered charging stations around New York City.

The stations, called Street Charge, will be powered by three 15-watt monocrystaline solar panels that charge an internal 11-volt, 15.6 Ah Lithium battery pack. The battery stores power to allow device charging 24 hours a day. Each station will have six ports in all: Apple 30-pin and Lightning connectors, a MiniUSB, and three female USB ports for those who carry their own charging cables.

Goal Zero said the charging duration will be similar to that of a wall outlet, about two hours for an average smartphone to be fully charged from complete discharge.

Goal Zero intends to market the modular Street Charge units to architects, developers and city planners seeking to offer amenities in commercial and public spaces. Besides providing power, Street Charge can also potentially power lighting, Wi-Fi routers and signage for ads.

Pensa’s prototype Street Charge was successfully tested last summer in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. The design studio then sought out Goal Zero as its solar provider partner.

The Street Charge stations will debut today in Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park. AT&T will sponsor the roll out of units around New York this summer in areas with high foot traffic, including Brooklyn Bridge Park, Coney Island, Riverside Park, the Rockaways, Central Park's Summerstage concert series, Randall's Island, Governor's Island, Union Square and Hudson River Park.

“We’re excited to team up with AT&T and Pensa to help make New York a little greener and solar power a little more accessible,” said Joe Atkin, president and CEO of Goal Zero. “Nearly half of all Americans own a smartphone and the amount of time we spend on handheld devices has increased dramatically. All too often, we hear the dreaded low-battery beep and it happens at the most inconvenient times. Street Charge will fix that.”

“Partnering up with Goal Zero is a great match for us,” said Marco Perry, co-founder of Pensa. “We’re looking to create something that complements its surroundings and invites people to hang out and recharge. We have also found that where people gather, opportunities develop for street vendors and retail, and neglected urban areas come alive.”

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Jun 18 2013 - 11:45am

NPD’s Arnold: Interest In 3D TVs Waning

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:45:16 +0000

Port Washington, N.Y. — ESPN’s recent decision to drop its 3D HD sports channel followed a cooling in interest among manufacturers and consumers, alike, according to a recent blog by Ben Arnold, The NPD Group industry analysis director.

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According to 3D TV unit sell-through numbers, NPD’s Retail Tracking Service said sales, which had been robust through 2012 at 32 percent growth compared with the year prior, have slowed through the first quarter of the year.

With increased price pressure, TV brands are looking for features to cut and 3D has been the logical target, Arnold pointed out.

“Through Q1, sales of 3D sets are up just 5 percent year over year while sales of TVs above 50 inches, almost exclusively where 3D has gained traction, have grown 50 percent,” he said. “This cutting comes as key indicators of consumer interest continue to decline.”

Arnold said NPD’s recent “3D 360 Wave 10 Study” shows just 14 percent of consumers expect to buy a 3DTV (down from one in four measured two years ago) and 41 percent reported awareness of 3D’s availability as a TV feature (down from 50 percent in 2011) — a sign fewer consumers are associating 3D technology with television.

“Probably most telling from ESPN’s perspective, interest in watching sports in 3D among fans has waned. According to the study, just over half (56 percent) of fans are interested in watching events in 3D, down from 70 percent in 2011,” Arnold said.

“One thing in 3D’s favor, however, is a fairly solid installed base of owners. NPD’s Consumer Tracking Service reports approximately 12 million 3DTVs have been sold since January 2010 and while a likely small portion of these owners are actually watching in three dimensions, the feature (if not the glasses) is present in a substantial number of homes. Add to this 3D-capable Blu-ray Disc players that account for a third of the market, and a new generation of gaming consoles likely to have some type of 3D functionality, and there still remains a small chance that 3D can find a killer app and an appreciable base of users.”

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Jun 18 2013 - 11:43am

Touchscreen Glass Yield Up

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:43:23 +0000

Santa Clara, Calif. — Touch-sensor glass production is forecast to grow dramatically as new touch technologies begin to take hold, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

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Santa Clara, Calif. — Touch-sensor glass production is forecast to grow dramatically as new touch technologies begin to take hold, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

The research firm expects total sensor glass yield to hit 35.9 million square meters by 2015, up from 25.5 million square meters in 2013 and 12 million square meters last year.

Projected-capacitive touch dominated in 2012 with 81.5 percent of the market, but DisplaySearch noted that on-cell touch and in-cell touch technologies are gaining with the introduction of the Galaxy smartphones and tablets and the iPhone 5, respectively.

The one touchscreen area still lagging in production is for touch-capable laptops. There are fewer manufacturers for this glass and production is being held back due to the uncertainty of the impact Windows 8 will have on the touchscreen laptop market.

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Jun 18 2013 - 11:41am

Skullcandy CFO Resigns; Company To Close Calif. Office

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:16:17 +0000

Park City, Utah — Skullcandy announced Kyle Wescoat has resigned as chief financial officer, and that the company will be closing its California office and moving operations to its headquarters, here.

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Kyle Wescoat, who was brought on as CFO from Vizio last fall, has resigned “in order to pursue opportunities closer to his home in Southern California,” a company statement said.

Wescoat will stay with the company until September.

Skullcandy also announced it is relocating its marketing, creative, business development and legal departments, as well as certain sales and international personnel, to its Park City headquarters starting this summer. Its office in San Clemente, Calif., which housed 30 employees, will be closed.

The majority of these workers will be given the opportunity to relocate with the company's assistance and continue working in the Park City office, Skullcandy said.

The company expects to record an associated pretax restructuring charge in the range of $3 million to $3.8 million, of which $500 thousand to $1 million is estimated to be incurred in the second quarter of 2013.

In the statement, president and CEO Hoby Darling, who joined Skullcandy in March, said the restructuring “will allow us to better focus our go-to-market process and ensure that our products, messaging and distribution are aligned with our target consumer … It will also enhance our ability to attract top talent and build an even stronger culture, as we look to be one of the most desirable employers in the audio and youth culture segment.”

The company also announced that Sam Paschel, product development and merchandising executive VP, has been promoted to chief commercial officer, a new position. He will be responsible for the operations of both the product and demand creation teams.

Skullcandy announced earlier this year it would be “adjusting its roadmap.”

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Jun 18 2013 - 9:15am

Audyssey Targets Music-Streaming Services For Sound Enhancement

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:04:46 +0000

Los Angeles — Audyssey reports music-streaming apps will sound better through headphones connected to iOS and Android devices if the apps incorporate its new technology called AmpIT.

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Los Angeles — Audyssey reports music-streaming apps will sound better through headphones connected to iOS and Android devices if the apps incorporate its new technology called AmpIT.

The new technology is a software developers kit (SDK), that enables music-streaming apps to optimize sound output for specific headphone models connected to a smartphone or tablet. The SDK also runs an audio-perception algorithm that maintains perceived bass response that would normally be lost at lower listening levels through headphones.

To optimize sound for a particular headphone pair, the app would access a Cloud-based database of headphone models. Data about each headphone’s acoustic characteristics, as measured by Audyssey, are stored in the Cloud and accessed by the app, whose menu would include different headphone models that users would select.

A total of 205 headphones from 55 headphone manufacturers are included in the database so far.

Audyssey also plans to expand its Cloud database to include the acoustic profiles of specific models of active wireless speakers (including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth models), docking speakers, soundbars, and embedded speakers in smartphones and tablets.

Announcements by suppliers in the speaker categories could be made by year’s end, said Chris Kyriakakis, Audyssey’s founder and chief technology officer.

Last month, the company announced availability of a 99-cent iOS media player app that uses the SDK to optimize the sound quality of music stored on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. The app, called Audyssey AMP (Audyssey Music Player), is meant mainly as a proof-of-concept “showcase,” Kyriakakis said.

Audyssey is also marketing the technology to headphone makers so they can offer their own iOS and Android apps to improve the sound quality of stored music played through their headphones.

“It’s typically thought that to get better audio quality, you have to increase bandwidth,” Kyriakakis said of music-streaming services. But “what we’ve found in our research is that bandwidth is not the leading cause of poor sound quality. It’s actually the acoustical problems of the playback devices.”

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Jun 18 2013 - 9:03am

Sprint Flings Dish Into Court Over Clearwire Bid

Doug Olenick — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:48:02 +0000

Overland Park, Kan. — Sprint filed a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block Dish Network’s bid for Clearwire and effectively called Dish dishonest.

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Overland Park, Kan. — Sprint filed a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block Dish Network’s bid for Clearwire and effectively called Dish dishonest.

The suit against Dish and Clearwire follows a decision last week by Clearwire’s board to recommend that Clearwire shareholders vote down Sprint’s plan to acquire Clearwire and opt instead for Dish’s competing bid.

Sprint, which owns slightly more than 50 percent of Clearwire, wants to acquire the remainder of the Clearwire stock that it doesn’t already own.

Sprint is also asking the court for declaratory, injunctive, compensatory and other relief.

In its complaint, Sprint contended Dish’s tender offer violates the rights of Sprint and other Clearwire stockholders under Clearwire’s governance structure and under laws of Delaware, where Clearwire is incorporated. The suit also charged that “Dish has repeatedly attempted to fool Clearwire’s shareholders into believing its proposal was actionable in an effort to acquire Clearwire’s spectrum and to obstruct Sprint’s transaction with Clearwire.”

Sprint said Dish’s bid is “not actionable” because Clearwire conditioned its bid on obtaining governance rights that Sprint said can’t be handed over because of Clearwire’s governance structure and because of Delaware law. The governance structure was put in place in an equity holders’ agreement in 2008 when Clearwire restructured, Sprint said.

Specifically, Sprint said several rights demanded by Dish, including a contractual agreement to designate at least three Clearwire board members and the right to veto certain Clearwire actions, violate the equity holders’ agreement or Delaware law.

Sprint also said that under Clearwire’s charter and the equity holders’ agreement, the Dish offer cannot be completed without the approval of holders of at least 75 percent of Clearwire’s outstanding voting securities, nor without the approval of Comcast, also an equity holder. Neither approval has been obtained, Sprint contended.

Dish’s offer, if completed, would also violate Delaware corporate law and Sprint’s and other strategic investors’ rights because it would vest Dish with “a veto power over fundamental corporate events that Delaware law places in the control of the directors or shareholders,” Sprint said.

Dish also cannot require Clearwire to place and maintain a number of Dish-designated board members because it would breach an equity holders’ agreement that stipulates Sprint can nominate seven directors, another investors group can nominate several other directors, and the nominating committee can nominate the remainder.

The Dish offer, Sprint continued, “is unlawfully coercive because it threatens to leave non-tendering shareholders holding shares in a company subject to governance deadlocks or substantial damage awards to Dish if Clearwire is unable to deliver on the unenforceable promises set forth” in Dish’s requirements.

Because of Sprint’s ownership of more than 50 percent of Clearwire stock, Dish’s bid would give the satellite broadcaster only a minority share of Clearwire. Dish is seeking a minimum of 25 percent of Clearwire, governance rights and some board seats.

Dish is seeking access to Clearwire’s spectrum and expertise in helping it build its own wireless voice and data network to diversify beyond the mature satellite-TV business. Dish is also competing with Japanese carrier SoftBank to buy Sprint outright.

Sprint, though it owns almost 51 percent of Clearwire, doesn’t control the Clearwire board and wants full control of the cash-strapped money-losing carrier so it can use Clearwire’s spectrum to expand the capacity of its LTE network.

Sprint’s complaint can be found at copy of the complaint can be found at: BusinessWire.com/Multimedia/Home/20130617006681/en/.

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Jun 18 2013 - 8:46am

Retail Execs Cite Social Media, Analytics As Essential Tools

Doug Olenick — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:11:18 +0000

New York — Social media, mobile and online shopping, and mobile and online promotions and coupons are the top tech trends making “a significant impact” on retail, industry executives said.

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New York — Social media, mobile and online shopping, and mobile and online promotions and coupons are the top tech trends making “a significant impact” on retail, industry executives said.

According to a survey of 101 senior retail executives by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG, 71 percent of retail companies are using social media to reach more customers and explore new ways of doing business, up from 58 percent last year.

“Technology is paramount to driving growth and enhancing customer engagement for retailers,” said Mark Larson, KPMG’s global retail leader. “With consumer behavior, spending and demographic profiles changing rapidly, it is absolutely critical that companies take an omni-channel approach to engage consumers, utilizing all the platforms at their disposal, including brick and mortar, online and mobile.”

Data and analytics is also an important opportunity for retailers, the survey suggested. Seventy-two percent of respondents said data analytics plays a key role in helping provide customer insights, while 67 percent use it in brand and product management and 56 percent rely on it for pricing decisions.

Executives also say they use data to drive operational excellence and actionable insights (50 percent), and to acquire customers (36 percent). However, a gap exists between this opportunity and retailers’ ability to realize it, as 43 percent of respondents rate their companies’ data analytics literacy as only average.

“A key to success will be investing in technology to harness the vast amounts of structured data that reside in a company as well as the unstructured data online and in social media,” Larson added. “That data can drive the insights that will allow retailers to interact with consumers more effectively and capture more ‘wallet share,’ as well as identify new markets, new strategies and new operating models to generate growth and profitability.”

Most executives (85 percent) expect capital spending will increase or remain the same over the next year. When asked where they will increase spending most, executives most frequently cited geographic expansion (61 percent), IT (40 percent) and advertising and marketing/branding (24 percent).

Respondents also indicated that business conditions are improving, with 74 percent reporting increased revenue over 2012, up nine points from the previous year. Additionally, 85 percent of retail executives indicate the retail industry will see growth in the coming year, although of those, 74 percent point to only modest gains of 5 percent or less.

The full survey is available here.

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Jun 17 2013 - 4:09pm

Klipsch Expands In-Ear Headphones

Doug Olenick — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:59:50 +0000

Indianapolis — Klipsch said it’s now shipping its latest in-ear headphones, the S3m.

The S3m in-ear headphones have a universal remote and mic.

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Indianapolis — Klipsch said it’s now shipping its latest in-ear headphones, the S3m.

The S3m feature 5.3mm dynamic drivers, Klipsch’s patented oval ear tips, and a universal in-line mic and remote. Five colors are available: black, white, blue, red or jade.

Frequency response is listed at 12Hz to 18kHz, with sensitivity of 106dB and impedance of 18 ohms at 1kHz.

Suggested retail is $49.99. A carry case, clothing clip and three sizes of ear tips are included.

The company is discontinuing the Image S3 headphones, a company spokeswoman told TWICE.

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Jun 17 2013 - 3:58pm