Strategy in TECH...
Taking place right now in Barcelona, Spain, ISE is a unique show that offers products tailored for both the residential and commercial side of the integration business, as well as for the international market. Of course, many major industry brands that distribute their goods globally are showing there, including these top technology products from the curated selection shown below.
Masimo Corp. (NASDAQ: MASI), a medical products company that also owns audio maker Sound United, notches yet another victory in its continuing conflict with Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) – this time in the form of a favorable ruling from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which dismissed Apple’s challenges to two Masimo patents on proprietary technology to test blood oxygenation levels. As a result, things are heating up and getting a little more serious for Apple, which Masimo accuses of infringing on its patents to add a health-related feature to their popular Apple Watch products, with no compensation or licensing arrangement with Masimo.
Crestron Electronics, a leading provider of smart workplace collaboration technology, announced today that in May 2023, it will hold another Modern Work Summit 2023 in Madrid. A follow-up to the first such event held in Orlando, FL last year, Modern Work Summit 2023 is a two-day in-person event centered on the topic of the dynamic and evolving workplace of today (and tomorrow), and the technology that helps power the transition.
WiSA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: WISA) has been on a wild and rocky ride over the last few days as it scrambled to head off a delisting action by the Nasdaq stock exchange designed to force its stock listing off the exchange. At issue, the company’s business struggles that contributed to its declining stock bid prices have put it in violation of specific exchange rules governing maintained minimum pricing levels. This led the exchange to begin the delisting process, which WiSA appealed in order to buy itself some time.
The company then quickly embarked on a strategy – a mad dash really – to inflate its stock price artificially via a reverse stock split. But this tactic appears to have failed to impress investors, causing its stock bid price to collapse like an out-of-control toboggan ride down a cliff.
Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) announced this week the availability of upgraded Series 2 versions of two of their popular true wireless in-ear headphones – the Pi7 S2 and the Pi5 S2. In true B&W form, these new models are NOT an example of just the same old wine in a brand-new bottle. Rather, the company has made serious upgrades to the technology, performance, and capabilities compared to the original versions of these headphones making them a great choice for new buyers…and also an attractive upgrade option for owners of the original versions.
Multiple reports are pouring in that Snap One, a leading custom integration supplier, has just completed a restructuring that resulted in layoffs. It is not clear at this point just how many employees were cut, but it was significant enough to motivate several sources around the country to reach out to Strata-gee.
The trials and travails of WiSA Technologies (NASDAQ: WISA) appear to be continuing, if not accelerating, as the company said it has received a new notification from the Nasdaq stock exchange informing the company that its stock has violated yet another rule of the exchange, triggering a new instant delisting process. And this all took place in the wake of it just having won an additional 180-day extension period to try and cure a previous violation of a different rule from 2022. So what happens now?
Just one day after I posted the story Tech Takes a Turn…Downwards, we learned of more layoffs hitting tech, including Google parent Alphabet, Spotify, Vox Media, and more. These additional reports of even more tech layoffs only help to affirm the reality of a slowdown hitting big tech and other areas that are adjacent to tech, such as media focused on tech.
After several years of dizzying growth, the technology sector is now experiencing a notable downturn, as the post-COVID era has brought a combination of higher prices (inflation) and lower demand. In response, 2022 saw significant job cuts at major Big Tech brands that have continued on into 2023. That includes this Wednesday when Microsoft announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs – after a 1,000 job cut in October 2022 – another big blow to Tech.
But what about the more specific segments like consumer electronics and custom integration?
Trinnov Audio announced on Tuesday that it has created a new position at the company of Customer Support Manager and appointed Chrisanne Rhodes to the role. For a company offering highly sophisticated technologies and products, this new role is likely to be an extremely important addition to the company’s support of all levels of the market from dealers to end-users.
