Strategy in TECH...
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There’s been a lot of action this week on the OLED beat – in this case, news that holds promise for a new robust competitor in the OLED market. The company, known as JOLED (for Japan OLED), is a joint venture between two TV powerhouse brands and a major display manufacturer that has successfully raised money to complete a new OLED factory.
According to the most recent data from retail industry market researcher Coresight Research, retail store closings just a little over one quarter into 2019 are nearing the total number of store closings for all of 2018. This data includes both those retail companies falling into bankruptcy…and those trimming locations out of their overall footprint while remaining in business.
Last week Sonos (Nasdaq: SONO) announced a new CFO to replace current CFO Mike Giannetto, whose retirement was unexpectedly announced almost as an afterthought in a February report of Q1 fiscal results. Late in the text associated with those results, CEO Patrick Spence, in an almost casual fashion, thanked Ginnetto for his service and told investors the CFO was retiring…a total surprise to the market. Sonos stock dropped double digits…and dropped even though the company had reported a record first quarter. (Read my report to see troubling signs within the ‘record’ Sonos quarterly report…)
On March 28th CEDIA held a grand opening gala to celebrate their brand new $14 million glass and stone castle in Fishers, IN with about 250 of their closest friends. Depending on your viewpoint, this new facility is either a shining shrine to the strength of the custom integration tech association – or it is a monument to the monumental arrogance and ego of an association that is drifting further away from the very community it purports to serve.
But what many of these guests to the opening celebrations didn’t know was that, as they sipped champagne and oohed an ahhhd over the new gorgeous digs, there was yet another small member flare-up taking place in the background…with significant members expressing strong dissent on yet another Association initiative.
In the latest report on consumer confidence, The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index showed a significant drop in overall confidence in the month of March. The Conference Board characterized this drop as “unexpected.” Economists are taking note of this result as March is the first full month after the partial government shutdown in February, and many had expected a more favorable reading.
In a new survey by Reputation Institute on corporate reputation, known as the 2019 RepTrak 100, we see wild swings in tech brands’ reputation with consumer privacy concerns finally appearing to take a major toll. With an overall all-category average reputation rating increase of +0.8 points, technology as a segment saw its collective reputation drop by 1 full point on the scale.
But the news wasn’t all bad – movie king Netflix, Inc. jumped 23 spots to come in at #1 for the first time in their history.
You may recall in January we told you about a flying car being shown at CES in Las Vegas (follow this link and scroll down on the page to see the flying car). But while the US is working on developing a flying car, a Japanese company is developing what many would feel is a cooler concept – a flying motorcycle.
Como Audio, Tom DeVesto’s latest innovative venture and maker of fine streaming smart speaker systems, has launched a funding campaign on Wefunder, seeking to raise between $100,000 to $1,000,000 in equity investment. Investors on the Wefunder site can buy preferred shares of Como Audio stock priced at $2.50/share and own a piece of the company.
Like many countries, Japan is facing a dramatic shortage in the number of available high-tech workers. To address this situation, the country has decided to make computer programming classes mandatory for all students, starting in elementary school. Students will be mandated to study coding for their entire educational experience, every year from 5th grade through high school graduation in the hopes of filling the high-tech worker shortfall and catching up with the rest of the world.
