Strategy in TECH...
On Thursday, Premium Audio Company (PAC), a division of Voxx, which itself is now part of Gentex Corp., today formally acknowledged what has long been rumored: that it has lost its licensing deal with Pioneer Corporation for the rights to the Pioneer and Elite brands. The announcement portrays the decision as a “mutual” one that concludes “a successful multi-year collaboration.”
On Tuesday, Harman Luxury Audio Group, a division of Harman International focused on high-end audio products, announced that it has appointed manufacturer representative firm Progressive Custom Integration as the company’s representative of record in seven different geographic territories across the U.S. The announcement, which was released retroactively, said that this appointment took effect on July 1, 2025.
Recent developments and reporting within the last week seem to suggest that Sonos, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONO) is adrift and directionless as its new Interim CEO tries to right the ship. It has even canceled its next big product introduction. Is the company flailing? Or is it finally getting its act together?
On Tuesday, New York University (NYU) and Sony Corporation announced a new partnership to establish the Sony Audio Institute, which is “…a multifaceted partnership at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.” Sony has donated $7.5 million to create the institute, which is expected to launch this spring.
Late Tuesday, Masimo’s communications team reached out to Strata-gee to provide a statement designed to counter or otherwise address unspecified “speculative articles” on the recent pronouncement from Masimo CFO Micah Young that the Sound United division may end up being treated as a “discontinued operation” if the Board decides not to spin it off as a publicly-traded company.
Why are people speculating about that? Read on…
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the CEDIA Tech & Business Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Hasbrouck Heights in Northern New Jersey. To my eyes, this was a well-attended event and I was impressed with how the Association has put together a well-oiled machine that shows some real progress in elevating the value of attending a regional industry event like this.
On Tuesday, Bose Corporation – a privately held manufacturer and marketer of a variety of predominantly audio products like headphones, speakers, soundbars and car audio – announced it has acquired McIntosh Group, a high-end manufacturer of electronics under the McIntosh brand and speakers/phono cartridges under the Sonus faber brand. Terms of the deal were not revealed and a buzz has descended around the industry as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
More patent decisions are being handed down as several long-running patent lawsuits between Masimo Corporation (Nasdaq: MASI) and Apple Incorporated (Nasdaq: AAPL) wrap up. Last week, a jury in the matter of Apple Inc. (Plaintiff) v. Masimo Corporation and Sound United LLC (Defendants) rendered a verdict on a case where Apple accused Masimo of infringing on six of its Apple Watch patents.
Technically, Apple got a win…but realistically, it was a huge victory for Masimo.
Sonance, an industry-leading custom integration (CI) brand renowned around the world as a top marketer of the finest luxury audio products, announced this week that it has expanded its relationship with WAVE Electronics, a leading specialty CI distributor, to one in which it will offer the full Sonance line, further increasing its support for the luxury CI channel. This partnership looks to boost availability and support for Sonance brands throughout WAVE’s expanding service area, predominantly in the Southwest and West regions.
Tidal Music AS (Tidal) has announced that users “will no longer be able to access music in the MQA or 360 Reality Audio formats via any TIDAL application or integration.” So that’s that…MQA is done and gone…as of July 24, 2024. The company says it will replace all MQA tracks with “the highest quality FLAC version” available.
