Strategy in TECH...
LG Electronics Inc. is on a roll, as evidenced by their fiscal third quarter results. The company says it has set an all-time record for third quarter revenues while at the same time booking their best quarterly profit in a decade.
Korean media is reporting that Sharp, the former Japanese powerhouse brand now owned by Taiwan’s Foxconn, is late on approximately tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars worth of payments to Korean factory gear makers. Not only are they late, but they are said to be demanding even more discounts on the outstanding debt owed to multiple South Korean suppliers of factory equipment destined for use in LCD production factories. All of this is being done in violation of covenants in their purchase contracts with these suppliers.
This dispute may raise to level of government intervention.
After receiving a stipulation allowing them more time to respond, Lenbrook Industries Ltd, and Lenbrook America, last week filed their response to the Sonos patent litigation they were hit with in June. It was a robust and smart response that clearly communicated that Lenbrook planned to give no ground in this dispute.
While perhaps not quite as audacious as the D&M response when they were first dealt the blow of litigation…Lenbrook offered a smart and savvy response that not only pushed back but seemingly undercuts many of Sonos’ core allegations..and patents.
New research data released by eMarketer on the search engine advertising market shows that Google, the perennial leader in search advertising revenues, remains in first place. However, the data reveals a strongly rising competitor coming in second. Who that competitor is just may surprise you.
As you most likely know by now, Onkyo Corp. and Sound United have called off their transaction which would have transferred ownership of the 73-year old Onkyo brand, as well as the Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite brands to Sound United. The shocking news capped off a nearly five month process where many in the industry tried to figure out just how this deal made sense.
This was the second loss of a potential buyer for Onkyo, which admits it is re-evaluating its future based on the failure to sell off its brands.
In a tersely worded release, Sound United announced today that its deal to acquire the Onkyo, Integra, Pioneer, and Pioneer Elite brands is off. Originally announced in May, the deal was said to be conditional on the completion of due diligence, the signing of “definitive agreements” and other specific elements. Apparently, that process was not successful.
OSD Audio, a specialty supplier of a wide assortment of audio solutions, continues to expand their offerings with new subwoofers, amplifiers, and streaming devices shown at last month’s 2019 CEDIA Expo. The company also featured a dramatic 7.3.4 Dolby Atmos theater system which not only showcased their new Trevoce12 subwoofers (three of them, no less) but also their monster Theatro X11 amplifier with 11-channels of 380 wpc. To say it just about knocked my socks off would be an understatement.
At the the CEDIA Expo earlier this month, Lenbrook had a substantial launch of multiple new models from their collection of brands. Firmly positioned in the mid- to high-end technology market, the new products from Bluesound, Dali, NAD, and PSB continued to forge a path into the new digital audiophile market with high-quality streaming models and high-end in-wall and on-wall speaker and subwoofer solutions.
And in the case of one model, it was an award-winning presentation…
Don’t let those smiling faces fool you…these guys are deadly serious about taking more than their fair share of the audio market. And the vehicle they’re using to drive that growth is Beale Street Audio, a brand that Vanco acquired about two years ago. From what they told me – and showed me – at this year’s 2019 CEDIA Expo in Denver, they are well on their way.
A funny thing happened this year at the 2019 CEDIA Expo…everyone I ran into kept asking me the same thing – what is the big story from the show? What’s funny is that I asked them the same question. Even when I ran into other members of the media…we often queried each other. Most kind of shrugged and would mention an item or two, but nothing that represented a major theme of the event.
However, there is an answer I came up with, but I’m not sure its the best answer…
