Strategy in TECH...
Perhaps this story will be a bit of a mirror of my experience from CE Week, some short takes on the interesting stories and technologies I uncovered there. Nothing was particularly earth-shattering…but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t many interesting items. So I encourage you to read on…
At CE Week last month, I was prepared to see the usual crop of gadgets and doodads designed to be sold to the masses through the retail channel. However this year, I was pleased to see a few more exhibitors offering products responsive to the custom integration channel. That includes the acoustics experts from Acoustic Innovations.
Smart home and security solutions were all over CE Week last month in Manhattan at the Jacob Javits Center. One solution I saw that hits both of those markets was the cleverly designed Smart Safe by Motorola. Didn’t think you needed your really dumb safe to be smart? Didn’t think you needed a safe at all? You may rethink all that when you hear Motorola’s pitch for their Flex and Bolt Smart Safe.
One of the more interesting booths I visited at CE Week earlier this month was by a company called Plott, a startup that offers very cool digital interactive measuring tools featuring augmented reality (AR) – or what they like to call extended reality (XR) – technology that interacts with an app on your smartphone in remarkable ways. This could be a game changer not only for the consumer, but for the construction, remodeling, custom integration communities as well.
Showing they can effortlessly walk and chew gum at the same time, SnapAV announced today the have reached a distribution agreement with Klipsch – an action they are taking while still in the middle of the process to buy Control4. As SnapAV has taken aggressive actions to grow their distribution infrastructure, they have been seeking these types of partnerships with brands to help better leverage their investment. This new agreement with Klipsch helps drive that goal.
Strata-gee reported yesterday that late last week Sonos had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America. This suit, which is almost identical to the one Sonos had successfully pursued with D&M Holdings and Denon over its HEOS line, was resolved in Sonos’s favor a little over a year ago.
Now we have Lenbrook’s response to this development – the company says it will “defend vigorously the claims of patent infringement made by computer audio company Sonos…”
Strata-gee reported just yesterday that Sonos, Inc. has sued Lenbrook Industries Ltd. & Lenbrook America – the maker & marketer of Bluesound – for patent infringement. Undoubtedly emboldened by their near-complete victory over Denon’s HEOS brand a little over a year ago, Sonos appears to have targeted Lenbrook to be next in line.
However, Strata-gee has learned that Lenbrook is not the only company targeted for such potential actions by Sonos. There are more – perhaps many more – in our industry lined up for this “hit” parade.
On Thursday last week, Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) filed another patent infringement lawsuit, this time against Lenbrook Industries Limited and Lenbrook America Corp. At issue here is Lenbrook’s Bluesound brand launched back in 2013 to great fanfare as Strata-gee reported on at the time…and also discussed here…and which Sonos claims infringes on multiple Sonos patents.
At CE Week in Manhattan last week, I ran across Kangaroo, a simple home security system that just might disrupt the professional security world. Systems are simple, hubless, expandable, and incredibly affordable…what’s not to like?
In the wake of the recent announcement about the acquisition of Control4 by SnapAV, all executives associated with this deal have not been available to the media…their lips are sealed. But Control4 is a public company – at least until this deal closes and they go private – and a recent filing gives a dramatic, detailed view of how hard the parties worked to make this deal happen, and why Control4 really, really wanted to be acquired.
