Strategy in TECH...
Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) announced today that its Diamond Surround Sound System is being featured in BMW’s latest BMW XM luxury hybrid SUV. First featured in the top-of-the-line BMW 7 series, the company says its engineers worked side-by-side with BMW engineers from the very start of the XM development to ensure that its Diamond Surround Sound System was fully optimized for the luxury interior of this unique SUV.
Premium residential and commercial audio brands Theory Audio Design (Theory) and Pro Audio Technology (PRO) announced today the appointment of Marc Bertrand as Chief Operating Officer of both entities. Bertrand is said to have a long and highly-regarded history that will greatly assist both brands in their market growth initiatives.
Crestron Electronics announced today that John Clancy, the current Executive Vice President of Residential, is being elevated to Chief Sales Officer, effective immediately. As the company’s top sales executive, the company says that Clancy “will lead and unify the global Crestron sales organization to drive market growth and enhance customer satisfaction.”
Nice North America announced this week that it has appointed Mark Ohlwiler as its new Regional Sales Manager in the West region. Ohlwiler’s appointment was effective as of April 3, 2023.
This week we learned that Colquhoun Audio Laboratories Limited (CALL), the folks who also own Axiom Audio and Bryston, Ltd, have made a new acquisition, this time buying Magnum Dynalab, a highly regarded manufacturer of high-performance tuners and vacuum tube audio products. The company says the transaction was closed on March 31, 2023. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Last week, a major patent trial began in Southern California as Masimo Corp. vs. Apple Inc. kicked off. And already big stories are flowing out of the proceedings that, for several days now, were entirely or partly conducted in complete secrecy, as Masimo executives testified behind closed doors.
MQA Limited, the company that invented and markets the Master Quality Authenticated digital music system said to deliver lossless high-res streaming music, has entered “administration” in the U.K. Administration is a form of bankruptcy or protection from creditors similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy here in the U.S. In the U.K., administration offers an insolvent company time to reorganize, develop a new plan, and – with stakeholder and government approval – an opportunity to exit bankruptcy.
As I write this post on Wednesday, it is the opening day of the patent infringement and trade secrets trial based on a lawsuit filed by Masimo Corporation [NASDAQ: MASI] and Cercacor Laboratories, Inc. (a Masimo-affiliated company) versus Apple, Inc. [NASDAQ: AAPL]. You could call it David vs. Goliath, as tiny Masimo tangles with Apple, the largest corporation in the world. This lawsuit was originally filed back in January 2020 by Masimo who claims that Apple has misappropriated trade secrets by hiring former Masimo employees and stealing Masimo patented technologies, valuable intellectual property (IP) they consider trade secrets, for use in Apple products.
For the first time since the category has been independently tracked, new data from market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that global shipments of smart home devices actually declined in 2022. Not only that but while the market researcher predicts that 2023 will see a bit of a rebound overall, its largest segment – Smart TVs – will likely decline again this year.
On Monday, Premium Audio Company (PAC) announced the launch of the Onkyo TX-RZ70, a flagship audio-video receiver that the company says provides “stellar audio performance” along with “studio-level processing.” As a “flagship,” by definition, this model is at the top of the Onkyo AVR line-up and is being launched just three-and-a-half weeks after the launch of Integra’s flagship model, the DRX-8.4.
