Strategy in TECH...
Sony told the Nikkei this week that – to paraphrase – after years of painful dieting, the company has reached its fighting weight and is ready to go to battle to grow its sales worldwide. The company has spent the last few years spinning off divisions, cutting back on employment levels, and reducing overhead – all for the express purpose of improving profits. That goal achieved, the company will now focus on sales.
Just a couple of weeks after we reported on GoPro’s recall of thousands of defective Karma drones and other business problems, now comes word that the company is in the process of cutting more than 200 jobs, or about 15% of its total workforce, amid a sales decline. The company has also decided to shut down its Entertainment division and rededicate itself to its core wearable camera business.
Ann Arbor, MI-based Leon Speakers, known for their high-end A/V solutions that juxtapose the drama of art with the pinnacle of sound, announced this week that they have launched a line of wood trim encasements that bring the warmth of richly detailed woodgrain to the normal gray and black boxes of popular SONOS brand speakers. Known as Tonecase Hardwood Cabinets, Leon manages to bring a new form of richness to SONOS- a visual one.
Startup software provider TRXio announced this week that it has joined Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA) and fully participated in the organization’s Fall Conference last month in Chicago. The move is seen as another step on the road to greater awareness and acceptance of the company’s prime offering – inventory tracking software.
CT Lab, which is associated with NAPCO Media, publisher of Dealerscope and Technology Integrator, announced today that it is launching a new magazine and website call CEMBLY. CEMBLY, which the company describes as “an ambitious project,” is largely a business-to-business magazine that will target home technology professionals, interior designers, architects, builders, and building designers. The idea is to blend technology, with design, with dramatic home installations.
Security & Thermostats are Top Smart Home PrioritiesBeing the marketers that we are, when we heard that Houzz was going to present the results of their first ever Smart Home Trends Study at CEDIA 2016, well we put that on our schedule. At the appointed hour, we listened closely as Liza Hausman, Houzz’s Vice President of Industry Marketing and Dave Pedigo from CEDIA patiently went through and explained the results – and while the results were unremarkable, they were interesting nonetheless. And, there were a couple of surprises.
We first reported on the new SpeakerCraft Dolby Atmos enabled AIM speakers at the 2015 CEDIA show (then called the Expo). A clever way to extend their line and tap into the enthusiasm many have to advanced surround sound systems like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and Auro3D – SpeakerCraft designed a high-performance alternative to standard in-ceiling height speakers.
Pulse – A High-Performance SoundbarHistorically, the consumer electronics industry is broken down into basically two types (genders) of products. A product is either designed for the masses with affordability and popular technologies – think wireless Bluetooth streaming speakers for less than $50; Or, serious, high-performance specialty AV products – think a component home theater system with Dolby Atmos/DTS:X/Auro3D built-in for more than $20,000. Like East not meeting West – never the twain shall meet. Until now…
With CEDIA 2016 now over, those of us in the media are left to try and uncover the underlying themes in order to help our readers wrap their heads around just what this particular CEDIA (formerly referred to as the Expo) was all about. But this show is big enough that no one member of the media can possibly visit all booths, talk to all exhibitor executives, and experience all new models. So each of us have our own version of the themes of the show.
Despite Crestron’s announcement earlier this year that they will exit the CEDIA show, Strata-gee has confirmed with CEDIA that Crestron Electronics, Inc. will in fact be exhibiting at this year’s CEDIA 2016 next week in Dallas, TX. Crestron will be exhibiting in booth 2510, a booth that they are sharing with Amazon Alexa.
