Strategy in TECH...
In a shocking twist to a long-running patent battle, U.S. District Court Judge William H Alsup declared Sonos’ ‘966 and ‘885 patents at trial are unenforceable and invalid effectively countermanding a jury decision on behalf of Sonos and a royalty award of $32.5 million. Furthermore, the judge’s order suggests that Sonos abused the patent system by attempting to use it to “punish an innovator” and to “enrich a[n] [innovation] pretender.”
Barely out of CEDIA Expo 2023, Snap One announced this week that it has launched six new warehouse locations they call local partner stores, further filling out its national distribution footprint. The company also said it will finish 2023 having hosted no fewer than 400 events – a prodigious effort at connecting with its customers, the local integrators.
Momentum Group, a leading manufacturer sales representative firm located in Denver and covering the greater Rocky Mountain region has announced that another sales rep firm, Synapse Sales and Marketing, has joined what they call a Manufacturers Rep Alliance with Momentum Group and Rio Grande Reps. This new partnership greatly expands the group’s area of operation and offers many opportunities for greater efficiency and enhanced dealer support.
Earlier this week, I had a consequential visit with Crestron Electronics Corp. in which company executives talked about the overall business environment, supply chain issues, several new products, and their strategy going forward. It was quite revealing not only in content…but in tone.
It quickly became clear to me that after a period of playing defense, Crestron is going on offense…
There has been a flurry of activity in the Savant ecosphere lately, much of it causing a buzz in the industry. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several integrators reaching out to let me know about some of these changes. Not all felt they were positive and many questioned the motivations behind the moves. Accordingly, I reached out to Savant to see if I could get some insight into just what is going on. The company responded by making President JC Murphy available to update me on a few of their recent moves.
Nice North America, part of the globally significant Nice S.p.A. of Italy, announced this week that it has implemented what it calls pivotal changes within its North American operations (U.S. and Canada) that it believes will “further boost growth and innovation.” It is the first major structural change here in the U.S. since Italy’s Nice acquired Nortek Security and Control from Melrose PLC back in October 2021.
It was eight years ago – all the way back to January 2015 – when I first reported on what looked to be a pretty ugly legal action beginning between Monster, LLC and Beats Electronics, LLC. While the lawsuit filed by Monster took place in January 2015, the actions that led them to that point actually began much earlier than that, all the way back to 2011. And the relationship between the two significant CE brands actually began even further back to 2009, when the two came together to create Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, the wildly popular consumer headphone brand.
But when the relationship ended…it ended badly…
In a Teams interview with new Parasound owner and CEO David Sheriff, with VP of Sales and Marketing Larry Bennett joining in occasionally, I learned more about the company’s seemingly dramatic new direction. This new direction is defined not so much by a changed product strategy, but rather by revisions the company plans to make in policies, programs, and dealer structure that looks to redefine its approach to the market.
Masimo Corp. [NASDAQ: MASI] shareholders voted to elect two new independent board candidates nominated by activist investor Politan Capital Management, including Politan’s Chief Investment Officer Quentin Koffey, as reported by Reuters. The election took place on Monday, June 26th at the annual stockholder’s meeting, and it was announced late in the day that the Politan candidates prevailed.
The news is a shocking repudiation of the existing Masimo Board and CEO Joe Kiani – and it puts Sound United’s future with the company in serious doubt.
Alphabet, Inc. (Google) seems to find itself caught up in an unusual paradox. On the one hand, it is outwardly and aggressively marketing Bard, its own generative AI chatbot – while on the other hand, it is inwardly…but quietly…warning its own employees about the dangers of AI chatbots. This is according to a report by Reuters based on independent information from four different sources, each in a position to know.
