Strategy in TECH...
This morning we learned a stunning statistic – Pokémon Go, that new game that incorporates augmented reality and that is all the rage right now – has hit an impressive milestone. According to data from MFour Mobile Research, Pokémon Go is now on more Android smartphones than Twitter.
Nexia, a division of monster company Ingersoll Rand and supplier of smart home products and solutions, announced this week that Nexia-certified products will now be able to be controlled with simple voice commands through Amazon’s Echo. Clearly joining the new wave of companies who believe voice-command is the “next big thing” in home automation, Nexia is moving quickly to embrace voice control.
They’ve been hinting about it for months, now Russound makes it official, they will launch an all-new line of 70-volt products targeted for the light commercial market at the upcoming CEDIA Expo in Dallas in September. Although the company had no specific model/feature information for the press at this time, the news is noteworthy nonetheless as the company is clearly expanding into more commercial-appropriate products this year.
Big changes are coming to Sharp, Corp. in the wake of their acquisition by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co – better known as Foxconn. News out of Japan notes that the deal between Sharp and Foxconn officially closes at the end of this month. According to both parties, the acquisition is proceeding smoothly and is fully expected to close on time.
Samsung announced late Wednesday that it has acquired Joyent, a relatively new start-up company that offers cloud computing services, according to a report by Recode. The specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but Joyent management has said it will be joining the Samsung management team.
LG Electronics announced this week that it has devised a plan to dramatically pick up the rate of sale of OLED TVs. In fact, the company says they’ll triple the unit sales of sets based on the technology to more than 900,000 units in 2016 – a goal they’ve already begun to deliver on.
By now you’ve likely heard that sales of vinyl records are growing to meaningful levels. We recently reported in March that while sales of all physical media are down, vinyl sales grew 32.2% to over $416 million dollars last year. While this is small compared to historical highs, it is part of a trend that has been developing – vinyl sales have grown each of the last ten years in a row.
Now specialty manufacturer Bryston announces their entry into the analog turntable field – the source necessary to play all that vinyl – with the all-new BLP-1. Bryston, more known for their electronics, looks to have done their homework on this impressive new model.
Sony Electronics Corp. and Whitledge Designs have partnered to promote Hi-Res Audio – for the car – through Whitledge’s demonstration vehicle known as the “Magic Bus.” The partners say the venture “is designed to bring studio-quality Hi-Res Audio to music enthusiasts everywhere.’
We first told you about 8K, called UHDTV then, way back in this report in 2012. Now known as Super Hi-Vision or UHD-2, 8K is looking more like a reality than ever before. Two of Japan’s three largest mobile carriers say they are on track to deliver 8K signal delivery by the 2020 Olympics, scheduled to take place in Tokyo. Both KDDI and NTT Docomo have successfully tested 8K signal delivery systems as part of their preparations for 8K video broadcasting in association with the Olympics.
From the High End show now taking place in Munich, Germany, Bluesound and NAD, two specialty audio lines leading the charge into high-res and high quality audio, made several interesting announcements about their efforts. Both brands are marketed here in the U.S. by Lenbrook America.
