Strategy in TECH...
Here’s some good news! In a report by the National Association of Home Builders’ writer Fan-Yu Kuo, we learn that consumer confidence in March jumped to its highest level in a year. This is the second month of increase for consumer confidence, after a more modest increase in February. This mini-trend suggests that confidence is building in consumers about their future…after a rough year.
Last Thursday, Onkyo notified the Tokyo Stock Exchange that its latest forecast for fiscal 2021 results shows that – despite their best efforts – the company remains insolvent. It was a disappointing announcement, as it means that the company’s well thought-out plans to return to solvency failed. So what happens now?
Yep, you read that right. Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) today announced that they have launched an impressive looking 16-channel distribution amplifier aimed at the custom integration channel. Long deemed by many to be the king of Hi-Fi stereo sound, the company is making a power move into a decidedly integrator mainstay category. So say “Welcome” to the new CDA-16…
SnapAV announced today that they have acquired HCA Distributing, expanding their footprint of local distribution outlets around the country. HCA was founded in Denver, CO and eventually expanded to a second outlet in Salt Lake City, UT. The announcement of the acquisition was made by Trevor Hansen, SnapAV’s manager of their Volutone business unit.
SnapAV announced this week that they are expanding their distribution line card by adding Ring products to their online portal, as well as in their Local Pro Stores in the U.S. The company will distribute not only the regular Ring line, but also their X Line, which is reserved for professional installers only.
Foxconn, a Taiwanese company said to be the world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronics and Apple’s biggest supplier, announced on Tuesday that due to the global shortage of semiconductors they have been forced to reduce production of iPhones. It was a surprising admission of just how extensive the chip shortage has become – that it is impacting Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world with virtually unparalleled buying power.
Once again, disaster strikes at the heart of the supply chain as reports are only now emerging about another factory destroyed in a major fire on March 19th that forced yet another semiconductor (chip) fabrication plant (fab) off-line. The fire took out the first floor of the Renesas Electronics factory in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan – just north of Tokyo, according to a report by the Nikkei.
In new data from eMarketer, we learn that digital audio continues to grow even in the wake of a global pandemic. And by grow, they mean that the time users spend listening to this type of content continues to increase. Early in the pandemic, this didn’t necessarily look like it would be the case, as homebound consumers turned to traditional TV or social media (or both) leading many researchers to suggest digital audio would lose some ground.
After a spectacular run in 2020, it looks as though housing may be taking a pause to regroup. Strata-gee reported last week that residential construction starts had dropped by 10.3% in February. Now we learn that sales of newly built single-family homes have also dropped in February, this time by a scary 18.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 775,000 units. On top of that, existing home sales also dropped in February, coming in at 6.22 million units or 6.6% off of January’s rate.
Economic KABOOM? While tech has been largely immune to it, many industry segments have been struggling to get through the current recession (think transportation and hospitality) that enveloped the country when the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the U.S. early last year. Literally, for a period of weeks or even months, all businesses that were not considered essential services were shut down, bringing economic activity to a standstill. Now, like many folks, you may be expecting to see economic growth return as the country begins to climb out of the epidemic-ravaged economy. Perhaps you’re even expecting an economic boom.
But a growing number of experts say you are wrong – we won’t just have moderate economic growth coming out of this latest recession. We won’t even have an economic boom. Rather, they say we are headed towards an economic KABOOM.
