Whether limiting people in conference rooms or press events should be a “must have,” “nice to have” or “don’t need to have” feature of CES 2021 is one of many questions CTA asks about the Jan. 6-9 physical show in Las Vegas amid COVID-19. “We are reaching out to you to understand your plans for attending CES in January 2021 and what precautions you feel are most important,” said the association. The questionnaire, emailed to respondents Tuesday, asks about the likelihood of attending the in-person show and individuals’ level of concern about the coronavirus as a factor in the decision whether to travel to Las Vegas. It asks about using open-air bus shuttles or extending and staggering show hours to reduce crowd size. CTA said last week it’s in “full swing” for a physical show in January with a digital online component, and it expects the event to be “smaller” than usual (see 2006150023). Whether to require proof of a negative COVID-19 test result as a condition for entering show grounds is one of the more aggressive safety protocols CTA wants opinion on. Also Tuesday, APCO canceled its show (see 2006230039).
Samsung’s South Korean parent filed to register “MotionVue” June 16 as a plain-text U.S. trademark, Patent and Trademark Office records show. Samsung wants to use MotionVue for “downloadable” software that improves a TV’s image quality, said the application. The company didn’t comment Monday. There’s been recent activity on optimizing a TV’s motion performance to render static movie content with better creative intent while capturing fast-action live sports without motion blur. That activity is ramping up with the industry’s migration to larger screens and higher resolutions, emailed Insight Media President Chris Chinnock. “There is movement on this besides Samsung,” said Chinnock, also the executive director of the 8K Association, the 2-year-old brainchild of Samsung. The group is composed of Samsung’s broader display industry ecosystem partners but virtually no one outside that sphere.
Contract manufacturer Jabil expects up to $170 million in COVID-19 costs for FY 2020 ending Aug. 31, said Mark Mondello on a Q3 call Friday. It’s targeting $50 million in annual savings through worldwide workforce reductions, he said. At the peak, Jabil was burning $60 million a month in COVID-19 costs, mostly for factory safety protocols and personal protective equipment for employees, said Mondello. Expenses recently have “trended down a bit,” he said. “We’re becoming more optimized." “Fair conversations” with customers about passing along the pandemic costs “are going on all the time,” said Mondello. “Our customers understand we have a business to run. We also want to be very, very thoughtful to our customers because they’re going through tough times as well.” Jabil endured significant supply chain disruptions as the pandemic hit beginning in February that haven’t fully normalized, said Mondello. If the supply chain activity pre-COVID were graded a 10, “we hit our biggest divot” in March and April when the grading plunged “to a five or a six,” he said. “I’d say today we’re back to an eight or nine. I think it stays there until we get to the back side of COVID, whenever that is.” It forecasts roughly a 5% revenue decline for the year, said Mondello. “To have this feeling like COVID’s behind us, the stock market’s doing great, the world’s getting back on its feet -- I don’t think that’s the case.” The CEO conceded he personally “underestimated how broad-based this digital learning, digital schools and videoconferencing” would become during the pandemic: “I don’t think that’s going to be so temporary.”
U.S. importers sourced 11.93 million smartphones in April, shows Census Bureau data we accessed Wednesday through the International Trade Commission, a 4.9% sequential increase and 21% decline from April 2019. Shipments from China were 9.06 million handsets in April, up 27% from March, down 21% from 2019. Two months earlier, COVID-19 factory shutdowns sent February Chinese smartphone imports tumbling (see 2005060066).
Voxx hired a banker to help evaluate “strategic alternatives” for EyeLock, its iris-authentication subsidiary, said Voxx CEO Pat Lavelle on a fiscal Q4 call Tuesday. “This could be a spinoff, a financing partner, a joint venture or an outright sale.” The segment never was profitable and generated sales of $100,000 for the year. COVID-19 has created much “inbound interest” in EyeLock, said Lavelle. “With everyone wearing masks and gloves, iris is quickly becoming the preferred choice for authentication.” The result is “renewed interest in EyeLock’s technology and in the company,” he said. The competitive facial-recognition technology, he said, is facing “additional backlash, given the events of recent weeks” (see 2006110059). It’s “challenging to forecast” the consumer tech business during normal times, and with COVID-19 “that remains even more so,” Lavelle said. The company is “anticipating a slow start” to fiscal 2021, expecting growth to recover in the year’s second half, he said. Q4 ended Feb. 29.
“Loot boxes” Apple offers as an in-game purchase through games downloaded from the App Store “have all the hallmarks of a Las Vegas-style slot machine, including the psychological aspects to encourage and create addiction,” alleged a complaint (in Pacer) Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. “Apple engages in predatory practices enticing consumers, including children, to engage in gambling and similar addictive conduct” in violation of California consumer protection and anti-gambling laws, said Huntington Beach resident Rebecca Taylor, seeking class-action status. Dozens of App Store games rely on such a "gambling mechanism to generate billions of dollars, much of it from kids,” it said. Loot boxes, bought with “real money,” are “randomized chances within the game to obtain important or better weapons, costumes” or other enhancements, it said. Taylor’s son plays App Store games that contain loot boxes, it said. Though downloadable for free, “to the extent he plays these games in the future, he will be subjected to Apple’s predatory Loot Box scheme,” it said. Apple didn't comment Monday.
The U.S. imported more laptops and tablets in April than in any previous April in the history of the category, showed Census Bureau data we accessed Monday through the International Trade Commission. There was a surge in demand for work-from-home and remote-learning tools. U.S. importers sourced 9.36 million laptops and tablets in April, a 75% sequential increase and up 28% from April 2019. The average device was worth $459.01. April also was a record-high month for China, which shipped 8.7 million devices here and was 93% of all laptop and tablet imports to the U.S.
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence slammed Google's alleging his company is stealing “substantial volumes” of Google’s patented technology in search, audio processing and streaming (see 2006110024). Google’s complaint (in Pacer) against Sonos Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco came five months after Sonos alleged Google stole the technologies in five of its multiroom audio patents. Instead of addressing the “merits” of the Sonos allegations against Google, “and paying us what we're owed, Google has chosen to use their size and breadth to try and find areas in which they can retaliate,” said Spence in a statement Thursday: “We look forward to winning our original case, and this newly filed case as well.” Google “seems to have no shame in copying the innovations of smaller American companies in their attempts to extend their search and advertising monopolies into new categories,” said Spence. “We're mostly sad to see a once innovative company with the mission of ‘Do No Evil’ avoid addressing the fact they've infringed on our inventions, and have turned to strong arm tactics the robber barons of old would have applauded." A Google spokesperson declined comment Friday. We’re told Google for now won’t take its allegations to the International Trade Commission, as Sonos did against Google in January. The ITC’s Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into the Sonos complaint is in the discovery phase, where it reached an impasse over the remote review of source code evidence because in-person meetings aren't possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adobe “successfully transitioned” last month’s canceled Adobe Summit in Las Vegas to an “exclusively digital event,” said CEO Shantanu Narayen on a fiscal Q2 call Thursday. Holding the summit virtually “enabled us to engage a far larger audience than an in-person event and set the bar for virtual events,” he said. The conference “engaged” more than a half-million visitors, he said. Though it was difficult pre-pandemic to imagine conducting business only virtually with chief marketing and information officers, “a side benefit of everyone working at home is that we are able to schedule and engage with far more customers across multiple continents,” he said. “In all these discussions with business leaders, it is clear that investments in digital and specifically customer experience are more important than ever.”
Five months after Sonos charged Google with stealing the technologies in five of its multiroom audio patents (see 2001070041), Google returned the favor Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Sonos is stealing "substantial volumes of Google’s technology, including patented Google innovations in search, software, networking, audio processing, and digital media management and streaming,” alleged its complaint (in Pacer). It said Sonos hardware products and software and service offerings infringe five Google patents, the identical patent count in the Sonos allegations against Google. “Sonos has made false claims about the companies’ shared work and Google’s technology in the lawsuits that Sonos filed against Google earlier this year,” said the complaint. “While Google rarely sues other companies for patent infringement, it must assert its intellectual property rights here.” Google is "disappointed that Sonos has made false claims about our work together and technology," emailed spokesperson Jose Castaneda. "We are reluctantly defending ourselves by asserting our patent rights. While we look to resolve our dispute, we will continue to ensure our shared customers have the best experience using our products.” Sonos didn’t comment. Sonos and Google earlier Thursday declared they're deadlocked in the discovery phase of the Tariff Act Section 337 investigation at the International Trade Commission into the Sonos allegations that Google devices infringe the five Sonos multiroom audio patents (see 2002060070). There were no immediate indications Google in the new action would pursue a Section 337 complaint against Sonos, and Google spokesperson Castaneda sidestepped the question. The ITC combatants exited May at “an impasse regarding critical aspects of a protocol for remotely reviewing source code,” they told Chief Administrative Law Judge Charles Bullock in a progress report (login required). Sonos and Google agreed Tuesday to “table that dispute” as they try to organize an “in-person review” of the source code, they said. If COVID-19 makes the in-person review “impractical,” the companies may bring the stalemate before Bullock “for resolution,” they said. Sonos contends Google uses technologies stolen through various collaborations between the companies the past six years. Google counters it developed the technologies on its own and that they’re not the technologies described in the five Sonos patents.