Huawei saw Samsung’s Fold and raised it more than an inch in phone screen size and quite a few dollars in price at Sunday's unveiling of its Mate X foldable phone in Barcelona. The 5G device -- with a 6.6-inch front display, 6.38-inch rear display and 8-inch interior OLED tablet display -- will cost $2,600 when it launches in summer, said the company at its Mobile World Conference news event. Samsung’s Fold -- 4.6 inches in phone mode and 7.3 inches as a tablet -- is slated for availability April 26 at $1,980.
“Punitive tariffs” hindered supply at Universal Electronics Inc. in Q4, resulting in shipping delays and lower-than-expected sales of $169.7 million, said CEO Paul Arling on a Thursday earnings call after regular U.S. markets closed. Dougherty & Co. had forecast $186 million, analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Friday.
Whether the breadth of this week's Samsung smartphone launches was enough to fend off Huawei’s aggressive drive to become the global smartphone leader is the big unknown coming out of the high-profile Samsung Unpacked event in San Francisco, wrote IHS analyst Wayne Lam in post-event commentary Wednesday. Lam referred to the “new design language” of the S10, S10+ and S10e, along with the Galaxy Fold and the S10 5G model, and their simplified One UI software.
Samsung faithful hoping for a peek at a rumored foldable smartphone weren’t disappointed Wednesday as the company gave an April 26 shipping date for the Galaxy Fold: a 4.6-inch screen when closed and a 7.3-inch tablet when open. Samsung filed trademark applications globally in the fall to register the promotional phrase “The Future Unfolds" (see 1810010009). Wednesday’s launch stage featured that tagline and had the look of a box with folding sides to drive home the theme.
Amazon scuttled plans to establish a second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, Thursday after saying last week (see 1902080046) it was focused on “engaging with our new neighbors.” The company doesn’t plan to reopen its HQ2 search “at this time,” it said. It will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville and “continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada." Amazon has more than 5,000 employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island and plans to continue expanding those teams, it said.
The Mozilla Foundation aligned with the Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance and nine other organizations to petition major retailers to adopt minimum privacy and security guidelines for IoT products they carry. A Tuesday letter to Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart referenced “serious concerns regarding standards of privacy and security” with connected consumer products.
Amazon is focused on “engaging with our new neighbors -- small business owners, educators, and community leaders. Whether it’s building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be,” an Amazon spokesperson emailed us Friday in response to reports the company is reconsidering its plans to build its HQ2 headquarters in New York’s Long Island City.
Spotify's buy of two podcast companies (see 1902060010) reinforces what Sonos CEO Patrick Spence calls the “sonic internet,” he told analysts Wednesday. He cited a “huge explosion” in customers’ podcast listening hours, crediting part of that to podcasts and adding Audible to the platform last year. After the company's fiscal Q1 results for the holiday quarter and projections for this quarter, Sonos shares Thursday closed down 12 percent at $10.92.
Spotify's buy of two podcast-related companies is part of a strategy to become “the world’s leading audio platform,” said CEO Daniel Ek on the company’s Wednesday Q4 webcast. The company said earlier in the day it's buying podcast content producer Gimlet Media, and Anchor, a podcast technology company with creation, publishing and monetization services. Spotify Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy said future SEC filings will include prices: “I don’t want the transactions we’re closing to bleed over into deals we may be negotiating.”
Amazon shares sank 5.4 percent Friday to $1,626.53 after its Q4 call suggested soft revenue guidance, slowing gross margin expansion, falling physical store sales and lingering questions about India's e-commerce market. The stock was up as much as 3.4 percent in post-market trading Thursday after a 20 percent year-over-year revenue jump to $72.4 billion, but fell 4.6 percent during the call on revenue guidance.