Apple unveiled what it called the future of the smartphone Tuesday. It brought to the devices a neural engine, 4K and high dynamic range video, facial recognition biometrics, wireless charging and animated emojis. Preorders begin Friday for the 64 GB and 256 GB iPhone 8 (starting at $699) and 8 Plus (starting at $799), with Sept. 22 availability at $999 for the iPhone X (shipping on Nov. 3). The Qi wireless charging standard, which has a wide lead, got a bump from launch of the iPhone 8 and X smartphones. Apple announced Qi-based wireless charging products from Belkin and Mophie. Phil Schiller, senior vice president-worldwide marketing, referenced the many Qi-certified devices available in public spaces that can charge the new phones. “A lot of great devices” will begin to come to market “particularly because of iPhone 8 and iPhone 10,” said Schiller. He teased Apple’s AirPower charging mat that’s designed to charge multiple Apple products -- a phone, Watch and AirPods in a case. Devices begin charging simultaneously when placed on the mat, and the devices work together. With AirPower, Apple believes it can make the wireless charging experience “better” and “move the entire industry forward,” Schiller said. “We hope people love it, that it encourages others to create more advanced solutions based on technology like this.” Apple will work "to incorporate these benefits into the future of the standards to make wireless charging better for everyone,” he said. AirPower is due next year.
Intel sees its road to the smart home through voice-control devices, Miles Kingston, general manager-smart home, told us in San Diego at the CEDIA show last week. After studying behavior in more than 1,000 homes in North America, Western Europe and China, his company determined technology could lessen friction through “emulating the human senses,” he said. Intel is working on having Amazon Alexa listen for “anomalies,” not just a wake word, Kingston said, like glass breaking, a baby crying or a dog barking. Such intelligence is based on edge computing, where devices in the home pack higher brainpower rather than relying on the cloud. Benefits include privacy, he said. Ease of use has been a primary barrier to adoption of smart home technology, the GM said. “You had a dozen applications that managed a dozen purpose-built devices. It wasn’t any quicker to turn your lights on if you had to turn on your phone, go find the right app and press the button,” he said. “Alexa has made it so simple." For voice to take off, he advises: “Invest in new Wi-Fi that’s meant for many, many devices.”
Roku player sales, 59 percent of company revenue, dipped 2 percent in the six months ended June 30 vs. the six months ended July 2 last year, said the company in an SEC filing Friday for an initial public offering. Roku generated $199.7 million in revenue, a 23 percent bump from the first six months in 2016. The company believes “all TV content will be available through streaming.” The company cited research showing over-the-top viewing has become “mainstream” in the U.S.: an April comScore report said 51 million U.S. homes have used streaming, for a 54 percent reach in homes with Wi-Fi. It said live TV still has the majority of viewing hours, but referenced Nielsen numbers saying viewing hours declined in 2015-16 by 1.5 percent among adult viewers, while streaming hours rose. Among the risk factors Roku identified were the highly competitive market, the company’s past operating losses and the possibility it “may never achieve or maintain profitability” plus intellectual property issues if copyright holders assert claims or bring litigation against developers of channels distributed on its platform.
Product launches at IFA gave a peek into the holiday selling season. Lenovo announced smart devices that “challenge the conventions” by incorporating artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Lenovo touted its “open approach” to partnerships and “building new experiences” in VR including Microsoft products and others' content. Lenovo also bowed the fourth-generation Moto X smartphone, with Amazon's Alexa. Qualcomm said more than 30 devices including smartphones support aptX HD audio, which supports 24-bit music quality.
Video & Audio Center believes the “showrooming” that took place in the early days of e-commerce has reversed, and customers are now researching products online first and validating research in stores, where purchases are then made. “You can’t make a decision looking at a 4-5-inch screen on your smartphone,” said a spokesman. The Los Angeles-area electronics retailer began buildout of a “technology showplace” in the Westfield Century City Mall this week with plans to open this fall, he said. The space will be interactive with “nothing you can’t touch,” the representative said, including connected appliances and home automation powered by a 5G network with “miles and miles” of fiber optic cable. The mall, a $1.4 billion overhaul begun in 2015, is on track to house 230 retail stores when it’s complete, including technology stores from Amazon, Apple, Bose and Microsoft.
Fitbit unveiled a smartwatch Monday, announcing the Ionic with on-board music, four-day battery life and contactless payments. The Ionic can store more than 300 songs, which allows users to “leave your phone at home,” Fitbit said. The watch’s training programs are said to offer personalized features not available in other smartwatches, and Fitbit said a subscription-based guidance and coaching app for $7.99 per month will be available on the device early next year. North American retailers include Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Verizon, said Fitbit. Fitbit is working on contactless payments with American Express, Mastercard and Visa, it said, and banks including Bank of America, Capital One, HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada and US Bank.
With passing reference to the faulty battery issue for the Galaxy Note7 a year ago, DJ Koh, president of Samsung’s mobile communications business, unveiled the Galaxy Note8 in New York Wednesday. “Of course, none of us will ever forget what happened last year. I know, I’m one,” the executive said. Koh quickly pivoted to: “Millions of dedicated Note loyalists stayed with us.”
Electric Jukebox launched the Roxi music-streaming set-top box and service Thursday in the U.S. and U.K. targeted to families not subscribed to a premium music service. The set top, the size of an Apple TV, is Android-based, “but you wouldn’t know it was Android,” Electric Jukebox CEO Rob Lewis told us. Roxi is more “an appliance” with its closed ecosystem, said Lewis, saying the company wants to ensure only appropriate content is offered. An alternative to Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music and Sonos, the device adds music-based activities such as games, karaoke and playlists from celebrities. Library titles number in the tens of millions, “essentially the same as any premium subscription service,” he said, saying the company has rights agreements with Universal, Sony and Warner, along with the major independent labels.
The smartwatch market is poised for a second-half spike, driven by cellular-enabled smartwatches, Canalys Research reported Thursday. The researcher forecasts 12 million cellular-based smartwatches will ship worldwide by year-end, and it expects the next Apple Watch, reported to include cellular capabilities, to establish the company as the catalyst of category growth. Apple didn’t comment. Worldwide wearable band sales grew 8 percent year on year in Q2, led by Xiaomi's 3.5 million shipments, followed by Fitbit's 3.3 million units (see 1708030061), with Apple, whose only wearables are smartwatches, dropping to No. 3 at 2.7 million Apple Watches. Early hype of the smartwatch was “short-lived” and the market has to focus on compelling uses, said analyst Mo Jia. Apple can use its strong relationships with carriers to create “critical points of sale” for cellular smartwatches and related services, along with its own stores, said analyst Jason Low. ABI Research, meanwhile, reports revenue from smartwatches, smart glasses and wearable scanners to top $60 billion in 2022, up from $10.6 billion this year.
Energous made “significant progress” toward bringing its RF wireless charging technology to market, CEO Stephen Rizzone told investors. The company, with investments of $10 million and $15 million from partner Dialog Semiconductor, is on track to deliver its first commercial-scale quantities of silicon to small-scale, early adopter customers this year, he said. In a market slow to take off with many companies and technologies, Energous’ edge is the ability to send “significant power at a distance to focused receivers all under software control, safely, and within the current rules and regulations in the regulatory environment,” said Rizzone. The company positions the technology toward mobile devices including smartphones. The company completed the approval process with the FCC two months ago for through-the-air charging of any wireless device, putting a process in place for companies to submit products for approval, said Rizzone. “We didn’t want to have to effect a rule change because it takes potentially years.”