More competition among wireless carriers “supports the case for industry consolidation,” UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote in an investor note Monday, after Verizon Wireless’ announcement it's bringing back an introductory unlimited data plan. Verizon discontinued similar plans in 2011.
Pandora is banking on ease of use and personalization to carry its Premium on-demand music service that's to roll out by the end of March, said CEO Tim Westergren on the company’s quarterly earnings call. Responding to a question on what gives the company confidence it will be successful converting listeners to its Premium service amid competitors' inability to achieve anticipated growth levels, Westergren referred to Pandora’s size, quality of audience and the ability to “message to them contextually.” Overall, premium music streaming services haven't reached expected growth levels because “the products are very hard to use,” he said Thursday.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Qualcomm’s actions leading up to his company's lawsuit filed last week (see 1701230067) were "like buying a sofa, and you charge somebody a different price depending upon the house that it goes into.” During Q&A on the company’s fiscal Q1 earnings call Tuesday, Cook said, “They were insisting on charging royalties for technologies they had nothing to do with. The more we innovated with unique features,” he said -- citing Touch ID, advanced displays and cameras -- “the more money Qualcomm would collect for no reason, and the more expensive it would be therefore for us to innovate.” Qualcomm last week called Apple's claims baseless. Apple set all-time highs for iPhone, services, Mac and Apple Watch sales, said Cook, as revenue reached a record $78.4 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, vs. $75.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net income dipped to $17.9 billion from $18.4 billion. Cook downplayed industry talk of a maturing smartphone market. Apple sold 78.3 million iPhones in the quarter, up 5 percent from a year ago, and unit sell-through was up 8 percent, he said. The U.S., Canada, Japan, Western Europe and Australia had double-digit iPhone growth and higher growth rates in emerging markets including Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Central and Eastern Europe and Vietnam, said the CFO. In greater China, Apple's overall sales were down 12 percent, said Cook. Revenue was flat year over year in mainland China, said Cook, calling the quarter a “significantly better performance” over what Apple experienced in the prior three quarters. The iPhone 7 was the best-selling smartphone in China during Q1, according to Kantar figures, said Cook. Half of iPhone sales in China were to switchers and first-time smartphone buyers, he said. Apple stock closed up Wednesday 6.1 percent to $128.75.
Verizon Wireless pitched subscribers in a Monday email to "check out smart home accessories" from partners including from Alphabet's Google and its Nest thermostat. Customers clicking through on the advertisement found connected a Canary webcam and the upcoming Arlo Pro, billed as the "first completely wire-free, weatherproof, rechargeable HD smart security camera with audio and 130° viewing angle." The Arlo Pro, with two-way chat, operates over Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Videos can be stored in the cloud, but on Arlo’s, not Verizon's, a Verizon chat specialist told us. Featured smart home brands on the Verizon website include Belkin and Philips.
Energous and Dialog Semiconductor announced availability of an RF transmitter application-specific integrated circuit in a Monday news release. It's the first chip to come out of Dialog’s $10 million investment. IHS Markit analyst David Green said in a post-CES research note that wireless power was “jump-started” at the show after the market “threatened to stall” in 2016. "The rumor mill is already at full power for the rest of the year too, particularly for flagship smartphones," said Green. IHS is forecasting wireless charging device shipments could double from 200 million to 400 million this year. Only the Samsung Galaxy phones and Apple Watch remained high-profile, high-volume examples of embedded wireless charging technology through last year, he said.
Dolby's expansion included being supported by over-the-top partners Amazon, Netflix, Tencent and Vudu, with more than 90 Dolby Vision movie titles and 100 hours of original TV content available from streaming partners, CEO Kevin Yeaman said on the company’s call on Q1 ended Dec. 30. Use cases for the company's Atmos have spread, he noted: Lenovo’s gaming PC announced at CES will be the first PC to support Atmos, and Microsoft announced support for Atmos last month in Windows 10. On the content side, Comcast is beginning to deliver content in Atmos, and BT Sport in the U.K. will add Atmos to content in its UHD TV packages, he said Wednesday evening. In Q1, revenue was $266 million, up from $240 million in the year-ago quarter; net income grew to $53.4 million from $30.9 million, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew. Growth was driven by new initiatives, broadcast and cinema products, he said.
Despite communications from the Consumer Product Safety Commission this week on recalls of lithium-ion batteries and overheating concerns, lithium-ion batteries “are quite safe,” Sajeev Jesudas, president of safety certification organization UL Consumer, emailed us Wednesday. Reported failures are “less than one in 10 million,” said Jesudas, “an extremely low failure rate.” The CPSC expanded a recall for Panasonic batteries used in HP laptop PCs this week (see 1701240015). It also used visibility over the Samsung Note7 battery report (see 1701230048) to urge (see 1701240065) the CE industry “to modernize and improve the safety standards for lithium-ion batteries” and to “stay ahead of new power sources that will inevitably come along and replace these.” On whether UL is seeing more overheating cases as electronics become thinner, “Historically electronics have shrunk to be lighter and more portable," Jesudas said. We’ve seen TV tubes turn into flat-screen TVs, and radios become more compact," but independent, third-party safety testing "and sound manufacturing practices help ensure fewer failures in the marketplace.” Although emerging battery designs are being discussed, Jesudas said, none is positioned to replace lithium-ion near term. Lithium-ion batteries are “rechargeable, compact and long-lasting, making this technology a top choice for many manufacturers,” he said.
Wendell Weeks said Corning is ready for any new orders from customers due to President Donald Trump's push to onshore manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. The CEO declined in Q&A on a Tuesday earnings call to comment on Monday’s CEO meeting with Trump (see 1701230045). On the meeting, Weeks said: “This administration has formed a small group of leading manufacturing executives in the U.S. for him to be able to listen to ideas and exchange ideas on how to improve manufacturing in the U.S., and more specifically, how to significantly increase manufacturing employment in the U.S.” Among other CEOs said to have been at the meeting were Dell CEO Michael Dell, Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson.
Some 24.5 million voice-first devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home will ship this year, reported voice analytics company VoiceLabs. That’s up from 6.5 million last year and 1.7 million in Echo’s launch year, 2015, it said. Google will excel at web search and deliver intelligent responses to general knowledge questions, and Amazon will stand out in e-commerce, said VoiceLabs. Google and Microsoft “should excel at email, contacts and calendar,” it said.
Samsung's promised report on the Galaxy Note7 fiasco in a Monday news conference in Seoul includes an "enhanced 8-point battery safety check" it says will address safety "from the component level to the assembly and shipment of devices." The checklist was put in place to address issues with lithium-ion batteries used in two waves of Note7 devices in second half 2016 that led to a double product recall by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, discontinuation of the product, a Federal Aviation Administration warning and a hit to carrier and retailer sales.