Rebecca Day

Battery technology has been the “ugly stepchild” of the mobile device industry -- getting little attention as devices take the spotlight -- but awareness of the need for technology advancement in battery life is growing as power requirements of mobile devices expand, said Nick Spencer, senior practice manager of ABI Research on a webcast. Battery life is “a key, fundamental pillar” that will enable the next wave of innovation in wireless devices, Spencer said.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Comcast stuck out as an atypical attendee at the Home Technology Specialists of America spring conference, which attracted some 210 vendors, dealers, journalists and industry association members. It’s the second appearance at a custom electronics event for Comcast, which attended CEDIA Expo last fall. That event calls itself the “leading tradeshow in the residential electronic systems industry."

Pandora said it will stop releasing monthly audience metrics in June due to industry measurement changes it believes gives advertisers the tools they need to make side-by-side comparisons with radio listening hours. The company historically released listening metrics to advertisers because there wasn’t enough acceptance of third-party metrics measuring Pandora listening hours, CEO Brian McAndrews said at a Raymond James Financial investor conference Thursday. “We wanted them to have the data they needed to make advertising decisions.” Triton Digital announced earlier this week that it had achieved accreditation from the Media Rating Council for local ratings, and a “milestone has been met,” McAndrews said. “Now there will be no dispute” about Triton’s measurement of Pandora hours versus local radio listening, he said. Listener hours for February were 1.51 billion, up 9 percent from February 2013, and the number of unique visitors was up 11 percent to 75.3 million, Pandora said. Comparisons between 2013 and 2014 were “unique,” because last year the company was trying to rein in listening hours to manage costs, “not a situation any business wants to be in where you're actually deterring people from using your product,” said McAndrews. Now that Pandora has turned a profit, it expects to invest more in marketing to drive its free, ad-supported model, which the company sees as a bigger revenue opportunity than its subscription base. McAndrews called the car market a “huge opportunity” for the company. In integrated car applications, where drivers use their smartphone for the content and a car’s controls to operate the thumbs-up and thumbs-down feature and station changes, the company has 4 million activations, up from 1 million a year ago, McAndrews said. The company is looking for further penetration in the connected car where the car serves as both the “brains” and control for Pandora service he said. Pandora will be part of General Motors and Volvo connected cars rolling out this year, he said.

Netflix is “caught in the middle” of trying to provide a long-term positive viewing experience for subscribers with HD and “other high-quality but high-bandwidth uses of entertainment,” while also “being mindful of the environment we're in today,” said Chief Financial Officer David Wells during a Q-and-A webcast at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media & Telecom Conference Monday. Wells was commenting on the deal in which Netflix will pay Comcast an undisclosed amount to ensure that its subscribers receive a faster streaming experience during peak viewing hours.

Netflix lost 1.3 million DVD subscribers in 2013, compared with a loss of 3 million DVD subscribers the prior year, bringing the total number of disc-by-mail subscribers to 6.93 million on Dec. 31, the company said in an SEC filing. DVD revenue fell 20 percent to $911 million. Netflix called the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s reversal of FCC net neutrality rules last month a risk factor. It has warned shareholders about that, though saying it sees little short-term change among ISPs (CD Jan 24 p1).

Lenovo’s proposed purchase of Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 billion will be felt hardest among competitors including Huawei, LG and ZTE, which have been jockeying for the No. 3 position among worldwide smartphone makers behind Samsung and Apple, analysts said Thursday. “If you're a Samsung or an Apple, this isn’t going to hurt you too much right now, but if you're anybody else this is pretty significant,” IDC’s Ramon Llamas told us.

LAS VEGAS -- Protecting consumers’ private information is a crucial link to making the connected home a reality, said representatives from LG, Verizon and Lowe’s during an informal panel sponsored by Lowe’s at CES.

BTIG Research took issue with research that said the number of streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) subscribers was growing, while premium TV subscribership declined. The SVOD survey results were released Tuesday by NPD, citing figures for the past two years. Noting the trend of “cord cutting,” NPD said there was a 6 percentage point overall decline in the number of U.S. households subscribing to premium TV channels over the past two years, while the number of households subscribing to SVOD grew 4 percentage points.

Two-thirds of U.S. broadband households are interested in smart home service bundles including safety, security and management, said Parks Associates. Home management is the most appealing bundle combining safety alerts, remote home monitoring and remote thermostat management, Parks said. “Consumers, while interested in smart home services, are averse to long-term contracts, but there are other, alternate options for building revenues,” said Tom Kerber, Parks research director for home controls and energy. Consumers, for instance, are willing to let their service provider adjust their thermostat during peak hours to avoid monthly monitoring fees, he said. In-app purchasing and advertising also could be a source of incremental revenue for product manufacturers and service providers, Kerber said. According to a Q4 2013 survey of 2,500 households on energy conservation steps they had taken over the past year, 47 percent of respondents said they had switched to LED or CFL light bulbs, the third-most-cited activity behind turning off appliances when not in use (54 percent) and adjusting thermostats (48 percent). The trend showed an upswing in adoption of LED bulbs from 6 percent to 11 percent of households from Q4 2012 to Q4 2013, while CFL bulb adoption dropped from 54 to 50 percent for the period and incandescent usage slipped from 50 to 49 percent, it said. Only 5 percent of households had switched to a time-of-use electricity plan to reduce energy consumption, it said.

Chevrolet shed a little more light on its connected car strategy at a pre-CES event Sunday, saying its OnStar 4G LTE mobile hotspot, powered by AT&T Wireless, will enable seven devices in a vehicle to connect simultaneously via Wi-Fi. The technology is due to launch in 2015-model vehicles in August, said Alan Batey, global Chevrolet brand chief at General Motors. Batey said Chevrolet was the first to offer car radio in 1924, a $2,000 option in today’s dollars, and that it was fitting for Chevrolet to be at CES to unveil “the car of the future.” The company wants the connected car concept to span a broad sampling of vehicles this year, starting with its entry-level Spark vehicle and going up to the sporty Corvette, with some eight vehicles in between. The wide range is “indicative of our broad commitment to deliver more value and convenience through smart technology applications,” Batey said. Other vehicles offering OnStar 4G LTE at launch include the Impala, Malibu and Volt, followed by the Equinox, Silverado, Silverado HD, Spark and Spark EV later in the year. The majority of the 2015 Chevrolet lineup in the U.S and Canada will have a 4G LTE connection built-in at vehicle launch, Chevrolet said. AT&T didn’t provide pricing for the vehicle data plans but said current AT&T customers will be able to add a plan to a “bucket of data” through the Mobile Share plans AT&T offers for tablet users. Drivers will also be able to get a stand-alone option of 4G LTE, the companies said. Chevrolet also said its AppShop will be available this summer on select 2015 models in the U.S. and Canada with MyLink technology. Owners will be able to view available apps and download them directly to the vehicle and then organize, update and delete them. Apps will connect drivers to music, news, weather, travel information, vehicle data and more, Batey said. Apps mentioned at the press event included iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Famigo, The Weather Channel and Priceline. Regarding potential driver distraction caused by a hotspot that enables occupants of a vehicle to connect a smartphone, tablet or laptop to the Internet, Batey turned the question around and asked what was preventing drivers from connecting devices today. A spokeswoman for GM said it takes a “very strong position making sure that whatever we integrate in our vehicles is done with the safety of the driver in mind.” She said without elaborating that the company’s technical team has specific criteria that an app must meet for its driver distraction requirements.