Dolby is hoping pay-TV operators and consumers will create demand for set-top boxes with Dolby Vision, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew told an investor conference Wednesday. Growth in the segment has been relatively flat in recent quarters compared with three years ago, he said. The first Dolby Vision-enabled set-tops are expected to begin rolling out this year (see 1905020062). On why U.S. household penetration of Dolby Vision isn’t broader in TVs, Chew called it “still a relatively new technology,” comparing it to anti-lock braking systems that appeared first in luxury vehicles and are now standard. Availability of more content in Vision will drive more TV adoption, he suggested: “It’s very encouraging to see big players like iTunes, Amazon Prime and Netflix adopting Dolby Vision as a way of putting out their content.” The company sees “lots of opportunity ahead.” Samsung adopted Dolby Atmos in the latest Galaxy smartphones after some years ago taking Dolby out, Chew noted. Apple adopted Vision, though not Atmos, for iPhone 8 and later phones, and recent iPads.
Summit Wireless Technologies embedded licensable software has been demoed for about 15 companies under nondisclosure agreements, said CEO Brett Moyer on a Q1 call Wednesday. The audio tech's IP version is designed to hit the "sweet spot" of good enough to “penetrate the broad market” -- the 1.3 billion smartphones, 200 million smart TVs and 200 million tablets sold each year, he said. Summit will secure an “alpha customer this year and launch with them,” he said.
Sprint’s first two 5G devices are the LG V50 ThinQ 5G and HTC 5G Hub and they launch in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City May 31, said the carrier Thursday. They roll out to Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Washington in the next few weeks. On a news-media tour in New York last week, a company spokesperson told us at launch, the carrier plans to cover about 1,000 square miles initially in its 5G footprint. Commenting on the different flavors of 5G carriers have promoted, the spokeswoman said, “We’re launching the real 5G, not fake 5G.” Data speeds will improve by 100 times, she said, with “much improved latency times” enabling vehicle-to-vehicle communication for autonomous driving, remote surgery and mobile gaming. The HTC hub, a Sprint exclusive at launch, is targeted to homes and small businesses, and can enable non-5G devices such as laptops, tablets, phones and TVs to “experience the speed of 5G,” delivering “smooth” 4K video streaming, “virtually buffer-free” gaming, and advanced 4G LTE hotspot connectivity for up to 20 users. As an entertainment device, it can replace a Wi-Fi router and eliminate unnecessary cables, said Sprint. It’s capable of delivering up to 60 frames per second 4K video on compatible TVs and supports Android and PC games.
Google made the Pixel smartphone more affordable Tuesday with introduction of the $399 5.6-inch Pixel 3a at its I/O developer’s conference; the new 6-inch 3a XL version is priced at $479. CEO Sundar Pichai referred to the phones, along with a new Google Assistant-enabled digital screen, as the intersection of artificial intelligence, software and hardware. The first product from a newly formed Nest-Google team, the Nest Hub Max, is a Google Assistant-powered digital photo frame with a 10-inch HD screen and smart camera, said Pichai. Google positioned the $229 device, formerly Google Home Hub, as “the kitchen TV you’ve always wanted” that also shows how-to cooking videos, plays music and displays who's at the front door. Highlighting privacy, Pichai noted the Hub Max has a green light indicator on its front panel that indicates when the camera is streaming: “Nothing is streamed or recorded unless you explicitly enable it.” Users can access multiple controls to disable camera features such as Nest Cam, including a physical hardware switch that also shuts off the mic.
Dolby expects the first pay-TV set-top boxes with Dolby Atmos and Vision to hit the market this year, an effort to get more live sports content in each format, said CEO Kevin Yeaman on a call about the quarter ended March 29. Profit rose about 16 percent to $73.4 million from the year-ago quarter, with sales up 13 percent to $338.3 million. Mobile generated 22 percent of revenue; broadcast, 39 percent; among other categories, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew Wednesday evening.
ProSource needs to address change -- “you can’t stop change” -- CEO Dave Workman told members at the spring conference Wednesday in San Antonio, speaking of opportunities presented by changes in the consumer technology industry. Reaching millennials and Generation Z consumers has been a recent theme for the group, whose roots are in the baby boomer generation. Over the next 20-30 years, that generation will pass down what some estimates say will be more than $30 trillion to Generation X and millennials, “the consumers of tomorrow,” he said. Dealers have to market to millennials differently because they research and shop differently, Workman said. Millennials value the “experience” of shopping, part of the reason ProSource, along with sister buying group BrandSource, is emphasizing showroom upgrades. Key initiatives include a differentiated experience and ensuring the digital marketing message and in-store experience are equal. A 5G revolution also is coming, Workman said, with content driving “a tremendous amount of change.” As content “comes to the home differently tomorrow, there’s updates and changes that are going to have to come with the home,” he said. Murray Huppin, president of Huppin’s and OneCall, envisioned being able to "showroom" to customers on a smartphone how a product or system will fit into their home. Responding to our question on consumer concerns about data privacy in connected homes, Workman said it’s a topic that “probably needs a lot of attention. Everything gets hacked at some point, it seems.” A stopgap measure for dealers is a digital insurance policy to protect against a lawsuit over a network data breach, he said, but next steps are uncertain. Most integrators aren’t paying enough attention to cyberthreats and don’t have the internal systems needed to protect networked homes, said Listen Up President Walt Stinson. As a larger company, Listen Up has the resources to address that part of the business, but “most integrators struggle" with it,” he said. Huppin noted a security-focused presentation at a conference last year, which provided resources for dealers, but no ongoing program has been set up since, something both dealers said should be done.
Apple posted its highest Services revenue ever, $11.4 billion, in the March quarter, up from $9.8 billion a year ago, said CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday’s earnings call. That 16 percent growth rate didn't offset a 17 percent global revenue decline in iPhones to $31 billion. Canalys reported Wednesday that iPhone shipments worldwide sank 23.2 percent in Q1 to 40.2 million shipments amid a global “freefall” in smartphone shipments that retreated for the sixth straight quarter.
Spotify is experimenting with paid service terms, which could “lead us to rethink the definition of subscriptions,” said CEO Daniel Ek on a Q1 call Monday. It gravitated to shorter subscriptions in newer markets as “people come in and out quickly,” he said. Now in trials is Premium Duo designed for two people under the same roof -- in Colombia, Chile, Denmark, Ireland and Holland. The company is encouraged by early response, and believes the plan will be “accretive” to monthly average user count (MAU), and subscriptions, if it expands elsewhere. Management believes family and student plans will lead to less customer churn. Forty-two percent of Q1 gross subscriber additions were former customers, said Ek. The company had a 36 percent rejoin rate, twice gross subscriber additions, he said. The company expanded its premium user base 32 percent to 100 million, and ad-supported listeners increased 21 percent to 123 million, it reported. Revenue jumped 33 percent to $1.68 billion. It projects Q2 revenue $1.68 billion-$1.8 billion. Ek called voice speakers “a critical area of growth," and the company expects to pursue opportunities there. "We want to be on all major platforms.” He tempered enthusiasm for voice control, saying while the growth rate is impressive, it's very small compared to mobile. After course correcting, Spotify is having “strong growth” in Q2 ads, said Chief Financial Officer Barry McCarthy.
Imax is in discussions with key streaming services for introducing the Imax Enhanced solution it launched last year with DTS (see 1809040055), said CEO Richard Gelfond on a Q1 call. The companies cooperated on a certification and licensing program for home viewing of remastered content on high-end CE products (see 1901080039). Initial focus was on physical media, and the first Blu-ray titles, A Beautiful Planet and Journey to the South Pacific, released in December. At CES, DTS demonstrated Marvel's Spider-Man: Homecoming and Sony's Venom and Alpha on Blu-ray, and a spokesperson said the Sony titles would also be available for streaming. Also at CES, DTS, Imax Enhanced and MediaTek said they're collaborating on an SoC solution incorporating a streaming codec for 4K Imax Enhanced movies for delivery in second half. The DTS:X TV, designed for single- and dual-core TV SoC architectures, is backward-compatible with all DTS-encoded content such as DTS:X and DTS:HD Master Audio Blu-rays, they said. China-based Tencent Video, FandangoNow in the U.S. and Rakuten TV in Europe said they'll begin streaming Imax Enhanced content to certified devices this year, and Privilege 4K in the U.S. is due to begin streaming Imax Enhanced content to select Sony Bravia TVs this year. "Only digital retailers that meet the highest standards for 4K HDR streaming will be authorized to distribute Imax Enhanced content," said the companies. Though content companies' strategies for streaming services are "still developing" and are "relatively young" in development, "announcements are imminent," said Imax Entertainment President Megan Colligan on Friday's call.
Netgear is looking to Wi-Fi 6 to reverse declines in its 802.11ac router business, said CEO Patrick Lo on a Wednesday Q1 call. Shares closed down Thursday 15 percent at $29.68. Revenue dropped 7.5 percent to $249.1 million on sagging consumer sales after the holiday season and reduced service provider sales in North America. In the U.S., retail Wi-Fi sales dropped 8 percent year on year, Lo said. Two major service providers scaled back demand for 4G mobile hot spots and are balancing inventory in preparation for the 5G rollout, he said. Netgear predicts Q2 service provider revenue will be down $13 million from Q1 due to seasonality and the “Wi-Fi market slowdown,” said Chief Financial Officer Bryan Murray. The company projected Q2 revenue to be $215 million-$230 million. Deceleration in the 802.11ac router market at a higher-than-expected rate poses “significant risk” to second-half growth, said Lo. Netgear leads the U.S. Wi-Fi market with 50 percent share, he said. Growth in mesh products and gaming routers couldn't offset the decline in 11ac routers in Q1: “It’s up to us to reverse this trend,” he said, by “stimulating demand with new technology.” The company plans to refresh its entire line of the 11ac routers with Wi-Fi 6 “at all price points” in the second half, he said. The gearmaker “aggressively introduced” new Wi-Fi 6 routers at the end of Q1, Lo said. It's looking to 4K broadcasts of the 2020 Olympics from Tokyo to accelerate the global transition from 1080p to 4K.