Department of Commerce hires J.D. Grom, ex-New Democrat Coalition, as senior adviser-legislative affairs for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo ... Center for Strategic and International Studies adds Remco Zwetsloot, who remains a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology until December, to immediately be CSIS International Security Program trustee fellow, working on the U.S. technology workforce, research security, and tech competition with China.
Apple is “very, very focused" on discussing the privacy and security elements of the App Store with regulators and legislators, said CEO Tim Cook, responding to a question Thursday from Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty on how Apple will balance consumer preference for App Store transactions with legislators’ push for more choice. The analyst cited a Morgan Stanley survey of 4,000 consumers showing most customers don’t want to pay for apps directly to developers because they value the security and privacy of transactions within the App Store. Apple is working “to explain the decisions that we've made that are key to keeping the privacy and security there, which is to not have sideloading" or to open the iPhone to unreviewed apps, which would sidestep privacy restrictions Apple put on the App Store, Cook said. Morgan Stanley didn't provide a copy of its survey Friday. Meanwhile, for the holiday season, Apple faces chip shortages and high demand across product lines, Cook told a quarterly call for the three months ended Sept. 25. See Q4 materials here.
FCC Wireline Bureau attorney-adviser Douglas Slotten plans to retire ... Competitive Carriers Association promotes Josh Perez to associate policy counsel ... In ViacomCBS' buying a majority of Spanish-language content company Fox TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico from Disney and the founding family (see 2110280007), Samuel Duque Rozo, founder-CEO of the company being purchased, continues "to exclusively support the business from a creative and strategic advisory position, and Samuel Duque Duque, current president, will lead the business," which comes "under the remit" of ViacomCBS International Studios and Networks Americas President JC Acosta.
Automaker production shortfalls induced by the global chip shortage sent SiriusXM “new car trial stats” tumbling 21% in Q3 from the second quarter's “record high,” said CEO Jennifer Witz on a call Thursday. Used car trial stats fell 6% sequentially. “This means that in the fourth quarter, we'll see more than a million fewer conversion opportunities than we saw in the third quarter,” she said. “Most automakers and industry forecasters believe the timeline to recover from supply chain-related issues is sometime between mid-year 2022 and early 2023. Most expect recovery from these issues to be gradual next year, as opposed to a sharp bounceback.”
The chip shortage "could extend into 2023," though at reduced "scope and severity," said Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler on a Q3 call Thursday. The automaker's Q4 financial metrics will be lower than “previously assumed in the back half of the quarter, and that's the result of chip constraints," he said. This past quarter, metrics "were all sharply higher" over Q2 on "high demand for must-have new products," the company said. The stock closed up 8.7% at $16.86.
Sony couldn't meet demand for some consumer tech in fiscal Q2 ended Sept. 30 “because the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia led to limitations on our factory operations and on the supply of components,” Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki told a Tokyo briefing. “Limitations on the supply of components, especially semiconductors, have recently become apparent.” Sony Pictures has “gradually” resumed releasing major films in U.S. theaters, said Totoki. Venom: Let There Be Carnage generated box office revenue of about $90 million globally on the opening weekend of its Oct. 1 release, “which is the best opening performance of any film during the pandemic,” he said. “We are planning to release other compelling IP from Sony to theaters,” he said, including Ghostbusters: Afterlife, debuting Nov. 19, and Spider-Man: No Way Home on Dec. 17. Sony will stick with monetizing "family-oriented films,” at least for the fiscal year, “by directly licensing them to video streaming services, as we do not believe they will draw sufficient theatrical audiences during the pandemic,” said Totoki. He cited Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, debuting Jan. 14 on Amazon Prime Video. Sony Pictures is the only major studio not tethered to a streaming service. Also Thursday, Imax reported a cinema resurgence (see 2110280057).
Nokia believes the 5G market “still may be two to three years away from the peak,” said CEO Pekka Lundmark on a Q3 earnings call Thursday. “The 4G market peaked and then it started to decline quite quickly after that,” but there are “good reasons to believe” that 5G’s peak “could actually last for a longer period of time,” he said, because “there will be so many new use cases compared to the previous generations.”
Open radio access networks with high security take work because they increase the potential attack surface, an Ericsson executive said at the Telecom TV ORAN summit Thursday. Speakers said few ORAN startups are likely to survive.
A revised draft of the Build Back Better Act budget reconciliation bill (HR-5376) released Thursday retains funding for next-generation 911, the FCC Emergency Connectivity Fund and other telecom programs included in a House Commerce Committee-approved proposal, albeit with less money than first proposed and as expected (see 2110010001). The $1.75 trillion measure also includes reduced amounts of broadband affordability and some other telecom money Senate Democrats sought (see 2109020072).
Silicon Flatirons promotes Keith Gremban to co-director, Spectrum Policy Initiative, succeeding Pierre de Vries, who moves to director emeritus and adviser; Gremban became a senior fellow in 2020 (see this section, April 14, 2020, issue of this publication); Dale Hatfield is the initiative's co-director and distinguished adviser ... TechNet hires Ruthie Barko, ex-Air Methods, as executive director-Colorado and central U.S., a new region for the group ... Cox Enterprises adds Kimberly-Clark’s Erin Mitchell Richeson as vice president-inclusion and diversity, effective Friday.