AllThingsD » electronics

Can’t Buy Me Love … But You Can Buy Me Gadgets

Lauren Goode — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:54:58 +0000

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, some people think roses, chocolate, Words With Friends by candlelight and Forza Motorsport 4 marathons.

Others think (non-iPad) tablets and daily deals.

According to new consumer data from PriceGrabber.com, topping the list of electronically-oriented Valentine’s Day gifts purchased over the past couple days are the HP Slate 500 tablet — remember that one? — and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF 101 tablet. The results, which will be released in full later today, are based on merchant referrals through PriceGrabber, a Kayak-like, Experian-owned site for comparative shopping.

Also in PriceGrabber’s Valentine’s Top 3: A 55-inch 3-D LED TV from Samsung; with a price range of $1,995 to $3,528, this love offering is probably best for someone you’re truly committed to.

This latest report only factors in purchases made on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Over the weekend, Apple’s 64 gigabyte iPhone 4S was one of the most popular purchases, alongside that big Samsung TV.

The shopping survey also indicates that the daily deals sector might get some love this year, with 42 percent of shoppers saying they plan to use an offer from Groupon or LivingSocial for purchasing gifts.

In my own inbox, I’ve gotten some pretty interesting deal offers over the past few weeks — including (but not limited to) his-and-hers massages, half-off flower bouquets, and a “bargain”-priced private dinner at Le Cirque (no sign yet of last year’s shooting-range deal for Valentine’s Day).

Despite the lean toward coupons — and in spite lingering economic woes — the majority of U.S. consumers plan to spend the same amount on this Valentine’s Day as they did last Feb. 14, according to PriceGrabber’s report.

(Image credit: Harle/Flickr)

Hot-Button Topic: Do Women Buy More Consumer Tech Than Men?

Lauren Goode — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:12:35 +0000

The issue of women in tech is a hot topic — whether the conversation is about female board members and entrepreneurs in a male-dominated industry, or about opportunities for women to get education in tech earlier in life.

Whether women buy more tech products than men seems to be another facet of the subject emerging right now.

According to a new report from Parks Associates, more women than men are downloading movies and music, women do the majority of game-playing across some platforms, and women have higher “purchase intentions” than men do when it comes to some electronics.

In the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller's Day Off,” Ferris got a computer, while Jeannie got a car.

Women are 40 percent more likely than men to play games on Facebook, represent the majority of Nintendo Wii players, and match men in terms of owning and playing Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PS3, says the report. And women are 73 percent more likely than men to have watched a full-length TV show online in the past 30 days.

Parks Associates also says that women have higher purchase intentions than men do when it comes to buying popular devices like tablets, laptops and smartphones, though men’s interest surpassed women’s when it came to purchasing flat-screen LCD TVs.

Intent, of course, is different from pulling the trigger and pressing the e-commerce “buy” button.

This Nielsen study, meanwhile, refutes the idea that women aren’t likely to purchase advanced TVs.

And while the Parks Associates report says 88 percent of women purchased tech-related items last year, compared to 83 percent of the men surveyed, not all recent reports point to women as besting men in tech-buying.

Confused yet? You’re not alone.

Let’s look at this chronologically:

In 2008, men were estimated to spend $902 annually on consumer electronics, compared with the $558 women spent on tech each year.

By 2009, women were spending more on consumer electronics than men, according to the CEA. It says women accounted for $55 billion of the $96 billion spent on electronics gear that year.

But in 2010, as our WSJ colleague points out here, the average man reported spending $3 on consumer electronics for every $2 the average woman said she spent.

With all of the fluctuating data, perhaps comparing women to men when it comes to consumer tech spending isn’t the right way to look at it. It’s how much growth is occurring overall when it comes to women and consumer tech.

We’ve come a long way from this 2003 report on women being “comfortable” purchasing PCs and DVD hardware.

Despite the fact that women were still trailing men in terms of consumer electronics purchases in 2010 — women spent $631 on average, compared to men’s average annual spend of $969 — women still spent $73 more on tech products than they did in 2009. And that number is expected to continue to grow.

You’ve probably heard a lot about the emergence of female purchasing power. A lot of this may have to do with the current state of the economy and shifts within households: While men are recovering more quickly from the recession — regaining more than one out of three jobs lost, compared to women regaining about one in four — men have been hit harder over the past few years, hovering at a full percentage point higher in terms of unemployment. (Some of the recent employment gains for men may also be attributed to a disproportionate number of men working in the government sector who have been regaining their jobs.)

Many women consider themselves to be chief financial officers — of the home. According to a Harvard Business Review report from last year, U.S. women continue to say they control more than 70 percent of total consumer spending. Earlier reports indicate that this number could be even higher, but some researchers say the number is murky.

Another Nielsen study shows big differences between what female consumers in developed countries spend money on versus what females in emerging countries spend on: More than half of women in emerging countries focus on allocating household funds for their children’s education, compared to 16 percent of women in developed countries, who are more likely to spend on vacations and other items. And yet, in both developed and emerging countries, more than half of women surveyed say that purchases of computers, mobile phones and smartphones have changed their lives for the better.

Bottom line: Women are making more buying decisions, and that includes consumer technology products, though the growth to date seems incremental. And that doesn’t necessarily have to be measured against what men are buying — though marketers like to know these things.

We can only hope that increases in women’s tech purchasing also means that manufacturers and marketers are getting savvier about that age-old question — what do women want? — and that the answer isn’t necessarily hardware in stereotypically girlish hues.

CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!

Lauren Goode — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:00:59 +0000

One thing the annual Consumer Electronics Show is known for — aside from all the electronics and promises of life-betterment they bring — is the smattering of celebrities who have been roped into doing product promotions or are going for some TMZ-friendly Las Vegas fun.

This year, none other than Justin Bieber is scheduled to stop by the event, while repeat attendee Lady Gaga is not.

And CES is also about to get Snookified.

Lady Gaga first appeared at CES in 2010, when it was announced she would be taking the role of creative director at Polaroid. Attendees and members of the press went a little goo-goo for Gaga, who certainly livened up the event. At last year’s show, the Lady of the hour again appeared at the Polaroid booth, and unveiled three new products (two of which, we reported earlier, have yet to hit the market, as is not uncommon for some of the products showcased at CES).

A spokesperson for Polaroid said Lady Gaga is still currently creative director for its Grey Label line, but is not scheduled to be at CES this year due to her demanding schedule.

So, let’s get to Bieber. The 17-year-old singing sensation is scheduled to appear at a booth for TOSY, a Vietnamese robotics company. I’ve been told he is not doing interviews, so all the 14-year-old girls out there wishing they were the Tavi Gevinson of consumer electronics coverage can hold off on bombarding the CEA with requests for press badges.

On to Snooki: The pint-sized “Jersey Shore” star will be there, not for high-tech tanning beds or electronic Bumpits, but to help hype iHip, a maker of audio accessories. Snooki, a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi, is hosting a fist-pumping VIP party at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino during the week, and will also be making appearances on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Other celebs expected to be in attendance at the big show: Actress Eliza Dushku, who will be at the show as an ambassador for the Entertainment Matters program sponsored by Variety magazine and Ericsson; 50 Cent will announce new audio products through his company, SMS Audio; fitness guru Jillian Michaels will kick things off at the Sports and Fitness TechZone; Dennis Rodman is going as part of the launch of Paltalk’s Firetalk (and at 6’6″ won’t be hard to spot on the floor); and actor Seth Green will appear at the booth for Shodogg, a service for controlling video-watching across multiple screens, using a smartphone (we can’t hardly wait!). Finally, Ludacris will be there, representing SOUL Electronics.

Last year, “Survivor” star Jeff Probst made a CES appearance, during which he gave some tips on how to — heh — survive the show. Probst did, in fact, survive, but won’t be making it this year.

More notable names are likely to appear, but whether there will be anyone big enough to drown out the buzzing, pinging and ringing of the electronics — and the shrill sounds of Biebermania — is still to be determined.

MORE CES NEWS:

Complete coverage

HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet

Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)

What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)

Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market

Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.

Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES

Inside the CES Lost & Found

FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!

Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber

Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different

Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)

Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question

T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service

Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)

Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year

Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game

More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone

Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”

And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!

Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There

Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It

BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8

Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon

Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways

Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D

Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote

Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV

Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV

Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share

Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)

Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile

AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works

LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way

LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum

Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia

CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret

Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?

Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service

There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!

CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!

Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2

RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES

Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops

At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch

Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month

Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show

Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month

Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year

Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

Report: Apple's A5 Chip Made in Texas

Lauren Goode — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:48:16 +0000

Reuters reports that, according to sources, the A5 processor used in Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2 is made in a sprawling 1.6 million-square-foot Samsung Electronics factory in Austin, Texas. The Korean electronics giant began supplying the A5 processors to Apple this year from the Austin plant, the story says. Both Apple and Samsung spokespersons declined to comment.

Best Buy's Profit Tumbles

Mia Lamar and Matt Jarzemsky — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:47:07 +0000

Best Buy Co.’s quarterly earnings fell 29 percent as the electronics retailer kicked off the holiday season with significant discounting and sales weakness in most products besides mobile devices.

The electronics chain is getting squeezed by rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as well as price-conscious consumers favoring more modest items.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang Talks Android, Smartphones and More: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 22:10:11 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang.

When Cher Wang co-founded the Taiwan-based company in the late 1990s, it made notebook computers. Now, HTC is all about smartphones and tablets — two of the fastest-growing consumer electronic segments in the world — in a close relationship with Google’s Android unit.

But HTC has also been considering using its own mobile operating system, and faces challenges from a myriad of competitors.

Here’s Wang, in an onstage interview with Walt Mossberg, talking about all this and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

Jawbone Debuts UP, Which Tracks, Well, You (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:01:08 +0000

Jawbone, the San Francisco mobile products company famous for its Jawbone mobile headsets and Jambox wireless speakers, today introduced its latest offering, called UP.

The company had previously shown off the small $99 wristband and its accompanying Apple iPhone application, which track a user’s daily activity, sleep patterns and eating habits. Incorporating motion sensors and social elements, UP will be available to consumers on Nov. 6.

Jawbone said it is making the move into the sector because “global health is on a disturbing and rapid decline.” Hence, UP, which is aimed at making people aware of how they move through the world (or not).

The consumer electronics company had raised another $70 million in funding earlier this year.

The wristband was designed, as usual for Jawbone, by Yves Behar, and comes in three sizes and numerous colors.

Here is a video about UP that I did last week at Jawbone offices with founder and CEO Hosain Rahman and the company’s software head, Jeremiah Robison:

[ See post to watch video ]

Rivals, Weak TV Sales Weigh on Best Buy's Profit

Miguel Bustillo and Matt Jarzemsky — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 20:47:27 +0000

Best Buy Co. is losing the confidence of investors who worry that its big-box business model looks increasingly antiquated as online purchasing grows ever stronger among cost-conscious shoppers.

The world’s largest electronics chain reported a 30% plunge in quarterly profit and saw its stock tumble as sales at its U.S. stores open at least 14 months dropped for the fifth-consecutive quarter.

While the Richfield, Minn., retailer reported gaining market share in smartphones and tablets, the hot growth categories in electronics retailing, those gains fell far short of offsetting declines in its old cash cows, sales of televisions and computers.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

LCD Merger Gets Boost

Kenneth Maxwell and Judy Lam — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:00:37 +0000

In a move to support technology companies striving to compete with aggressive rivals from other parts of Asia, Japan is pumping $2.6 billion into a merger of the small-panel LCD operations of three of the country’s biggest electronics makers.

From left, Toshiba Chief Executive Norio Sasaki, Hitachi President Hiroaki Nakanishi and Sony Executive Deputy President Hiroshi Yoshioka in Tokyo on Wednesday. The companies are forging an LCD joint venture.

The investment by Innovation Network Corp. of Japan will pool the small-panel liquid-crystal-display businesses run by Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Sony Corp. The new entity, to be known as Japan Display K.K., is likely to hold at least 20 percent of the fast-growing global market for panels used in smartphones and other digital gadgets.
The three companies and the government-backed investment fund, or INCJ, said Wednesday that the merger is to be completed in the spring of 2012.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Sony Slides to Loss on Quake, Cuts Guidance

Juro Osawa — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 10:11:22 +0000

Sony Corp. said Thursday it slipped to a net loss in its fiscal first quarter, squeezed by the impact of the March 11 disasters, and lowered its earnings forecast for the fiscal year, citing weak sales of televisions as well as the yen’s strength versus the euro.

Sony, a consumer electronics bellwether for Japan and maker of iconic products like the Walkman music player, recorded a net loss of ¥15.5 billion ($198.7 million) in the quarter ended June. That compared with a net profit of ¥25.7 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Operating profit for the quarter was sliced by more than half to ¥27.5 billion from ¥67.02 billion a year earlier. Revenue declined about 10% to ¥1.49 trillion from ¥1.66 trillion.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Sonos' John MacFarlane Talks About New Android Music Controller Rolling Out Today and More!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:00:01 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, BoomTown pumped Sonos CEO John MacFarlane full of fancy tea and queried him about today’s rollout of its new Android controller for the innovative wireless music players.

As has been previously reported, the Santa Barbara, Calif. consumer electronics company will finally be launching an app for the Google mobile operating system.

Sonos will also be releasing a free software update for its software to make it easier to play Apple AirPlay music sources, as well as offer multitasking for the Apple iPad and Apple iPhone.

Until now, Sonos has been boosted by its Apple app that allows you to control its various players wirelessly with a smartphone or tablet.

The impact of the iPhone and the iPad on sales of its various devices has been clear enough, with just under one million sold. But the move to Android is key given the explosive growth of the mobile platform.

Here’s the video interview I did with MacFarlane, as well as an image of the app on an Android phone:

[ See post to watch video ]

Best Buy to Shrink "Big Box" Strategy

Steven Russolillo — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:31:25 +0000

Best Buy Co. outlined a plan to expand its online and mobile businesses while scaling back “big box” retail space as part of a broader strategy to combat declining sales and rising competition.

The world’s largest electronics retailer by sales issued its strategic plan in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday ahead of its annual investor day. Best Buy, which reiterated its fiscal 2012 outlook, said it hopes to double its current $2 billion online business within three to five years and expects a 10% reduction in U.S. “big box” store square footage in the same timeframe.

The company also said it’s aiming to operate 600 to 800 Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores in the U.S. within five years.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Video: After Cisco Sacrifices His Baby to the Gods of Wall Street, Flip Founder Jon Kaplan Speaks!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:08:28 +0000

Right after BoomTown heard the sad news this morning that Cisco was jettisoning its Flip digital video camera division–part of a transparent effort to assure Wall Street that it was no longer serious about its wacky foray into the consumer market–I lobbed in a call to its founder Jonathan Kaplan to get him on video talking about the loss.

The Flip, of course, has been my go-to tool to harass and annoy Silicon Valley moguls, since it appeared on the scene many years ago. The technique for the simple device was to essentially stick it up someone’s nose until they cried “Uncle!” and told me what I wanted to know.

It’s not entirely clear why Cisco didn’t make more of an effort to sell Flip–I got three calls from big consumer Internet and electronics companies that would have been logical buyers this morning alone, all of whom said they would have seriously considered purchasing the iconic brand. It remains the top-selling camcorder in the U.S., with 21.6 percent of the market.

Cisco bought the start-up behind Flip, Pure Digital, in March of 2009 for $590 million in stock, and the product has sold many millions of units in its short and cruelly ended life.

The first commercially-branded Flips were, in fact, introduced at the third D: All Things Digital conference in 2005 by Kaplan, and he first talked with Cisco CEO John Chambers about selling the innovative Flip at D4 in 2008.

While Wall Street has been worried about the impact of smartphones, especially the iPhone, on Flip’s business–helped in part by Apple CEO Steve Jobs making that point in the photo here at a music event in the fall of 2009 (after which, Cisco defended Flip on Twitter)–it still boggles the mind why Cisco could not have found a new home for it, rather than lopping off all those jobs.

Flip has reportedly been profitable on a standalone basis, several sources said, although probably not when you glom all those shared Cisco corporate costs on top of its puny shoulders.

Flip’s axing, in fact, is clearly a lame attempt to get serious by Cisco–whose shares have been suffering of late–in order to assuage investors that it was focusing on its core business of networking after a series of consumer-facing experiments. While these consumer efforts were but a drop in the giant Cisco revenue bucket, killing them gets lot of ink.

Expect more such “We’re back!” announcements from Chambers and Cisco in the coming months, as it is part of the classic CEO Playbook 101.

Kaplan remained mum on all that in our chat in the Noe Valley Starbucks, which you can see below, along with my favorite Flip moment, where I got all up into Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s business. I also added two other videos I did when my various Flip cameras met new versions in 2008 and in 2010.

Big single tear–it’s just not the same with an iPhone:

[ See post to watch video ]

After The Quake, Chip Maker Renesas Runs at Half Speed

Juro Osawa — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:12:40 +0000

Hobbled by Japan’s massive earthquake and subsequent power-supply problems, Renesas Electronics Corp. said its capacity in the early stages of chip manufacture is little more than half its pre-quake level.

“At this point, we don’t know when we can go back to normal production,” said a Renesas spokeswoman, Makie Uehara.

Electronics and auto makers world-wide could be hurt by reduced output from Renesas, which makes key components.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Short Supply of Japanese Electronic Parts Hitting Global Car Industry

Arik Hesseldahl — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:56:21 +0000

First it was chips for computers and consumer electronics; then it was the raw materials used to make those chips. Now the earthquake in Japan is affecting the supply chain for components used in auto infotainment systems, according to the latest look at market conditions by the research firm IHS iSuppli.

Japan in 2010 accounted for 35 percent–or $11 billion worth–of the $31.5 billion global market for automotive infotainment electronics, iSuppli says. On top of that, Japan is responsible for about one-third–$7.3 billion–of the $23 billion market for chips used in cars overall. Aside from chips, Japanese companies produce LCD panels and optical sensors used to make in-car systems.

ISuppli says Renesas Electronics, Texas Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor and Fujitsu, all of which supply components to the auto industry, have all been affected by shipping problems and difficulty in obtaining raw materials. The problems could last weeks or months.

Problems like this aren’t just hitting infotainment systems. As The Wall Street Journal reported today, shortages of a single electronic part made by Hitachi Automotive that measures airflow in car engines have forced companies like General Motors, Toyota and PSA Peugeot-Citroën to cut their output at auto plants in the U.S. and Europe. The plant that makes the component is located to the north of Tokyo and has been shut down. Hitachi makes about 60 percent of the world’s supply for this type of part. The Journal said Toyota on Wednesday warned employees to expect a production halt at some plants in the U.S. and Canada.

Meanwhile, Japanese automakers have stopped production at several plants in order to conserve electricity following the loss of generating power from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. There has been a 10 percent reduction in electrical capacity, iSuppli says. Additionally, companies like BMW, Volkswagen, Continental and Bosch have removed their expatriate employees from Japan.

Separately, Dow Jones reported yesterday that ZTE Corp., a Chinese maker of networking gear, is suffering quake-related supply problems. A company exec said it expects the problems to last as long as six months.

Exclusive: Kno Student Tablet Start-Up in Talks to Sell Off Tablet Part of Its Business

Kara Swisher — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 08:16:00 +0000

Kno–the much-funded and high-profile Silicon Valley start-up aimed at making tablet computers focused at students–is considering selling off the entire hardware part of the business and is in talks with two major consumer electronics manufacturers to do so, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources said Kno execs have recently decided that the quicker-than-expected uptake in tablet production by a multitude of powerful device makers had made its efforts to package a seamless offering less critical.

Instead, the company will focus on its robust software and services to offer students on the Apple iPad, as well as upcoming tablets based on Google’s Android mobile operating system and others.

BoomTown could not determine which two companies Kno was in serious discussions with about unloading its hardware business, but the company has signed an NDA with one of them.

But, if a deal is struck, the move would be a dramatic shift for the company, which has yet to ship significant numbers of the student-focused touchscreen device as it has long touted.

In fact, Kno said in November that it would ship a $599 and $899 version of the tablet by the end of the year.

The lower price was for its single-screen device, while the clamshell double-screen version was more expensive.

And, although it has been reported no pre-orders were fulfilled, Kno did indeed ship several hundred of them, built by China’s Foxconn, before stopping doing so recently.

Many have been dubious about Kno’s ambitious hardware efforts.

That’s because marketing a new and complex product like the Kno takes a lot of effort and cash, especially since it is an increasingly competitive market for mobile and portable computing products that includes Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Google, Amazon, Dell and many others.

Kno recently raised another $46 million in funding to add to a $10 million round, and sources said that the Santa Clara, Calif., company was considering going back out to raise even more.

Its current backers include prominent venture players like Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, along with investors Mike Maples and Ron Conway.

A Kno spokeswoman declined comment.

But sources said the shift to deliver textbook and other student-related delivery system would be a better path for all that investment money, since Kno has established a wide range of partnerships with colleges and universities.

In addition, Kno Co-founder Osman Rashid has a lot of experience in digital education market. He was also the co-founder of Chegg, the textbook rental business that is reportedly aiming for an IPO soon.

You can see Rashid here, along with the Kno tablet prototype in the full demo video that the company did last year at the eighth D: All Things Digital conference:

[ See post to watch video ]

(Want to see it bigger? Click here.)

Toshiba Swings to Profit

Juro Osawa — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:48:51 +0000

Toshiba Corp., riding high on the growing popularity of smartphones and tablet computers, said Monday that it swung to a net profit as booming business at its flash-memory operations helped counteract the strong yen.

The Japanese electronics maker also raised its net profit forecast for the full fiscal year through March, due partly to smaller-than-expected restructuring costs.

Toshiba’s earnings recovery shows how the demand for smartphones and tablets, led so far by Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, is benefiting suppliers of chips and other components used in those devices, even as the strong yen eats into their profits.

Toshiba posted a net profit of 12.37 billion yen ($150.6 million) for the fiscal third quarter, compared to a net loss of 10.63 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Apple Using Cash to Secure Cache of Components

John Paczkowski — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 12:55:56 +0000

Asked last October about Apple’s plans for the nearly $60 billion in cash it had on hand, CEO Steve Jobs suggested the company intended to allocate some to future big-ticket purchases.

“We strongly believe that one or more very strategic opportunities may come along, that we are in a unique position to take advantage of because of our strong cash position,” he said. “You know, we’ve demonstrated a strong track record of being very disciplined with the use of our cash. We don’t let it burn a hole in our pocket, we don’t allow it to motivate us to do stupid acquisitions. And so I think that we’d like to continue to keep our powder dry, because we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future. That’s the biggest reason.”

That remark spurred all sorts of speculation about what sensible large-scale acquisitions Apple might make. And while it was certainly reasonable to conclude from Jobs’s remarks that Apple is preparing itself for some big M&A plays in the future, there was another equally plausible conclusion: What if by “strategic opportunities,” Jobs was referring to supply chain investments–money spent to overcome impediments to growth? Apple has done this before, most notably in 2005, when it arranged to purchase up to 40 percent of Samsung Electronics’ holiday NAND flash output for use in it iPods. It inked a similar iPhone-related deal in 2008, forcing Samsung to reduce its supply to other customers to fulfill its obligation to Apple. And there was another half-billion-dollar deal with Toshiba is 2009.

And according to COO Tim Cook, Apple just did it again–but on a much grander scale. During the first-quarter earnings call last week, Cook said the company had invested $3.9 billion to secure component supplies and capacity.

“We’ve historically entered into certain agreements with different people to secure supply and other benefits,” he said. “And the largest one in the recent past has been we signed a deal with several flash suppliers back at the end of 2005 that totaled over $1 billion because we anticipated that flash would become increasingly important across our entire product line and increasingly important to the industry. And so we wanted to secure supply for the company, and we think that, that was an absolutely fantastic use of Apple’s cash. And we constantly look for more of these. And so in the past several quarters we’ve identified another area and come to some recent agreements that [CFO Peter Oppenheimer] talked about in his opening comments, in that these payments consist of prepayments and capital for process equipment and tooling. And similar to the flash agreements, they’re focused in that area we feel is very strategic. And so I’d prefer not to go into more detail about what specific area it’s in, but it’s the same kind of thinking that led us to those deals that led us to the flash deal.”

For what particular components, he wouldn’t say. There are some likely candidates, though: The high-res LCDs used in the iPhone 4 and iPad; solid-state drives like the ones in the new MacBook Air, which are presumably headed to other portions of the MacBook line as well; or perhaps some new system on a chip that will infuse the next-generation iPad and iPhone with significant performance gains. I’m sure there are others as well. And all fit quite nicely into Jobs’s vision of “strategic opportunities.”

Plastic Logic Nabs New Funding, Plans Plant in Russia

Ina Fried — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 01:00:50 +0000

E-reader start-up Plastic Logic said it has finalized an investment deal with the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies. The Russian agency, known as RUSNANO, will provide $150 million in equity financing for Plastic Logic, which plans to build a $700 million factory in Zelenograd, Russia.

RUSNANO will also provide $100 million in debt guarantees, while Plastic Logic’s existing investor Oak Investment Partners will add another $50 million in equity investment.

“We evaluated multiple locations and potential partners across the globe for our second factory, Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta said in a statement. “We determined Russia with RUSNANO as an investment partner was the best fit for our business. RUSNANO has demonstrated it is fully invested in our goal to commercialize plastic electronics. We are gratified by the RUSNANO investment package and the continued commitment of Oak Investment Partners in bringing this disruptive technology to market.”

Plastic Logic has been showing off its plastic display technology for years (including a demo at D7), but scrapped its first product–the Que e-reader (see image), after several delays. The company said it still hopes to bring to market a business-oriented e-reader and is working to develop such a product. The company said that the Zelongrad factory, which should be ready for production by 2013 or 2014, will employ more than 300 people and have the capacity to crank out hundreds of thousands of displays per month.

“This investment signifies the potential that we see in the future of Plastic Electronics across a variety of commercial and consumer products,” RUSNANO Managing Director Georgy Kolpachev said in a statement. “Flexible plastic electronic displays will provide
another major milestone in how people process information. Entering this new disruptive segment at the stage of its inception gives Russia a chance to win a leading position in global market of future electronics.”

Despite its new Russian plans, Plastic Logic said it plans to continue investing in the Dresden, Germany, plant it opened in 2008, as well as its research and development center in Cambridge, England.

Still unclear is just how it will compete with the likes of the Kindle, iPad, Nook and the many, many other tablets and e-readers that will hit the market before anything ships from Dresden, Zelenograd or any other Plastic Logic facility.

Best Buy Reports Soft December, but Online Sales Are Up

Tricia Duryee — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:41:58 +0000

Best Buy reported today that U.S. same-store sales declined 5 percent in December compared to a strong 9.3 percent sales growth in the same period last year. The company’s performance matched the experiences of other retailers, which also reported declines at year end. In the case of the big-box electronics retailer, it said the drop was driven by softness in entertainment software and TV, but was partially offset by growth in Best Buy Mobile and appliances. Online sales were also strong, resulting in a 13 percent increase in December year-over-year.

Shocker: Top Online Purchases of 2010 Don't Involve Justin Bieber!

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:01:36 +0000

Justin Bieber’s fans must have been satisfied with watching him for free in 2010.

Because despite the pop star’s domination of both YouTube and Facebook’s charts this year, his popularity did not translate into dollars spent on Amazon or eBay.

The leading picks for eBay’s top-shopped and pop-culture obsessions of 2010 were: The iPhone 4, Barbie, military jackets, Hot Wheels and the iPad.

EBay said that in the U.S. there were 1.63 million items sold related to the iPhone 4, and 631,399 iPad-related items sold.

We also asked Amazon to cull its list of bestsellers to see what was trending among consumers in 2010.

It found that while the top-selling electronic gadget on Amazon was clearly the Kindle (the Wi-Fi model, to be exact), the top computer sold was the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro. The top-selling phone was AT&T’s Samsung Captivate (yes, Android!).

Finally, the other standout result was that not everyone got what they wished for.

In other words, the top-selling items did not always synch up with the most-wished-for items stored on Amazon’s Wish List. For instance, the top computer wished for was Apple’s iPad. (Still, when Amazon announced earlier this week that the third-generation Kindle is now the best-selling product in history, CEO Jeff Bezos insisted that the Kindle and iPad serve different niches, and therefore don’t compete. Maybe it helps when the Kindle is considered an electronic, and the iPad a computer).

Most-Wished-for Items of 2010:

Top-Selling Items of 2010:

Logitech Delaying New GoogleTV, Too–Report

Peter Kafka — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 16:11:56 +0000

Google has reportedly told some of its partners to hold off introducing new versions of Google TV. So this one at least sounds right: Google has supposedly told Logitech to stop shipping its version of the Google TV box while Google upgrades the software. The catch: This report comes from DigiTimes, which is sometimes quite accurate about the Chinese supply chain for consumer electronics, but also misses the mark with some frequency.

Blu-ray's Time Comes as DVDs Fade

Nat Worden — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:00:20 +0000

Blu-ray is emerging as a holiday hero for Hollywood as the film industry grapples with the rise of online video and a persistent slump in its most profitable source of revenue: DVD sales.

A combination of the weak economy, online piracy and low-cost rental and streaming services has driven continued declines in DVD sales this year, but strong growth in Blu-ray—premium-priced discs that offer a higher-quality home viewing experience—suggests consumers still have an appetite for physical home-movie products.

The trend has led some to question whether the electronics industry’s embrace of Internet-connected television sets and set-top devices has come too early, leaving consumers confused by the myriad of technology choices and content limitations of online video. That prospect has fueled concerns that the industry might not be allowing its Blu-ray business to live up to its potential.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Gift Shoppers Flocked to the Web

Ann Zimmerman — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 00:15:10 +0000

Web retailers rang up a very merry Christmas this year, with Americans going online to buy electronics, jewelry and even clothing in record amounts this season, according to several new reports.
Consumers also hit the virtual stores earlier than ever, lured by an increase in free-shipping offers and a plethora of online deals.

U.S. Internet sales rose 15.4 percent, to $36.4 billion, between Oct. 31 and Dec. 23, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors that tracks sales at 72,000 retailers. In the same span a year ago, Internet sales rose 15.2 percent from a smaller base.
The current year’s increase is “a very healthy growth rate and one of the positive stories of 2010,” said Michael MacNamara, vice president of research and analysis at SpendingPulse.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Best Buy Joins Free Shipping Fray

Matt Jarzemsky — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Best Buy Co. said it plans to offer free online shipping on certain items through Dec. 21, following a similar move by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. earlier this month.
The electronics retailer said Wednesday its offer is valid on “hundreds of thousands” of items, including all CDs, Blu-Ray and DVD movies and gaming software and accessories. Some items, such as Apple Inc.’s iPads, laptop computers and major appliances are not included.
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, plans to provide free shipping on more than 60,000 online items during the holidays without the need for a minimum purchase or subscription plan.
The strategy was seen as an attempt to counter a similar but broader deal from rival Target Inc. and grab sales from e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc. From Nov. 21 to Dec. 11, Target plans to offer free shipping on more than 800,000 items, on orders of at least $50. Amazon already includes free shipping on many orders over $25.

Read the rest of this post on the original site