Rebecca Day

Home data consumption slowed slightly as last year came to a close, to rates seen in the weeks leading up to COVID-19 pandemic closures, rising 18% overall in all of 2020, Comscore reported. Except for a “slight shift away from gaming consoles in favor of smart TVs in 2020, households continued to consume data in very similar ways to how they did in 2019,” said the report Friday. Data use grew across connected devices, with smart TVs, laptops, gaming consoles, smartphones, smart speakers, streaming players and tablets having strong growth from 2019. Smart TV data usage was higher every month in 2020, even before the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak in March.

Streaming and creating are poised for long-term growth, Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell told investors, referencing podcasts and the rise of creators on TikTok and Instagram, which demonstrate the “democratization of digital content.” The trends that grew during the pandemic will “surely grow after the pandemic,” he said Tuesday. Logitech’s Q3 sales growth -- more than the total growth for the past three years combined -- rode work-at-home and spectator gaming trends, said the CEO. Sales soared 85% year on year to $1.67 billion, and operating income jumped 248% to $448 million in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Darrell said that while meeting with about 60 CEOs this week, the “vast majority” indicated they will adopt hybrid work “as the new norm.” A global trend toward spectator gaming continued, Darrell said, noting that over 1 billion people watched a part of the League of Legends final last quarter, and over 100 million watched the final game live, the same number of viewers as the Super Bowl had last year.

Landline phones aren't a thing of the past, partly due to trends occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry researcher found. The renewed validation of legacy telephony technologies comes as voice calls “address the universal need for communication and social connection,” Parks Associates reported. Home-based lifestyles drove “dramatic upticks in voice calling in all its forms,” according to telecom providers, said Parks. Some trends are temporary, and others may signal lasting change, the researcher said Tuesday. The pandemic underscored the value of traditional landlines, said Parks. Many turn to a landline for important calls, it said, as 40-60% of North American and EU households use one. Cellphones “can struggle for connectivity inside certain home designs and building materials while fixed-lines provide reliable service,” it said: Spotty Wi-Fi coverage can challenge VoIP calls. There are almost 16 million U.S. mobile-only households, whose only broadband access to the internet is through a mobile data plan, said Parks: During the pandemic, landlines relieve overburdened networks and don’t compete for residential bandwidth. Landlines will continue a migration to support VoIP, which in some households could keep landlines as a reliable backup, the firm said.

TCL has no current plans to make its TVs compatible for ATSC 3.0 (see 2101130068), a virtual CES event heard. The company has no plans to support the 3.0 standard in 2021, a spokesperson said Wednesday. The company will bring the TCL Home app, available in some markets now, to the U.S. this year, said Aaron Dew, TCL North America director-product development. TCL’s Android and Roku TVs will be controllable through the app, allowing them to manage the company’s smart home appliances from TVs, too. The company is also eyeing 5G (see 2101130072).

TCL confirmed U.S. pricing for its TCL20 5G smartphone, which will sell in the U.S. for under $300. Product Marketing Manager Josefina Fuster said at a virtual CES event that the company’s goal is to deliver “affordable 5G without compromising.” The company will launch its first 5G tablet and its first foldable phone this year, Fuster said Wednesday. TCL has no current plans to make its TVs compatible for ATSC 3.0 (see 2101130070).

Webcams became an unexpected product scarcity resulting from a computer trickle-down phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry in a Tuesday CES keynote. Home office shortages abounded when families suddenly began looking for computing solutions last spring, she said. After setting up a PC, households realized they needed webcams to look clearer on the other side and mics for better audio quality, said Barry. “As you had more time to think about what the best experience might be at home, then you started bolting on the ancillary products," she said. “Nobody knew there’d be a run on webcams at the pace we saw, yet suddenly it became the hottest item.” Best Buy’s “overnight” enabling of curbside fulfillment in response to safety concerns required employees to work differently and outside of familiar structured roles, she said: All employees had to pitch in to get tech gear to customers in the way they wanted to receive it, and that has become more important. E-commerce sales exploded -- Best Buy's online sales were up 175% year on year as of Q3 -- Barry said, with 40% of sales still being picked up in stores or curbside.

TCL is dropping the price of a 5G smartphone to 299 euros ($363.88) for the TCL 20 5G, which is selling in some European markets before a broader rollout, a CES news conference was told Monday. The 6.67-inch phone has a 48-megapixel triple camera and 4,500 milliamp-hour battery, said Tiago Abreu, head of design innovation at TCL’s X-Lab. The 20 SE is TCL’s least expensive phone, a 6.82-inch 4G model with quad camera and high-resolution audio, at 149 euros ($181.12). It will introduce three more phones, including another 5G model, later in the year. TCL will roll out its first Google TVs in LED, 8K and QLED TVs this year, starting in the U.S., Abreu said. Google Assistant will be integrated in the Google TVs, which can also be voice-controlled by Amazon Alexa for customers with an Amazon Echo product. TCL is unveiling two tablets targeted to education, remote learning and productivity applications. More details are here.

Samsung is using artificial intelligence to make consumer content “better," said Sebastian Seung, head-Samsung Research. AI upscaling takes HD content on TV and coverts it to 8K quality via the Quantum AI processor, he said in a prerecorded CES media session Monday. Giving a glimpse of the “not-so-distant future,” he showed an extendable robot with “arms” for the home. Samsung is working on upcycling, where end-of-life products aren’t pulled apart and recycled but used as “building blocks” for new devices and services, said Sandeep Rana, European sustainability manager. A Samsung Galaxy upcycling program “reimagines phones into new roles.” The company created portable eye exam devices with used Galaxy phones. This year, Rana said, Samsung is updating software in used Galaxy phones and launching the Galaxy Upcycling at Home program.

Anti-counterfeiting is a key part of HDMI Licensing Administrator's efforts to ensure licensed and compliant products, CEO Rob Tobias said in an interview Friday. Consumers can scan a QR code and holographic image on packaging to determine if a product at retail is legitimate, he said. The organization works with international law enforcement and customs officials to do factory raids, product seizures and takedowns of counterfeit product listings on e-commerce and social media sites, Tobias said. The HDMI Forum released HDMI 2.1 last year, and products are widely available that support the latest HDMI spec features, including 4K, 8K and dynamic HDR.

Connected cars are opportunities for OEMs, app developers, service providers and fleet operators to create new in-vehicle consumer experiences, Chief Marketing Officer Ralph Santana told Harman's virtual event Thursday. The Samsung unit touted extending headrests with built-in sound, in-cabin lighting, OLED and QLED displays, and tactile transducers. Santana referenced “elevated experiences,” or experiences per mile (EPM). Harman established an EPM advisory council of more than 30 companies. EPMs are designed to meet consumers' desire for their car to be a "third living space," where they can make downtime more productive, he said. Travel Channel personality Kellee Edwards, host of the event, said cloud-based games are accessible via 5G connection.