Rebecca Day

Lenbrook agreed to a multiyear licensing deal with Sonos, they said Thursday. Lenbrook will pay royalties for a license to patents for BluOS enabled devices. Sonos alleged in a 2019 patent infringement complaint in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that Lenbrook’s status as a Sonos distributor in Canada in 2007-2008 gave it “intimate knowledge” of Sonos’ wireless audio products and technology more than six years before introduction of Lenbrook’s Bluesound wireless audio products. Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus said Sonos welcomes and encourages competition, and wants "to make sure that all companies entering this space recognize the strength of our IP and provide appropriate compensation. Today’s settlement reflects those principles.” Lazarus for a time worked at the FCC and also at Tribune. Sonos is in a patent fight with Google (see 2007070024).

Copilot announced Wednesday an automated customer experience platform to help consumer electronics companies develop relationships with customers through connected products. The software-as-a-service program collects data from devices and allows device makers to send contextual communications to users automatically, co-CEOs Zvi Frank and Tsiki Naftaly told us. "The days of the closest consumers ever got to the manufacturer was the warranty postcard that fell out of box are over,” said Frank, who said the SaaS platform gives manufacturers insights into how consumers use products and enables communication between them. IoT products contain “valuable usage information” and can communicate by mobile, app, email and voice, enabling a “personalized experience for customers,” Naftaly said. On privacy, he said it’s important to “be forthcoming with customers,” telling them how and how often their data will be used.

COVID-19 has been a mixed bag for Spotify. Monthly active users in Q2 grew 29% year on year to 299 million, at the top end of guidance, said Wednesday's shareholder letter. Ad revenue fell to $154 million from $194 million. Revenue rose to $2.22 billion vs. $2.17 billion. Quarter to date through May, ad-supported sales fell 25% vs. 2019, said CEO Daniel Ek on a call: “Big declines” were due to the COVID-19 pandemic but improved to 12% lower in June. Pandemic-related softness in April and May, including payment failures by Premium users in Latin America and emerging regions, were offset by strength in North America and other areas. Struggling regions rebounded in June, with increased reactivations and slower churn. Overall listening hours in June returned to previous levels, Spotify said. Consumption trends by platform “are beginning to normalize,” with in-car listening at the end of Q2 less than 10% below pre-COVID-19 levels; they sank as far as 50% year on year in April. Spotify stock has jumped about 70% since the company signed comedian Joe Rogan to an exclusive podcast deal in mid-May, noted Pivotal Research Group's Jeffrey Wlodarczak in a Wednesday investor note. The analyst attributed the spike to “hope that Spotify can eventually become” like Netflix with “exclusive podcast content helping to drive higher subscriber growth, lower subscriber churn, increased engagement, greater ability to move consumers from the free funnel to premium and eventually reverse negative ARPU [average revenue per user] trends.”

Imax plans to have 1,400 screens in 70 markets open by August for Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster Tenet, said CEO Rich Gelfond Tuesday on a Q2 call. After three delays due to COVID-19, Warner Bros. said also Tuesday the movie will release in Canada, Europe and Asia Aug. 26 and in limited U.S. theaters Sept. 3. “The rising infection rate in the U.S. and other markets stands in stark contrast to the opening of large international markets, where we derive over 70% of our revenue,” said Gelfond: “The U.S. presents a unique challenge for industry that is accustomed to global releases.” Staggered releases by country are “the next best thing,” he said. “We should expect some temporary setbacks in some markets.” In July, some 624 Imax screens were open, 40% of the company’s global 1,500-theater network; 10% of North America’s 400 Imax theaters are open, primarily in Canada. Masks are “absolutely critical” in theaters, said Gelfond. Social distancing capacity constraints and traffic flow can be managed effectively, show times can be staggered and food prep can be visible or food can be prepackaged, he said. Gelfond predicts the market will move toward premium experiences and blockbusters. On Imax's concern about narrowing theatrical windows -- after AMC's and Universal’s announcement Tuesday giving AMC 17 days of theatrical exclusivity for releases before going to premium VOD -- Gelfond said he sees little impact. With AMC potentially sharing in streaming revenue, “we have to wait to hear what other exhibitors say, what that means,” said Gelfond. Noting Universal doesn’t have a big movie coming out in North America until 2021, “we all have to take a breath,” said the executive. Imax revenue plunged 92% year on year in Q2 to $8.9 million. Shares closed down 10.7% Wednesday at $11.22.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed Prime Day will be later this year, after the event was pulled from its normal July schedule. This year, the representative emailed, the e-tailer will hold Prime Day "later than usual, while ensuring the safety of our employees and supporting our customers and selling partners." Prime members in India will experience the event Aug. 6-7. Also Monday, Target followed Walmart by closing this Thanksgiving, leaving to the pre-social distancing age images of crowds storming store entrances to score the best deals. “Let’s face it: Historically, deal hunting and holiday shopping can mean crowded events, and this isn’t a year for crowds,” blogged Target CEO Brian Cornell.

As demand increases for IoT sensors and wearables, so does the need for efficient power, AirFuel Alliance President Sanjay Gupta emailed us Friday. IoT sensors and wearables such as smart glasses and hearables are typically powered by batteries that need to be replaced or charged frequently, a “significant pain point” the alliance hopes to address with an RF-based wireless power standard (see 2007230071), Gupta said. RF-based wireless power delivers power “in a 3D volume, can charge multiple devices safely and simultaneously, and can be readily integrated into small devices with no flat surfaces,” he said. Among the 30 alliance members listed are Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Huawei, Energous, TDK, WiTricity, EPA’s Energy Star and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Theater closings created a “real problem” for the movie industry’s formula for blockbusters and “how we consume video” overall, said Brett Sappington, Interpret vice president, on a Brightcove webinar Thursday. Citing studios’ long-term schedules, Sappington said “they plan years in advance for the exact weekend whenever they’re going to release something" to ensure the schedule doesn’t hit another big release: March-July since lockdowns “really screwed up calendars for not just now, but on into the future.” Streaming successes while theaters have been dark prompted “good discussions on premium video,” said Brightcove analyst Jim O’Neill. Streaming was up 40% in Q2, said O’Neill, noting Netflix added 26 million subscribers in two quarters. Disney had more than a 70% subscriber spike after Hamilton’s release July 3, and Universal’s Trolls World Tour took in $100 million from streaming revenue in Q1: Both had been planned for theatrical release, he noted. Studios are delaying some big-budget releases as theater reopenings stretch out. O’Neill cited AT&T CEO John Stankey’s comments (see 007230052), saying it's inevitable that some Warner Bros. movies that were slated for theatrical release this year would move to streaming platforms. Tenet, which cost $200 million and has been pulled for now, won't go to streaming first. On whether digital distribution could eventually replace movie theaters, Sappington noted that being in a theater with “bunches of other people … feels unsafe to me." Though Sappington is certain it will be safe again to return to theaters, he also said unknowns remain.

Amazon’s Alexa Live 2020 voice developer event kicked off virtually Wednesday with announcements of new experiences involving conversational artificial intelligence, graphics and multimedia, on-the-go interaction and skills discovery. Alexa engagements have quadrupled over the past two years, said Aaron Rubenson, vice president-Alexa Voice Service and skills. He said customers interact with Alexa “billions of times each week.” Rubenson said 90% percent of Alexa-enabled devices last year were built outside of Amazon, in TVs, speakers, thermostats, lights, garage doors, locks, headphones and smartwatches and others. He imagined a future of gaming with Alexa, including visuals on a Fire TV: Developers would build experiences allowing customers to speak naturally and handle conversational design patterns. The event previewed Alexa for Apps, which lets developers take customers into iOS and Android mobile apps, said Nedim Fresko, vice president-devices and developers. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who has also been involved in cable programming, had a cameo in describing how he uses Alexa. Saying “Alexa, fire” triggers a script telling family what to do in case of a fire emergency, he said.

Logitech rode the COVID-19 stay-at-home wave in fiscal Q1 ended June 30, posting a 25% year-on-year sales hike to $792 million, it said Monday. Sales of video conferencing equipment soared 70% to $130 million; webcam revenue jumped 116% to $60.9 million. It's adding capacity to meet demand for webcams to overcome component shortages resulting from factory shutdowns in Asia, said CEO Bracken Darrell on a call (see that and other materials here). The company expects current quarter supply to improve, though Darrell expects the “underlying market tailwind to continue for some time.” Logitech raised its fiscal 2021 outlook from mid-single digits to 10%-13%, but Darrell said: “COVID shutdowns and a related economic slowdown will likely create uncertainty in the quarters, and perhaps even the year to come." Among trends the CEO cited are video calls replacing audio calls, esports that will “become bigger than conventional sports, and the “billions” creating content as movie theaters and live entertainment venues are closed. Some trends were underway, said Darrell, citing work-at-home Fridays, the popularity of esports and creators posting online in “democratization” of content. “Video everywhere” seemed like a long way off when Logitech identified it as a company direction several years ago, he said: “Because of COVID-19, video calls now, for most people, have simply exploded.” Trends will continue post-pandemic, he maintained, citing Siemens saying last week it will let its 140,000 employees “work from anywhere” two or three days a week.

Retail consumer tech sales this year will fall 2.2% from 2019, the first decline since 2009, said CTA’s biannual forecast Monday. Tech industry sales revenue is projected to be $406.8 billion in 2020 “as consumers struggle with economic uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the association. The segment’s largest category -- smartphones -- will take a 6% hit this year, dropping to 153 million shipments worth $72 billion, said CTA. More than 14 million 5G smartphones are seen shipping in 2020, generating $11 billion in revenue. Software and streaming service categories are on track to reach a record of $86 billion, 14% growth, benefiting from stay-at-home orders, said CTA. Consumer spending on video streaming services is expected to hit $27 billion, up 23%. Audio is tracking toward $8 billion, up 21%.