Vivint’s Q3 revenue grew nearly 10%, “reflecting healthy consumer demand for smart home and security services,” said CEO Todd Pedersen on a Wednesday call. It added nearly 127,000 subscribers, up 14% from a year earlier, he said. “In today's environment of uncertainty, homeowners are spending more time thinking about and investing in their homes,” he said. “Consumers continue to expect increasingly complex smart home solutions that include integrated door locks, exterior cameras, interior cameras, lighting controls and thermostats that are professionally installed, monitored and serviced.” The stock closed 8.3% higher Thursday at $18.79.

General Motors' self-driving subsidiary Cruise “continues to make progress” with launch of the Origin shared-ride autonomous vehicle, said CEO Mary Barra on a Q3 call Thursday. The Origin will be built at GM’s “Factory Zero” in Hamtramck, Michigan, she said. GM began testing the Origin’s Ultium battery system at its Milford, Michigan, “proving ground,” and "pre-production” Origin vehicles are expected next year, she said. Cruise AVs will be tested in San Francisco by the end of 2021 “without backup drivers” after California regulators give GM gets the “go-ahead,” she said. “Cruise will be the first company to test autonomous vehicles with no backup driver in a dense and complex urban driving environment.” GM and Cruise in "coming months” plan to file an “exemption petition” with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “to deploy Origin vehicles without steering wheels or pedals,” said Barra. Cruise is working with an epidemiologist and using health research “to identify measures that may help maintain a healthy ride environment,” free from risks of COVID-19, she said.

In home networking, CommScope continues to see a drive toward streaming devices, “and we're reacting quickly to reallocate resources to ensure we have a primary position as this transition takes place,” said Chief Technology Officer Morgan Kurk on a Q3 call Thursday. New technologies like Wi-Fi 6 “will give us even greater opportunities to support applications with our streaming devices in the future,” he said. The “collection of spectrum” in the U.S. “will become the foundation that enables 5G to reach its potential,” said Kurk. That spectrum will drive “increased competition for consumer wallets between wireless operators for mobility” and hasten the fight between wireless and fixed-line operators “in the battle for the home,” he said. “As the impact of COVID-19 will likely impact the world throughout 2021, operators will need to enhance the fixed-line access, given how essential connectivity has now become in the home.” Though the pandemic brought many challenges, it shows “the world how essential network connectivity is,” said new CEO Charles Treadway, who joined a month ago from Accudyne Industries (see personals section, Oct. 5). “Whether it's keeping businesses running, maintaining our education systems with virtual teaching or helping people stay connected to their loved ones, COVID-19 has highlighted the power of network connectivity.”

NPD acquired Pricing Excellence, a retail analytics company specializing in cloud-based computing technologies, said the buyer Tuesday (see also personals section, this issue). Pricing Excellence will enhance NPD’s ability to “provide insight across emerging channels and provide more granular data faster,” it said.

Comcast and Walmart didn’t comment Tuesday on reports they’re in talks to develop and sell smart TVs. A Tuesday Wall Street Journal article said the companies are discussing possible Walmart-branded TVs that would run Comcast software with streaming apps on a platform similar to those offered by Amazon, Roku, Google and Apple. Walmart would get a cut of the streaming revenue. Walmart sells Roku TVs under its Onn private-label brand and from Hisense, JVC, RCA and TCL.

Year-on-year online spending growth slowed on Halloween to 11%, totaling $1.7 billion, vs. 32% growth on average the week before, emailed Adobe Analytics Monday. E-commerce picked up Sunday with 34% growth to $2.3 billion on what Adobe records as the first day of the U.S. holiday sales season. The analytics firm predicts online sales of $16.3 billion during election week, through Saturday, with a slowing of 11% and a drop of $300 million Wednesday compared with the full week. Online sales dropped off 14% the day after the 2016 election and 6% after the 2018 midterm election, it said. Some 63% of retailers believe consumers will be more confident in spending after the election; 26% of consumers said the election outcome will affect their holiday spending. Adobe predicts U.S. online holiday sales will total a record $189 billion (see 2010280026), a 33% year-on-year increase. If consumers receive another round of stimulus checks, or physical stores need to shut down in large parts of the country, consumers are expected to spend an additional $11 billion online, surpassing $200 billion.

Eighty percent of the global industrial IoT market, worth $216 billion, will be attributable to software spending by 2025, emailed Juniper Monday. IIoT connections will rise from 17.7 billion this year to 36.8 billion, led by 22 billion smart manufacturing connections, said the research firm. 5G networks will be key to growth, used to transmit large volumes of data in areas with high connection density. 5G and low-power wide-area networks will help enable the smart factory concept, in which real-time data transmission and high connection densities allow autonomous operations for manufacturers, it said.

Google remains committed to “investing to build the most helpful, most trusted search experience,” said CEO Sundar Pichai Thursday about DOJ’s Oct. 20 lawsuit over Google’s alleged monopoly in general search services and search advertising (see 2010200058). “We believe that our products are creating significant consumer benefits and will confidently make our case,” said Pichai on a Q3 investor call. “Our company's focus remains on continuing our work to build a search product that people love and value.” Google is “not new” to regulatory “scrutiny,” said the CEO. “What's in our control is our ability to relentlessly focus on users and build great products, and that's where most of our energy will go.” The DOJ lawsuit (see 2010300027) is in its “early days, and we're still reviewing and understanding it all,” he said. “I'm sure we'll update more as time goes by.”

DOJ can’t yet say whether additional states will join and expand the scope of an antitrust case against Google, DOJ attorney Kenneth Dintzer told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Friday. Judge Amit Mehta held a status conference between DOJ and Google, in which the two sides established several filing dates. There’s “nothing concrete one way or another that I could speak about publicly at this time,” said Dintzer. “I don’t want to answer the court that I don’t know, but I don’t have anything concrete enough for me to provide a public answer on that.” Democratic state attorneys general have suggested they could join the case (see 2010200058). Mehta set a Nov. 6 deadline for the two sides to file status reports on a protective order in the case, a Nov. 13 deadline for the defense to indicate whether it plans to move to dismiss or answer DOJ’s complaint, and a Nov. 20 deadline for initial disclosures. The parties agreed to a Nov. 18 status conference to follow up on Friday’s items. Mehta disclosed a few of his relationships relevant to the case: His first cousin works as a Google engineer, and a close friend previously worked as a Google executive. Mehta doesn’t see them as conflicting or problematic, so he won't recuse himself from the case. Google is eager to review DOJ investigative materials, said Google attorney John Schmidtlein, who requested a Nov. 13 deadline for initial disclosures. The material will help the company formulate a discovery plan, said Schmidtlein. Google remains committed to “investing to build the most helpful, most trusted search experience,” CEO Sundar Pichai said Friday (see 2010300021).

Target is pulling Black Friday forward beginning Sunday, with the first of a series of weeklong sales running throughout the month, it said Thursday. In a “completely new approach to Black Friday,” it’s expanding its price match guarantee so customers “don’t need to worry about sacrificing savings if they shop early.” Nov. 1-Dec. 24, customers can request a price adjustment for any item advertised as a “Black Friday Now” deal if it's offered for a lower price at Target or Target.com later in the season.