Amazon’s hardware introductions (see 2009240052) Thursday “underscore a focus on the connected home as an entry into its ecosystem” Cowen analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Friday. They’re also “another opportunity” to leverage Amazon Web Services, he said. It's “going for multiple shots on goal with the burgeoning connected home, leveraging innovations in cloud computing (AWS) and machine learning (Alexa) that can be incorporated across nearly all of these devices.” Cowen estimates 31% of U.S. households own an Echo vs. 27% in Q3 last year. It predicts continued Echo share gains in Q4.

TCL's Signa smartphone began selling on Verizon Thursday. The prepaid $79 Android 10 device has a 5.5-inch 18:9 HD+ display, 8-megapixel rear camera, 5-megapixel selfie camera and 3000 mAh battery. The 32-GB phone has a dedicated Google Assistant button and supports a microSD card up to 256 GB.

Broadcasters will have “a lot" of new ATSC 3.0 deployments over the next five years, NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny told CTA’s virtual Technology and Standards Forum Tuesday. “You’re going to see a lot of stations that are taking advantage of the benefits of NextGenTV as it relates to better picture, better sound.” Sports broadcasting contracts will be up for renewal, and with that will come “increased pressure to start doing stuff in 4K,” he said. NextGenTV is now a “reality” in the U.S., said Matheny. COVID-19, "unfortunately," is “another reality,” he said. Broadcasters haven’t put NextGenTV “on the back burner” during the health crisis, he said. “Their commitment hasn’t wavered,” though the pandemic “has slowed the rollout,” said Matheny. Nine U.S. markets are live with 3.0, serving about 10% of TV households, he said. Stations in eight more markets have filed 3.0 license applications “with intentions to go on the air in the near future,” he said. “Things are changing rapidly,” though industry likely will fall 50% short of its 2019 NAB Show goal of launching in 60 markets by the end of 2020, he said. The CES 2020 “commitment” of LG, Samsung and Sony to debut up to 20 NextGenTV models collectively this year was “probably exceeded,” despite “quite a few challenges around getting products launched and shipped” during the pandemic, said Brian Markwalter, CTA senior vice president-technology and standards. Models run the gamut from sets priced below $1,000 to the most expensive 8K TVs, available both in OLED and "full-array" LCD, he said. CTA and NAB are “in the process now” of releasing the “next big revision” in the NextGenTV “test suite” for 2021-model TVs, he said. The suite involves 135 tests and more than 150 “unique assertions,” he said. TVs are required to pass to qualify for the NextGenTV logo, he said.

Microsoft will pay $7.5 billion cash for ZeniMax Media and its Bethesda Softworks, said Microsoft Monday. Bethesda “brings an impressive portfolio of games, technology, talent, as well as a track record of blockbuster commercial success, to Xbox,” it said. It expands Microsoft’s “creative studio teams” to 23 from 15 and enables Microsoft to bring Bethesda's franchises to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service the same day they launch for the Xbox console or PC, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of fiscal 2021 ending late June.

The U.S. Court of International Trade should “set aside” the List 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports as “ultra vires” (“beyond the powers”) of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and order the duties refunded to U.S. importers, said tech companies Dana Innovations, Foster Electric, GN Audio, Scosche Industries and Sharp Electronics in five virtually identical complaints (in Pacer). They were among hundreds filed Thursday and Friday accusing USTR of overstepping Trade Act authority and violating the Administrative Procedure Act. The suits attempt to seize on a potential tariff refund opportunity, if floor-tiling plaintiffs prevail in their case (see 2009110041). The complaints are “timely,” said the dozens of them we studied, under CIT’s residual jurisdiction provision, coming before Monday’s two-year anniversary of USTR’s List 3 Federal Register notice. Though the HMTX case “may be a long-shot, you can never say never,” blogged trade expert Ted Murphy with Sidley Austin. “If you want to preserve your right to a refund, in case the flooring companies’ action is successful, you need to put a case on file at the CIT.” Scosche suffered “an actual, imminent injury that is fairly traceable to the implementation, administration, and enforcement of List 3 and/or List 4,” said the car audio supplier. The harms “can be redressed by a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction” ruling USTR’s actions unlawful under the Trade Act and “arbitrary and capricious” under the APA, said Scosche. Akin Gump filed the original suit for HMTX using as a template the complaint it drafted for CTA two years ago. Other lawyers modeled their actions after that. USTR didn't comment.

Verizon, which lowered smartwatch plan pricing earlier this week to coincide with Friday's release of Apple Watch Series 6 (see 2009150060), expanded connected device options in its Unlimited Plus wireless plan to support the growing number of connected devices, it said Thursday. Customers can add Unlimited Plus to their existing wireless plan for $30 monthly, and existing customers can upgrade their current unlimited connected device plan for $10 more monthly. In addition to unlimited 5G, the new plan includes 30 GB of premium 4G LTE data, up from 15 GB in standard Unlimited Plus, said Verizon, pitching the plan toward households’ increased Wi-Fi needs for remote learning or work. Unlimited data plans for tablets and hotspots are $20 monthly. Hotspot, laptop and tablet users get 50GB of mobile hotspot data on the 5G network monthly, then 3 Mbps for the rest of the month after exceeding allowance. Earlier this week, Verizon lowered existing smartwatch plan pricing to $10 monthly, including 15 GB premium data, for stand-alone or NumberShare plans.

Nvidia’s $40 billion agreement to buy Arm from Softbank (see 2009140053) “positions us in the right way for the next wave of computing” in the age of artificial intelligence, Nvidia Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress told a Deutsche Bank virtual conference Monday. Nvidia hopes to expand Arm’s patent portfolio into large “end markets,” including mobile and PCs, and to “turbocharge” the pace of Arm’s server CPU road map, she said. “This gives us the ability to reach even a larger overall developer community.” Nvidia estimates 20 billion devices with Arm-licensed technology are used globally, said Kress. Nvidia hopes it can win regulatory approval in “under 18 months,” she said. “I think the overall regulatory process will move through quite well. We believe the deal, in total, is pretty much pro-competitive.”

Amazon wants to fill 100,000 new jobs in its operations network, it blogged Monday. It's opening 100 operations buildings this month, including fulfillment centers, delivery stations and sorting facilities. Salaries start at $15 hourly.

Nvidia agreed to buy Arm from SoftBank for $40 billion in cash and stock. SoftBank would retain ties to Arm through a less-than-10% stake in Nvidia. Nvidia is positioning the acquisition as an artificial intelligence play: “AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing,” said CEO Jensen Huang Sunday. Combining Nvidia’s AI computing capabilities with the “vast ecosystem” of Arm processors can advance computing across the cloud, smartphones, PCs, self-driving cars, robotics and edge IoT devices, he said. U.K.-based Arm will remain headquartered in Cambridge, said Nvidia, which plans to expand the site with an AI research facility supporting developments in healthcare, life sciences, robotics and self-driving cars. Arm and Nvidia see “ubiquitous, energy-efficient computing” addressing world issues such as climate change, healthcare, agriculture and education, requiring new approaches to hardware and software, said Arm CEO Simon Segars, who will join Nvidia. The deal needs approvals by the U.K., China, EU and U.S. Nvidia expects the transaction to close in about 18 months. Nvidia shares closed 5.8% higher Monday at $514.89.

Making internet services ubiquitous in households, a Silicon Labs’ virtual conference theme last week (see 2009110043), necessitates addressing security and other concerns, speakers said. “Our services should melt into the background, becoming as reliable and essential as running water or electricity,” said Grant Erickson, Google principal software engineer. Manufacturers incur high development costs to support multiple, “lightly differentiated and fundamentally non-interoperable stock keeping units,” he said. Consumers don’t know what works together and how their privacy and security are protected, he said. Such challenges must be met to reach the $150 billion 2023 valuation Google expects for the IoT, Erickson said. Google put its weight behind Project Connected Home Over IP. Erickson called CHIP a “critical movement to break through the fragmentation that’s holding the market back.” Comcast invested heavily there, said Jim Kitchen, vice president-product in its connected home devices and platforms unit. That the CHIP code will be available to developers as a starting point will drive ubiquity and interoperability that hasn’t existed before, Kitchen said. Though the IoT has gotten better with advances in technology, it’s confusing for end users, he said. He cited a “boundary” for shopping in store or online to "confidently purchase a device that they know is going to work with the rest of the things that are in their home or with whatever platform they’ve decided to invest in.” He doesn't “know if getting to the next level of interoperability is going to be the thing that finally lets these products get into 300 million homes in North America, but I know that has to happen before we get into 300 million homes.”