Fitbit’s premium membership service passed 500,000 subscribers since its launch in August 2019, said the company Monday. The service gives users data, actionable insights, “hundreds” of workouts, games and challenges, sleep tools and wellness reports, it said. The app-based service expects to add seven languages this year.
Until the Wireless Speaker & Audio Association reached “critical mass” at retail with certified products in the U.S., Europe and Asia, it wasn’t “cost-effective” to do “more aggressive” marketing to sow broader WiSA consumer awareness and generate business leads, said Brett Moyer, CEO of WiSA backer Summit Wireless Technologies, on a quarterly call Thursday. “We are at critical mass,” he said. “This now lets us run” WiSA consumer campaigns to divert the leads it develops to individual stores or e-commerce sites, he said. WiSA expects the 100,000 visitors to its website in Q3 (see 2008030055) will be “high-value consumers for somebody that’s marketing a WiSA product,” said Moyer. This will be a “continuous project” for WiSA, one that “we will be talking about” for years, he said.
Energous introduced a transmitter module Thursday designed to “ease integration and adoption” of its next-generation wireless charging technology. The module is said to reduce the footprint of the company's WattUp technology for incorporation in smart speakers, medical devices, laptops and tablets, which could send power to compatible receiver devices such as fitness bands, smartwatches, game controllers and hearing aids. Maximum power output is 1 watt.
Microsoft announced opening of preorders for its Android Surface Duo smartphone, slated for Sept. 10 availability at MicrosoftStore.com, AT&T and Best Buy. Prices are $1,399 and $1,499 for 128 GB and 256 GB versions. The device's 360-degree hinge allows users to view each of two displays individually or combine them into an 8.1-inch screen. Microsoft gave as use cases the ability to see participants on one screen in a Microsoft Teams meeting, while presenting PowerPoint slides on another, or opening the Amazon Kindle app and reading an e-book “like a book.” Microsoft is working with Google "to make additions to the Android operating system, paving the way for more apps to take advantage of the full productivity power of two screens," blogged the company Wednesday.
“Sell-in” demand in the computing segment at Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (AOS) was “OK” for fiscal Q4 ended June 30, said Executive Vice President Stephen Chang on a Tuesday investor call. But the increased PC sell-through was “quite dramatic,” due to widespread COVID-19 work-from-home and remote-learning, he said. AOS supplies power semiconductors for laptops, LCD TVs, smartphones and other applications and can be a bellwether of consumer tech demand. Many AOS customers that paused production in calendar Q1 through the pandemic’s factory lockdowns “were catching up in the June quarter,” said Chang. “End demand” in computing remained strong through the quarter, “and we were able to meet it with ramping supply” from the fab in Chongqing, China, he said. Revenue in the consumer segment increased 37.5% sequentially and 31.7% year over year, said Chang. “COVID-driven home-sheltering boosted sales of gaming, TVs and home appliances, enabling those segments to achieve healthy growth,” he said. AOS expects double-digit growth in its consumer segment for the September quarter, “driven by home entertainment, gaming and TVs,” said Chang. COVID-19 robbed 2020 of much of its “normal seasonality,” said Chang. Work-from-home and remote-learning mandates are putting the computing segment on a “very healthy” track for the September quarter, said Chang. “We really need to wait and see how demand changes, but right now, it still looks strong.” Smartphone OEMs didn't “pull back production until the June quarter,” said Chang. “But then coming into the September quarter, they're actually starting up production pretty heavily again in anticipation of possibly another factory shutdown” for the next wave of COVID-19 cases in the fall, he said. The stock closed 21.4% higher Wednesday at $13.88.
Helm Audio bowed neckband triple-driver in-ear headphones with AptX HD and AAC. Features include 25-hour play time; magnetic, lighted earpieces; and Bluetooth 5 connectivity. The Sportsband HD ($129) headphones have an IPX5 rating to withstand moisture.
Pixelworks hopes to save $3.2 million annually through a restructuring that includes a 14% head-count reduction, said the tech company Monday. Q2 revenue declined 48.3% from a year earlier, despite a 24% increase in mobile revenue from higher shipments of Iris-brand visual processors to six smartphone OEMs. “Our second quarter results reflected the anticipated headwinds associated with the broad impact from the COVID-19 pandemic on our target end markets,” said CEO Todd DeBonis on a quarterly call Monday. The stock plunged 25.6% Tuesday to close at $2.54. Pixelworks began seeing the “green shoots of the recovery in mobile demand in the current quarter,” he said. “We continue to believe there will be a high correlation between OEMs’ adoption of 5G technology and high-performance displays and smartphones, as video remains the most single compelling use case for 5G with consumers.” The smartphone industry is “still in the early innings” of the 5G transition, said DeBonis. “We are seeing a more rapid introduction of high-frame-rate displays into mid-tier phones than we previously anticipated, which is positive and increases the Pixelworks value proposition in mid-tier devices.”
Thirty-five percent of U.S. consumers own at least one smart device, NPD reported Monday. Security cameras lead at 15%. Smart doorbells increased by 1.8 million through January, for 64% year-on-year growth. “Even as the smart home market continues to develop and other products become more readily available, consumers today are still most likely to take that first step into the smart home market with the purchase of a security camera,” said analyst Jill Aldort. Data is based on a January survey of 5,044 adults.
The 5G Automotive Association urged the FCC to allocate the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, identify “40 MHz of dedicated, mid-band spectrum elsewhere for 5G-based” C-V2X and “adopt modest safeguards on unlicensed use of the lower 45 MHz portion of the band to prevent harmful interference.” Without the right controls, “unfettered unlicensed operations would cause harmful interference to C-V2X Direct in the upper portion of the 5.9 GHz band and foreclose the ability of American travelers to enjoy the safety benefits,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-138.
The International Trade Commission voted 5-0 to open a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations in a July 2 Nokia complaint that Lenovo laptops, tablets, desktop PCs and components infringe four H.264 video compression patents and a fifth on user interfaces (see 2008050008), said a voting sheet (login required) posted Wednesday in docket 337-TA-1208. Lenovo has 20 days to respond to the complaint and the notice of investigation.