Sony's core Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S) consumer tech sector “was impacted by the spread of COVID-19 earlier and more significantly than any other segment," said Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki Tuesday. It swung to a 9.1 billion yen ($85.8 million) operating loss in Q1 ended June 30 from a year-earlier profit. EP&S sales declined 31% to 331.8 billion yen. It’s forecasting a 6% fiscal year sales decline. The EP&S supply chain “has almost fully recovered” from disruptions after widespread instability through late June (see 2006290041), said Totoki. Though “progress varies” by product category and region, customer demand “is beginning to recover as well,” he said. EP&S is bracing “for potential second and third waves of COVID-19,” he said. It’s “transforming the structure of this business into a more resilient” organization, he said: It plans an “overhaul” of operations and “enhancement” of e-commerce distribution channels.

The coronavirus pandemic is both helping and hindering Cirrus Logic. Sales increased 2% in fiscal Q1 ended June 27, mainly from “higher content and volumes” in tablets, “as people worldwide continue to work from home due to COVID-19,” said a shareholder letter Monday. “Large chunks of the Android space have suffered the turbulence in the COVID-19 environment,” said President John Forsyth on a Monday investor call. “That's a reflection of just the kind of progressive lockdown around different markets.” Some Android vendors rely heavily on “distribution channels that they don't control,” making them a "bit more susceptible” to downturns during the crisis, he said. Android companies have taken “a fair amount of buffeting” during the pandemic, said Forsyth. Cirrus hopes much of that “stuff” will be “behind us as we go into the next few quarters,” he said. The company is emphasizing tablets and laptops more than historically, but the strategy predates the novel coronavirus and the “transition of large parts of humanity to working from home,” said Forsyth: “There's certainly renewed interest in those segments.” Google, maker of the Android operating system, didn't comment Tuesday. The company's stock closed down 8.1% at $68.43 Tuesday.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will continue to do oral arguments via phone or video communication through Dec. 31 due to the pandemic, said Chief Judge Diane Sykes of Milwaukee Monday. The court "should continue to minimize in-person on-site staffing and make use of telework to the maximum extent possible," she said.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology open-source software overcomes videoconferencing limitations by supporting “impromptu conversations,” said its developers. Dubbed Minglr, it's designed to create spontaneous, information interactions similar to hallway conversations that office workers say they miss in the COVID-19-inspired work-from-home environment.

Emerald canceled 60 events through Q3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and some beyond this year, with $197 million in 2019 revenue, said interim CEO Brian Field on a Q2 call Monday. The company postponed 14 events to second-half 2020 that had $8 million in 2019 revenue. Its shows include CEDIA Expo, canceled as a physical show next month in Denver and rescheduled as a virtual show Sept. 15-17 (see 2007090070). Emerald plans to reinstate the Expo as a physical show in September 2021 in Indianapolis. Its $7 million in Q2 revenue compared with $103 million in the 2019 quarter, the result of 20 cancellations, said Chief Financial Officer David Doft. Insurers paid $48.2 million. The show producer owed $45 million in refunds June 30, said Doft. On upcoming conferences, Field noted varying approaches cities and states are taking toward reopening. It’s looking over the next few months to see “where there's still a viable show that can take place safely and working with the local venue management.” Webinars and virtual events “have many of the same features” of live events, including keynotes, awards and virtual booths, said Field, “allowing our exhibitors to load their products and host virtual meetings with buyers.” Customers say this won’t replace the value of in-person shows, he noted: Emerald believes in an emerging hybrid model where virtual components will complement live events “once the medium is safe."

COVID-19 government stimulus measures around the world are helping “boost market demand” for discretionary tech products like premium TVs, said AU Optronics Chairman-CEO Paul Peng on a Q2 investor call posted Sunday. The panel maker estimates Q2 North American TV retail sell-through increased 32% from Q1, he said. TV inventory levels are “very healthy at the moment,” he said. Average TV sell-through screen sizes in Q2 grew by more than an inch from a year earlier, said President-Chief Operating Officer Frank Ko. “When more people are staying at home, people are asking for higher-resolution, bigger-screen TV sets,” he said. Demand for smaller screen sizes is also rising, he said: “Because everybody is at home, and there are more people in one place, people are asking for a second or a third TV set.”

Trends forged during the atypical 2020 season for back-to-school (BTS) shopping could have staying power, said Forrester analyst Brendan Witcher on a Monday RetailMeNot webinar. It might seem “a smart thing” to get as many customers into the store as possible, he said, “but that’s actually the wrong move.” Consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic “don’t want to walk into a crowded store,” said the analyst. Employees don’t want to work in a crowded store, either, he noted. Witcher encouraged retailers to publicize their stores’ safety protocols in their marketing messaging. Shoppers are preparing for the BTS season amid overall uncertainty about the virus and school policies, many faced with physical challenges of where to shop and whether they should pick up items in store or have them shipped. Witcher has been recommending that his retail clients put together BTS bundles that make sense for home schooling, “so that no matter where this pandemic takes us, you’re prepared to offer the right kinds of products to your consumers.” A May RetailMeNot survey said BTS spending would be up this year to $532 from an average $507 in 2019. Witcher said families trying to share computers are learning “what it costs to support a child in school who might have to do home or distance learning.” Flash drives, mice and tablets could push tech spending higher, he said. Having multiple alternative shopping options will be especially important this year, said the analyst, noting curbside pickup was the top investment retailers made during the COVID-19 lockdown period. He cited one large retailer that said its pre-pandemic buy online, pickup in store business was 60% of orders. Last week, the retailer reported its BOPIS business is four times that of ship-to-home. Part of that, Witcher said, could be “fear of returning” to a store if a product isn’t what the customer is seeking. Those trends are expected to continue into the holiday season.

This year's virtual Display Week drew about 200 paid exhibitors, on par with Display Week’s usual draw as a physical event, said Sri Peruvemba, marketing chair for the Society for Information Display, which owns the conference. “SID, pretty much like any organization that has a physical event, relies on that physical event for most of its funding,” Peruvemba told a media briefing Monday via Zoom. “It has been a tremendous challenge this year.” The conference originally was planned as a physical event in June in San Francisco before being moved to August as a physical show in San Jose. Most of the online conference sessions were prerecorded (see 2008030052), but a few have live Q&A, said Peruvemba.

The pandemic spurred “historic” growth in demand for most consumer tech products since March, Stephen Baker, NPD vice president-industry adviser, technology and mobile, told the Display Week virtual conference (see 2008030053) in a prerecorded segment streamed Monday. “We’re seeing broad-based growth in the consumer electronics business,” with most categories “doing fabulously,” he said. Demand is growing “in ways that we’ve never seen,” said Baker. “This is a broad and deep growth opportunity across all of the consumer electronics market.” Amid stay-at-home mandates, “tech is no longer a discretionary spend,” he said. “It really is a necessity. More than many, many general merchandise categories, tech demand leverages its strengths in entertainment, in work from home, in education from home.” The momentum is “likely to provide us with some staying power for technology sales, regardless of what the overall economy looks like over the next few quarters.” The “success of online” now is the “biggest story” in consumer tech, said Baker. “We’re here to tell you that in-store has likely passed its peak.” Price and product are now “much more important than place,” he said. NPD estimates consumer tech retail sales grew 24% in Q2, racking up $5 billion in “incremental” revenue, said Baker. “Four of the five busiest non-holiday weeks NPD has ever tracked” came in Q2, he said. The industry did slightly more than $1.75 billion in sales the third week of March when much of the U.S. went into quarantine, he said. “We thought that was an enormous week that would never be repeated. That was one of the smallest weeks we’ve seen in the last four months.”

Economic recovery continues despite U.S. COVID-19 spikes, said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Monday. But the pace of improvement “appears to be slowing,” he said. Consumer spending was up 8.2% in May and 5.6% in June, he said. The Federal Reserve showed economic activity worsening on July 25 from July 18, he said. Other reports suggest the economy is “moving sideways,” Kleinhenz said: “The economy is far from being out of the woods. The question is whether it is re-entering the woods.”