Viewpoint
TWICE Editor-in-Chief Steve Smith discusses the latest headlines that ae affecting the consumer electronics industry.
Big Apple’s Apple
As a native New Yorker and someone who has covered the CE industry for more than a few years, I don’t know if I am appalled or bemused about a story that appeared in Monday’s Philadelphia Inquirer and was picked up today by CNN: The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue and East 58th Street is one of the five most-photographed landmarks in the Big Apple. And, according to the item CNN ran this ...... Read More
Comments (2)3D Blur
WARNING TO 3D TV SUPPLIERS: The headline of this blog has nothing to do with the quality of the 3D TV demos I saw this week. In a week when the Academy Awards didn’t get it right (from the CE point of view) and didn’t give its Best Picture award to “Avatar,” the snub was hardly a blip in the promotional blur of 3D TV week here in New York City. Panasonic and Samsung hel ...... Read More
Comments (0)Comings & Goings
Thanks to the National Football League’s schedule, the Super Bowl was held yesterday, Feb. 7, giving the CE industry a full week of to promote HDTV sales at retail. Traditionally, January is the second-best CE retailing month of the year, right behind December. From what we could see, retailers both large and small took advantage of the extra week with plenty of promotions on HDTVs. And in ...... Read More
Comments (0)A ‘Powerhouse’ Deal, And Powerhouse Trend
In a month that began with International CES and the introductions of 3D TV, mobile TV, e-Readers among others, saw keynotes by top execs from Hisense, Qualcomm, Ford, Nokia, Microsoft and Intel, and ended with all the hype of Apple’s newest creation - iPad - how these wonderful products actually get sold to consumers can get lost in the shuffle. In the middle of all the technology hoopla a ...... Read More
Comments (0)Looking Back, Looking Ahead
A couple members of the media mentioned to me during CES that they thought about how long they have been attending the show. Maybe it was the dawn of the new decade that spawned the thought process, but I began to think about it and I realized that the first time I edited a daily for CES was in June 1990 in Chicago, 20 years ago. That was when Summer CES was held along with the existing Winter CES ...... Read More
Comments (1)Measuring Morale At CES
Anyone preparing to attend the 2010 International CES had to have one thing in mind as they packed their bags and traveled to Las Vegas: What would the morale of the industry be? After a rotten 2009 for the economy and a disappointing one for the industry, it was a logical question. The fact is that CE manufacturers, retailers and distributors all work on razor-thin margins — even in g ...... Read More
Comments (1)CES Press Day Part 2: Samsung, Panasonic, Sony
So back to CES Press Day, which from the perspective of the pace of International CES, seems longer than 48 hours ago. Yesterday I went through my impressions on how LG Electronics, Monster Cable, Toshiba, Audiovox and Sharp positioned themselves on Press Day. The remaining three press conferences I attended Wednesday were Samsung, Panasonic and Sony, three powerhouses that emphasized 3D HD of cou ...... Read More
Comments (2)Branding On Display During CES Press Day
As Wednesday evening drew to a close, another International CES Press Day 2010 went into the books. For anyone who covers the industry, makes a living buying or selling its products, or is just a fan of technology, the annual day of 45-minute meetings from 8:00 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. and beyond (including cocktail parties, dinners and the like) can be described in a few ways: * speed dating of manufact ...... Read More
Comments (0)A Decade's Changes
In 10 days not only does 2009 end but the entire first decade of this new century goes in the books … probably an e-book, which is one of the points of this column. During this time of year, the consumer media will do their retrospectives on the year’s and the decade’s news - from world events to the lurid celebrity scene. What we do is our annual look at the year in retail, a ...... Read More
Comments (1)In Memoriam: John & Susan Maloney of Panamax
Panamax released on its Web site Thursday the following statement about the tragic deaths in a car crash of John Maloney, 45, one of the company’s founders; his wife, Susan, 45, who was also a long-time employee; and their children, Grace, 5, and Aiden, 8: “It is with great sadness that we report the tragic passing of former colleagues, John and Susan Maloney. The Maloney family - Jo ...... Read More
Comments (0)Panasonic Sees Future In Solar, Energy-Saving Tech
Panasonic told Bloomberg News today that it plans to invest $1 billion by 2012 to make its solar power and energy-saving technologies for homes and buildings its “principal business.” President Fumio Ohtsubo made the comments when interviewed about the purchase of Sanyo Electric, which has not closed as yet. I’m not going to say “I told you so” but in one of my b ...... Read More
Comments (0)Black Friday ’09 Reporter’s Notes
Black Friday 2009 began for me by putting on local TV around 8:00 a.m. to see, to my surprise, one of Channel 11’s reporters at the Best Buy I have visited for the past several years on this day, in Long Island City at Northern Boulevard and 50th Street. After saying, “Great, now why do I have to go there?” I’m glad decided to take a look for myself.By the time I got th ...... Read More
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