Consumer Electronics Daily News

Survey: Consumers Unwilling to Grab iPhone at $500

Only one percent of potential iPhone buyers say they're willing to pay the $499 asking price Apple Inc. is reportedly going to be charging for the device, according to the results of a new survey from online market research firm Compete.

While that may sound like good news for competitor carriers such as Verizon and T-Mobile, 60 percent of those who said they will likely buy the device said they'd switch carrier services to Cingular (now part of AT&T) to get the iPhone, which is available exclusively through their network.

Compete surveyed 379 people in the United States, the majority of whom had both heard of the iPhone and shopped for an iPod. With the June launch of the iPhone coming up quickly, more than one-quarter (26 percent) said their likely to buy an iPhone, but all but one percent balked at the steep entry-level price.

Apple, which is known for price drops at launch (such as the AppleTV which was unveiled with a price tag of $399 but launched for only $299), may well be planning a similar strategy for the iPhone debut. According to Compete, 42 percent of respondents said they'd purchase the all-in-one cell phone immediately if it retailed for $200 to $299.

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CompUSA Announces Restructuring

CompUSA has formalized plans for a comprehensive restructuring that brings with it significant upper level management changes and several store closures.

The company said in a statement today that in order to better compete in the market, CompUSA is overhauling its company structure, streamlining operations and reducing expenses.

"We understand that our company must make comprehensive changes to better compete in today’s marketplace,” says CEO Roman Ross. “Our realignment strategy addresses the steps we must take to increase profitability in the current retail landscape.”

To improve financial performance, the company has realigned its executive leadership team and will implement a strategy to streamline store operations. A key component of CompUSA’s business strategy will focus on maximizing margins in its top performing stores.

Gabriela Villalobos has been named Executive Vice President, Sales and Operations, taking over in the wake of Brian Wood, EVP and General Merchandise Manager, who reportedly left the company part of the overhaul. Villalobos will be responsible for store, services, small business and e-commerce sales. On an interim basis Villalobos will oversee merchandising and marketing.

Chief Financial Officer Todd Whitbeck is also exiting CompUSA and being replaced by Mike Bryk, formerly Vice President of Finance and Accounting. Bryk has been with CompUSA since 1993 and has filled the role of vice president since 1998.

Also, included in the restructuring plans announced today is the closure of four stores -- two in California and one each in Texas and Illinois.

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Blu-ray Trumps HD DVD For First Time

For the first time since the debut of both next-generation DVD formats, preliminary data shows that Blu-ray discs have outsold HD DVD on a week-to-week, head-to-head comparison, Home Media Magazine reports.

The magazine cites Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data showing that Blu-ray disc sales outpaced HD DVD disc sales for the week ending Feb. 18 by a slim margin -- 100 units sold for every 98.71 HD DVD units sold.

The increase in Blu-ray sales is simply the result of more titles being released for the player, but not the strong signal of Blu-ray support that it appears to be, Ken Graffeo, the executive in charge of the HD DVD effort for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, told Home Media.

With Blu-ray backers releasing double the number of titles over HD DVD releases since the beginning of the year, and a 5:1 ratio of Blu-ray player adoption over HD DVD players (due mainly to sales of the PlayStation 3), sales of Blu-ray media should be much higher than they currently are.

By comparison, Graffeo notes, the attach rate for HD DVD is five times that of Blu-ray since hardware adoption is one-fifth that of the Sony-led format while disc sales are nearly identical.

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Samsung Speeds Up World's Fastest Graphics Memory

Samsung Electronics has upped the ante for data transfer speed with the announcement today of the GDDR4 (series four of graphics double-data-rate memory). The GDDR4 improves by two-thirds the graphics memory processes for video images in PCs, notebooks and workstations to move huge volumes of video simultaneously.

“Our new GDDR4 memory will add even more zip in video applications, making gaming, computer-aided design and video editing a lot faster than ever before,” says Mueez Deen, Marketing Director, Graphics Memory, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. “This will enable ultra-smooth movements in animation, making games incredibly realistic, resulting in a truly immersive experience,” he added.

Using 80-nanometer production technology, the 4Gb/s (2.0GHz) is 66 percent faster than today’s fastest commercially available memory -- a 2.4Gb/s GDDR4. The new 4Gb/s graphics memory, offered in a 512Mb density, has a 32-bit data bus configuration.? GDDR4 uses JEDEC-approved standards for signal noise reduction to help attain the highest possible speed.

According to Samsung, analysts expect GDDR4 to significantly boost demand for the high-performance memory market segment over the next 12 to 18 months.

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Sanyo Investigated by Japanese SEC

Regulators Said to be Looking Into 2003 Earnings Report After Japanese Newspaper Details Alleged Cover Up of Losses

Sanyo Electric saw its stock slide more than 20 percent today after it was announced that Japanese securities officials are looking into accounting discrepancies, and a newspaper reported that the CE giant failed to properly account for more than $1.6 billion (US) in losses.

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan has confirmed that it is investigating the company, but would not give details of the investigation, Reuters reports. Japanese paper The Asahi Shimbun reported earlier this week that Sanyo has allegedly written off losses of about 190 billion yet ($1.6 billion US), but reported those losses at $50 billion yen ($412 million) and as a result, falsely reported a profit in a 2003 earnings report where none existed.

The company said in a statement today that it is cooperating fully with the investigation, though it would not discuss or elaborate on the Asahi Shumbun report.

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Alcatel Awarded $1.5B in Microsoft MP3 Patent Suit

Microsoft has been ordered by a federal jury to pay more than $1.5 billion in patent-infringement damages to Alcatel-Lucent for violations of patent related to digital audio conversion of MP3s on PCs. The software giant has said that it will appeal the decision.

According to Microsoft, the award, which is one of the largest in history, is unsupported by the facts and threatens to make computer manufacturers, audio device manufacturers and others involved in MP3 licensing subject to billions of dollars in unwarranted legal penalties.

The suit stems from a series of patent disputes filed by Lucent in 2002 and 2003. The company, which was acquired by Alcatel last year, alleges that Microsoft and several computer makers are have improperly licensed Lucent technology from a third party, and have not paid the appropriate parties for the technology being utilized for MP3 playback and audio compression. The two companies are also in the midst of legal wrangling regarding video coding used in Microsoft's XBox gaming systems and Windows interface.

Microsoft is arguing that it legally licensed the MP3 technology from Germany-based Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for about $16 million in 1997 and 2004.

Microsoft is concerned that this decision opens the door for Alcatel-Lucent to pursue action against hundreds of other companies who purchased the rights to use MP3 technology from Fraunhofer, the industry-recognized rightful licensor, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel Tom Burt said in a statement.

An appeal to the decision is forthcoming, Burk adds. However, the court's decision may be bellwether for future headaches for the world's largest software company. The San Diego-based federal court which ruled in favor of Alcatel-Lucent is considering several other patent lawsuits between the two companies in March and April.

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Is Consumer Spending on CE Slowing?

A new report from The NPD Group is turning heads in the consumer electronics industry, as the research firm suggests the growth rate for consumer spending on technology products has slowed by half from 2005 to 2006.

According to NDP, consumer spending on technology products topped $111 billion last year, a 3.6 percent jump over 2005. However, the year to year increase in 2005 was about 7.2 percent, suggesting that CE spending growth has not kept pace with previous years.

More consumers shopped in the stores than online in 2006, with brick and mortar revenue increasing by 4.6 percent to $85.8 billion, while e-commerce experienced only 0.5 percent growth to $25.2 billion. Television, notebook computer and MP3 player sales produced strong gains in the overall market, but were off-set by declining revenue from DVD players, home theater, desktop computers and printers.

Retail sales were the principal driver for the PC market as well. Two-thirds of the $54 billion in IT product revenue came from retail, making it the third straight year that retail sales have outpaced e-commerce. MP3 players were also a big contributor to overall 2006 sales, and consumers continued to purchase the players in the stores, due in part to Apple’s retail store strategy which drives consumers into a physical environment. Sales of MP3 players increased 23 percent to over $6 billion. Nearly 78 percent of both unit and dollar volume came from retail sales, an increase of five percentage points from 2005.

For information regarding the NPD report, click here.

Toshiba Shrinks S-MOS Line for Portable Electronics

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., has expanded its power semiconductor lineup with a broad selection of low ON-resistance small signal MOSFETs (S-MOS) suitable for high-speed switching devices or DC-DC converters in portable electronics equipment.

According to Toshiab, the MOSFETs feature among the lowest ON-resistance and lowest capacitance in the industry and are designed to save space while meeting requirements for smaller internal power loss and lower operating voltage in devices such as laptops, cell phones, digital cameras and audio players.

"Advances in miniaturization of portable equipment are increasingly driving design decisions. At Toshiba, we are working to help our customers realize low capacitance and high speed switching, with lower operating voltages and smaller power losses, which translate into longer battery operation for their designs," says Homayoun Ghani, Business Development Manager, microwave, RF and small-signal products, for TAEC.

Samsung Ships 117 Million NAND Units in 2006

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., is touting new figures showing its leadership in the NAND Flash market growing. According to Samsung, the company shipped 117 million units in 512 megabit (Mb) equivalent of its OneNAND™ Flash fusion memory in 2006, a 130 percent increase in production volume from 2005.

“OneNAND’s enormous popularity allows it to stand tall as the most compelling value proposition in the industry," says John Cerrato, Vice President, Global Accounts, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. "By offering much higher performance and significantly lower overall cost than conventional memory solutions, we have tapped into very strong and growing customer demand."

The popular device is the first fusion memory chip, a device that fuses a single-level-cell NAND core with SRAM and logic elements to emulate a NOR Flash interface. First targeted at the handset market, OneNAND has also been specified in a wide range of embedded applications including digital still cameras, hybrid hard drives and set-top boxes for HDTV.

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Apple, Cisco Make Peace Over iPhone

Cisco has ceased it's trademark lawsuit against Apple Inc., over their use of iPhone, after the two companies announced a resolution to their dispute regarding Apple's apparent misappropriation of Cisco's trademark.

Cisco has owned the iPhone moniker since its 2000 acquisition of InfoGear (which trademarked the name rights 1996). The company released a series of VoIP phones with the iPhone name back in December.

According to a joint announcement, both companies acknowledge that trademark ownership rights have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark.

What's more, "Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications." No other terms of the deal were disclosed, neither company has spoken to what interoperability plans are in the works.

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