The CE industry “has a big problem” that’s evident...

The CE industry “has a big problem” that’s evident at IFA in that “new sources of growth are not obvious and the next hot category is hard to imagine,” Paul Gray, DisplaySearch director-European research, said in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1pN9spD). “Perhaps the approach of audio, of slow re-invention and gradual re-valuation, is the right one,” he said. Panasonic’s relaunch of the Technics brand (CED Sept 4 p1) “would suggest so,” Gray said, but “whether the name resonates with someone aged under 30 is yet to be answered.” With the abundance of Ultra HD introductions at IFA, he said, “the big question is whether TV brands’ competitive responses will allow Ultra HD (not simply 4K) to grow, or whether the dynamics of the industry repeat the 3D bloodbath, in which nobody cared about the quality, the experience was compromised, and consumers were not convinced."