Riva Audio Cites Product Delay as It Cancels CEDIA News Conference

On the day that Amazon announced third-party tools for voice control and multiroom audio compatibility with its Echo devices (see 1708290037), Riva Audio said in an email it canceled its news conference planned for the CEDIA trade show in San Diego next week. Riva has “some exciting new products in development, but the product we had hoped to ship in time for the show has been delayed and we’re not able to provide additional information on it at this time,” said the company. When we asked Chief Engineer Don North in June about plans for voice control, he told us (see 1706270073): “We recognize the importance of what Amazon’s doing. They’ve made such a wave in the market that you’d have to have your head in the sand to not see the opportunity." Without providing specifics about product plans, North said Riva sees voice at work not only in music selection but also in home automation controlling lights, thermostats, alarms, locks and intelligent search. "It’s nice that we’ve developed a platform that can leverage all of those,” he said then. Tuesday it said it will continue to demonstrate and focus on its current Wand series of multiroom systems that began shipping this summer. Riva didn't answer questions.