Rebecca Day

Microsoft, which took an unsuccessful stab at home automation via its Window Media Center PC platform a decade ago, turned to Insteon and its nine-year-old dual-band meshed networking platform to give home control another go. Insteon announced Thursday a strategic relationship with Microsoft in which the home automation company has developed Windows 8.1-specific apps for Windows Phone 8 devices that will be sold through Microsoft stores.

Panasonic is hoping that what it calls a couple of market “firsts” will help the company shore up its cred as top-tier TV supplier, after its decision last year to abandon plasma TV.

The CE industry “ran with things before the cake was fully baked,” Matt Smith, chief evangelist for video software platform company Anvato, said of Ultra HD at the Streaming Media East conference in New York. Smith led a panel on the challenges video content and distribution companies face in bringing 4K TV content to market -- including lack of standards -- “because of the notion that they can sell more monitors to us.” Ian Trow, senior director-emerging technology and strategy at Harmonic, said, “Anyone new to the subject would think the standards we've got are a fait accompli, and we're ready to roll.” But issues remain on color space and high dynamic range, he said.

Tivoli Audio turned to fashion and furniture stores as a way to sell its premium radio products, CEO Tom DeVesto said Wednesday at a news conference in New York where the company launched a line of fashion cabinets and a portable music system. The fashion cabinets are for the Albergo wireless music systems that Tivoli had developed for the hospitality market and adapted last year for the home.

Timing of contract renewals led to a 7 percent revenue drop in quarterly revenues year over year in DTS’s network-connected unit for Q1, but unit volume was up year-over-year and the company expects to see “solid growth” for the category over the next three quarters, said DTS CEO Jon Kirchner on an earnings call Monday. Network-connected business was more than 45 percent of revenue in the quarter and is on track to pass 50 percent for the year, said Chief Financial Officer Mel Flanigan.

Monster CEO Noel Lee weighed in Monday on the widely reported, but not yet substantiated, report of Apple’s buying Beats Electronics. Lee told Consumer Electronics Daily in an email that his reaction was “one of shock and delight” upon hearing the reports and took some credit at the same time “as the engine that started Beats.” Monster and Beats had a five-year partnership that ended in 2012 when the two companies decided to part ways, after capturing more than 50 percent of a billion-dollar headphone market at the time. Beats reportedly opted out of a renewal, with Bloomberg Businessweek reporting that “the relationship turned sour over financial terms, with divergent views on which side deserves the most credit for the line’s success.” Lee told us he was surprised by the reported $3.2 billion valuation of the reported Apple-Beats deal “as there are very few enterprises in our business that are worth that kind of money.” Lee said “most of the current [Beats] product was designed and manufactured by us,” so in crunching the numbers, he said, “we know that the multiples just don’t work. However if you can get it, take it!” On how the relationship might affect current headphone makers, including Monster, currently sold through Apple stores, Lee said, “Apple is an important retailer, but not that large by world standards.” He said it would be “out of character” for Apple to change its mix to favor Beats’ products “and put other headphone companies at a competitive disadvantage.” As for the percentage of Monster sales through Apple distribution, Lee said “very few” of its products are sold through Apple stores and that it gets more support from other retailers. Monster is looking for Apple to adopt upcoming products that Lee said are “higher end, technologically more advanced and are more expensive.” Lee also said none of the products sold on the Monster website has “any of the technology we designed for Beats seven years ago,” and Monster has moved on to technologies that allow listeners to “get closer to the music.” On Monster Music, a label of high-end CDs Lee launched a number of years ago, he told us, “It’s hard to make money selling music, when the consumer expectation is to get it for free.” While Monster would like to do more of it, “unfortunately retail and consumer support is not out there.”

The CE industry was abuzz Friday following reports in the Financial Times Thursday that Apple is planning to buy Beats Audio for $3.2 billion. According to NPD numbers, Beats already has 62 percent of the premium $100-and-above headphone market in the U.S., which topped $1 billion for the 12 months ended March 31. Beats’ Pill wireless speakers have 9 percent of annual revenue in that category, which is forecast to double this year, NPD analyst Ben Arnold said.

Himax is “more and more optimistic” about 4K penetration, said CEO Jordan Wu on an earnings call Thursday. Market penetration of large-panel driver ICs for 4K TVs is getting closer to 10 percent for 2014, Wu said, saying some TV customers are talking about “10 percent or more.” Revenue from large-panel display drivers at Himax in Q1 dropped 19 percent to $48.6 million from the year-ago quarter, but they were up sequentially from $46.8 million in Q4 2013 on shipments from new and existing customers and “the increasing penetration of 4K TVs,” Himax said. In the second half, 4K TV sales “are likely” to account for a higher percentage of sales than the first half, which would lift gross margin for large-panel driver ICs, Wu said. The company warned of upcoming “headwinds” in Q2 due to an “inventory correction” by one of the company’s “major Korean end-customers” that’s expected to cause a drop in Q2 smartphone IC sales. “We are waiting for the inventory position to be cleared” and for the customer to review its long-term strategy, Wu said, calling the customer “among the leaders” in the smartphone category. The excess inventory position is a “short-term setback” for Himax, Wu said. For small-panel driver ICs, Himax expects a higher percentage of sales to come from higher-end resolution products such as HD and Full HD in coming months, Wu said. Small and medium-sized panel driver sales and non-driver sales grew 21.5 percent and 44.5 percent year-over-year to 57 percent and 18 percent of total revenue in Q1, the company said. Earnings rose 12 percent to $15.7 million while margin remained relatively flat. For Q2, Himax forecasts revenue to be flat sequentially. The company said it disposed of its investment in a U.S. display company last month, which was wholly acquired by a third party. The initial $4 million investment, made in December, matured to a $12.24 million one-time gain, Himax said.

While Durham, North Carolina-based LED maker Cree has an immediate, and ambitious, goal to drive 100 percent market adoption of LED light bulbs, led by its single-channel distribution through Home Depot stores, the company is simultaneously building a consumer brand for the first time. The company is about “changing the world to LED light and it starts with the basic application,” Mike Watson, vice president-product strategy, told us on a news-media tour in New York Thursday.

Disney is looking at more ways to tap into the success of Frozen, the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the best-selling title ever released on Blu-ray, said CEO Bob Iger on an earnings call Tuesday. The company is studying “other forms of storytelling,” including interactive, he said. Studio Entertainment operating income for fiscal Q2 jumped more than 300 percent to $475 million, primarily on the domestic home video release of Frozen, said Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo.