Rebecca Day

Following the iPhone 5 announcement last week, some AirPlay-equipped audio systems launched, including two wireless music systems from B&W that debuted Thursday. The A7 ($799.99) and A5 ($499.99), both due in October, joined the $599.99 Zeppelin Air, B&W’s first AirPlay-compatible system, which hit the market last year. The A7 packs 24 bit/96 kHz digital audio converters and a 6-inch dedicated bass driver. The smaller A5 offers wireless streaming via AirPlay along with an iPod/iPhone dock with a 30-pin connector, the company said.

DTS, which purchased Phorus in July, unveiled the Phorus Android-based wireless audio platform Wednesday in New York. DTS is positioning the uncompressed content distribution technology against Bluetooth and Sonos, while at the same time incorporating Bluetooth into the platform as an all-purpose solution for users who don’t have Android devices. Unlike Bluetooth, a single-room solution with a range of 30 feet, or Sonos with its proprietary mesh network platform, DTS’s Phorus Play-Fi system operates over a home’s Wi-Fi network, Dannie Lau, CEO of Play-Fi developer and DTS subsidiary Phorus, told us.

Japanese companies manufacturing in China are on guard and have taken precautions following violent protests in China last weekend over the sovereignty of islands in the East China Sea. Due to the unrest, Canon has “temporarily suspended operations at three manufacturing companies to ensure the safety of the employees working there,” a spokeswoman for Canon U.S.A. told us Tuesday. The suspension, which began Monday, will continue through Wednesday, she said. The factories include Canon Zhuhai, which produces digital cameras, digital video camcorders, laser printers and contact image sensors; Canon Zhongshan Business Machines, a laser printer facility; and Canon (Suzhou), which produces color and monochrome multi-function printers, she said. As of midnight EDT Tuesday, there had been no reports of any damage or injuries in connection with Canon’s operations in China, the spokeswoman said. A spokesman for Panasonic’s U.S. operations told us: “On Sept. 15, protesters entered Panasonic’s Qingdao and Suzhou device factories and caused damage at both sites.” There were no injuries to personnel, Panasonic said, and the company didn’t quantify damages. In Qingdao, there has been damage to the factory building and equipment on the site, the spokesman told us, saying “the level of damage there is being investigated and the timing for restarting operations at the site is still undecided.” In Suzhou, he told us, the factory building and equipment at the site “have been partially damaged” but that “damage to production equipment was not severe.” The Panasonic spokesman didn’t elaborate on which components are manufactured at the plants. “Ensuring safety remains Panasonic’s top priority and operations at the site were partially restarted on September 17,” he said. Olympus, meanwhile, has two manufacturing facilities for its imaging business located in Guangdong Province. “As of today, Sept. 18th, these manufacturing facilities are operating,” Mark Miller, executive director-marketing services, told us. “As a precaution, our sales and service offices are temporarily closed,” he said. Olympus is not aware of any issues involving Olympus employees or facilities related to the protests, he said. “We plan to resume normal operations on Sept.19 but are monitoring the situation closely should conditions change,” he said. Sony closed two of its eight manufacturing facilities in China Tuesday “in order to ensure the safety of employees,” a spokeswoman for Sony Electronics in the U.S. told us. She didn’t say what the two plants produced. Sony plans to resume normal operations at its Chinese factories on Wednesday, she said.

News of plant closings in China amid violent protests over the disputed sovereignty of islands in the East China Sea were a distraction from digital camera announcements released Monday on the eve of the critical Q4 sales season. Protests broke out in various Chinese provinces over the weekend, and Panasonic and Canon closed several plants Monday, according to news reports. Chinese protests followed the Japanese government’s announcement last week that it was buying several of the disputed islands from a private Japanese owner, which prompted China to send six surveillance ships to the area, news reports said.

Apple’s decision to abandon the 30-pin connector in the thinner iPhone 5 has created a stir among consumers and manufacturers with docking systems for iPods and iPhones that can’t accommodate the new nine-pin connector. The new connector, called Lightning, has also been a boon for enterprising marketers of Bluetooth-enabled docks and speakers. Wireless speaker company Soundfreaq was the latest to tout its compatibility with the new iPhone Friday, with a reminder that 30-pin iPod docks “are now obsolete,” it said in a news release.

ST. LOUIS -- In a market that has lost 12 AV retail stores in the last 12 months, counting at least one single-store operation that met its demise and larger retail chains that scaled back locations, competitors were digging in Thursday when hhgregg held its grand opening of four stores in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Big-box retailer Best Buy and AV specialty store The Sound Room applauded the entry of hhgregg for the marketing visibility the retail chain would bring to the area -- which most recently lost American TV, Ultimate Electronics, and independent Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum, after the demise of Circuit City -- though they had no intention of conceding market share to the newcomer from Indianapolis.

Retail foot traffic is projected to climb 2.8 percent during November and December over the same months last year, though foot traffic for consumer electronics is expected to stumble 8 percent on the impact of e-commerce, Bill Martin, founder of ShopperTrak, told Consumer Electronics Daily Wednesday.

A few new product introductions were displayed at the latest ShowStoppers event in New York Monday night, led by an NFC (Near Field Communications)-equipped all-in-one PC from Hewlett-Packard. The Spectre One, the first all-in-one in HP’s stylized Spectre line, is one of a series of Windows 8-based all-in-one PCs the company introduced Monday.

DDD Group upgraded its Yabazam 3D video app for LG Smart TVs to enable transactional 3D movie downloads via video on demand, the company said. Until now, Yabazam content via TV apps consisted of free downloads of 3D movie trailers. The Yabazam 3D app for Samsung 3D Smart TVs in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan is undergoing final testing and is expected to be released within a month, Jay Wiskerchen, vice president-content services, told us. Wiskerchen said LG’s development environment allowed the company to create a 3D app that could “seamlessly switch between 2D menus and 3D videos, which allows users to focus on enjoying the 3D show rather than worrying about technical details.” The Yabazam 3D rental library currently numbers 40 titles, Wiskerchen said, and 18 additional titles are due “in coming weeks.” Current titles on the website include “Boys Toys: Hoosier Daddy ($3.99),” a movie about cars; “Alien Safari ($1.99),” a free pre-load on certain Acer notebook PCs; and “3D Sun ($9.99).”

Polk Audio is testing the company store model with a 295-square-foot kiosk at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Al Ballard, vice president of marketing, told us at CEDIA Expo last week. It’s a new initiative for the company that he called a “marketing workshop” to create awareness about the Polk brand and personal audio products among consumers it might not ordinarily reach. The kiosk, due to open at the end of September or early October, will be manned by a Polk employee who will demo products including headphones and home and personal audio systems, Ballard said. Polk chose BWI because it’s the hometown airport for the Baltimore-based company and the Southwest terminal sees 15 million passengers a year, Ballard says. The “ideas laboratory” will give the company a chance to try out marketing ideas and promotions, Ballard said. Most products sold at the kiosk will be Polk-branded, although a smattering of products from sister loudspeaker company Definitive Technology and sister brands under the Directed group of automotive products could be sold there as well, he said. Regarding the cost of operating a retail kiosk through landlord AirMall USA, which also manages retail operations at airports in Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Ballard said, “It’s not cheap.” On whether Polk plans to roll out the kiosks nationally, Ballard said, “Who knows? We'll see how it goes.”