Rebecca Day

Sonos, whose exclusion from the List 4A Section 301 tariffs was granted in March (see 2005110034), is continuing plans to diversify its supply chain into Malaysia, said Chief Financial Officer Brittany Bagley on a quarterly call Wednesday. Sonos turned to Malaysia to reduce exposure to the tariffs on Chinese-sourced wireless mesh networking audio components.

COVID-19 lockdowns helped Roku add 3.2 million incremental active accounts in Q2, a record for a non-holiday quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on a Wednesday investor call. The company ended Q2 up 41% year on year in active accounts, at 43 million, fueled by shelter-at-home mandates.

Wireless charging company Energous had another product delay, said CEO Steve Rizzone on an investor call Wednesday. The company “months ago” previewed the NewSound Primo W hearing aid, which was expected to be in the market now, but factory shutdowns and supply chain issues delayed production. Energous expects to have chip procurements from NewSound by year-end, said Rizzone. The company is looking to its recently announced WattUp PowerHub developer kit to create new revenue opportunities. Q2 revenue was $114,375 vs $47,500 in the year-ago quarter. Energous received $9.2 million in the quarter through a stock offering, it said. The company is now targeting military applications.

5G and foldable will be “major pillars” of Samsung Mobile’s future, said Global Executive Vice President Federico Casalegno, in the company’s first virtual Galaxy Unpacked product launch Wednesday. The scripted event had components of a live Unpacked event. It included an introduction by Samsung Mobile Communications Business President TM Roh, brand videos, cameos from executives at partner brands Microsoft and Xbox, and Samsung product presenters showing off features of the five products launching at the event.

Google’s $450 million investment in ADT, announced Monday, demonstrates “clear bullishness” for both pro-installed and pro-monitored sides of the home security market, emailed Parks Associates analyst Brad Russell Tuesday. Google and ADT’s long-term partnership will combine Nest’s hardware and services, powered by Google’s machine learning technology, with ADT’s installation, service and professional monitoring network across the U.S., said the companies.

Dolby fiscal Q3 revenue fell 18% from the 2019 quarter and 30% sequentially, with TVs, PCs and mobile products outperforming set-top boxes, said Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew on a Monday call. The quarter ended June 26. Lower unit shipments, products and services sales and Dolby Cinema revenue were due to COVID-19, he said. Theaters are reopening more slowly than Dolby expected. Revenue guidance for Q4 is $225 million-$255 million compared with $299 million in Q4 last year. Most of the potential decline can be blamed on the “economic ripple effect of the pandemic,” plus lower royalty recoveries, Chew said. CEO Kevin Yeaman said there’s “still a lot of uncertainty,” and “in addition to lower consumer spending, the pandemic has resulted in some shifts in the timing of new customer wins and revenues.” Licensees remain “deeply engaged” with adding Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos functionality, Yeaman said. Dolby Vision was installed on about 10% of 4K TV shipments in fiscal 2019, he said. The company expects to “materially increase that adoption rate” for fiscal 2020 “with a significant growth opportunity still ahead,” he said. Yeaman sees Dolby adoption accelerating on PCs and mobile devices and on gaming and music content. Colliers' Steven Frankel said Dolby has “navigated through the worst of the supply chain interruptions.” The analyst sees the potential for Dolby.IO, the company's developer platform effort, to move technologies from devices to applications, he wrote investors Tuesday.

Emerald Holding canceled 60 events through Q3 due to the pandemic, and some beyond this year, with $197 million in 2019 revenue, said interim CEO Brian Field on a Q2 call Monday. The company postponed 14 events to second-half 2020 that had $8 million in 2019 revenue.

Apple’s record fiscal Q3 revenue of $59.7 billion, up 11% year on year, was due to a “strong iPhone SE launch,” continued economic stimulus and lifting of shelter-in-place restrictions around the world, said CEO Tim Cook on Thursday evening’s earnings call. Growth spanned all regions in the quarter ended June 27.

Worldwide smartphone shipments plunged 16% year over year in Q2 to 278.4 million, said IDC Thursday. The “huge” decline was due to a “massive reduction” in consumer spending due to the COVID-19-led global economic crisis, store closures and rising unemployment, said Nabila Popal. Phones also competed with other technologies consumers needed during lockdown periods, including PCs, monitors and tablets, said the analyst.

Prime Day 2020 will be in Q4, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky confirmed on Thursday evening's Q2 earnings call. It's investing in “meaningfully higher” year-over-year square footage growth for fulfillment center space, sort centers and delivery stations due to come online in late Q3 into Q4. “We need to build the inventory more for Q4, and we've run out of space,” he said.