IRobot slashed operating income projections for the fiscal year ending Jan. 1 on concerns over higher supply chain costs, price increases and Section 301 tariffs, said Chief Financial Officer Julie Zeiler on a Thursday earnings call. Q3 gross margin declined by 11 percentage points, with 60% of the decrease due to an unexpected $14 million in tariff costs and “supply chain headwinds.”

No changes have been proposed internally to a draft FCC order clarifying ATSC 3.0 multicast rules, though the item hasn't been OK'd by all commissioners, said agency and industry officials in recent interviews. Broadcasters say approving the item -- which stems from an NAB petition for clarification -- will speed the transition to 3.0. “Anything we can do to expedite 3.0 deployment will be for the benefit of viewers and platform users,” said One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz.

Open radio access networks with high security take work because they increase the potential attack surface, an Ericsson executive said at the Telecom TV ORAN summit Thursday. Speakers said few ORAN startups are likely to survive.

Sony was "unable" to meet demand for some consumer tech products in its fiscal Q2 ended Sept. 30 “because the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia led to limitations on our factory operations and on the supply of components,” Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki told a Tokyo investors briefing Thursday. Sony said it sold 2 million TVs globally in the quarter, 26% fewer than a year earlier and 10% fewer sequentially from Q1.

The movie business passed “an enormous stress test,” said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond on a Thursday earnings call, saying “the movies are back” as studios have recommitted to theatrical releases after they were largely shut down in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Despite expected product shortages, rising prices and supply chain constraints, the National Retail Federation forecast the highest volume holiday retail sales season on record Wednesday, saying combined in-store and online sales Nov. 1-Dec. 31 will surge 8.5%-10.5% year on year to $843.4 billion-$859 billion.

5G wireless is just getting started and how it will look a few years ahead no one knows for sure, speakers said Wednesday and Tuesday at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles. 5G will build on other changes in technology and, unlike 4G, which was primarily oriented to the consumer market, has the biggest implications for businesses, speakers said.

After COVID-19 “choppiness” in the first half, Spotify grew monthly active users (MAU) by 19% year on year to 381 million in Q3, said CEO Daniel Ek on a Wednesday earnings call. Revenue grew 27% year on year to $2.9 billion, led by $2.6 billion in premium subscriber revenue, said a Wednesday shareholder letter.

YouTube, TikTok and Snap agreed to share internal research with the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee, the companies' representatives told a hearing Tuesday. Chair Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told us he’s going to hold them to that promise and use the findings to develop a full picture in pursuit of legislation.

“It’ll be an interesting holiday for a lot of companies,” said Logitech Chief Financial Officer Nate Olmstead on a fiscal Q2 earnings call Tuesday. Olmstead cited “tightness” in supply at the store level and said companies need to “make sure they can get on shelf,” in response to an analyst question on manufacturers' ability to meet demand in the holiday quarter. Q2 ended Sept. 30.