CE Forum

Here’s how Karmazin explained it to listeners during his company’s conference call: “If you were to add up the net [additional subscribers] that we had, and the net adds that our competitor had, and create the satellite radio market, we had 36% share of the total satellite radio market in Q1, up dramatically from Q1 '04 where we had 22%.”
...“With our strong retail offerings in Q2, new Gen 3 products in the second half of the year, combined with Howard Stern, you should expect continued strong retail growth and, importantly, market share,” Karmazin said.
...Karmazin’s focus is the pace at which Sirius can continue to add and retain subscribers who walk into stores like Best Buy, or Circuit City or Radio Shack and walk out with a Sirius product.


Billboard Radio Monitor 4/29/05

U.S.-based RadioShack Corp., which has won a court battle over the use of its name in Canada, is poised to begin an aggressive launch of its own stores under its namesake.
The rollout will make it even more difficult for Circuit City Stores Inc. of Richmond, Va., to raise awareness of its new banner --The Source by Circuit City -- after a ruling that its Canadian RadioShack outlets will have to be renamed, observers said.
...Canadian RadioShack stores are currently run under a licensing agreement by InterTan Canada Ltd. But InterTan was acquired last year by Circuit City, setting off the legal fight over the RadioShack name.
...And as RadioShack and Circuit City battle it out, big-box retailing titan Best Buy Canada, which also owns Future Shop, continues to expand across the country -- providing further competition, she said.

Gee, it is happening even quicker than I thought.

Gobe and Mail 4/29/05

Mobility Electronics is becoming more and more important in the consumer electronics market. Its first quarter hightlights show new distribution to Wal-Mart, Apple stores, The Sharper Image, InterTAN and many others. Also they have development releations with RadioShack and Motorola.

They announced that their first quarter revenue was $18.4 million an increase of 31% over same period of 2005.

Read there complete release by clicking above.

FORT WORTH -- RadioShack announced Tuesday that it awarded its $250 million national advertising account to Arnold Worldwide, the Boston firm whose clients include Volkswagen, Gillette, Fidelity, Royal Caribbean, Hasbro, Vonage, Amtrak, Choice Hotels and ESPN.

..."Through their thoughtful and strategic approach, they clearly demonstrated that they understood the essence of our brand today and where we aspire to be in the future," said Don Carroll, chief marketing and brand officer for RadioShack.

(Free registration required)

The #2 electronics chain, said fourth-quarter net income declined to $85.4 million as it closed 19 stores and changed accounting for leases. Net income fell to 45 cents a share from $89.6 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said today in a statement distributed by PR Newswire.
...Circuit City closed the stores, five offices and a distribution center after receiving a $3.25 billion takeover offer from Highfields Capital Management LP, the company's third- largest investor.
..."They still have a long way to go and they're still a long way behind Best Buy," said David Campbell Jr., an analyst with Richmond, Virginia-based Thompson, Davis & Co.
...During the past year, he sold off the company's private- label credit card business, which was hurt by rising defaults, and bought Canada's InterTan Inc. consumer electronics chain to gain access to private-label products.
The company's board on March 7 rejected the $17-per-share offer from Boston-based hedge fund Highfields, saying shareholders were better served by the company's plans to boost profits by cutting costs and making store improvements.
"They're going to have to show a fairly good performance or they're going to have another entity knocking on their door offering to buy them out," Phil Grodnick, who helps manage $200 million including Circuit City shares at Minneapolis Portfolio Management of Minneapolis, said before the announcement.

On a side note: I visited a Conn's store this morning. I could see how it could give Circuit City addtional worries.

NEW YORK, April 27 (newratings.com) – US consumer electronics chain Best Buy Inc (BBY.NYS) Wednesday announced its decision to accelerate its store expansion plans, besides a $1.5 billion share buyback programme.
...The company, which repurchased 3.9 million shares for $200 million in the previous financial year, announced a new buyback programme to replace its earlier authorization of share repurchases worth $500 million.

2 U.S. electronics retailer, will unveil today the new banner and broader product selection for its more than 900 RadioShack outlets in Canada.
...Alan McCollough, chief executive officer of Circuit City, said in an interview the company wanted to keep a separate name -- and identity -- for the Canadian stores because eventually it may bring its big-box Circuit City outlets to this country.
...U.S.-based RadioShack Corp., in trying to block stores in Canada from using its name and stocking its merchandise, had applied for an injunction in a Texas district court seeking to end the licensing agreement that allowed InterTan to run the RadioShack stores.

So when will the RadioShack brand re-enter Canada?

I don’t remember where I saw this on a blog.

The concept goes something like this:

With the popularty of cellphones with cameras and Internet access retailers will soon be faced with a new problem. That will be the consumer with have the ability to enter a retailer, pickup a product and “scan” the UPC with the phone and have Froogle or similar service find it cheaper. They would even be able to order it while standing in the store.

What do you think retailers will do to combat this idea? I see two possibilities.

1) Stop all communications from within the store. Of course, that would upset their customers who are not doing the “cheaper scan.”

2) Provide all products with a UPC unique to that retailer.
That is already being done with some products like computers and matresses. (Keeps them from actually having to match prices.)

What do you think?

A new Disney portable DVD player comes in several models and is geared for children of all ages. This Disney Princess player and the others are available with a 3.5-inch handheld screen or 7-inch screen with a clamshell lid.

Link goes to photo on Cnet's News.com

In an effort to not repeat the VHS/Beta-Max wars, Sony and Toshiba said they are in talks about how to resolve their competing next-generation optical-disk formats. Apparently the feeling is tht they are on the verge of agreeing on a compromise "hybrid" next-generation DVD format as soon as this month.

That would mean the OEM companies would not have to pick sides.

Google has long had advertisements on web sites, such as the Adsense ones near the top of this page. Now, they are offering to let advertisers tell them WHERE their ads are placed. While I am sure that these new ads will rate a premium over the Adsense ads you see today, it makes a great deal of sense for both advertisers and web sites. See only the ads that are appropriate for your audience. Image that. We have long been promised that we would see only advertising aimed only at us, but we are bombarded with non-targeted messages. This is a step in the right direction.

Google's revenue from advertising has increased nearly six times for the first quarter of the year, compared to last year. So it won't hurt them at all.

Guess it does make a difference if shareholders ask for more money. After riding with Verizon's offer for sometime, the MCI board has accepted Qwests offer of $9.7 billion.

Now the question is, if Qwest does actually win the bidding war, will it have any money left to do anything with MCI?

Reed Electronics reported yesterday about the Broadband Wireless World conference at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
Apparently WiMAX was very much the topic of the day. Apparently the non-mobile use of WiMAX is expected to be the main use for the near future, with mobile activities later.

Another interesting comment in the article is that WiMAX at 3.5-GHz has been approved for use all over the world except for the United States. In the United States, it will be available, but currently is required to only broadcast if there is no other traffic.

Don't know that I understand that, but read the article. Maybe you will do better.

Greetings, I recently left my postion with a major consumer electronics retailer. While there, I developed and published a daily newsletter that covered news that was happening in the industry. Or news that effected the industry.

So that newsletter covered a lot of ground. Here, I will be trying to cover some of that arena, but not sweeping as broadly.

Let me know what you think of the blog in general and of the news stories in particular.

Thanks


Lynn