Dolby is hoping pay-TV operators and consumers will create demand for set-top boxes with Dolby Vision, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Chew told an investor conference Wednesday. Growth in the segment has been relatively flat in recent quarters compared with three years ago, he said. The first Dolby Vision-enabled set-tops are expected to begin rolling out this year (see 1905020062). On why U.S. household penetration of Dolby Vision isn’t broader in TVs, Chew called it “still a relatively new technology,” comparing it to anti-lock braking systems that appeared first in luxury vehicles and are now standard. Availability of more content in Vision will drive more TV adoption, he suggested: “It’s very encouraging to see big players like iTunes, Amazon Prime and Netflix adopting Dolby Vision as a way of putting out their content.” The company sees “lots of opportunity ahead.” Samsung adopted Dolby Atmos in the latest Galaxy smartphones after some years ago taking Dolby out, Chew noted. Apple adopted Vision, though not Atmos, for iPhone 8 and later phones, and recent iPads.
The FCC OK'd General Motors pulling the company's waiver bid to not provide some real-time texting functions (see 1904260002), via an order Friday by Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Patrick Webre. It's in docket 15-178. Some dozen groups backed the automaker's reversal to not seek exemption of providing some RTT in Cruise shared autonomous vehicles (see 1905080055).
Retain use of the entire 5.9 GHz band for auto-safety services, the Association of Global Automakers asked the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai had been poised to circulate an NPRM on the band last week, but postponed seeking a vote after the Department of Transportation asked for a delay (see 1905150053). The automakers asked the FCC to keep five principles in mind. Ensure a “fact-based approach for evaluating interoperability; evolution and backwards compatibility; and the potential coexistence of multiple [vehicle-to-everything] technologies in a technology-neutral manner,” the group filed, posted Friday in docket 13-49.The band plan should guard against interference to existing services and require that all V2Z-equipped vehicles and infrastructure are able to provide for "communication of the Basic Safety Message,” the group said: “The regulatory framework must promote investment in deployment of lifesaving V2X services for the benefit of the driving public now.”
Summit Wireless Technologies embedded licensable software has been demoed for about 15 companies under nondisclosure agreements, said CEO Brett Moyer on a Q1 call Wednesday. The audio tech's IP version is designed to hit the "sweet spot" of good enough to “penetrate the broad market” -- the 1.3 billion smartphones, 200 million smart TVs and 200 million tablets sold each year, he said. Summit will secure an “alpha customer this year and launch with them,” he said.
Sony Mobile will launch the Xperia 1 July 12 on Verizon at Best Buy, Amazon, B&H Photo, Focus Camera and other retailers, it said Thursday. The $949 smartphone will be the first to include a 4K OLED display, said Sony.
Though the FTC hasn’t released comments it received by the April 30 deadline for the “Nixing the Fix” inquiry into manufacturer restrictions on third-party repairs, one advocate for third-party repairs did. IFixit believes device owners “should have the right to repair, modify, and tinker with the things they own.” iFixit blogged that it was posting its comments online for download “in the interest of full transparency” for people who thought right-to-repair was just “a fringe issue that only affects the tech-savvy DIYers among us.” The agency wants to know whether the limitations can thwart consumer protections under the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, (see 1904220039). The FTC will post the high volume of submissions it received “at some point” on the agency’s Nixing the Fix “event page,” emailed a spokesperson Thursday. “It may take a while since we have to review it all.” The FTC has said it will use the comments to shape the agenda for the Nixing the Fix workshop it will host July 16. Tech groups, including CTA, for years have lobbied heavily against state right-to-repair laws on various grounds, including that they wrongly impose government regulation on the relationship between OEMs and equipment repair facilities. CTA didn’t comment Thursday.
Qualcomm announced support Thursday for Google Assistant and Google Fast Pair on the Qualcomm Smart Headset platform. Smart Headset, based on Qualcomm’s QCC5100 series low-power Bluetooth audio chips, includes hardware and software required for manufacturers to create differentiated wireless stereo earbuds and headsets with support for Google Assistant for various product tiers and categories, said the company. The reference design supports push-button activation for Google Assistant, which connects to the Google Assistant app running on a smartphone. The platform comprises processing capability, connectivity options, voice assistant interfaces and premium audio technologies.
Headset supplier Poly, which includes Plantronics, wants to exit the consumer business to stay “laser-focused” on its enterprise opportunity, said CEO Joseph Burton on a call Tuesday about the quarter ended March 31. It’s in the “very early days of thinking this through,” he said. Whether it sells the business in “a single transaction to a single buyer” or through “multiple transactions” or finds a joint venture partner, “all that's a little bit still in front of us,” he said. Consumer is roughly 8 percent of total revenue, he said. Poly is watching this week’s tariffs situation “like a hawk,” and is “uniquely positioned ... versus some of our competitors” to weather the storm if the third tranche of Chinese duties rise to 25 percent (see 1905080033), said Burton. It builds a “considerable number” of its products “in-house” in a factory it owns in Tijuana, Mexico, he said.
About a dozen groups formally backed General Motors' ask that the FCC pull the company's waiver bid to not provide some real-time texting functions in Cruise shared autonomous vehicles (see 1904260002). The RTT mandates that the automaker sought to escape "appear, at least at this preliminary stage of development of GM service, to be inapplicable to the service," said the American Association of People with Disabilities, National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and others. The filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-178.
The virtual-reality market “could grow rapidly with 5G,” said Kopin CEO John Fan on a Q1 call Tuesday, and the microdisplay supplier is “optimistic” consumer demand for VR and augmented-reality headsets ultimately will match that of the “pretty hot” enterprise AR/VR market “in the coming years.” Fan, when pressed, disclosed that Kopin is developing a new Solos AR headset targeted toward a broader consumer audience than the limited cyclist demographic from before. OLED microdisplays “will be the display of choice for VR because of its superior performance,” especially if it can “achieve high brightness,” he said. Increasing peak brightness to 5,000 nits from the current 1,000 nits “will enable innovative optical designs,” including headsets with “much thinner” forms, said Fan.