Avnera: stealth no more…

HONG KONG — So for those who can put 2 and 2 and 4 together, it may not come as a suprise that I work for a company called Avnera. I’ve not mentioned it before since we’ve been in “stealth” mode, which has its advantages, no doubt. But it’s also a good thing when the story does get out, and that has begun as we issue our first press release and make some early product announcements with some of our early customers… customers whose products have been much discussed here at Alive Matters. Namely the RF-WHTIB from Rocketfish and the AWD210 from Acoustic Research.

Here’s a list of public information and press coverage of our company and products:

• Official company press release
• “Wireless audio from startup eliminates media room snakes” by Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian
• “Wireless audio wit..out th.. dr..o..p out” by Chris Nuttal, Financial Times
• “Beyond Bluetooth: Manpreet Khaira’s new company cuts the cables” by Aliza Earnshaw, Portland Business Journal
• “Startup tries proprietary path to wireless HiFi” by R. Colin Johnson, EETimes
• “Wireless Speakers: Sound at last?” by Michael Kanellos, CNET News.com
• Photo full-monty on CNET
• Coverage of coverage: “Stirring the wireless stew” on Interconnects
• Coverage of coverage: “Avnera comes out of stealth mode” on OregonStartups
• Coverage of coverage: “Avnera’s backers include new Oregon VC fund” on The Silicon Forest Blog

Additional coverage will be seeping out over the coming days, and most folks around Avnera are happy to be able to tell their families what the late hours have been about for the past 3.5 years.

It’s kinda funny to read how our meticulously crafted and technically-precise pitch has been interpreted and relayed to the masses. The craft of stroytelling and reporting is one I’ve grown up understanding from my father, who was a journalist by training and throughout most his life, lived with the spirit of storytelling. But as a technically-minded, detail-oriented person — who from day two has been continuously tasked with helping craft our “story” — to see what happens as the meat passes through a writer/critic’s gray-matter is a minor roller coaster. But overall, I am gratified that the core of our message has penetrated through. Our technology comes from a fundamentally sound, grounds-up systems-based approach to problem solving, and delivers a wireless audio solution that is robust and easy to use, and probably most important, affordable enough to enable true, mass-market applications. Premium performance, at mainstream prices. That’s why we’ve been able to raise $40+ Million, all on a positive-slope valuation curve, and enable a diversified set of early customer applications. There are still kinks in these muscles as we continue to “get warm”, and there will be growing pains, as anyone with startup experience knows, but it’s been an exciting adventure for a gadget guy who definitely shares the meaty grin of one of our founders, Chris O’Connor (pictured in today’s local rag, captured at the right).

Personally, I look forward to being able to share more about our progress and our technology. If detailed answers are what you seek, or if you wish to design with Avnera, contact corporate via the web. If you’re an interested tech-geek or general consumer, chime in on threads here at Alive Matters, if it’s fit to print, and I don’t smell a rat, you’ll get the most accurate take on matters that I am at liberty to discuss. And again, this blog is not officially affiliated with Avnera, and it will always be my intention to blog what I can and should. And it follows, that whatever opinions I express are strictly my own.

The covers have been taken off our first two product lines, but there is much more to come, so stay tuned…

Sony embraces iPod, makes no apologies. Models ICF-C1iP and ZS-S2iP lend credence to speaker-dock segment.

Today, Sony announced two new models, the ICF-C1iP and ZS-S2iP, that directly support Apple’s iPod. From the looks of things, Sony is bringing maturity and classic design to a crowded space. One would hope they help raise the bar of what consumers should expect in terms of features, sound quality, and reliability. I do continue to hope this is so.

This quote acknowledges Sony’s acceptance of iPod’s dominance (as previously discussed here), and expresses Sony’s commitment to differentiating themselves in this ever-crowding space:

“Consumers are treating the iPod as a format, like the compact disc, which is why Sony is now delivering audio products to support it,” said Andrew Sivori, director of personal audio products in the Digital Imaging and Audio Division at Sony Electronics. “High-quality sound, unique features, and exceptional design set our new boombox and clock radio apart.”

It’s refreshing to hear how Sivori expresses his view… Alive Matters commented back in November that the world should begin embracing the view that iPods (and PAPs in general) are the modern replacement for audio storage media, rather than “devices” in the traditional sense. Because of this, the mainstream product architectures would undergo an evolution:

The speaker-dock market, as I’ll refer to it, is exploding. Naturally, we have Apple’s iPod to thank for this. I dunno how many people realise it, but portable audio players, themselves, have become the de facto portable audio storage medium. I dunno if people associate their iPod with the Sony Walkman or with the cassette tape? With the Discman or the CD?

Media formats have determined the shape of personal audio systems for years — vinyl record turn-tables, cassette decks and Walkmans, laserdisc players, CD players & discman, MD players, … and so now naturally, with music being stored on harddrives and flashdrives, right before our eyes, we are witnessing “device-evolution.” It’s pretty cool if you think about it. Device form factors are adapting to a disruption in media formats. Home audio rendering devices have to pull source material from a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and interfaces as portable audio player makers build on-the-go devices that are so smart and handy, they beg to be used at home as well.

As the speaker-dock segment continues to mature, expect to see more and more traditional players brining their twist on the platform. Sony was not the first… Harman Kardon and Onkyo did so in the past year, joining Apple, Bose, JBL, and the hordes of keyboard/mice/protective-case/accessory makers who aspire to milk the giant cow (at the risk of saturating the market with substandard product).

When might Panasonic, Denon, Yamaha, Kenwood, Philips, enter the fray…and what will they offer the consumers to set them apart?

UPDATE 7/20: Welcome, Philips with 4 models that sport built in docks.

UPDATE 7/26: Welcome, Denon S-32 at $499 and the S-52 at $699(!!) due in October.

Smartphone pie, XXL please

Good coverage on RIM today. In the wake of the iPhone launch hype, it is good to see folks showing some love to BlackBerry. While iPhone has buzzed the consumer consciousness regarding smartphones, BlackBerry for the better part of the last 5 years has been the only company genuinely delivering on the promise of smartphones. It’s breakthrough integration with corporate email servers, and the multiple generations of tweaking their user interface has made the BlackBerry one of the most successful portable devices, ever.

IPhone mania is great and all, and I admit it’s pretty awe inspiring. The fact that Apple pulled off such a hype campaign is a testament to their past successes in delivering great end-user experiences. But, their track record of making great connections with consumers’ emotions also sets a very high bar for themselves. Which is to say that the iPhone, however pretty, better darn well deliver a killer user experience, or it will be nothing short of a letdown.  People seem to ignore the fact that Apple is not alone in this space. It’s also not yet obvious how the iPhone’s innovations will create any sustainable advantage in the smartphone market.  What are the apps that people truly believe Apple has revolutionized?  Here are my early judgements on the iPhone’s wannabe killer apps.

Web Browsing? Still too small of a screen, and not much better than on other smartphones. EDGE isn’t gonna knock anyone’s socks off. No Flash. Verdict: While it looks prettier than other phone browsers, is web-lite ever a killer experience?

Email? Lack of corporate email integration is an issue. Soft keyboard is an annoyance. I suspect future iPhone models will have hard qwerty keys in the future — their corporate HCI guys won’t put up with software gee-whiz for long. Verdict: Not even close to killer. Lose the touchscreen keyboard, support exchange server, then we’ll talk.

Maps? Hardly a killer app that justifies a smartphone. BlackBerry, LG, and Samsung are already ahead in terms of GPS integration, and so far, no location-based services have been implemented or deemed vital… And again, what can Apple deliver uniquely that Google/BlackBerry/MS can’t? Verdict: Not killer… not yet at least.  Let’s see more here.

Integrated iPod? I just don’t buy it. My iPod is still a better device, right? I find it hard to believe that Apple thinks they can leverage their iPod platform to make a smartphone indespensible. These functions have not shown to benefit from any coupling in the past, and it isn’t apparent why they should be combined going forward. Verdict: Not killer.

My opinions… time will tell.  But I don’t think a bunch of “pretty neato” features cobbled together make a homerun device.  There has to be something that the iPhone does better than any other device.  Early reports do not signal this has happened.

Apple has educated a whole new swath of the market in a big way. So the iPhone is goodness for the whole smartphone market, enlarging the pie, not just taking a bigger a slice.

I had the feeling this was so, and recent articles confirm that RIM-themselves are thankful. Competition breeds innovation, and RIM, let’s face it, is plenty poised to give Apple a run. They have a robust pipeline, reasonable costs, a loyal user-base (Stats say that less than 6% of iPhone buyers were previously BlackBerry users), and a focus on the enterprise user, which is where multi-purpose devices today deliver immense value.

RIM is moving forward from a position of strength, an affordable, capable platform with a bona fide killer app, and a relatively loyal captive market. Apple moves forward on reputation and software usability street-cred, which loyalists will love.  But can it alone revolutionize the segment and lead to market domination?

Whispers of RIMM shares headed to $300 don’t seem that far fetched.

This post is not about the iPhone…

…DAMN!

Apple Insider: “Where is Apple making up for low profits on Apple TV?”

Let me add my thoughts on where Apple believes it will be making money.

AppleInsider notes that profits are low on the Apple TV (based on iSuppli’s latest teardown results) and therefore it must be a market-share/customer-acquisition, game. While I do agree they had to price the hardware faintly (if only not to offend would-be customers), there surely is more to it than to say it’s short-term strategy is only about gaining market penetration. I would be willing to bet a Apple TV that Apple in fact has a business plan that is a shiny-happy, positive NPV. I can all but guarantee it. Whether it is realistic, I don’t know. Time will tell.

One must presume that Apple’s marketing folks factored in some incremental sales of iTunes content that is part of the unit contribution for each Apple TV sold. Afterall, iTunes is more or less a fixed cost at this point, and the Apple TV adds another point-of-sale. Whaddya think? Afterall, unless you are a dedicated iTunes user, the Apple TV is basically hamstrung, and quite undifferentiated against other DMAs.

Microsoft has similar tactics… if not with more lofty goals. Their Xbox is not a money maker on hardware sales alone, in fact rumor is it is quite the opposite. But they make up for it on the games/software/accessories sales. Which have very healthy gross margins baked in.

These are all networked business models. Not as simple as classical consumer electronics economics anymore.

Gartenberg: “Wicked Cool in Oregon”

Michael Gartenberg, Analyst for Jupiter Research hints at what’s to come. It’s just the beginning folks.

I myself am in Hong Kong today, and it is far from “wicked cool.” Wicked hot and humid more fits the bill.

Direct2Dell blog

My good friend, John Hull, runs Linux development activities over at Dell. His recent post on Dell’s Ubuntu offering is a great example of Dell’s latest efforts in direct relationships with their customers. For a company that has had issues scaling their support, it is nice to know their presence on the web’s best one-to-many communication medium is alive and well.

Direct2Dell has also been the source of breaking news covered by Engadget and Gizmodo in recent days. This is great execution of controlling one’s company’s messaging in the channels that give a damn.

Brave Rocketfish (RF-WHTIB) Early Adoptors… listen up!

First of all… THANKS! As an early adopter myself, I respect your purchasing mindset, enthusiasm to apply innovative solutions, and your willingness to subject yourself to early kinks. Your input on this blog and on others has been extremely valuable to the innovative teams involved in bringing this product to market.

You are brave souls and thankfully more forgiving, and more collaborative than your typical customer.

To anyone with the “hum” issue mentioned by a few commentators on this blog, please see the comment from Digitaldel (here), there is help for you.

Not all home theater amps are created equal, so some architectures did exhibit this unpleasant issue. But it was caught, and because the end users have been quite enthusiastic to apply this solution to many more AV platforms than expected, we’ve been able to catch an issue, and are committed to making sure this problem does not impact current & future customers any longer.

If you like the concept, stick with Rocketfish, don’t return the device, just work with them on the issue and fulfill your duties as the brave and valuable early adopter!!!

Conan at Intel. Good stuff.

Wireless Audio. What is it good for?

I am in the position to actually influence what kinds of wireless audio gadgets the mass consumer can have access to… as my blog seems to be gaining some readership, and particularly by those in search of wireless audio gear, I thought it may be prudent and fun to ask you all to give me some ideas.

I talk to key OEMs quite often, ones who have interest in wireless audio links and making cool new applications, and every so often some of them ask me (us) what kinds of features make sense.  Afterall, few marketing orgs have spent the last 3.5 years dreaming of ways to help consumers take advantage of good wireless audio technology.

Please use the comment engine here to tell Alive Matters what kinds of wireless audio gear you need.  Tell us what problem(s) you are trying to solve, and how you want to connect and use wireless audio.  If possible, I can hopefully give you good news — that your wants will be satisfied shortly. Or, perhaps you can give us some good ideas, and help us help our customers give you something you want.

Our wireless audio technology works, is cheap, and sounds great.  Does that strike a chord?