Demand for Intelligent Sensors in Consumer Electronics & Automotive – The Research and Markets group has published a report on the rising need for intelligent sensors. Major semiconductor sensors include measurements of temperature, pressure, magnetism, and there are gyroscopes, accelerometers, SI microphones and image sensors. A wide range of sensors are used in computing, consumer electronics, communication, industrial and automotive sectors. The rising demand for consumer electronics such as mobile phones, media players, cameras and gaming devices is expected to increase the demand for sensors. New opportunities have been opened up in areas such as motion sensing, gesture recognition, location sensing and biometrics. Safety mandates in both Europe and the U.S. are expected to drive the growth of automotive sensors. A new type of smart sensor allows miniaturization and integration of sensor elements with microelectronic functions in a minimal space, making it desirable for many end-user applications.
Samsung’s Weak First-Quarter Earnings – The world’s largest maker of memory chips and liquid crystal display TVs – Samsung Electronics Co. – gave weak first-quarter earnings estimates, reflecting how slow the global economic recovery has been. The Japanese earthquake of last month is of course also weighing on the demand for consumer electronics.
Audio Expo North America Scheduled for June in NYC – AXPONA is the East Coast’s premier high-end audio show, and has been named a partner event to CE Week in New York. The two-day trade and consumer expo will be held at the Affinia Hotel on 7th Avenue, June 24 & 25, in conjunction with CEA Demo Suites and Conference – an official trade event of the Consumer Electronics Association. Stereophile and Home Theater magazines are official partners and also media sponsors of AXPONA – the first high-end audio show in NYC in over four years. The show is already set with over 250 exhibitors, and comes two months following a similar AXPONA show in Atlanta.
Another Vinyl Shop Opens – While many brick-and-mortar CD shops are closing around the country, in some areas new stores specializing in vinyl are replacing them. Vinyl Renaissance and Audio opened last week in Kansas City. It’s still a tiny niche (though larger than that of hi-res digital discs) but the owner of the store is optimistic about the future of vinyl. In 2000, CD sales were over 940 million units, and in a decade dropped 68%. Overall sales of recorded music – including singles and music videos – dropped nearly 2.5% last year, the first decline in the digital era. However, sales of vinyl rose about 14% last year and there’s a continuing demand. The new store’s owner doesn’t mind that there is another vinyl store nearby, feeling it is good for business. Another vinyl dealer says that the new interest in vinyl is from younger people “mostly interested in the same 500 records – there’s a lot of nostalgia among people in their 30s to get things on vinyl.” He said it represents “a rebellion against the…absolutism of a digital world,” and he sells a dozen vinyl albums for every CD. The growing new-vinyl market is discerning and driven by trends. Another dealer observed that he sees a growing weariness for compressed digital music plus an appetite for better sound, and mentions how much the sales of turntables have risen. The recent practice of independent vinyl releases coming with a card that allows purchasers to download a free MP3 version of the album as well serves both the vinyl fans and the convenience of digital music.
