Cell Phone Hi-Fi?
Music industry executives widely believe that "ring tones"—snippets of favorite tunes—and music downloadable to cell phones will be the next big trend, perhaps one that could help restore some luster to the industry's tarnished bottom line. "Music-related products for PCs and mobile phones are on pace to deliver as much as $500 million in combined revenue in the US for 2004, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures and analysts' projections," reported Brian Garrity in a mid-December issue of Billboard.
Cello Acquires The Audible Difference
Last week, Cello">http://www.Cello.Net">Cello Technologies (formerly Cello Music & Film Systems) announced that it had acquired San Francisco Bay area custom installer and retailer The Audible Difference. According to a statement issued by Cello, The Audible Difference was founded in Palo Alto in 1976 and serves over 10,000 clients in the Silicon Valley area, and has 30 employees, "all focusing on audio design and home-systems design engineering, integration, and automation technologies."
Cello Electronics on Comeback Trail, Says Former VP
Cello, one of high-end audio's most prestigious names, is being revived by one of its former executives. Jim McCullough, who served as the brand's last vice president of international business development, has formed a new company, Matthew James LLC, which will make and market Cello electronics.
Cello Ltd. Veterans Form New Company
Now there are three—Cello spinoffs, that is. More than two years ago, prior to Cello Technologies' ill-fated expansion, company founder Mark Levinson departedhttp://www.stereophile.com/news/10360/">departed; to create Red">http://www.redrosemusic.com/">Red Rose Music. Late in 2000, former vice president of business development Jim McCullough formed Matthew">http://www.stereophile.com/news/11002/">Matthew James LLC, which will make and market a new generation of Cello electronics. In early April, Viola Audio Labs announced its debut.
Cello's New HQ Features Fine Dining
Cello">http://www.cello-us.com/">ello Music and Film Systems is not merely one of the world's most prestigious names in audio and video. This week, a plush restaurant is opening at the company's new headquarters at 53 East 77th Street (212 517-1200) on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Cello, as the bar/restaurant/garden is appropriately named, will serve dinner by invitation only until mid-June, when it will be opened to the public, according to Florence Fabricant in the May 19 edition of the New">http://www.nytimes.com/">New York Times.
CEMA Files Final Report on Digital Radio with FCC
Concluding its six-year evaluation of Digital Audio Radio (DAR) systems, the Consumer">http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) filed its final report last month with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The report, "Technical Evaluations of Digital Audio Radio Systems: Laboratory and Field Test Results, System Performance, Conclusions," is available to the public from the FCC and through CEMA's websitehttp://www.cemacity.org/works/pubs/files/dar.htm">website;.
CEMA Releases Latest Sales Stats
According to the Consumer">http://www.cemacity.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA), the month of August saw hot increases in the sales of audio products. Factory sales of audio products rose 7%, to $694 million, equaling year-to-date revenues of $4.7 billion, slightly ahead of the first eight months of 1998.
CEMA Sets First Audio Summit for May 29-31, 1998
Responding to continued softness in the audio market, the Consumer">http://www.cema.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) has finalized plans to hold its first annual Audio Industry Summit at the Westin Hotel O'Hare in Chicago, Illinois, May 29-31. CEMA audio company members will congregate in an effort to formulate strategies they believe will lead the category back to long-term prosperity and growth.
CEMA Sponsoring Product Return Conference
Returned products are problematic for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. Returns have always eaten into profits in the audio and video business. Everybody knows that. What isn't widely known is that the Consumer">http://www.cemacity.org">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association sponsors an annual conference to help deal with the problem.
CEMA: '99 CES a Huge Success
This will be a huge year for the electronics industry, insiders are saying in the wake of the just-finished 1999 Consumer Electronics Show. This one "surpassed anything we've seen before," said Gary Shapiro, the president of the Consumer">http://www.cemacity.org/">Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, in a post-Show statement. "Our industry is driving the technologies that will define the digital age."