New car shortage drives up sales of car radios
(dpa) The shortages of new vehicles in the corona pandemic are causing many consumers to upgrade old vehicles with more modern audio technology. At the hi-fi giant Harman, for example, the retrofit solutions business grew by 30 percent last year. “It’s still a smaller part of our business, but it was a nice surprise,” said Harman manager Dave Rogers, who is responsible for audio products, of the German press agency during the CES technology fair in Las Vegas.
The retrofitting business with audio technology was generally seen as a discontinued model before the pandemic, as more and more cars in various price ranges are being equipped with infotainment systems ex works. Harman, with brands such as Harman / Kardon or JBL, also primarily supplies manufacturers directly in the automotive sector.
However, the production downtimes in view of the global shortage of chips mean that more car buyers are switching to used cars and then want to install new audio technology. Market researchers are now increasingly seeing retrofit solutions as a growth driver for the coming years.
Harman himself was also affected on a broad front by the bottlenecks in semiconductor products, said Rogers. “The only chips we can get enough of are those in wireless earbuds.” With all others – whether amplifier chips or Bluetooth modules – the supply is limited.
At the same time, consumer demand for audio technology remains strong in the pandemic. Across the industry, it has been observed that many people have spent more money on home electronics since spending more time at home in corona lockdowns. At Harman, which has been part of the Samsung Group for several years, the audio business grew by almost ten percent in the past year – although the large area of professional technology for concerts and cinemas was at a standstill with the pandemic, said Rogers.
Inflation in the euro area reaches a record high of 5 percent
Petrol prices remain the most important drivers of inflation.
(dpa) The inflation rate in the euro area rose to another record high at the end of 2021. Consumer prices in December were 5 percent above the level of the previous year, as the Eurostat statistics office announced on Friday in Luxembourg after an initial estimate. It is the highest rate of inflation since the introduction of the euro. In the previous month, the rate of price increase was 4.9 percent. Compared to the previous month, consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in December.
The rise in prices in the countries with the common currency was once again driven by an extremely sharp rise in energy prices, which rose by 26 percent compared to the same month last year. Food and beverages were 3.2 percent more expensive in December than a year ago.
Excluding energy, food and beverages, the price level rose by 2.6 percent in December. This so-called core rate is viewed by many economists as a reliable measure of the inflation trend.
The medium-term inflation target of the European Central Bank (ECB) of two percent will be exceeded significantly. An interest rate hike is no longer in sight. The ECB sees inflation primarily driven by special factors and expects the inflation rate to decline over the course of the year.
Loudspeaker specialist Sonos prevails in patent dispute against Google
(dpa) The loudspeaker specialist Sonos has won a patent dispute with Google in the USA. The ITC trade authority came to the conclusion that the Internet group infringed five of the hi-fi company’s patents on various of its devices. The ITC can prohibit the import of goods into the USA in the event of patent infringements. To prevent this, Google changed some functions on its devices – in the hope that it would no longer infringe the patents.
In the future, users of a group of several networked speakers will have to change the volume for each of them individually instead of for all of them together. As a reason, Google referred to a “recent legal decision” on Friday night.
In the lawsuit filed in early 2020, Sonos targeted various Google devices such as Pixel-branded smartphones and Nest-branded networked speakers. The patents are about technologies for synchronizing audio playback between multiple devices, for volume control and WLAN connection. In return, Google also sued Sonos with allegations of patent infringement.
With its decision, the commission followed the assessment of one of its judges published in August. An import ban imposed by the ITC can be overturned by the US president – which, however, rarely happens.
Low-cost airline Ryanair gives up base in Frankfurt
(dpa) Europe’s largest low-cost airline, Ryanair, is giving up its base at Frankfurt Airport. The five aircraft still stationed there would be redistributed to cheaper airports on March 31 of this year, the Irish company announced on Friday. The reason given by the company was the increased take-off and landing fees at Germany’s largest airport at the turn of the year. Passengers with tickets already booked would be notified in the coming days and refunded. For the crews, Ryanair offers alternative jobs in its rapidly growing European network.