On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

In attempts to improve declining sales ahead of the holiday season (and maybe taking advantage of Best Buy's UK closure) HMV opens the trial of the first Techshop store at One New Change mall, London.

As the name implies the 111.5 square metre HMV Techshop focuses on selling CE (including tablets, notebooks and MP3 players), alongside a small video game and DVD/Blu-ray title selection. Customers are also able to try goods and ask for advice from tech advisers in-store.

HMV Head of Technology Ewan Pinder mentions headphones as one successful retail item-- the retailer carries an exclusive Beats by Dr Dre set in "acid green," amongst others.

The retailer plans to open a second Techshop before Christmas, and will roll out the format more extensively should it prove successful.

Go HMV Group

Global Q3 2011 mobile device sales total 440.5M units according to Gartner, growing by 5.6% Y-o-Y-- despite the W. European market showing weak performance (as expected due to the current economic situation).

Making up for the European weakness are MEA territories, where emerging markets demand low-cost and dual-SIM handsets.

Gartner says Q3 2011 sales into the channel total 460M units, due to device shipments late in the quarter (in preparation for the holiday season) causing inventory build-up in the channel-- build-up Gartner expects will be clear by Q1 2012.

Smartphone demand is also stalling in W. Europe, as consumers hold off upgrades in order to either wait for holiday season promotions on high-end models or new iPhone models (and the price cuts older iPhone models receive afterwards).

Global Q3 2011 smartphone sales total 115M units, with 42% Y-o-Y growth-- and a -7% Q-o-Q decline. Smartphones account for 26% of all Q3 mobile device sales, a negligible increase from 25% in Q2 2011.

Nokia remains the WW mobile device leader, with 23.9% of global sales (down from 28.2% in Q3 2010). The company shows good performance in emerging markets (thanks to dual-SIM feature phones) and should improve further in Q4 through the push on the new Lumia devices, even if Gartner predicts Nokia won't see a true turnaround until H2 2012.

Samsung leads in WW smartphone sales, with smartphone sales to end users reaching 24M units in Q3 2011-- ahead of Nokia in W. Europe.

Apple iPhone sales are down by nearly 3M units from Q2 2011, reaching 17M (a 21% Y-o-Y increase) due to the iPhone 4S announcement.

When it comes to operating systems, Android leads with 52.5% of Q3 2011 smartphone sales (totalling 60M units), benefiting from "more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems" according to Gartner.

Go Gartner Q3 2011 Mobile Device Market Tracker

Amazon might have entered the tablet jungle with the Kindle Fire, but is it preparing to take on the mobile phone market? It appears to be so, at least according to Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney.

The analyst writes “Based on our supply chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in 4Q12."

According to Mahaney, Amazon is developing the phone-- a "mid-end" handset carrying a last-gen TI OMAP 4 processor-- with help from Foxconn and manufacturing by the Hon Hai TMS business group (the one making the Kindle and the Kindle Fire).

It will cost around $150-170 to build, and "it’s conceivable that the company will sell it for something close to that price," Mahaney says. Even for less, if Amazon is willing to make losses.

As for the OS, the analyst fails to give any details, so one might assume Amazon will simply use the Android version the Kindle Fire uses... but then again, rumours do say Amazon has webOS maker Palm on its wish list. A purchase that would actually make a lot of sense, as it means sidestepping the OS royalty payments Microsoft squeezes from other Android handset makers...

Not to mention webOS remains a fairly slick and capable mobile OS (unlike the Android version inside the Kindle Fire, the unkind might add).

Amazon is not the only vendor gunning for Palm-- the list of potential buyers also includes RIM, IBM, Intel and even Oracle. But wouldn't the price of such a purchase (one surely totalling hundreds of millions) end up reflected in the price of an Amazon smartphone?

And, ultimately, will customers bother investing in yet another smartphone and surrounding ecosystem?

Never let it be said the mobile market is becoming boring...

Go Amazon Readying Smartphone for Next Year, Citigroup Says (Bloomberg)

Sony plans to revitalise the TV market by working on a "different type of TV," according to Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Stringer says "we can't continue selling TV sets [the way we have been]. Every TV set we all make loses money."

Current times are tough for the Sony TV business-- and the TV business in general. Once the company golden child, Sony now projects TV-related losses totaling $1.15 billion for 2011.

It is also reducing sales volume and splitting the TV business into 3 entities, in attempts to return to making profit from TVs by 2014.

On the success (or rather, the lack thereof) of 3DTV, Stringer says more regular TV content needs to be in 3D-- a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, then.

Stringer also has "no doubt" on Apple working on a TV product. Steve Jobs had actually advised Sony to "focus on a smaller number of products," even if that would involve closing business and layoffs.

Now Sony plans to directly "compete against Steve Jobs" with a "four screen strategy"-- a single seamless consumer platform uniting TVs, PCs, tablets and mobile phones.

Stringer concludes "You have bad years ... The trick is to weather them, learn from them, act graciously through them, and learn why and when you have to change."

Go Sony CEO Says Company Developing a Different Kind of TV (WSJ.com)

Go Sony TV Business: (Not So) Great Expectations