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

Calling Google's Project Glass "just a  start," Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps argues "like mobile and tablets today, in three years, wearable computing devices will matter to every product strategist."

Wearables have enormous potential for uses in health and fitness, navigation, social networking, commerce, and media. "Imagine," asks Epps, ".. video games that happen in real space. Or glasses that remind you of your colleague’s name that you really should know. Or paying for a coffee at Starbucks with your watch instead of your phone. Wearables will transform our lives in numerous ways, trivial and substantial, that we are just starting to imagine."

Wearables will "enter the mainstream by exploiting the relative strengths of the big five platforms" (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft) says Epps in her blog post.

Fiscal Q3 2012 brings "unacceptable" results for Logitech, with weakness across all territories (especially Europe). As a result, the company plans to "divest" of its remote and video security divisions.

In other words, Logitech will soon sell off the Harmony remote and Alert security divisions.

By end 2013 other "non-strategic products" will meet the chopping block, including gaming console peripherals and speaker docks. Instead the company will concentrate on PC and tablet accessories, such as the apparently successful Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad.

Logitech Q3 losses reach $180 million on sales of $615m. The Harmony lineup (including the Harmony Touch) sees sales falling by -55% Y-o-Y, with a revenue decline of -24% Y-o-Y.

No mention of potential buyers is available as yet.

Go Logitech Q3 2012 Results

What's your definition of a low risk, high margin business?

How about a Coupon System that offers retailers the widest range of high quality protection films for their customers who buy or own mobile devices?

Crocfol Germany saves their retailers from any inventory risk through a Coupon system that offers the customer a protective film specific to their model of mobile phone. The customer redeems the Coupon online and Crocfol mails the order from Germany.

So there's never the cost of inventory: the reseller simply displays and sells the 6 different Coupons available.

That's important in a product range where you need 3400+ different films to match the different displays on a variety of devices from mobiles to laptops and touch pads that need protection.

In an era where mobile video is taking off and the smartphone and tablet are part of one's identity, protecting the display from scratches and random violence seems logical to most phone users. (Especially after that first scratch on that first phone. You learn an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.)

"Studies show the attachment rate for protective film is 70%, the highest rate of any accessory in smartphones," says Kurt Weiss, International Business Development Manager at Crocfol. "Smartphone users often like to trade-up after a year or two and if there's a scratch on the display the mobile phone loses its re-sale value."

If you still think protective films for mobile device displays come in one variety you are out of touch.

There's the Anti-Reflex film if your customer is one of those that hates the glare of reflection always staring back at him on the screen. This is the only one on the market available for Retina displays.

The Magic Switch film provides brilliant display quality, as long as your display is turned on. When it is not in use, Magic Switch film turns the display into a useful mirror.

PLUS by Crocfol offers a highly scratch-resistant film with a positive self-healing surface. Repairs its own scratches and comes with a 5 year guarantee.

The Crocfol Secret film offers dual protection. Not only is the display  protected with a scratch-resistant, highly durable and colourfast film but pictures, emails and texts are protected from prying eyes. The Secret film ensures your display cannot be viewed from the side.

And finally the Crocfol Premium protective film : virtually invisible as a result of its design, follows the highest standards and uses the latest techniques.

Now you can start to imagine the value of a Coupon system: not only are there numerous devices but you need as a retailer to offer numerous different styles of protective films per device!

Yet it's not only about having the widest range: Crofol positions itself as premium brand and produces all 3400+ different products in Germany on the latest precision machines.

Crofol supplies many of the largest retail groups in Germany and is now looking for distributors throughout EMEA with experience in mobile devices.

Go Crocfol

Controversy has exploded around Apple’s new Lightning connector that makes most accessories to one’s older Apple products obsolete. But the frustration of accessory renewal is the fact, not the controversy.

The newest debate claims the new Lightning connector isn’t putting out full 1080p.

If you want a proper 1080p signal from your iPhone or iPad, you’d think the best bet is to plug it in directly using Apple’s ownLightning digital AV adapter. But some industry experts suggest that it is introducing noticeable compression artifacts.

A well-known software developer (writing in an aptly named “Panic Blog”) discovered that using the old Dock Connector AV adapter will output a full 1920 x 1080 video mirroring signal, but the newer Lightning AV adapter tops out at 1600 x 900.

Incredible, right? So the software developer goes hardware nuts and dives into the adapter and finds it is employing the same compression used in AirPlay to stream out the video. That’s his conclusion. Apple’s is…well, they don’t really talk to their customers as much as preach to them…so No Comment.