Licensors continue to show interest in utilitarian product categories that at one time would not have been considered for licensing. One example: electronics and computer components such as memory cards and graphics processing units (GPUs), as well as batteries. These items have been attracting the attention of entertainment/character licensors of late: This month, Disney/Lucasfilm and […]
Archive | Consumer electronics
Flying High
Sales of drones in the U.S. more than doubled in 2016, according to the NPD Group, with sales of higher-end products (retailing for $300 and up) growing the fastest in terms of dollar revenue and consumer-level models (priced from $50 to $100) seeing unit sales spike during the holiday season. The latter accounted for 42% […]
Checking the Time
The fashion watch category has been experiencing some significant challenges, thanks in large part to the fact that smartphones have replaced wristwatches as many consumers’ primary tool for keeping track of time. In one illustration of the issues facing the industry, exports of watches from Switzerland—the source of many higher-end, fashion-driven watches—declined 10% in February […]
Connected Clothing
At recent electronics and fashion trade shows such as the Consumer Electronics Show, Fashion Tech Berlin, and the Decoded Fashion Summit, smart clothing made its mark. Fabric featuring interwoven conductive wires or embedded nanotechnology allows jackets, intimates, or t–shirts to accommodate basic phone- or Internet-based communication and information access. It enables clothing to measure biometrics […]
A Call for Licensed Handsets
Are mobile handsets the next consumer electronics sector to be headed away from manufacturing and toward a licensing model? Last September, shortly after discontinuing its own manufacturing operations to focus on software development, Blackberry licensed its brand to BB Merah Putih, which is sourcing, distributing, and marketing Blackberry devices in Indonesia, the brand’s strongest market. […]
Smart, Chic, and Strategic
The fall season has seen a flurry of activity in the wearables sector, focusing on both fashion and fitness and encompassing not only watches and bands but also eyewear, belts, and apparel. Some of the deals have centered on upping the fashion quotient. Hermès partnered with Apple for a Hermès edition of the Apple Watch, […]
An Ear for Music
Key players in the headphone industry have been experiencing some upheaval in the past few months, thanks to bankruptcies, mergers, and lawsuits: SMS Audio, rapper 50 Cent’s company, filed for bankruptcy in April and shut down in August. Its licensed and signature products included gear for Reebok; Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars; and 50 Cent. […]
3D Printing: Heading Into Hardware
Most of the licensors that have gotten involved in 3D printing to date have done so mainly by allowing their properties to be offered through 3D printing services or platforms for customized novelties and other printed or printable items. But there also have been a few companies in the licensing community that have extended their […]
DIY Beer-Brewing
At the end of May, Whirlpool’s W Labs division introduced a home beer fermentor and dispenser system through a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. The same day, SodaStream announced the launch of its Beer Bar, which allows users to create beer at home from sparkling water and a beer concentrate. These initiatives follow the debut of […]
Staying Cool
Licensing deals in the refrigerator category have been relatively rare, primarily limited to appliance and electronics brand extensions—which, while few in number, can generate significant sales—as well as occasional novelties. Whirlpool would be an example of the former, with its licensed collection of compact refrigerators, and Hello Kitty of the latter, with its Sakar-produced line […]