Volume 18, Issue 3 — February 10, 2021

rAVe HomeAV Edition — Volume 18, Issue 3

February 10, 2021 | Volume: 18 | Issue: 3

It’s a busy week here at rAVe (I’m writing to you in between live segments of LAVNCH WEEK 3.0), and I’m happy to take a quick break to see what’s been going on in the HomeAV front.

Since we last spoke, a fair amount has happened. For one, InfoComm 2021 announced it’s moving the show from June to October. Then, as I wrote about in rAVe UCC last week, home automation control/automation player Savant introduced an integration with Zoom Rooms for the home (think Zoom-dedicated spaces for your office nook), using premium cameras and microphones like Logitech’s and Huddly’s. If you attended LAVNCH WEEK 3.0 End User Day today, you’re aware you should be paying attention to integrations like this.

This week, we also hear from Clare Controls, McIntosh, The National Kitchen & Bath Association, ProSource and rAVe columnist Lee Distad. And if you haven’t yet read Kayye’s Krystal Ball 2021, where have you been?! This is how rAVe Managing Editor Steph Beckett and rAVe Founder Gary Kayye will feel if you do not read it:

So go!! Make us proud.

— Leah McCann

COLUMNS

+ Kayye’s Krystal Ball: 2021 Edition [Gary Kayye]

If you’re a regular reader of my content, you already know this, but for those who don’t, my Kayye’s Krystal Ball piece is an annual article where I not only tell you what I think is going to happen in the AV, UCC and Digital Signage markets for the upcoming year, but I also look back and review the previous year’s predictions — sort of a scorecard of accuracy, if you will. 2020 sucked and surprised us all, so it was more than humbling to start this article by reviewing what I predicted for 2020.

+ New Challenges in the Marketplace [Lee Distad]

I’ve written before about how business has adapted to whatever this “new normal” is, for however long it’s going to last. All of these are disparate threads I’ve touched on in other columns to some degree or other, but there’s always more to examine.Like every business, retailers have adapted to changing circumstances. And they have faced new challenges. For one thing, e-commerce has boomed, and it’s been at the expense of the in-person shopping experience. Buyers would rather stay home and order online, unsurprisingly.