The pandemic spurred “historic” growth in demand for most consumer tech products since March, Stephen Baker, NPD vice president-industry adviser, technology and mobile, told the Display Week virtual conference (see 2008030053) in a prerecorded segment streamed Monday. “We’re seeing broad-based growth in the consumer electronics business,” with most categories “doing fabulously,” he said. Demand is growing “in ways that we’ve never seen,” said Baker. “This is a broad and deep growth opportunity across all of the consumer electronics market.” Amid stay-at-home mandates, “tech is no longer a discretionary spend,” he said. “It really is a necessity. More than many, many general merchandise categories, tech demand leverages its strengths in entertainment, in work from home, in education from home.” The momentum is “likely to provide us with some staying power for technology sales, regardless of what the overall economy looks like over the next few quarters.” The “success of online” now is the “biggest story” in consumer tech, said Baker. “We’re here to tell you that in-store has likely passed its peak.” Price and product are now “much more important than place,” he said. NPD estimates consumer tech retail sales grew 24% in Q2, racking up $5 billion in “incremental” revenue, said Baker. “Four of the five busiest non-holiday weeks NPD has ever tracked” came in Q2, he said. The industry did slightly more than $1.75 billion in sales the third week of March when much of the U.S. went into quarantine, he said. “We thought that was an enormous week that would never be repeated. That was one of the smallest weeks we’ve seen in the last four months.”

Libraries are increasingly taking on the role of filling gaps caused by a lack of broadband access, and the pandemic exacerbated the issue, said librarians, educators and digital access nonprofits during the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment’s virtual workshop Monday. Libraries lending mobile Wi-Fi hot spots to patrons is a “Band-Aid” for the larger issue of web access, said Lisa Shaw, workforce development specialist for the Maine State Library. “When you’re bleeding, you need a bandage, and we’re bleeding very heavily.”

Google is under regulatory “scrutiny,” and “we realize, at our scale, that's appropriate,” said CEO Sundar Pichai on a Q2 call Thursday evening. “We've engaged constructively across jurisdictions.” Google “will operate based on the rules,” he said. “The scrutiny is going to be here for a while, and so we are committed to working through it.” Pichai denied in testimony Wednesday his company threatened to delist Yelp (see 2007290063). Consumers’ shift to online during the COVID-19 pandemic is “profound,” said Pichai. “We see people engaging a lot, doing newer things.” Their interests are broadening, he said. Google Meet has been “absolutely critical” during the crisis, he said. “We quickly reengineered it and made it available widely to help millions of other businesses and organizations connect and collaborate.” During the quarter, “we peaked at more than 600 million Meet participants in a single week,” he said.

Apple’s record fiscal Q3 revenue of $59.7 billion, up 11% year on year, was due to a “strong iPhone SE launch,” continued economic stimulus and lifting of shelter-in-place restrictions around the world, said CEO Tim Cook on Thursday’s earnings call. (For quarterly materials, see here.) Growth spanned all regions in the quarter ended June 27. IPhone revenue returned to growth -- up 2% to $26.4 billion, 11% shipment growth to 26.4 million -- but the next-generation iPhone lineup will be delayed, said Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri. Last year, Apple began selling the 11 Series in late September. This year, “we project supply to be available a few weeks later,” said Maestri. Other product categories are expected to have “strong year-over-year performance,” he said. Though wearables shipments grew in the June quarter to 6.4 million from 5.5 million, growth slowed, which Cook attributed to store closures during the pandemic. Apple Watch customers like to shop for bands when making a purchase, he said. Subscriptions grew 35 million to 550 million, on target to hit 600 million this year, Cook said. Apple expects a strong back-to-school season and has “some optimism” about the December quarter. “We need to see a vaccine or therapeutic or both, and there's some optimism around that in that particular time frame,” Cook said. “That would boost consumer confidence quite a bit if it began to happen.” The stock, which the company is splitting, closed up 10% Friday at $425.04.

The FCC has little wiggle room to halt any increases to annual regulatory fees due in 2020 for broadcast licensees, Chairman Ajit Pai said in letters to Reps. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., and Chris Stewart, R-Utah, posted Friday on docket 20-14. They wrote Pai in a letter dated June 15 urging a halt as a way of helping mitigate business disruption from the pandemic (see 2006150058). Pai said the agency is required to assess fees that equal the amount of funds appropriated, but can offer extended payment terms at nominal interest rates, or Congress could modify the existing statutory language to give the agency the ability to provide extension beyond the Sept. 30 fee-paying deadline.

While the FCC eyes sticking with telework at least through next June (see 2007240053), many law firms with communications practices tell us they're taking a wait-and-see stance with the pandemic, with no time frame for returning to their facilities. Others have tentative dates in mind for reopening or have partially reopened. Many see increased telework as the norm post-pandemic.

Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, Public Knowledge and tribal groups slammed the FCC’s 30-day delay of the application window for tribes to apply for 2.5 GHz spectrum, after staff acted Friday (see 2007310027). With COVID-19 a problem in tribal areas, groups had asked for an extra six months, but got until Sept. 2. T-Mobile, the dominant player in the band, told the FCC it was comfortable with a 90-day extension (see 2007300052). The order said 229 applications have been submitted and another 55 applications started by tribal entities as of Friday.

Four more radio broadcasters won’t face monetary penalties after coming forward about political file violations, in consent decrees Thursday. The disclosures in license renewal applications by North Shore Broadcasting, W & V Broadcasting, Cookeville Communications and Center Hill Broadcasting “combined with the exceptional circumstances brought about by the pandemic present a unique situation,” said the FCC Media Bureau. Each group disclosed on applications it couldn't certify its station complied. The broadcasters will be required to adopt a compliance plan and their renewals will be processed. The bureau last week announced similar arrangements with iHeartRadio, Cumulus, Beasley, Entercom and others (see 2007220070).

CEOs think businesses will emerge from the pandemic “using more contract workers and fewer permanent staff,” and videoconferencing will replace much business travel, reported the Conference Board Thursday. It canvassed more than 1,300 CEOs globally, finding only 47% predicting pre-COVID-19 revenue levels return sometime in 2021. Chief executives think the crisis “will compel them to accelerate their digital transformation plans and rethink their business models” but don’t see an urgent need to restructure their supply chains, it said. Flexible work schedules will the biggest change emerging from the pandemic, it said. Permanently increasing the number of employees who can work remotely will be the second biggest.

Some 83% of consumers who use such services had their most recent telehealth visit at least partially paid by insurance, said Parks Associates Thursday. In the past 12 months, 41% of U.S. broadband households used a telehealth service, nearly tripling year over year, it said. The pandemic pushed virtual solutions “to the forefront of healthcare,” said President Elizabeth Parks: Sweeping regulatory changes and changing consumer preferences on remote vs. in-person care created “an enormous shift."