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Wang’s Consumer Electronics Vision Realized Post-Sale

LeEco’s recent U.S. launch, which included a long press event in San Francisco, may have provided a glimpse into why Vizio Inc. agreed to a sale in July to the Chinese conglomerate.

Sure, the $2 billion price tag certainly played a big role, but LeEco’s strategy and product pipeline touted at the 101-minute presser on Oct. 19 was very much in line with what Vizio co-founder William Wang had envisioned for his Irvine-based company.

LeEco announcements included its third-generation smartphone; an Android smart bike that features 30-speed shifting, integrated side laser system for safety, alarm location tracker, push-to-talk intercom system, fingerprint scanner and electronic parking brake powered by a lithium ion battery; an 85-inch smart TV; updated subscription service with dozens of established content creators; virtual reality headset; and an autonomous electric vehicle.

“It may seem like we released seemingly unrelated products, but it’s the opposite,” LeEco founder and Chief Executive Yueting “YT” Jia told the audience. “We are giving these products the same brain, the same nerve center, the same bloodline to share the same ecosystem.”

It’s a strategy that Wang long championed at Vizio, which briefly tested the waters with a smartphone geared to Chinese consumers, short-lived tablet and PC offerings, and a plan to manufacture LED light bulbs that never gained traction.

Credit Wang for cutting the cord quickly on the ill-timed product lines, much like 3-D technology that Vizio TVs stopped carrying after the market failed to materialize.

Vizio, under LeEco’s watch, likely will never reach the upper tier of consumer electronics makers, though holding the top spot in soundbars and perennially fighting Samsung for the U.S. lead in smart TV market share isn’t a bad position for a company that many insiders doubted would succeed.

Virtual Concerts

Laguna Beach startup NextVR Inc., which has crafted a new branding strategy (see related story, page 1), laid out plans to produce as many as 10 live concerts in virtual reality.

The partnership with Citi and Live Nation will include a backstage look as artists prepare for upcoming shows.

The first live concert, available via the Live Nation Channel on the NextVR app, will launch this year.

Expect artist announcements in the coming weeks.

The Business Journal in May reported that NextVR struck a five-year deal with Live Nation, which runs Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Irvine and the House of Blues in Anaheim, to broadcast hundreds of live performances in virtual reality.

Forecasts call for the VR market, still in its infancy, to sell some 52 million headsets globally by 2020, according to Massachusetts-based Forrester Research Inc. 

Drone Win

Gov. Jerry Brown shot down a bill in the state Assembly that would have restricted the flight and sale of unmanned aerial systems, or drones. The veto of the bill, which would have placed more insurance premiums and regulatory disclosures on the nascent segment, is a win for local businesses that have been early adopters of drone applications. The list includes Fuscoe Engineering in Irvine, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, Santa Ana startup Regality Media, Lyon Studios in Newport Beach, and a growing number of OC cities that used the aerial devices in marketing and branding.

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