CI channel veteran, Tom Brochard, has taken on the new role of SnapAV’s Northease Regional Sales Manager. Brochard has been in the CE industry for nearly 20 years, and has had experience in sales positions with Home Entertainment Source, Tributaries Wire and Cable, and Madrigal Audio Labs.
 
“For several years now I’ve been impressed with SnapAV, watching them progress in the channel. SnapAV’s business model is unique and I am excited to share it with dealers,” says Brochard.

After a 1,000 miles of driving to see more than two-dozen California Leon Speaker dealers one week in June, what were the significant lessons learned? I hit the bricks with Leon founder, Noah Kaplan, and visited a variety of dealers in sunny CA for serious discussions about market conditions, business techniques, business management and the role of strategy in business.

The profile of these dealers ran the gamut from brick-and-mortar high-end two-channel experts with decades of experience, to young techies with iPads that were full of pictures and programs and no offices.

McIntosh Laboratory Inc. strives to make dealers successful—on their own terms.

People don’t get into the luxury home-entertainment channel because they have a cookie-cutter approach to retailing. The high-end audiovisual business always has been about passion, personal taste, self expression and style. So when it comes to special events and in-store promotions, it’s not surprising that the luxury retailing landscape is rich, varied and reflective of dealers themselves, and their discriminating clientele.

Summit Wireless products can save installers time, money and headaches—and can open up the retrofit market.

According to Parks Associates’ “High-end Entertainment Systems Analysis and Forecasts” report, which was released in the first quarter of 2008 by Bill Ablondi, custom installers have a significant opportunity to target mid-market customers who are willing to spend $5,000 to $15,000 for multi-room audiovisual and home-theater systems. Even now, big-box and specialty A/V retailers haven’t addressed this area adequately.

4Store is an application marketplace where developers can create Control4 apps. It features a Developer's Program that is a Flash-based platform, which delivers applications to Control4 customers and to the application marketplace, extending beyond mobile devices and into the digital home.

Flash developers can deliver entertainment, informational or social networking apps that they have created for mobile devices to consumer homes through the 4Store application marketplace (with minimal programming). For example, developers can use weather information to adjust the watering schedule for the lawn, or provide lighting and shading control for different areas

OmniMount has hired World Marketing Associates, a well-known rep firm, to launch company product lines throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company has been growing over the last couple of years, with new product lines specifically targeting professional markets (hospitality, medical, education and large venue).

Francis Williams and Julian Young are the representatives hired at World Marketing Associates. They will be responsible for setting up a distributor network across the Atlantic.

As of last Monday, iMerge, a media server manufacturer ceased operations. VidaBox is taking this as an opportunity to obtain their former dealers, which is why they are offering a discount and trade-in program to former iMerge dealers.

“With support for everything from Blu-rays to DVDs, and music to photos, our VidaBox media centers are an excellent choice for any integrator looking for a media server alternative to their current offerings,” explains Steven Cheung, President of VidaBox, LLC. “Former iMerge integrators can choose from our comprehensive line-up of nine different media center products, without sacrificing features or ease-of-installation.”