Universal Electronics has shipped over 100 Million voice-enabled remote controls across the globe that have changed the way people search, find, and control video content on their TVs
Scottsdale, AZ – Universal Electronics Inc., (UEI) (NASDAQ: UEIC), the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home, today announced that it has shipped over 100 million voice remote controls to TV operator, CE manufacturer and streaming service platform customers around the world.
As an industry pioneer, UEI has been at the forefront of developing remote control technologies for over three decades. UEI innovations are used in many consumer electronics devices such as TVs, set-top-boxes, home theater systems, as well as streamers and other smart devices. Remote control designs, and the technologies integrated with them, have changed over the years since the remote control’s first introduction back in the 1950s. In only the last five years, the remote control has seen more changes than in all previous years combined. The remote control has evolved as the industry expanded from analog to digital, then to HD, and then with the subsequent addition of digital/personal video recording. Only in the last few years has innovation accelerated to include the introduction of voice control and advanced features such as the automated set-up and universal control of connected devices.
Today, UEI develops and ships an impressive volume of advanced remote controls to the largest TV operators around the world including Comcast Xfinity, Sky, AT&T, Liberty Global, and a host of other Android TV deployments, such as DISH’s AirTV. Voice search and control has been a key feature impacting the market acceptance and positive user experience connected with these services. Besides TV operators, many of the HD/UHD smart TVs now come standard with a voice remote to easily search, find, and tune to user’s favorite content, apps, and connected devices.
As consumer brands like Google, Amazon, and Apple have launched successful voice-enabled smart speakers, voice interaction has reached mass-market adoption. Introducing voice control has created a market shift. UEI has positioned itself as a driving force in the adoption of voice interaction through the company’s efforts in designing and developing optimized Bluetooth and other RF silicon and software enabling a large proportion of the handheld voice remotes in use today.
With over 100 voice remote control products launched and in the market, UEI is the technology and market leader in this space. And the future looks bright as many of the current pay-tv systems are ye to upgrade. The introduction of Android TV, with its voice-enabled Google Assistant, recently began to implement a wide adoption and is expected to roll out to another 130 million households within the next three years.
“Since 2015, UEI has shipped over 100 million voice-enabled remote controls. Reaching this milestone in such a short period and, more importantly, positively impacting the lives of so many consumers that are looking for what to watch on their TV or streaming services, makes us very proud,” says Paul Arling, President and CEO at UEI. “And with new emerging smart home applications and many current systems in the home still needing an upgrade to voice, we are looking at a bright future for the consumer, our customers, as well as our company. We are continuing our investments and our efforts in making entertainment products as exciting and user-friendly as possible.”
Today’s voice-enabled remote controls are mostly ‘push-to-talk’, you have to push and hold the button while you speak to the remote control. This approach addresses many of the common challenges in deploying voice-enabled services, namely: power consumption; ensuring accurate voice capture; and privacy. However, UEI continues to invest in ways to improve the user experience for voice-enabled systems. The company has already released solutions to overcome many of these challenges while enhancing the overall consumer experience. Features like ‘raise-to-talk’ that was launched in 2019 with Korean operator, SK Broadband, the remote start listening as soon as it picked up and brought near the user’s face. More recently, UEI announced its ‘far-field’ voice control platform, Nevo®Butler, with a built-in digital assistant to enable control of home entertainment and smart home devices through a simple to set-up and use interface.
“Our company’s founding has been built on continued innovation in developing technologies, products, and services to deliver the best consumer experience across the evolving home entertainment landscape. With the capabilities offered by voice control, we see opportunities for new applications for our TV operator business as well as our safety and security, climate, and hospitality businesses” said Paul Arling. “We expect that our next 100 million voice control products will be delivered at a much faster pace.”
Universal Electronics will host product demonstrations for all their latest technologies and products at Booth #42325 in the Sands Expo at CES 2020 in Las Vegas from January 7 -10.
About Universal Electronics
Universal Electronics Inc. is the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home. For more information, please visit www.uei.com/about.
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All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.
Nevo and QuickSet are trademarks of Universal Electronics Inc.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words and expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development, delivery and market acceptance of UEI’s Nevo Butler, QuickSet, UEI voice technologies, and associated service offerings, and other technologies identified in this release; the continued penetration and growth of the digital assistant products and consumer technologies identified in this release; and other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligations to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
UEI Press Contact:
Benny Canady
Universal Electronics Inc.
Corporate Marketing and Public Relations
Scottsdale, AZ
pr@uei.com