Word: flatnesses
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...when Machida became president in 1998, it all began to change. Sharp, he knew, had long excelled at developing products featuring liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It released the first mass-market LCD calculator in 1973, developed its first flat-panel LCD television in 1987, and dabbled in LCD televisions throughout the 1990s. Building on this head start, Machida moved LCD TVs to the forefront of Sharp's strategy. He spent heavily over three years on the design, manufacture and marketing of a new flagship TV brand dubbed Aquos?and his bet paid off. Launched in January 2001?a moment referred...
...other end of the spectrum, Sharp has profited richly by being the first company to bring extra-large LCD TVs to market: it rolled out a 45-in. model last year, which it plans to follow later this year with a 50-in. set. While the price of flat-panel TVs overall has tumbled 30% in the past year, Sharp's TV prices have slipped only 3%, not least because margins on these high-end products have not yet been eroded by competition...
...Royal Philips Electronics is spending $5.1 billion to create the world's largest plant for LCDs, while Sony and Samsung are teaming up for a $2 billion LCD venture. Hitachi, Toshiba and Matsushita have similarly joined forces, and even Dell, the American computer maker, is getting into the flat-panel game. For now, however, Sharp is happy to go it alone, hoping that it's strong enough technologically to maintain its leadership position without a partner. It's a gamble, but not an unreasonable one, says Gartner analyst Paul O' Donovan: "Sharp is able to stand alone because...
...Despite the current gloominess in the electronics market, the ultimate rewards for the winners in these global TV wars could be vast as viewers upgrade their tube sets to flat panels and as broadcasters gradually shift from analog broadcasting to higher-quality digital. Japan has already begun digital broadcasting, and all broadcasts will be digital by mid-2011. In the U.S., every new TV will be required to come with a digital tuner by July 2007, and in Germany, digital broadcasts will commence in time for the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament. During this sea change, Sharp intends...
...even against existing technologies, Sharp faces a formidable battle. Junzo Masuda, director of iSuppli, a market-research firm in Kyoto, says the real test is how Sharp's big-screen TVs ultimately fare against a technology called plasma display panel (PDP), currently the dominant type of large-screen, flat-panel displays. Sharp may have better technology, but Masuda wonders whether it can reduce costs enough to defeat the makers of PDP sets, which are significantly cheaper. "There is a real price battle going on," says Masuda, as Sharp jockeys for position. Sharp executives downplay such claims, saying the market...