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JCNNetwork: Sharp Corp. doubled its loss estimate for the year give slump in sales of televisions and panels, but brought forward plans for a cost-efficient factory to cut costs.

The company would shift overseas some output of key components such as panels and solar cells with domestic partners to lessen the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations and control capital spending, a departure from its usual strategy of making core products at home. Sharp faced an uphill task to make the new business model work.

Panel demand was recovering, prompting it to move up its date for starting production at its plant by five months to October.

Sharp’s 380 billion yen (US$3.8 billion) plant in western Japan will process 10th-generation glass substrates, which are bigger than earlier generation substrates and help reduce per panel production costs.

Earnings were hit by mounting inventory from unsold liquid crystal display panels and televisions as consumers limit spending amid the global economic crisis, as well as restructuring costs.

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The Wall Street Journal: Pioneer Corp. said it will receive 2.5 billion yen ($25.8 / €19.7 million ) of fresh capital from business partner Honda Motor Co. in the first of a series of fundraising steps planned by the electronics maker to finance its overhaul.

Pioneer, a maker of car navigation systems and electronics products, said it plans to issue new shares to Honda by the end of June and use the money from the Tokyo-based auto maker to develop new car electronics products.

With losses mounting, Pioneer has decided to exit the flat-panel television business and concentrate on electronics for the auto industry.

Pioneer is also preparing to apply for a government cash injection under newly approved measures in Japan’s economic stimulus program.

Under a medium-term business plan also announced Tuesday, Pioneer said it will need to raise around 40 billion yen, but details for other financing deals aren’t set yet.

In the latest deal with Honda, the auto maker will pay 170 yen for each of the 14.7 million new Pioneer shares to be issued. Honda will have a 6.54% stake in Pioneer, becoming the second largest shareholder after Sharp Corp.

Sharp’s stake in the electronics maker will decline to 13.35% from 14.28% after the new share issue. Pioneer’s reform plans over the next three fiscal years through March 2012 include closing nine of 30 group companies undertaking production in Japan and overseas and shrinking capacity at six others.

It is also laying off 5,800 full-time employees and 4,000 contract-based workers from this year. At the end of December 2008, Pioneer had 36,925 full-time employees. It will also reduce the total number of directors and executive officers this year to 19 from 25.

Pioneer expects a restructuring charge of 47 billion yen in this fiscal year ending March 2010, but it expects its reform measures to reduce fixed costs by 50 billion yen in this fiscal year and a further 85 billion yen in the following year.

For the fiscal year ended March 31, Pioneer forecast a net loss of 129 billion yen, slightly narrower than a 130 billion yen loss estimated in mid-February. It will report full-year results May 13. The company also projected a net loss of 83 billion yen for this fiscal year. It expects to return to the black in the fiscal year ending March 2011 with a net profit of eight billion yen.

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DisplaySearch: Samsung has more than 50 models listed on their US web site, including their latest LED TVs. In order to understand this Samsung’s LED TV positioning in their LCD TV product line, we made a comparison table, shown below.

From the specifications and suggested prices, we can make some interesting points:

• In terms of product sizes and pricing, the B6 and B7 series LED TVs are closer to the A7 and A8 series LCD TVs than they are to the A6/B6 and A7. For example, LED B6 has 40”, 46” and 55”; LCD A7 40”, 46” and 52”. The price gap is similar ($400-500) for the same size comparison.
• The B6 and B7 series LED TVs are likely to eventually replace the A7 and A8 series, which use CCFL backlights. Samsung hopes that consumers find the advantages of LED TVs are enough that they can increase the suggested price, which would help Samsung increase revenues on high-end models. Samsung is likely to adopt LED backlights for all their high-end models and keep CCFL for entry- and mid-levels; LED TV is equivalent to high-end LCD TV in Samsung’s product line.
• The B6 and B7 series LED TVs adopted edge lighting instead of the direct lighting used in the premium A9 series. Edge lighting enables lower costs, but it does not support local dimming. Probably only high-end customers notice or value the difference. Many consumers will be glad to own any LED TV, and they may have no idea of the difference between edge and direct lighting. Another benefit is that edge lighting can enable slimmer design, which is a difference that all consumers can notice.
• After intensively promoting frame rate conversion in 2008, Samsung is using LED backlight as the next feature to enable improved picture quality. If this strategy works, Samsung can drive higher revenues from the high-end models now, and extend LED backlights to mid-level products in the future. So, it’s reasonable to expect there will be lower level B5 series LED TVs ranging from 32” to 46” or even 55”.
• For those consumers who value picture quality, Samsung will promote the B6 series 40” LED TV UN40B6000 ($2,299). For those who think applications are more critical and interesting, Samsung will offer the B6 series 46” LCD TV LN46B650 ($2,099) with DLNA. For consumers that feel size does matter, the 52” LCD TV LN52B610 is available at the same price, trading internet connectivity for larger screen size.

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Guardian: The animal welfare group Peta is pursuing Samsung over a viral video featuring a flock of sheep covered with LED lights being herded into an array of clever patterns on a Welsh hillside.

Peta has called on In-Soo Kim, Samsung’s European chief, to remove the ad from the internet because the company should have known better than to “scare sheep half to death … for some passing amusement”.

An accompanying letter reveals that Tesco has asked suppliers not to use sheep dogs to herd sheep because it “stresses” them out. Peta also claims to have research showing that sheep “perform nearly as well as pigs on IQ tests” and have “demonstrated problem solving abilities”.

Perhaps, given the time, the sheep could have made the Samsung ad for themselves? Chunks of the viral were created digitally – although the Viral Factory, which made the ad, is keeping tight-lipped over which bits. “These guys are champion sheep herders, they are the cream of the cream,” said a source close to the project. “There is no way they would harm any of the animals.”

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Guardian: Apple continued to shirk off the recession by posting some of its best-ever results, despite the heavy toll that the financial crisis is taking across Silicon Valley.

Announcing its latest quarterly results today, the Californian technology giant posted profits of $1.21bn (£836m) – up 15% from the same time last year.

Although some analysts had been concerned that Apple’s focus on expensive products would struggle as consumer spending dropped, the company said its quarterly revenues increased to $8.16bn, compared to $7.51bn in the first three months of 2008.

“We are extremely pleased,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s chief financial offer. “These results exceeded our expectations. While the company’s Macintosh computer line saw a 3% decrease in sales, it sold more than 11 million iPods – with sales particularly strong in countries including the UK, France, Germany and Japan.

The real success story however was the iPhone, which sold more than 3.7m units worldwide – up 123% from the same time in 2008. Revenues from iPhone sales were valued at $2.2bn, while income from mobile phone networks and other associated services rose to $1.52bn. At the same time last year, the same was just $378m.

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Guardian: Carphone Warehouse will create 10,000 jobs over the next four years as it opens 60 to 70 large home electronics stores in Britain as part of its joint venture with American retailer Best Buy.

The news came as the company, which last year clinched a crucial £1.1bn deal with Best Buy that allowed it to pay off all its debts, confirmed it would split its TalkTalk residential broadband operation from its 2,400 retail stores.

Charles Dunstone, the co-founder and current chief executive, will become chairman of both firms. But the demerger has been delayed until 2010 while the company haggles with its banks – including Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC – over how it will split its £925m credit facility.

Part of the cash could be used by TalkTalk to snap up the UK arm of ailing internet service provider (ISP) Tiscali. Carphone was in talks with Tiscali’s Italian parent last year but balked at the price. Since then Tiscali has seen negotiations with the last remaining bidder, BSkyB, collapse. In a fourth-quarter trading update yesterday Dunstone said the company would hit City forecasts for its annual performance and was more upbeat about the UK market than last November, when he warned the economic environment was the most challenging he had ever seen.

The company expects revenues at TalkTalk to be relatively flat this year and expects to add 125,000 to 175,000 new customers. It is the UK’s third largest ISP with 2.8 million customers. Its retail business, meanwhile, sold 3m mobile phone connections in the quarter to the end of March, up 12% year-on-year, as demand for pre-paid phones ballooned among cash-strapped consumers and the company benefited from being the only independent retailer to stock the iPhone.

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CNet: Move over Hotforwords, Lonelygirl15, and all the other YouTube stars. The video site is bringing in more professionally made content and plans to make it a marquee product.

The Internet’s largest video site on Thursday announced that it has struck deals with a host of entertainment companies, including Sony Pictures, CBS (parent company of CNET UK), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Lionsgate, Starz and the BBC, to acquire “thousands” of TV episodes and hundreds of films.

The new content will only be available in the US. YouTube executives also said during a conference call that they have redesigned part of its Web site to create separate areas for professionally made content.

On the site’s front door will be two new tabs. “The ‘Shows’ tab allows you to browse shows by genre, network, title and popularity,” YouTube said in a statement. “The ‘Subscriptions’ tab will grant logged-in users one-click access to fresh content from their favourite creators.”

At this point, it appears the most significant partnership is with Sony Pictures, one of the largest Hollywood film studios. The studio has agreed to post several full-length feature films and TV shows to YouTube.

The rather long-in-the-tooth TV shows include Bewitched and Charlie’s Angels, while among the films are Blue Lagoon, Single White Female, and Nowhere to Run. CNET UK’s sister site CNET News reported earlier this month that the companies were in talks about a feature-film deal. Representatives from Sony Pictures declined to comment.

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Guardian: Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson and electronics giant Toshiba announced total job cuts of nearly 6,000 in more signs that the world recession may be getting worse.

It also emerged that Cathay Pacific Airways, Asia’s third-largest carrier, has asked its entire 17,000 staff to take unpaid leave.

Sony Ericsson, which has its headquarters in London, has already laid off 2,000 workers and said today it would slash another 2,000 jobs around the world. The latest cost-cutting drive comes as the company posted a €293m (£258m) net loss for the first three months of the year, and vowed to return to profitability “as quickly as possible”.

Toshiba, which has suffered a huge drop in demand for its consumer electronics, said it would lay off 3,900 contract workers in Japan by March 2010. The losses come on top of 4,500 contract worker cuts announced in January. It warned that its loss for the year that ended in March would be bigger than forecast.

Toshiba now puts the loss at ¥350bn (£2.36bn), up sharply from the ¥280bn previously estimated and its biggest loss ever. It would also mark Toshiba’s first annual net loss in seven years. But offering a glimmer of hope, the company also said prices of flash memory chips were now stabilising, helping its performance at the operating level.

Cathay Pacific said today that all 17,000 employees at all levels of the company were being asked to take unpaid leave ranging from one to four weeks in the next 12 months. The move comes a month after Hong Kong’s flagship airline recorded its first annual loss since the Asian crisis in 1998. Tony Tyler, the chief executive, said the company had “no option” but to take measures that will help maintain long-term sustainability.

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JCN: Sharp Corp. doubled its loss estimate for 2008 on a slump in sales of its TVs and panels, but it brought forward plans for a cost-efficient new factory to cut costs.

The company would shift overseas some output of key components such as panels and solar cells with local partners to lessen the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations and rein in capital spending, in a departure from its usual strategy of making core products at home.

But market players said Sharp faces an uphill task to make the new business model work. Sharp, which trails Samsung Electronics and Sony in LCD TVs, said panel demand was recovering, prompting it to move up its start-date for production at its new plant by five months to October.

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JCN: Toshiba has entered into a share transfer agreement with Panasonic Corp. under which Toshiba will acquire all of Panasonic’s shares in Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd (TMD), for reportedly US$20.3 million.

TMD is a joint venture that develops, manufactures and sells liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting displays (OLEDs). Toshiba currently has a 60 percent stake in TMD. The share transfer is scheduled to take place in April 2009.

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Electronista: Electronics giant Philips is drawing a close to its public efforts in 3D imaging, a Dutch site reports.

The company is noted to be closing its 3D Solutions division entirely, and putting an end to the production of displays using its WOWvx technology.

The technology is unique in the industry for simulating 3D on an LCD TV, without requiring viewers to wear special glasses. The cost and/or inconvenience of such glasses has traditionally been a major obstacle to the adoption of 3D displays.

The end of Philips’ 3D efforts is being attributed not only to a global recession, but a slower adoption of the technology than previously hoped for.

Though the company says it may eventually return to the field, the profitability of 3D is believed to be too minimal to justify present activity. Past WOWvx products have included a 22-inch commercial screen and a 56-inch prototype.

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Gizmag: Lego Systems has teamed with Digital Blue, an innovator in electronics and software for teens, to produce a range of colorful Lego-inspired personal electronics for kids.

The line-up includes an alarm clock in the shape of a big red Lego brick, MP3 player, digital camera and a boom box, with the first products due for release in time for the northern hemisphere summer. But take a look at the specs and you can see the Lego gadgets are anything but toys.

The colorful digital camera can hold up to 300 images, offers 3MP resolution and has a 4X digital zoom. It has a 1.4” LCD display, 64MB of internal memory and runs on 2 AA batteries.

The package includes a software CD and wrist strap. The MP3 player has a 1G memory – which equates to up to eight hours playing time – an in-built rechargeable battery, supports MP3, WMA and SD/MMC cards and comes with stereo earbuds and wrist strap.

The boom box – which looks like a giant blue Lego brick – may be thought of as a relic from the 1980s but this updated version can play CD, CD-R, CD-RW and includes an AM/FM radio. With its 20-song programmable play system, you can randomly play or shuffle, repeat one or more tracks and skip forwards and backwards.

The machine also has two 2×1″ W channel speakers, 12.5mm W output, earphone jack and a dynamic bass boost system. Sure, there’s nothing particularly new there, but not every kid on the block has a music machine 10 times the size of a regular Lego brick.

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