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Engadget:  Sony is finally getting serious about quitting the low-profit (for them, at least) world of plasma — and it would appear they’ve finally done it.

Sony has been seeing a sharp decline in shipments, from 300,000 in 2004 to 100,000 in 2005, and profits have been slim due to the lack of their own plasma display factories.  They plan to increase LCD shipments to pick up the slack, and hope to increase their shipment ratio of 40-inch plus LCDs by 50% before year’s end.

They’ve also contracted construction on an eighth-generation LCD plant, which should start production in fall 2007, and handle 50,000 glass substrates a month. Sony hopes to boost LCD sales 33% in 2007 to a whopping eight million units, and if it means bigger displays and lower prices we sure won’t be complaining.

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AV Zombie: After a period of restructuring and re-focussing, Pioneer posted a dramatic 20.4 percent gain in revenue and an operating income of 191,676 million yen for its first financial quarter, ended June 30.

The improvement was down to growing interest in its European and North American plasma business as well as accelerating car audio and sat nav revenues.

Sales in its Home Electronics division increased 32 percent year-on-year to 83,451 million yen, with plasma displays accounting for 47 per cent of the revenue.

Pioneer’s operating loss in this segment was 397 million yen, which is a significant improvement compared with its operating loss of 12,358 million yen in the corresponding period last year.

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Some good news coming out of the display division, finally. Sony said net profit rose to 216 million euro in Q2. In short: flatscreens and phones (Sony Ericsson’s Walkman-branded phones in particular) are making up for the heavy PS3-losses.

(source: ZDnet.be)

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Nokia, the world’s top mobile phone maker, said quarterly profit rose 43%. The second-quarter net income increased to €1.14 billion from €799 million a year earlier.
The chief executive, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, is increasing sales by introducing cheaper phones for China and India, while selling pricier phones with music players and cameras in Europe and the United States. (source: International Herald Tribune)

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First, disappointing LCD revenue had led panel producer LG.Philips to declare a net loss of 399 million dollars (approx. 315 million euro) for the second quarter, which ended June 30.

Now, Samsung Electronics – LG.Philips’ major competitor when it comes to LCD TVs – saw its profits halve this quarter.

The drop has mainly been caused by the worldwide price crash on LCD TVs. While sales have grown, albeit slower than anticipated, the average selling price has declined sharply. One man’s breath is another man’s death: flat TVs become affordable for the average consumer.

(sources: AvZombie.com & Tijd.be)

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AV Zombie: Panasonic has won six awards in the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEAs), dominating the event. However they didn’t win anything for their plasma or CE products.

Instead the prizes came from work on an emergency flashlight, high-tech washer-dryer, pro-HD camcorder, security camera, fridge and home-power fuel cell.

The result is a big payback for the brand, which has devoted a huge resource to design. With around 300 designers on its payroll, the company typically runs 3,500 design projects a year.

Internal design competitions are run to inspire creative thought and generate new ideas. The best ideas earn the winners prizes, one such being a holidays for two in Hawaii. Design accolades, which are decided by members of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), also went to Samsung, Eastman Kodak and Philips.

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The new president of Matsushita Electric Industrial, 60-year old Fumio Ohtsubo, said in his inauguration speech in Japanthat he hopes to boost the annual sales of Panasonic’s plasma screens by a massive 70 percent, to one trillion yen; as well as increase revenue from semiconductor chips to 650 billion yen a year; boost revenue from its car electronics division to one trillion yen (from 690 billion in the last fiscal year) and home appliances to 3 trillion yen (from 2.5 trillion yen).

Ohtsubo replaces Kunio Nakamura, now chairman of the board, who won kudos for the way he has reversed the company’s perilous finances, from a record loss of nearly 200 billion yen in 2002 to a 400 billion yen profit in 2005.

Source: AV zombie

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So far, Sony’s PlayStation 2 was the undisputed market leader in the video game console business. Microsofts Xbox and the GameCube by Nintendo didn’t come even close.

According to a report by DFC Intelligence however, it’s red alert for Sony and its upcoming console. The PlayStation 3 promises to be rather costly for young gamers. The PS3 would sell at 499 euro, whereas the Xbox 360 for instance already sells at 299 euro.

Sony on the other hand claims the price tage is justified, since the PS3 is equipped with a Blu-ray drive. In November 2006 we’ll know who’s right…

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