Andre Yoskowitz
8 Feb 2009 20:29
According to the daily Japanese Nikkei paper, it appears Pioneer is on the verge of completely exiting the TV market.
Back in March the company said it would halt Plasma production to focus on LCD production. "We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels, or PDPs, at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward," Pioneer said at the time.
Despite the great commercial success of its Kuro plasma line, the company has been losing money for a few quarters now on TV sales. If the report holds true, then Pioneer will cut their losses and move completely out of the market, instead joining forces with Sharp to make a stronger move into the DVD and Blu-ray standalone business.
Pioneer declined comment on the report but did note that they have been "actively evaluating" the company's TV business since at least last March when it decided to cut out PDP production.