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Rise of the Small Brands
gbobeck writes "Yahoo News is running a story looking at smaller brands in the marketplace. The article discusses the increase of numbers of people who are choosing to purchase lesser known brands of electronics. The bottom line is the major electronics makers still dominate the market, but collective presence of lesser-known brands has helped keep prices down while boosting product choices."
The products are perhaps not the cutting edge stuff, but you can rest assured that you're buying a name brand and all the piece of mind that that gets you. Not crap like Akai or Vizio. I'm talking Sorny, Magnetbox, and Panaphonics.
Too eager for FP to properly comment....booyaka anyway, funnily enough me and my partner in geekdom (beaner) were talking about this the other day after I politely slagged his (random branded) dvd player. In his defense he started listing the multitude of features his did in comparison to my (reasonlably new) player and it struck me that he had paid a hell of a lot less for something that did a hell of a lot more! I guess time will tell if it goes tits up after a few months but till then me thinks yay for the small guy and his cheaper feature rich products pushing down the rest... ...go on my son(s)
Lite-On deserve a mention here; at a time when Plextor was the the only writer in town, Lite-On released cheap 32x and 40x CD-Writers which could rip damaged CDs that nothing else would rip or even play. Before long, as prices fell, I was building a Lite-On into every customer's system.
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...it's just branded differently. Take Radio Shack for example, all of their stereo stuff called Optimus was really Pioneer. All of their Realistic scanners were really Uniden....yadda yadda..TV's were RCA.
I'm willing to bet it's just like laptops, only a handful of places make them, and they are customized and rebranded per customer request.
Hell, i'm sure the same goes for generic food in the supermarket.
Of course, there is always the occassional flair of inspired creativity. I was in Asia recently and brought back a $5 'PolyStation' for a friend as a gag gift. It was a PS1 shell with about 500 NES roms built in - hilarious.
A-Bomb
Being a non name brand company doesn't help with the cost of manufacturing electronics.
True. But you realise that there is often a mark-up just because of brand name? There are even manufacturers that have two lines of products, one with the luxury brand and one the "cheapo" brand, whilst the products are essentially the same - the luxury brand just having different finishing and packaging.
Well, the Internet thinks it's "lesser known" by a landslide.
less known vs. lesser known
Keeping in mind that correct grammar is itself "lesser known" on the internet, small fragments of sodium chloride are suggested for consumption.
Yes, here!(on Slashdot). Read my notes about the rise of Lite On. Some startups actually produce some good gear. The link you've provided tars everybody with the same brush. Just because there's one scam, doesnt mean everybody's doing it.
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Or tin deep in this case, rather. I had my revelation when I opened up an HP computer, only to find that they used exactly (and I MEAN exactly) the same components that were used in a low budget "brand" (you know, one of the kind that gets sued for being labeled "no name"). Exactly the same (crappy) components.
It's the same with dishwashers, washing machines, microwaves. Brands only slap a nice cover around it, the insides are more often than not just bought, not made by the brand company.
What you get from a brand name is the service. And considering the service of some brands *coughsonycough*, I'm better off with a "generic" brand. Breaks down just as fast, has exactly the same nonexistant service, but I pay about 2/3 of what that brand name gadget would've costed.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Since brands can be counted, the correct term is 'fewer known'.
Otherwise, it's 'lesser known'.
There is no construction 'less known' unless it's some archaic UNIX command.
Besides providing news from many sources the internet also gives consumers many new methods for picking and choosing how to spend their money.
Just as we no longer have to rely on a local newspaper or broadcast television for information about the world around us we no longer have to rely on salesmen or friends for consumer product advice.
Another good side is that problems surface faster because of the net. Bad products and companies are spotlighted much faster than old methods. Consumer groups spread information between themselves directly and indirectly about whom to trust and not trust.
If anything the net is making it easier for consumers to make intelligent choices. Having the information by itself isn't the key, its having access to the opinions of others on how valid the information is that works in the long run.
On a side note, gaming the system is alive and well and has removed the validity of some sites for tracking how well one place does versus another. I find consistency among many different forums to be a better indicator as to which small companies to trust. (ex: ResellerRatings used to be a great source - but not they are corrupted by too many bogus positive and even negative reviews)
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This helps put to rest the idea that the U.S. economy can survive (some used to say prosper) by leveraging its established brand names and outsourcing the work.
Generally (there are exceptions) high end comnsumer products are just shiny packages on fairly junky stuff. Low end (or used) Professional stuff is generalyl much better, often cheaper, and usually much better built. Go to a good professional catering shop for pans that will outlast you and are better designed and cheaper than anything in consumer shops. Not available in a range of colours though. Same with audio equipment, cameras and so on. Things that people use every day are just better made.
Cheap disposable consumer products are great if you want something cheap. But there is no point in Bang and Olufson.