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Sharp Warns That It Might Collapse
angry tapir writes "Japan's Sharp, a major supplier of LCD displays to Apple and other manufacturers, has warned that it may not survive if it can't turn around its business. The Osaka-based manufacturer said there is "material doubt" about its ability to continue operating in its earnings report filed Thursday. Sharp added, however, that it still believes it can cut costs and secure enough credit to survive. Its IGZO technology for mobile displays is likely to be a key element of its business strategy."
Sell their LCD's to apple at a higher cost why should apple be the only one making a premium off the screens?
Vertically integrating one of your main suppliers would probably not reduce profit margins as much as stopping production because you can't get parts.
Basically the only people not buying AAPL are people who lack any vision.
When I hear that said about a stock, I'm inclined to research shorting it.
This would be an opportune time for Apple to buy Sharp....
This would be an even more opportune time for Samsung to buy Sharp.
The Korean brands have a lot of awareness right now, thanks in part to Apple basically standing Samsung up and saying "we're scared of Samsung!" which really added both brand awareness and boosted their reputation -which was nothing to sneeze at anyway.
Samsung has worked very hard to kill Sony. For a long time, that was their main mission: effing bury Sony. The only problem is that they've overshot the goal by making better products more or less across the board, and also that Sony has flopped in nearly every business unit. Samsung now sets the trends in phones and TVs, does very well with tablets, and has decent exposure in regular consumer electronics like pocket cameras and other items. Sony can only hope to follow. Aside from the PlayStation brand, Sony leads.... nowhere. In the future, Samsung is only going to become an even tougher company. They play to win. If iconic Japanese brands die along the way, that's absolutely fine with Samsung.
LG, after changing their name, embarked on putting appliances in lots of homes. That's a great way to make entire families aware of your brand: it's the fridge, the washing machine, and also the TV. And it's a brand with great peer acceptance. Your neighbors know LG and probably think it's a fine brand.
Both of these brands make good products for the most part. The neat part is that they both fight like hell to beat each other. So not only are they stomping on Panasonic and Sony, they are also trying to beat each other. This puts tremendous pressure on everybody else in the game. If you are Sony, you don't have one opponent or even two, you have closer to three or four because as much as Samsung and LG are bitter rivals, they have the same enemies and they will fight as one very tough force. If you are Sony, you don't just have to beat Samsung, you also have to beat LG AND you have to beat both of them combined which is intense enough to be its own entity.
After them, the Japanese brands are kind of lumped in with the no-name Chinese brands. Panasonic and Sony can't easily compete on price with the likes of Vizio or Sceptre, or the new Chinese-licensed brands like JVC, Magnavox or Philips. China hasn't stopped their own brands but they have realized they can just license some old brand name like JVC, play off the name and market what would otherwise be a noname product as a brand product.
TVs went through a phase where flat screens were a premium product, and at the high end yes they still are. But the low end is dominated by cheap TVs. Heck, you can get a 32-32" LCD TV at drug stores now, same as in the old days when a 12" B/W TV sold at drug stores. China will own that end of the market moving to the middle. Korea owns the top end -with Pioneer in for honorable mention on the high end. Everybody else needs to put on some knee pads and brace for impact. The middle market is going to get squeezed like an Oreo double-stuff left out in the sun.
Sig for hire.
Stores often calibrate displays according to what they are currently trying to push. using tricks such as lower res vs high res video, warm colours and poor calibration to guide you to what they want you to buy. Always check online before browsing displays for real agnostic reviews.
Without Monster Cables, the other displays are going to be cubic but far less rounded, the contrast less warm, and the colours markedly less spatial. I'm no expert, but even my unprofessional eye can spot these differences if I'm told up-front that Monster cables are being used.
-- Using the preview button since 2005