Most of our readers will
know that the Dutch electronics giant Philips is one of the world's leading
promoters of the DVD+RW recordable standard. The company has recently teamed up
with Taiwanese manufacturers such as BenQ and Quanta Storage to produce DVD+RW
burners and now Philips has begun an aggressive move into China. Philips Electronics has selected
TCL, China's second-largest maker of TVs and handsets, as its first local
development and marketing partner:
 According to reports from DVD drive industry experts, Philips has
chosen TCL not just for its large manufacturing capability, but also for
its marketing subsidiary, TCL Electric Appliances Sales. This subsidiary
operates a nationwide marketing network of 174 sales offices and more than
20,000 affiliated retail stores in China.
TCL is reportedly preparing production capacity to output two
million DVD+RW burners a year, and the company plans to keep the price per
burner to below 5,000 yuan (US$ 600), much lower than the 8,000 yuan (US$
960) currently demanded by Samsung's DVD+RW burner.
In addition to TCL, Philips is reported to be offering
licensing to other Chinese makers, including Malata Group, Sichuan
Changhong Electric, Skyworth Group and JiangSu Shinco Electronic
Group.
Currently, Chinese makers of DVD players rely mainly on core
components supplied by Taiwanese partners. For DVD burners, Philips and
Japanese producers such as Matsushita are already cooperating or plan to
cooperate directly with Chinese makers and leave little room for the
Taiwanese players. |
Source: DigiTimes
