Pioneer to focus on slim drives and Blu-ray Disc drives

In the DVD recorder
business, prices of low-end products sold in Europe and the
U.S. have
been sharply falling. Therefore, we have already discontinued developing
such low-end products on our own, and are concentrating our development
resources on products featuring advanced technologies. In terms of LSIs
and software development, we will aggressively promote tie-ups with other
companies, introducing products quickly to the market, and push down
development costs. Production of low-end DVD recorders and VCR-combo DVD
recorders will be shifted to subcontractors, to improve
profitability.

As for recordable DVD
drives for personal computers (PCs), we will focus on slim drives for
notebook PCs to deliver high added value. We are shifting core development
to drives for Blu-ray Discs, whose sales are expected to grow dramatically
from here onward.

We
will continue to strengthen sales of DVD recorder drive units to
non-Pioneer group companies. In the current fiscal year, we expect to
supply 3 million such drive units, which account for roughly 20% of the
worldwide recorder market. This volume includes the 1 million drive units
supplied for our in-house use. We plan to double this figure to 6 million
units next fiscal year, with the aim of capturing 30% of the world market.
We have also been developing in new areas. This fiscal year, we developed
a DVD recorder unit exclusively using 8 cm DVDs and began supplying it for
use in DVD camcorders. We will expand market of the units for other use as
well.