Sharp Exits North American TV Market!

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Remarkable fall from days that Sharp was #1 market share holder in both US and Japan, having invested in flat panel technology for decades. Just to hit such a low in retail market: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2015/08/01/sharp-exits-us-tv-business/

"Sharp Exits US Television Business

Having already pulled the plug on its European TV business in 2014, Sharp revealed on Friday (July 31) that it has now also bowed out of the North American TV market.

The dramatic if not entirely unexpected move comes on the back of another set of grim financial results for the Japanese electronics company, which found it running up substantial first quarter losses of around $230 million.

Despite being the first brand to see the potential of LCD screens as domestic televisions, Sharp has consistently struggled more than some of the other big Japanese brands to handle the stiff competition created on the TV scene by the arrival of Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG Electronics . And with new competition looming from Chinese brands like Hisense, it seems Sharp just couldn’t see any way of turning its North American TV fortunes around.

Sharp’s departure from the US TV scene, though, isn’t a simple wind up and move on scenario. Instead Sharp has sold its brand name for North American territories to one of those new kids on the block: Hisense. Under the terms of the $23.7 million deal, Hisense gets both Sharp’s Mexico LCD production plant and the rights to use Sharp’s name on TVs in the USA. So Sharp’s name will live on in your local electronics stores, even if the TVs behind it are no longer coming from Sharp’s own production facilities.

The Hisense move is reminiscent of Sharp’s exit from the European TV market, where it sold its brand name to UMC, a panel manufacturing company based in Slovakia.

It’s important to stress, too, that while Sharp may have been forced to bail out of its second major international TV market in two years, it certainly can’t yet be considered a dead man walking. It still enjoys a decent TV business in its home country of Japan, and it still provides LCD displays for a variety of other smart device manufacturers.

It’s not apparent at this time what the sale of its brand name and Mexican production facilities to Hisense might mean for Sharp TVs currently on sale in US stores. Nobody is saying anything as yet, either, about whether future Hisense-sourced but Sharp-branded TVs will still contain any of Sharp’s proprietary TV technologies.

I gather from communications with Hisense over the course of the past couple of days that there is going to be a press conference about the deal on Tuesday that might reveal more details. If it does, I’ll update this story accordingly."
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
1,198
580
Boston, MA
That is indeed some news... and the selling of assets for peanuts
 

XV-1

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2010
3,591
2,573
1,860
Sydney
Bye Bye Sharp

Just like Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi, Pioneer before them
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Too bad, they are the only TV manufacturer with affordable (for regular folks) large screen's sizes (70, 80 and 90").

* It's almost like replacing your wife of many years for a newer/younger/more expensive one. /// And more svelte too, with a curve, and less larger, ...a la OLED quoi. :D
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Indeed that was their last strategy. Selling very large panels at low cost but I suspect they lost their shirt doing that.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
1,323
435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Indeed that was their last strategy. Selling very large panels at low cost but I suspect they lost their shirt doing that.

Or they were expecting to sell many, and people prefer smaller sizes...40 to 65" instead...and @ those sizes Samsung and Panasonic and LG are leading.

But now this is a new game; plasma TVs are dead, LCD LED is inferior to plasma, and OLED is expensive as compared to yesterday's plasma TVs.

Then we got curves, UHD TVs, still LCD LEDs, and OLEDs not fully cooked yet. Very large screens are very expensive...Sony, Samsung, LG.
The times they sure are a changin'.

* And if you truly want large...there are front projectors that are less than a thou...only five years ago they were several thous...and the picture quality was worst...best today.

And, laser front projectors, UHD/HDR, are not home yet for less than a quarter mill.

Many flat panel TVs are assembled in Mexico...my plasma set was made there...Samsung. ...No more now as plasma is dead...even if it is the superior picture technology over LCD LED TVs...because money rules...not the best art form.

Anyway, I was always attracted by Sharp TVs @ my local video stores...for the sheer size of their flat/thin panels and of course by their comfortable financial affordability. ...One 80" Sharp I saw last week was only three grands (open box - return | regular four grands; was five six months ago.)
Now that they are exiting the front door, I don't know who is going to be the next leader in large flat panel screen TVs...Sony? ...I think not...Sony is a wild boy without solid future.
Samsung? ...Maybe...but @ a price...nowhere near Sharp's prices.

The times they are a changin' and not necessarily for the best...with TVs becoming more expensive now...in the large screen class...above say 60".
Hey, some 70" to 90" flat panels are $25,000 to $50,000 .... no small change even for people like WBF members.

And, six months from now 1080p TVs are going to look prehistoric and out of fashion for the true videophiles.
HD is on its very last/short stretch of our video world...with UHD new boss on the block.

As in the audio world our video world is being replaced by the more immersive world of downloading and streaming.
And it better be UHD streaming or UHD won't survive in this slow internet world.

Anyway, that's only a very small aspect of my overall vision. ...Meanwhile we all enjoy our tunes and fixes from flicks. ...Just getting smaller with Sharp's departure. ...On that flat panel front of course...keep it on topic. ...Or keep changing the bulbs. :b
 

TBone

New Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,237
1
0
Too bad, they are the only TV manufacturer with affordable (for regular folks) large screen's sizes (70, 80 and 90").

I've owned two 70' Sharps within the last 3 years. The first unit worked fine, but displayed (more & more) little white dots that littered the bottom screen. Thanks to the internet, I soon realized it was an inherited problem within these larger sets. To Sharps credit, not only did they replace the set with a more up-to-date unit, it came direct from factory to me.

The second unit has worked a charm. In movie mode (unfortunately only in movie mode), it didn't require ANY calibration, perfectly set right from the factory, a surprise considering the prior unit -couldn't- be properly calibrated.

But alas, the white-dot issue started to appear again. This problem would eventually doom my appreciation for this TV, and Sharp altogether. I figure, perhaps I'd get another 2 years before this creeping condition required replacement. That said, a few months ago, I downloaded an updated firmware release. It stated " This firmware disables the IR Blaster feature" which I didn't relate to white-spot issue at the time, however since that update, I've noticed very little progression w/creeping white dots, the problem perhaps related to the IR device? Well, one can only hope.

Anyway, not remotely surprised by the Sharp situation, other issues like driver, ps failures, are becoming relatively more common with many Sharp units, especially those used "hard" (set w/too high contrast, all processing on, bright backlight). The power supplies are delicate also, prone to surges. I suspect this is becoming more & more common w/all tv in todays thinner, less weight TV world. The LCD market is so flooded in my neck of the woods; my next TV wouldn't have been a Sharp either way, not a big fan of LCD technology as a whole. I'd bling a 1080p (not 4k) LG OLED tv in a heartbeat, if I could find one at a reasonable price.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
The market is indeed flooded. Saw a 4K TV being sold for $499 the other day! From prototype to commoditization was just two years! Brutal business.
 

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