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Japanese electronics
giant Sony hopes to become the biggest player in the Chinese high-end TV
market by expanding production and launching new products.
Tadanobu Matsushima, president of the consumer sales and marketing unit
with Sony China, said his company wants to become number one in the
"high-end" segment in the world's biggest TV market.
"The market is changing very rapidly and we will continue to launch
products to meet new demands," said Matsushima.
The Japanese firm has decided to expand production at SSV Shanghai
Suoguang Visual Products Co Ltd. Although Sony has presence in all
segments from products as cheap as 2,000 yuan (US$250) to luxurious models
sold at over 40,000 yuan (US$4,800), it only produces low-end products in
China and high-end ones are imported.
According to Tomihiro Kasuya, SSV Suoguang's
president, a joint venture with the Chinese electronics company SVA, his
company produced 400,000 TV sets last year and all of them were
traditional cathode ray
tube sets.
After the expansion, SSV Suoguang's capacity will
reach 1 million units next year and the product range will cover all
series of products like high-end plasma
display panel
(PDP) TVs, liquefied crystal display (LCD)
TVs, and micro-device projection (MDPJ)sets. The products will go toward
supplying the Chinese market.
Besides the introduction of high-end TV sets at SSV Suoguang, Sony will
release 15 new models by the end of this year and high-end products will
be top priorities.
Matsushima believes the demand from Chinese customers for large- and
wide-screen TVs and the need for high definition models with the country's
push for digital TV programmes will stimulate the high-end demand.
It is said that 35 per cent of TV sets sold this year will be
large-screen models and the proportion of 16:9 wide-screen TV sets will
rise from last year's 14 per cent to 26 per cent. MDPJ TV sets, or LCD
projection TV sets, will play a big part in Sony's ambition.
Noriaki Negishi, general manager of the East Asian area with Sony's TV
Group, said that out of 100 TV sets sold in China during April to July,
only 22 were projection TV models, but the ratio in the United States was
43 per cent and the sales value of MDPJ TV sets already reached one-fourth
of the total projected TV sales. That means there is huge potential in the
Chinese market for such models.
"Now is the best timing to launch our top products," he said.
(China Daily) | 
Updated: 2004-11-15 10:02
