Archive for the ‘Sony’ Category
Sony to Tap Hon Hai, Qisda to Build LCD TVs
Sony is tapping into Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) and Qisda Corporation to manufacture LCD TVs. This is the first time that Foxconn and Qisda will be assembling LCD TVs for Sony. Qisda is the manufacturing arm of BenQ. Foxconn will be building Sony’s 32″ and 37″ LCD TVs while Qisda will be making slightly larger and upscale ones. Wistron is the other Taiwanese contract manufacture Sony will be using in 2008 to build up to 4 million LCD TVs.
Sony to Invest in Sharp
On February 25, The Nikkei reported that Sony plans to invest JPY100B (US$926M) in Sharp’s Gen. 10 TFT LCD plant. Sony is expected to have a news conference later on Tuesday. Sony has had experience in investing in LCD fabs to secure panel supply.
Sony to Procure LCD TV Panels from Sharp
Sony is in final stages of negotiations to procure LCD TV panels from Sharp as early as April 2008, based on a news report by Reuters. S-LCD, a joint venture between Samsung and Sony, currently supplies most of the high-end LCD TV panels that Sony needs. The lower-end and smaller panels are procured from Taiwan-based suppliers. This is good news for Sharp as the company has been developing customers for its LCD panels and Sony as a customer is as good as it gets. Sharp is currently in the process of building the world’s largest LCD fab that is expected to commence production by March 2010. The Gen. 10 factory has a price tag of $3.55 billion.
Sony has an aggressive goal for FY2008 (starting in April): 20 million LCD TVs. Of that, approximately 3-5 million 40″-equivalent of those will likely be supplied by Sharp. This is in light of another announcement in December by Toshiba that stated it would procure LCD panels from Sharp.
Sharp’s LCD technology is based on VA. The company has enhanced the original design and is called Advanced Super View or ASV. ASV technology has been incorporated into small mobile phone displays and into the largest LCD TVs. When Sharp-based Sony LCD TVs come to market, it would be very difficult to tell the difference between ASV and PVA, a Samsung display technology.
Sony mylo COM-2
Sony mylo COM-2
Display Size: 3.5″
Pixel Format: 800 x 480
Wireless: 802.11b/g
Camera: 1.3MP
Video Support: MPEG4 SP/ASP, AVC Baseline (up to QVGA 30fps, 384/768 kbps)
Keyboard: Backlit
Availability: Now, ship date 2008.01.28
Price: $299
Sony has updated its mylo Personal Communicator to COM-2. The device has many merits. It looks better, the keyboard is backlit (now you can use it in the dark), and the LCD got a lot bigger with a lot more pixels to look at.
One of the best features of the mylo (previous generation included), in my opinion, is Skype via WiFi. Wherever you have a WiFi connection, you can make free phone calls to other Skype users and for a very cheap price make calls to anyone. I have a Skype Pro account that lets me call anyone anywhere for a very reasonable price, from my Skype phone and my computer. This might not be such a big deal to many, but for me, it is. I have an iPhone but I cannot communicate via voice when I travel to Korea. That’s because Korea does not have a GSM network. And even if it did, since I kept my iPhone locked, the existence of a GSM network would just mean extremely high-priced phone calls allowed by AT&T. With something like a mylo, that limitation no longer applies as long as I can find WiFi hotspots there. Speaking of WiFi hotspots, you get free access to Wayport hotspots (McDonald’s, IHOP, Hertz, some hotels, etc.) until the end of 2009, which I think is a great deal.
Another cool feature is the 1.3 megapixel camera, which should be adequate enough for taking quick snaps. I believe the original mylo did not have a camera. In terms of the display, the COM-2 has got it right. It is a 3.5″ TFT LCD that has a pixel format of 800 x 480! This is much higher density than the iPhone, which is limited to 480 x 320 pixels with the same size, 3.5″. Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet also has a pixel format of 800 x 480 but with a larger sized LCD at 4.13″. I expect browsing the Internet will be quite a bit improved from the original 320 x 240 screen. I’m looking forward to actually playing around with the mylo COM-2 at my local Fry’s Electronics soon.
Sony Discontinues Rear-Projection TV
On December 27, Sony announced that it will discontinue manufacturing rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) and instead focus on flat panel display (FPD) TVs. A couple of months ago, in October, Sony lowered its forecast for its RPTVs from 700K down to 400K. Compared to that, Sony is expecting to sell 10 million LCD TVs this fiscal year ending March 2008. That is 3.7 million more LCD TVs that the company sold in the previous year. I recently wrote about why my next TV will be a Sony 55″ SXRD RPTV.
