Fujitsu quits the display business

by Nilay Patel posted Dec 27th 2007 at 12:46PM

The rough-and-tumble economics of the display business claimed another victim today, as Fujitsu announced that it will exit the market in March. We hadn't seen a lot from the company's Aviamo line of plasmas since they first debuted in 2006, and it looks like there's a reason -- according to the short press release issued by Fujitsu today, "the pricing and profitability of this segment has compressed beyond the point which our company could realize a satisfactory return on investment." Hmmm, that explains why it spun off Shinoda Plasma a while back, no? Fujitsu says it will continue to sell displays in Japan and provide service and support to customers for the foreseeable future, but that what it really wants to do is ~~paint~~ "concentrate...on our core business of heating and ventilation equipment." You keep living that dream, guys.

[Thanks, Bruce S.]

Filed under: Industry, Displays, Plasma

Tags: aviamo, fujitsu, pdp, rip

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

zoran @ Dec 27th 2007 2:19PM

Fujitsu, ha, one of the most overpriced TVs in the world. I am shocked, well, not really. We are not idiots, we know that a Plasma TV is not worth 10-15 grand. For a 50 inch, you gotta be kidding me. Gone are the days when a company can charge so much for something that becomes a commodity. Besides, Fujitsu was never on the bleeding edge of this technology. Try Samsung, with more patents per year than any other company. They are the first to introduce an LCD with 25,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 120Hz rate, and who knows what other inventions that justify the extra expense. I am glad, because you gotta be pretty uneducated about HDTV technology or just have stupid money to buy Fujitsu. Maybe Runco should learn something from these guys and lower their astronomical prices. Otherwise, they are also on their way out. Oh, wait a minute, there are many rich people out there that don't know jack about HDTV Technology. Never mind.

Highly Ranked

Joseph R @ Dec 27th 2007 6:24PM

quote: "Try Samsung, with more patents per year than any other company."

You absolutely sure about this claim? I always heard that it's IBM receives "more patents per year than any other company."

Nothing wrong with Fujitsu displays, except their price, as even those who can afford them might lean these days to the latest generation of high-quality plasmas [Pioneer, Runco, LG] than those available by the legendary Fujitsu.

I recently picked up the 50" Pioneer #5080HD KURO 720p plasma [w/4 HDMI, new plasma cell structure - deep blacks and higher contrast, beautiful color, no image rentention with Orbitor option, etc], a $3499 MSRP unit that I picked up after sale price/discount/price matching for a low $2249. It's the best HDTV I've ever seen (or owned).

Highest Ranked

TrentD @ Dec 27th 2007 4:04PM

It's obvious who "doesn't know jack" about HDTV technology, and it's the ignorant individual above who has probably never seen a well-calibrated Fujitsu in person and therefore has no idea what great picture looks like.

"""...Fujitsu was never on the bleeding edge of this technology...Try Samsung, with more patents per year than any other company. They are the first to introduce an LCD with 25,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 120Hz rate, and who knows what other inventions that justify the extra expense."""

Perhaps you've forgotten (or were ignorant of the fact) that Fujitsu, in 1992, introduced the world's FIRST plasma television. This is back when Samsung was suckling at the teet of bargain basement VCRs and 13" TV/VCR combos that were closeout junk.

Your precious Samsung stood on Fujitsu's shoulders to build their plasma televisions.

Perhaps you should google "carbon nanotube technology" and recognize the revolutionary technology Fujitsu was working on in that area before making this decision to leave the HDTV market.

With Fujitsu, the customer was guaranteed a 3 year warranty (unheard of from other brands), tip-top video processing, excellent customer service, and the pride of owning the best.

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about, since you'd rather quote your Samsung's dynamic contrast ratio than talk about Fujitsu's legitimate commitment to (and achievement of) excellence.

Highly Ranked

BodegaBay @ Dec 28th 2007 12:50AM

TrentD,

Right on the money my friend. The above poster is obviously fairly new to the home theater arena because anyone who's been in this hobby should know that Fujitsu arguably the reference standard for plasma picture quality -- 3~4 years if I remembered correctly. Nothing but great write ups about their pic quality from respected editors such as Tom Norton.

Fujistsu just didn't have the capacity to compete with the larger OEMs in the now commodity plasma market. Certainly their plasma became overpriced in the last few years but that doesn't mean they were technically inferior. Far from it.

Neutral

RockinOscar @ Dec 27th 2007 9:19PM

my my my my shinooooddddaaaaa!

Neutral

Aaron Smith @ Dec 28th 2007 10:15AM

All I know is walking through the Home Theater Store and looking at all the nice LCD's and plasmas, the Fujitsus stood out from among the rest with great picture quality even on a 720p display vs the 1080p's in the rest of the store. You could stand directly in front of it and it still looked detailed with half the pixels. I wouldn't pay 3 times the price for it, but you couldn't deny that it had some great video processing.

Neutral

WMAME @ Dec 30th 2007 6:50PM

Samsung did not invent nor patent 120hz....JVC has had it for two years...and this year thiers does horizontal as well as vertical high speed...

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