Entertainment & Hardware Steven Kippel on 06 Mar 2008
Pioneer stops plasma production
Pioneer stops plasma production
With news that Pioneer is reporting a $93-million loss in their plasma division, they are now stopping production of their highly praised plasma televisions. They are not exiting the plasma market, however, as they’re joining forces with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (parent of Panasonic) to co-develop plasma technologies.This is pretty big news. For the past year Pioneer has had a successful marketing campaign to promote the new Kuro plasmas with the greatest black levels and contrast levels of any commercial display ever. In January at CES they showed Extreme Contrast Kuro panels with such great contrast and black levels they challenged the OLED displays, and even blew the current Kuro panels out of the water. They also showed an incredibly thin plasma at 12mm thick.
Being on the vanguard of plasma technology, this is certainly a big change. Pioneer was projecting over $97-million profit this year and is actually posting a $77-million loss, so it seems like the company is really trying to save the ship by dumping extra weight. In December Fujitsu closed up shop on plasma for good, leaving Pioneer as the only remaining high-end plasma manufacturer. Pioneer was the fifth largest plasma manufacturer this past year.
The obvious questions for the future are: What will come of Project Kuro? Will Panasonic have Kuro technology in their panels now? Will plasma survive or will LCD have killed off this glorious technology?
Related Articles on WesleyTech.com:
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Pioneer Plasma Business Clarification
Pioneer announces future plasma plans
Pioneer Extreme Contrast: CES 2008
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on 06 Mar 2008 at 7:50 pm 1.Wesley Novack said …
This is definitely sad to hear. Pioneer was a “pioneer” in plasma technology. Let’s hope that all of their good plasma tech gets put to use in Panasonic plasma TV’s.
on 07 Mar 2008 at 10:36 am 2.Steven Kippel said …
It appears they’re working deals to have Matsushita build the panels using Pioneer technology and then Pioneer will assemble the final product.
They’re also entering the LCD market with the help of Sharp (who is also partnering with Samsung and Sony).
on 10 Mar 2008 at 8:02 pm 3.MovieFreak said …
Plasma Rocks!
on 19 Mar 2008 at 2:42 am 4.Mark said …
Goodbye and good ridden to a technology which was overpriced, with a warranty which left much to be desired!
on 19 Mar 2008 at 8:56 am 5.Steven Kippel said …
Mark, what technology are you bidding farewell? Plasma hasn’t/isn’t going anywhere.