Samsung retires from Japanese consumer electronics market

As of the end of October, Samsung no longer sells its consumer gadgets in Japan, according to the Associated Press.

The Korean electronics giant had actually pulled its products out of Japanese retail outlets a year ago, but as of the end of last month, it ended its Web presence also.

"We judged direct sales to individual consumers are less profitable than business-to-business sales," Lee Eun-hee, a Samsung spokeswoman, told the AP. Samsung will still sell flat panel monitors, LCD panels, and memory chips directly to businesses.

While Samsung is the largest provider of flat-panel televisions in North America, reaching 11.8 percent of the market, the competition in Japan is much stiffer. There it has to compete in a gadget-crazed country on the home turf of Matsushita (Panasonic), Sony, Sharp, and others.

[Stating]

HP Makes Better Monitors

I just evaluated 22" LCD monitors for purchase. I was split between HP and Samsung. After a second lookk I bought HP. The Samsung monitor had a very cheap, almost unuseable stand. $380 and they couldn't build a decent stand? The Samsung construction was very cheap. In contrast HP has a wonderful stand. You can raise and lower the monitor almost with one finger, and even pivot it. Much better construction, and costs less than the Samsung. I can see why Samsung was knocked out of the retail market.

[kmtkr]

eh hem...

You do know who makes monitors for HP, right?

Samsung...

So, what is your agenda, otherwise?