LAS VEGAS--Sharp is going to put select Internet content on some models of its TVs, the latest attempt by TV makers to cut out the PC.
The Aquos Net service, which kicks off later this month, will let viewers click a button on their remote and get Nasdaq stock quotes, local weather information, high-definition images, traffic information from Traffic.com and cartoons. NBC later will put information from some of its sites on the Aquos Net service.
Aquos Net in action
(Credit: Michael Kanellos )Other publishers will be added later. (Sharp has offered a similar service in Japan for a little over a year.).
The Internet content appears as a small square on the right side of the TV (see picture). It can be expanded to fill more of the screen. The service also comes with a connection to a portal, where Sharp technicians will help you with things like contrast and color.
Later, the company hopes to add full-motion video, Bob Scaglione, senior vice president of marketing at Sharp, said at a press conference here at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Users can not troll the Net and go wherever they want, he added. When they use Aquos Net, users are actually connecting to servers in New Jersey owned and controlled by Sharp, not to the publishers directly. Sharp's servers then push content down to your home.
The service is, initially, less encompassing and ambitious than a service launched last year by Sony which also featured video. But that was part of the plan, Scaglione said. Adding video capability adds more costs, he said. Sharp debated having video at the launch the service but decided not to go with video initially.
Sony's service also requires a piece of add-on hardware. Sharp's TVs will come with a built-in Ethernet plug. Once it's connected, you can get information. For those who don't have an Ethernet jack in the living room, Sharp will also sell you a box to connect the TV via power line networking. These start at $179. Users won't experience a degradation of quality with power line, Scaglione added.
Aquos Net adds about $200 to the retail price of a PC. The service, however, is free as long as you own the TV. Thus, if you own the TV for five years, the price of Aquos Net comes to around $3.33 a month. ($200 divided by 60 months). The price will also likely go down over time (especially when you consider that the silicon to enable this is nowhere near that price.)
Users need their own Internet connection to get the service. Sharp recommends a high-speed line.
So far, users in the U.S. have not gravitated to Internet on the TV. Most PC-TV combinations have failed. Nonetheless, if you are watching the Today Show in your underwear and want to get some local headlines, you might use it.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
Hitachi's sexy new flat screens.
(Credit: Hitachi Japan)At a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, Hitachi unveiled its new "Ultra Thin" LCD TVs, a new line of flat-panel sets that measure only 35 millimeters (1.5 inches) in thickness. While other companies have also announced uberskinny flat-panel TVs recently--some even thinner than Hitachi's--the Ultra Thin (or UT) LCD line is the first to actually hit the market.
"Our focus for the last few years in the flat-panel business has been on the plasma side, but we've been working very diligently on the LCD side," Kevin Sullivan, Hitachi's chief strategy officer and senior vice president of sales, said in a conference call with the U.S. press.
Three models of the Ultra Thin LCD TVs, all with 6-watt speakers built into the base, are being manufactured: the smallest is a 32-inch model with 1366x768-pixel resolution, and two higher-end models (one 37", and one 42") with 1920x1080-pixel resolution.
The televisions will be available in Japan, where the line is known as the "Wooo," starting in mid-December with the 32-inch model. In the United States, the 32-inch model will hit stores in the first quarter of 2008, with the larger TVs coming in the second quarter. The Japanese versions will have a variety of color choices (black, white, and limited-edition blue and red for the 32-inch model) but it does not appear that the color variations will be coming stateside.
Pricing for the U.S. market has not yet been announced, but don't expect anything cheap. With the ultrathin TVs, Hitachi is targeting "a highly affluent consumer," said Daniel Lee, vice president of marketing. "This person or this family is going to seek luxury, prestige (and) style." He added, "Our marketing theme was 'accessible luxury' in '07. We're going to be moving into that 'pure luxury' category in '08."
As expected, sales of liquid crystal display TVs declined from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. The surprise was how much Royal Philips Electronics' sales of the flat-screen televisions slid.
The Dutch electronics giant posted the worst performance among the top five brands worldwide, according to a report from research firm iSuppli. Philips' shipments declined 26 percent. Overall, the market declined 8 percent, with shipments globally dropping from 15.2 million in the last three months of 2006 to 14 million in the first three months of this year. (If you ever wanted evidence of the holiday bump in sales, there it is.)
As a result, Philips fell from No. 2, with 15.1 percent market share worldwide, to No. 3, with 12.2 percent.
Sony moved up from No. 3 to the second spot in LCD TVs, but it, too, did worse than the market. Sony saw shipments decline by 13.7 percent over the three-month period.
Samsung, No. 1, gained a little bit, while Sharp and LG Electronics, Nos. 4 and 5, did a smidgen worse than the market.
If you go to Costco, you can see what's happening in the television market.
The warehouse store sells all the major brands--Samsung, Sony, Philips, Panasonic--but the one that seems to get the most traction is Vizio, the small plasma and LCD TV maker that got started a few years ago. (Disclaimer: I was actually in there to buy a pork loin, some tube socks and a bunch of cleaning products--the diversion into TVs happened by chance.)
At least half of the space dedicated to TVs in the store is dedicated to Vizio. The company, meanwhile, is undercutting the more established name brands. Vizio is currently selling a 47-inch 1080p LCD for $1,599. A similar 46-inch LCD TV from Sony goes for $2,399. A 52-inch 1080p from Sharp goes for $2,999.
You get similar price deltas with smaller LCDs and plasmas.
I spoke with two shoppers. They both said the same thing: they had heard of the company, they didn't know much about it, but the prices were intriguing. One said his brother was really happy with his Vizio TV.
Vizio says it can sell at low prices because it keeps its own costs low, which is also the strategy of fast-growing Westinghouse Digital. Vizio also doesn't sell products through electronics superstores, which insist on a higher margin than warehouse stores. Sharp, Samsung, et al, can't come out with cheap models for warehouse stores and more expensive ones for electronics stores without angering the electronics stores. Thus, in the warehouse milieu, they are at a disadvantage.
The warehouse stores, however, are taking an increasing portion of the overall market for electronics, so history seems to be helping Vizio. And if they get a little more brand awareness, you could start seeing a real change in the ranks of the TV world.
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