This is a classic case of how Japanese economy works: Big Japanese banks took over large failing companies and refused to let it die. U.S. banks do not like to own failing companies and will just cut their losses and force the companies to liquidate assets.
It helps that the heads of the big businesses and big banks are all buddies.
It helps that the heads of the big businesses and big banks are all buddies.
Not to mention the unholy marriage of said banks with their crony capitalist buddies making and enforcing the laws (presidents past and present included).
Sharp blamed the loss on competition from cheaper Chinese smartphone LCD panels, as well as past restructuring charges, according to the Financial Times. The company has in fact announced a new set of restructuring efforts, including laying off 10 percent of its workers, among them 3,500 people in Japan.
Typical, senior management makes a bad business decision and the solution is lay off 3,500 people who had nothing to do with the decision. Nothing in the article was mentioned about the firing the idiots who said "let's sell a bunch of displays at a loss". Because we all know selling at a loss is better than not selling at all.
I hope these problems aren't in part because Apple, with its huge market share, was squeezing Sharp for below-cost prices.
In the 1990s, I had a friend who hated what Boeing was doing to her parts-procurment job. She was having to call suppliers who sold to almost no one but Boeing and tell them that what Boeing would be paying them for parts was being radically cut.
My own suspicions is that that penny pinching is one reason why Boeing had so many problems with the 787. Meanness like that tends to come back and bite you.
Surely you remember that Apple has invested hundreds of millions in getting Sharp's IGZO production rolling. And no, Sharp is not like GTAT.
Apple has bet the farm on IGZO, as far as the survival of large LCD displays is concerned. The payoff has yet to come in.
Surely you remember that Apple has invested hundreds of millions in getting Sharp's IGZO production rolling. And no, Sharp is not like GTAT.
Apple has bet the farm on IGZO, as far as the survival of large LCD displays is concerned. The payoff has yet to come in.
No, Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO. They have invested large sums of money in many display suppliers, and if you read through each of the press releases it always mentions investment in a specific plant.... They invest billions of dollars in different suppliers to hedge their bets. We of course are not privy to the financial arrangements (like equity ownership in a plant vs the whole company) and what happens if it fails to deliver etc. Tim Cook has set many times that he is NOT impressed, or think OLED is the future (near or far)... but it does not stop Apple from investing in potential across many different companies. They have also invested money in mini-LED technology as well.
So again, no Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO.... they have placed many bets across the display roulette table.
First the paper industry. Next it'll be LCD's...once holographs take off and become the norm.
Got a timeline on that?
OLEDs may eventually replace LCDs for Apple, and when that happens, it may be LCD's last gasp. We'll see how it looks in a few years.
The hologram fantasy—a favorite among us geek daydreamers—is years beyond OLED development, and may never rise above the level of ancillary technology, like virtual reality.
OLEDs may eventually replace LCDs for Apple, and when that happens, it may be LCD's last gasp. We'll see how it looks in a few years.
The hologram fantasy—a favorite among us geek daydreamers—is years beyond OLED development, and may never rise above the level of ancillary technology, like virtual reality.
Meh! Display technology, holograms etc. I am waiting for the day that we patch directly into the optical nerves and can display 3D that no one else can see, can overlay reality or completely block out reality with immersive experience
No, Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO. They have invested large sums of money in many display suppliers, and if you read through each of the press releases it always mentions investment in a specific plant.... They invest billions of dollars in different suppliers to hedge their bets. We of course are not privy to the financial arrangements (like equity ownership in a plant vs the whole company) and what happens if it fails to deliver etc. Tim Cook has set many times that he is NOT impressed, or think OLED is the future (near or far)... but it does not stop Apple from investing in potential across many different companies. They have also invested money in mini-LED technology as well.
So again, no Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO.... they have placed many bets across the display roulette table.
O-kay, we shall see.
It's true they have also invested heavily in LTPS production, which I take to be their small-screen strategy. Finally it came to fruition in the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. But logic tells me that the lack of retina screens in their MacBook Air line-up and in their standalone monitors can be traced to the lack of oxide backplane technology being ready.
If you've got a coherent counter argument other than "many suppliers," I'd be interested.
It's true they have also invested heavily in LTPS production, which I take to be their small-screen strategy. Finally it came to fruition in the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. But logic tells me that the lack of retina screens in their MacBook Air line-up and in their standalone monitors can be traced to the lack of oxide backplane technology being ready.
If you got a coherent counter argument other than "many suppliers," I'd be interested.
Apple has also invested $1.4 billion in Japan Display Inc.
Apple has acquired LuxVue a year ago that specialized in microLED (was thinking it was mini) technology (a full 2 years after Sharp's investment). To name a few.
For a company that makes a profit of $10+ billion a quarter ... these really are hedge bets.
Apple has also invested $1.4 billion in Japan Display Inc.
Apple has acquired LuxVue a year ago that specialized in microLED (was thinking it was mini) technology (a full 2 years after Sharp's investment). To name a few.
For a company that makes a profit of $10+ billion a quarter ... these really are hedge bets.
I seem to remember that the Japan Display investment was for LTPS production. They bet only the farmhouse on LTPS, since that was a well-proven technology, in use since the iPhone 4, just massively production constrained, as iPhone sales grew and bigger screens were needed.
For the even larger screens, I know of no alternatives to their uncertain IGZO strategy. I say uncertain because I believe several products are on hold waiting for production problems to be solved. I have only Kuo's several reports plus simple logic to back that up.
I'll have to look into microLED. Sounds interesting, thanks for the mention.
Edit: I remember it now. I even commented in the thread about the acquisition. A likely use for this technology might be in the really small screens for wearable displays.
Agreed. I do love my 70" Quattron TV.. Thing is gorgeous and has darker contrast than most Samsung TVs.
Sweet! I have the 60" Sharp and would love to go larger but my wife thinks it's already way too large! What is it with wives and large TVs? There is NO TOO large! :no:
Sweet! I have the 60" Sharp and would love to go larger but my wife thinks it's already way too large! What is it with wives and large TVs? There is NO TOO large!
It used to be that when someone worked for a Japanese company, they were there for life, and the company was loyal to the worker also. It's a different world now.
It used to be that when someone worked for a Japanese company, they were there for life, and the company was loyal to the worker also. It's a different world now.
Different in the US as well. Japan took out the US, Korea took out Japan, and now China will take out Korea.
Meanwhile Apple and Silicon Valley is starting a new post-industrial revolution that doesn't have a name yet, but it has something to do with thinking liberated by experience in UK and America in the 1960s.
Not to mention the unholy marriage of said banks with their crony capitalist buddies making and enforcing the laws (presidents past and present included).
SpamSandwich makes an unrelated anti-government comment... drink!
Different in the US as well. Japan took out the US, Korea took out Japan, and now China will take out Korea.
Meanwhile Apple and Silicon Valley is starting a new post-industrial revolution that doesn't have a name yet, but it has something to do with thinking liberated by experience in UK and America in the 1960s.
Follow the media, Marshall McLuhan would say.
China is rising but there are a lot of structural problems in China that are hidden more easily under that leadership, that will one day cause China to have a hard landing before then. i.e. Over construction, under consumption to support it.... all this held by Banks that are allowed to paper over the problem for now. When the hard landing happens the divisions between the cities (have) and the countryside that has been left way way behind.... will cause hard to manage strife.
It's sad to see these great Japanese companies go into trouble, but spending anytime in corporate Japan you see how slow, conservative and inefficient they can be. Hordes of salarymen just grinding through the day, decision makers that don't make decisions and very very real price competition from Korea and China. Here's hoping they can trim a lot of the bureaucratic fat, and get back to bleeding edge technology. I'm very sorry for the laid off workers though, hope they can land on their feet somehow.
Sharp didn't just make displays though. They have been around a long time making many and wide ranging products. So I can't think it is just the monitor division dragging them down. It is the same for so many of these similar companies. I have to wonder if more nimble and newer companies are eating their lunch too.
There's nothing about being nimble. Everybody doing R&D is being kicked in the ass by the lowest cost manufacturers. Progress will grind to a halt once an industry is commoditized and nobody makes decent money. Those low cost makers are not the one discovering new things, they're just very good technicians.
When you can't make your product different enough from the rest in the eye of the buyer (because the difference is not one that matter to a large portion of them), you can't charge more for it even though it is superior in edge cases.
An example of this is Plasma which has many advantages that can't be matched at the cost the TV's were sold; makers had to stop to make it because the public seemingly didn't want to pay more (even a little) for those advantages, thus squeezing profits (it was more costly to make). Eventually, it wasn't worth it to produce them, even if they made superb low cost TV's (only OLED really compares and those are much more expensive).
Comments
This is a classic case of how Japanese economy works: Big Japanese banks took over large failing companies and refused to let it die. U.S. banks do not like to own failing companies and will just cut their losses and force the companies to liquidate assets.
It helps that the heads of the big businesses and big banks are all buddies.
Not to mention the unholy marriage of said banks with their crony capitalist buddies making and enforcing the laws (presidents past and present included).
Quote:
Typical, senior management makes a bad business decision and the solution is lay off 3,500 people who had nothing to do with the decision. Nothing in the article was mentioned about the firing the idiots who said "let's sell a bunch of displays at a loss". Because we all know selling at a loss is better than not selling at all.
Surely you remember that Apple has invested hundreds of millions in getting Sharp's IGZO production rolling. And no, Sharp is not like GTAT.
Apple has bet the farm on IGZO, as far as the survival of large LCD displays is concerned. The payoff has yet to come in.
First the paper industry. Next it'll be LCD's...once holographs take off and become the norm.
Surely you remember that Apple has invested hundreds of millions in getting Sharp's IGZO production rolling. And no, Sharp is not like GTAT.
Apple has bet the farm on IGZO, as far as the survival of large LCD displays is concerned. The payoff has yet to come in.
No, Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO. They have invested large sums of money in many display suppliers, and if you read through each of the press releases it always mentions investment in a specific plant.... They invest billions of dollars in different suppliers to hedge their bets. We of course are not privy to the financial arrangements (like equity ownership in a plant vs the whole company) and what happens if it fails to deliver etc. Tim Cook has set many times that he is NOT impressed, or think OLED is the future (near or far)... but it does not stop Apple from investing in potential across many different companies. They have also invested money in mini-LED technology as well.
So again, no Apple has not bet the farm on IGZO.... they have placed many bets across the display roulette table.
Got a timeline on that?
OLEDs may eventually replace LCDs for Apple, and when that happens, it may be LCD's last gasp. We'll see how it looks in a few years.
The hologram fantasy—a favorite among us geek daydreamers—is years beyond OLED development, and may never rise above the level of ancillary technology, like virtual reality.
Got a timeline on that?
OLEDs may eventually replace LCDs for Apple, and when that happens, it may be LCD's last gasp. We'll see how it looks in a few years.
The hologram fantasy—a favorite among us geek daydreamers—is years beyond OLED development, and may never rise above the level of ancillary technology, like virtual reality.
Meh! Display technology, holograms etc. I am waiting for the day that we patch directly into the optical nerves and can display 3D that no one else can see, can overlay reality or completely block out reality with immersive experience
O-kay, we shall see.
It's true they have also invested heavily in LTPS production, which I take to be their small-screen strategy. Finally it came to fruition in the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. But logic tells me that the lack of retina screens in their MacBook Air line-up and in their standalone monitors can be traced to the lack of oxide backplane technology being ready.
If you've got a coherent counter argument other than "many suppliers," I'd be interested.
O-kay, we shall see.
It's true they have also invested heavily in LTPS production, which I take to be their small-screen strategy. Finally it came to fruition in the iPhone 6 and 6 plus. But logic tells me that the lack of retina screens in their MacBook Air line-up and in their standalone monitors can be traced to the lack of oxide backplane technology being ready.
If you got a coherent counter argument other than "many suppliers," I'd be interested.
Apple has also invested $1.4 billion in Japan Display Inc.
Apple has acquired LuxVue a year ago that specialized in microLED (was thinking it was mini) technology (a full 2 years after Sharp's investment). To name a few.
For a company that makes a profit of $10+ billion a quarter ... these really are hedge bets.
I seem to remember that the Japan Display investment was for LTPS production. They bet only the farmhouse on LTPS, since that was a well-proven technology, in use since the iPhone 4, just massively production constrained, as iPhone sales grew and bigger screens were needed.
For the even larger screens, I know of no alternatives to their uncertain IGZO strategy. I say uncertain because I believe several products are on hold waiting for production problems to be solved. I have only Kuo's several reports plus simple logic to back that up.
I'll have to look into microLED. Sounds interesting, thanks for the mention.
Edit: I remember it now. I even commented in the thread about the acquisition. A likely use for this technology might be in the really small screens for wearable displays.
Sweet! I have the 60" Sharp and would love to go larger but my wife thinks it's already way too large! What is it with wives and large TVs? There is NO TOO large! :no:
Sweet! I have the 60" Sharp and would love to go larger but my wife thinks it's already way too large! What is it with wives and large TVs? There is NO TOO large!
Don't worry about it - size doesn't matter.
It used to be that when someone worked for a Japanese company, they were there for life, and the company was loyal to the worker also. It's a different world now.
Different in the US as well. Japan took out the US, Korea took out Japan, and now China will take out Korea.
Meanwhile Apple and Silicon Valley is starting a new post-industrial revolution that doesn't have a name yet, but it has something to do with thinking liberated by experience in UK and America in the 1960s.
Follow the media, Marshall McLuhan would say.
Not to mention the unholy marriage of said banks with their crony capitalist buddies making and enforcing the laws (presidents past and present included).
SpamSandwich makes an unrelated anti-government comment... drink!
Different in the US as well. Japan took out the US, Korea took out Japan, and now China will take out Korea.
Meanwhile Apple and Silicon Valley is starting a new post-industrial revolution that doesn't have a name yet, but it has something to do with thinking liberated by experience in UK and America in the 1960s.
Follow the media, Marshall McLuhan would say.
China is rising but there are a lot of structural problems in China that are hidden more easily under that leadership, that will one day cause China to have a hard landing before then. i.e. Over construction, under consumption to support it.... all this held by Banks that are allowed to paper over the problem for now. When the hard landing happens the divisions between the cities (have) and the countryside that has been left way way behind.... will cause hard to manage strife.
It's sad to see these great Japanese companies go into trouble, but spending anytime in corporate Japan you see how slow, conservative and inefficient they can be. Hordes of salarymen just grinding through the day, decision makers that don't make decisions and very very real price competition from Korea and China. Here's hoping they can trim a lot of the bureaucratic fat, and get back to bleeding edge technology. I'm very sorry for the laid off workers though, hope they can land on their feet somehow.
Sharp didn't just make displays though. They have been around a long time making many and wide ranging products. So I can't think it is just the monitor division dragging them down. It is the same for so many of these similar companies. I have to wonder if more nimble and newer companies are eating their lunch too.
There's nothing about being nimble. Everybody doing R&D is being kicked in the ass by the lowest cost manufacturers. Progress will grind to a halt once an industry is commoditized and nobody makes decent money. Those low cost makers are not the one discovering new things, they're just very good technicians.
When you can't make your product different enough from the rest in the eye of the buyer (because the difference is not one that matter to a large portion of them), you can't charge more for it even though it is superior in edge cases.
An example of this is Plasma which has many advantages that can't be matched at the cost the TV's were sold; makers had to stop to make it because the public seemingly didn't want to pay more (even a little) for those advantages, thus squeezing profits (it was more costly to make). Eventually, it wasn't worth it to produce them, even if they made superb low cost TV's (only OLED really compares and those are much more expensive).