Samsung’s lead as the top maker of liquid-crystal display TVs in the U.S. was less than one percentage point over Vizio, according to the most recent data from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.

Samsung’s lead during the second quarter was tiny—it amounted to an additional 24,000 TVs sold.

During the first quarter, Samsung had a lead of 1.3 percentage points over Vizio.

Overall TV shipments rose 13% in the second quarter to 7.4 million units, up from 6.6 million in the first quarter, iSuppli’s data showed.

Samsung’s shipments grew twice as fast as the market, rising 26% from the first quarter to 1.45 million units.

Vizio also grew even faster, rising 31% to 1.39 million units.

“Companies are competing intensely to secure every point of market share—with the most closely fought battle occurring between South Korea’s Samsung and U.S.-based Vizio,” Riddhi Patel, an analyst at iSuppli, said in a statement. “The two companies have swapped quarterly leadership multiple times during the past few years, and now are virtually tied in the race for market leadership.”

The rest of the world’s TV makers are small fries compared to Samsung and Vizio.

Trailing them is No. 3 Sony Corp., No. 4 LG Electronics inc., No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., No. 6 Toshiba Corp., No. 7 Panasonic Corp. and No. 8 Sharp Electronics Corp.

Vizio’s TVs sell for hundreds of dollars less than competitors and see big sales from retailers such as Costco Wholesale Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores inc.

The company runs lean: it designs and markets TVs and has them made by Taiwanese contract electronics maker AmTran Technology Co., a Vizio investor. it also outsources almost all other parts and production, save for customer service.

Vizio sold about 6 million TVs in 2009, nearly double from 2008. it recorded sales of $2.5 billion last year, up 25% from 2008.

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Vizio Narrows Gap with Samsung for Q2 TV Market Share

Vizio Narrows Gap with Samsung for Q2 TV Market Share is a post from: tzumii

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The BD-C8000 player allows users to watch full high-definition movies on the go, or to watch 3D movies when connected to a 3D TV, said John Revie, Samsung senior vice president of home entertainment, at a press event in new York.

The portable player has a 10.3-inch screen and built-in Wi-Fi. It runs about three hours on batteries and connects to 3D TVs via an HDMI 1.4a port. The HDMI specification allows for content in 3D formats to be transferred between devices, including movies based on the Blu-ray 3D format.

The player is priced at $499 and is available now, according to the company.

For budget-conscious buyers, Samsung also announced three new plasma 3D TVs, including one priced at $1,099. that one, the PN50C490 3D TV, has a 50-inch screen size and is capable of playing 720p high-definition video. also new are plasma 3D TVs that are capable of playing full high-definition 1080p video, including the $2,299 PN58C680, which has a 58-inch screen, and the $1,599 PN50C680, which has a 50-inch screen.

The company also announced what it called its largest 3D TV to date, a 65-inch LED TV priced at around $6,000.

"We'd like to believe that 3D has raised the bar for … the immersive entertainment experience," said Tim Baxter, president of the consumer electronics division at Samsung Electronics America.

The adoption rate of 3D products has been fantastic and will continue to grow, Baxter said.

"The opportunity for 3D is constantly evolving. We think it will follow a path very similar to what we experienced with HD rollout and Blu-ray rollout," Baxter said.

In late July, market research firm DisplaySearch said that 3D TV shipments could reach 3.4 million this year, increasing from 214,000 units that shipped last year. The increased interest in 3D TVs is partly being driven by 3D gaming and 3D movies on Blu-ray, according to DisplaySearch.

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When phone maker HTC launched the Droid Incredible, one of its selling points was the device’s 3.7-inch AMOLED display. however, display supplier Samsung has been unable to keep up with demand for the Droid Incredible, so HTC has hit upon an ingenious solution: swap out the display. HTC has announced that, going forward, some HTC devices with 3.7-inch displays (presumably including the Droid Incredible, HTC Desire, and any Google Nexus ones that get built from here on out) will feature Sony Super LCD (SLCD) displays, which incorporate Sony VSPEC III technology.

Of course, the display quality of Samsung’s AMOLED displays was one of the key selling points of the Incredible and the Desire. HTC is looking to mitigate any perception of a reduction in display quality by characterizing the SLCD displays as “a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7-inch displays,” offering “exceptional natural balanced color, clear contrast, broad viewing angles” and other benefits. HTC is also saying the SLCD displays will give its devices better battery performance.

One of the reasons HTC isn’t able to set its hands on enough 3.7-inch AMOLED displays from Samsung is that Samsung is busy launching its own Galaxy S line of Android-powered smartphones—which will appear on all major U.S. carriers under different monikers. Samsung’s Galaxy S series bear AMOLED displays.

HTC Phones Switching from AMOLED To Sony SLCD Displays

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(Credit:Gizmodo)

At least once a week I get an e-mail from a friend or reader asking me whether I think a VerizoniPhone will be announced on June 7 when Steve Jobs is expected to unveil the fourth-generation iPhone at Apple’s WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference). a lot of the folks who e-mail me have fulfilled their contracts and are free to go to whichever carrier they want but are anti-AT&T. others, of course, are simply loyal Verizon subscribers who refuse to switch to AT&T to get an iPhone.

“Have you heard anything on the Verizon iPhone situation?” one guy, seemingly desperate for information, asked me recently, “Can you offer some guidance? Need to replace my Samsung Omnia. Help.”

From his desperate plea it sounded like he was hoping I had some sort of inside info and that I might provide a coded tip-off, a little wink, if you will. Alas, I could only deliver my humble opinion, which probably wasn’t worth much, but it was better than no response at all (yes, I answer most of the e-mails you send).

Here’s what I said, bullet-pointed for easy reference. Just remember: this is entirely an educated guess on my part.

• Yes, the Verizon iPhone is coming.
• No, Apple won’t announce it at WWDC.
• In a renegotiated deal with Apple, AT&T will give up exclusivity rights to the iPhone.
• As part of the deal, AT&T will get to sell the new iPhone for a few months before Verizon sells it.
• Unlike Sprint’s new EVO, neither the new AT&T or Verizon iPhone will be true 4G phones (both AT&T and Verizon’s 4G networks aren’t expected to launch until well into 2011).
• The Verizon iPhone will be announced and launched sometime in the fall (perhaps it’ll be the “one more thing” at the inevitable SeptemberiPod/iTunes event).
• Some outrage will rightly follow–but it won’t hurt sales.

For the record, my opinions were formed through logical reasoning, a cynical attitude, and a couple of Wall Street Journal articles (I’m of the belief that totally secretive Apple does purposely leak a little info now and then–and when it does, it tends to leak it to the Wall Street Journal).

Take it for what you will. and so what if AT&T announced it was increasing its early-termination fee to a whopping $325 on June 1, fueling rumors that a Verizon iPhone was coming soon (an AT&T rep said it had “nothing to do with the iPhone or any other device.”)? It’s my story and I’m sticking to it–for now, anyway.

Verizon iPhone: Sooner or later?

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Victoria Fodale, an analyst at ABI Research, said Tuesday in a research note that the Scottsdale, AZ-based marketing research firm anticipates that Linux-enabled smartphones, led by the success of Google’s Android, will comprise 33 percent of the worldwide smartphone market by 2015. “With more than 60,000 smartphones shipping per day, Android has catapulted ahead of other Linux mobile platforms,” according to the note.

The momentum for the platform can be attributed to its flexibility, she said. “The Android platform can be modified so that (device markers) can differentiate their products and the licensing terms allow (makers) to innovate while still protecting proprietary work,” wrote Fodale.

She cautioned, however, that though Google has built early momentum, Android is not without competition. Industry heavyweights Intel, Nokia, and Samsung recently announced two other new Linux-based operating systems, bada (Samsung) and MeeGo (Intel, Nokia), she wrote.

Halfway around the world, Android received a vote of confidence for tablets from Jen-Hsun Huang, the chief executive of graphics chip supplier Nvidia, according to a report Monday from IDG News Service. “The good news is that we finally have an operating system to unite behind,” Huang said, referring to Android on tablets. Huang was speaking to reporters at the Computex show in Taipei. Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip is expected to appear in tablets later this year.

Windows, on the other hand, is not suitable for tablets, he said. “Windows is too big and it’s too full featured for smartbooks and tablets,” the report quoted Huang as saying. Computer and device maker Asus may disagree, however. That company said it is bringing out a Windows-based tablet next year.

And needless to say, Android already faces stiff competition in both the tablet and smartphone markets from Apple’s OS X operating system, which is used in the immensely populariPhone andiPad.

Report: Android favored for tablets, phones

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During a keynote at this week’s display Week conference in Seattle, Kim provided rather ambitious predictions for AM-OLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting display) penetration, both in mobile phones and in the TV market. He said active-matrix OLEDs offer vivid color and fast response, are self-emissive, and can be thinner and lighter, with a wide viewing angle. yet because they are fundamentally a simpler structure than LCDs, they should be less expensive to make in the long run, and they should provide a better viewing experience.

OLED for mobile screens could reach 45 million units this year, up from 2.1 million in 2007, Kim said. this includes the 4-inch display in the Samsung Galaxy S phone. by 2015, that could reach 600 million units, or 53 percent of the market, he said, though he later said that number could be as high as 1 billion units.

For TVs, Kim said, the market needs a new “growth driver” following LED and 3D, and he pushed active-matrix OLEDs as that driver. AMOLEDs are very “green” and have a much faster response time than plasma or LCD screens. this makes them particularly suited for 3D TVs, where they can produce “frame by frame sequential” images without the “cross-talk” visible on some LCDs.

According to Kim, OLEDs are already good enough for mobile phones and TVs but will get notably better in the next few years. He noted that Samsung is already producing OLEDs in a Gen 4.5 factory, which is the major OLED factory in the world, and has recently announced a $2.2 billion Generation 5.5 factory. this factory produces 2.9 times the amount of glass per motherglass as the earlier factory and is slated to start production next year; it will produce 70,000 sheets of motherglass by 2012.

Kim stressed that a Generation 8 factory is essential for making the technology work for the TV market, but this technology is not ready yet. He mentioned technology challenges but sounded optimistic about the technologies that will allow manufacturing of 55-inch displays on a Generation 8 factory.

“A market is created, not forecast,” he said, noting that that five years ago, a Samsung executive said 100 million sets were possible by 2010, though projections then were much smaller. the actual number will be more than 180 million. He also said that TV challenges will be met, and AMOLED will become the mainstream display technology for TVs by 2015. It’s an ambitious goal.

Barry Young, managing director of the OLED Association, was very bullish about the technology, though he also noted the issues in cost-effectively scaling the technology to Gen 8. He said that in addition to Samsung, LG is also committed to build a Gen 5.5 OLED display, and other technology makers are working on the new technology.

At a press breakfast this morning, I moderated a panel during which representatives from the major research companies all said they expected that OLEDs would grow but that LCD technology would continue to dominate the TV market. Rhoda Alexander of iSuppli in particular talked about the huge investment in the LCD technology chain, while Paul Semenza of DisplaySearch noted that the LCD industy has raised its technology in response to competitive threats before.

Also, at yesterday’s display conference, Sidney Rosenblatt, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Universal display Corporation pushed phosphorescent OLED displays and showed video of flexible OLED displays, saying the market wants longer cell phone time with a great multi-media display. He also said power consumption and green technologies are important for TVs and lighting.

Rosenblatt was followed by bill Feehery, global business director for DuPont Displays, who said active-matrix OLED displays should be the next general of flat-panel displays because the process to make these displays is a lot simpler than today’s LCD panels. but to date, it has been more expensive, so he pushed the company’s OLED printing technology manufacturing, which he said was faster and lower in cost.

Meanwhile, C. S. Chuang, senior manager at AUO, pushed a new backplane technology, and said that right now OLED displays use more power than LCDs, but that should change by 2012.

Originally posted on PCMag’s Forward Thinking blog.

Samsung Expects 1 Billion OLED Displays in 5 Years

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Things started taking a bad turn for LG in February this year, when the US District Court in Delaware found LG guilty of patent infringement on all 4 AUO patents. things hit near rock bottom, when the court found AUO not guilty on all of LG’s charges. And now, things have come to a crashing low, as AUO is seeking an injunction to ban all LG LCD screens from the US.

This is certainly a major move, which has rather far reaching effects when you stop to consider that LG is the biggest manufacturer of LCD screens for televisions and computers in the world, selling more screens than any other LCD manufacturer for the past six months, according to market researcher Displaybank. in fact, more than a quarter (25.2%) of the global supply of LCD screens in March was produced by LCD, ahead of 22.5% made by Samsung Electronics, 17.2% made by AUO.

The AUO patents in question are based on LCD optimization technologies, which reduce errors, speed up response time, and increase lifespans of the screens.

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The Wave is based on Samsung’s Bada platform, which is supposed to compete with other mobile platforms such as Android, Windows Mobile, and the iPhone OS. There will be an app store with similar apps to those found in Apple’s App Store. Bada, like Android, is an open platform.

Some analysts have said that there are so many mobile platforms and app stores out there that Samsung will have a hard time attracting developers. other analysts have said that Samsung has other motives in developing its own mobile operating system: to reduce its reliance on the less-than-stellar Windows Mobile from Microsoft.

The Wave will feature a new kind of touchscreen technology that allows for brighter colors and a thinner device. And, very significantly, the Wave will support Adobe Flash, unlike Apple’s iPhone.

Via The Sydney Morning Herald, image via The Sydney Morning Herald.

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As reported, Micron (Boise, Ida.) this week agreed to acquire Numonyx for $1.27 billion in stock. and Intel Corp. and Micron recently regained the process technology lead in NAND flash, by rolling out the first in a family of 25-nm devices.

What’s next for Micron? In a new report, Dunham Winoto, an analyst with Avian Securities LLC (Boston), said that Micron made the following disclosures at an analyst event on Thursday (Feb. 12):

1. the big deal. ”Not surprisingly, management fielded a lot of questions from investors regarding the rationale behind their decision to acquire Numonyx. Management reiterated its belief that even though they recognize that NOR is a slower growth market, they felt the fact that Numonyx will make them one of only two end-to-end memory companies (the other being Samsung).”

Winoto’s analysis: ”As we stated a few days ago, even though we are still not convinced of the merits offered by management specifically in regards to ‘one-stop’ shop concept, at least the purchase price is in-line with Micron’s prior acquisitions and the fact that it does not include either the assumption of old or issuance of new debt, is a plus.”

2. Capex hike. ”During the meeting, the company also raised its capex by $100 million for (fiscal 2010 ending August) from a range of $750-850 million to $850-950 million (largely back-end loaded).”

Winoto’s analysis: (This is) ”mostly to account for increased facility (not tooling) spending for the IMFS fab in Singapore as well as its outlook for stronger demand for DRAM.”

3. Roadmaps. ”At the same time, management also shared its roadmap for DRAM and NAND. We thought the most interesting takeaway here is that Micron’s plans to focus more on node shrink rather than 3-bits/cell as the primary way to reduce its NAND unit cost, a view which differs from Toshiba/SanDisk.

Winoto’s analysis: ”Though we acknowledge that 3-bits/cell is currently only suitable for low-end applications (USB drive, etc.) due to its lower endurance resulting in lower ASP/GM versus MLC, we believe Micron’s decision is also at least partially motivated by the need to have different IP for 3-bits/cell.”

4. Taiwan JV report. ”Finally, the company also highlighted its Inotera JV, including its plans to stay close to the latest process geometries used at Micron’s internal fab by aggressively migrating from 70-nm trench to 42-nm stack by the middle of next year.”

Winoto’s analysis: ”We note that 42-nm stack is currently the most advanced DRAM that Micron is set to sample at its own fabs sometime in Q2, so if that timetable holds Inotera will only be behind by perhaps a couple of quarters, or so, which is actually quite impressive and should put them close to industry leader Samsung. Micron’s eventual goal here is to help regain Inotera’s reputation of being a low cost producer, and go after Samsung in achieving cost leadership within DRAM.”

5. Final thoughts. ”Exiting the meeting we retain our neutral on the stock as we believe that Inotera offers the opportunity for cheap supply though at this time that is offset by our general lack of conviction on Numonyx.”

Winoto’s analysis: ”However, the stock is looking more interesting now (currently trading at 1.5x book) from a valuation standpoint and would look to get more aggressive on the stock in the $7.00 range as it’s much closer to the low-end of its historical 1.0-3.0x Price/Book multiple.”

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To combat this Nokia has cut the prices of all their models, some by as much as 10%, such as the Symbian powered sub 150 EUR touch screen enabled 5230, in a bid to increase market share and to drive competitors, such as Samsung and LG, out of the game. It’s great for the consumer, and with Nokia’s reduced OPEX thanks to the large amount of employees they’ve let go, this “new normal” of being frugal can let them maintain their barely double digit margins.

Price is one way to win, but lately people are demanding better, and different experiences. the few of us who cling to the fact that we know Symbian S60 inside and out, because the operating system has largely been the same since the early part of the last decade, are not going to keep Nokia alive. I’m not saying Nokia is going to die, but there has to be another way to stay on top of the mobile phone space than being able to drop your twice every time you get scared of the competition.

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