by Anton Shilov
06/06/2006 | 05:21 AM
Pioneer, a leading maker of consumer electronics, will reportedly cease production of its DVD recorders and will concentrate on Blu-ray disc devices, which are more lucrative to manufacture. The firm will get key-components for the Blu-ray consumer-oriented recorders from Matsushita Electric Industrial, according to Nihon Keizai Shimbun news-paper cited by AFX news-agency.
<%BANNER[article]%>According to the report, Pioneers consumer DVD recorders did not bring any profits, which is why the company is planning to stop developing the appropriate products on its own. Instead, it would continue to develop Blu-ray disc burners and use for them “key microchips and software from Matsushita”.
In 1999, Pioneer became the world’s first company to commercialize DVD recorders, and is currently the fourth-biggest supplier of the devices, the report claims. However, price competition with other consumer electronics makers caused Pioneer’s DVD burner business to become unprofitable.
Ceasing of the development means that sooner or later the firm will halt production of the devices, whereas linking up with Matsushita, which is known for Panasonic and Technics brand-names, means that the firm will try to keep the Blu-ray recorders development costs as low as possible. The report further claims that the the company is trying to eliminate unprofitable businesses and focus on its lucrative car-navigation equipment and other vehicle-electronics operations.
Pioneer recently began to ship its Blu-ray disc burner for personal computers for the price of about $1000.
Pioneer did not comment on the news-story.