- With Apple running roughshod over all and sundry in the mobile and tablet space one has to wonder what comes next.
- Despite the coolest looking computers, Apple has not really made much impact in terms of market share and as the company continually implies that the PC is dead, one would not expect it to.
- Further growth will really require a new market segment of which television is the obvious target.
- The biggest question surrounding this has been margin, as most of the TV industry is struggling to stay in the black.
- I have long been of the opinion that the relationship between Hon Hai and Sharp has been about using Sharp’s 10G Fab to make TV screens at 30% lower cost than anyone else. (No one else has a 10G Fab).
- This cost could then be used in conjunction with the Apple brand to sell TVs at a slight premium to other TV sets and hence deliver Apple the fat margins that it requires.
- It could also be that Hon Hai saw a cheap way to get access to premium technology and have a crack at breaking the Korean stranglehold in the panel market.
- Since the deal was signed, Sharp’s un-competitiveness has really told in weak market and the company is now on its knees and has been forced into a $4.7bn refinancing to stay afloat.
- This gives Hon Hai the perfect excuse to bail out of the deal but if Apple is serious about TV then I think that Hon Hai could be persuaded to stay.
- This is how I would read it. The Koreans are becoming utterly dominant in TV and as it gradually moves to OLED, I think that everyone else will slowly vanish.
- Hence, if Hon Hai chooses to stay with Sharp, I would take that as a sign that Apple is indeed serious about TV where one might see something in 2013.
- It’s a logical step to take with the blurring of mobile, tablet, PC and now TV but the brutality of this market may just make Apple think twice.
Huawei – Slow Slippage
22 April 2024