Sharp Aquos dominates home ground

Philip Wong | Jan 29, 2008

There's a Chinese proverb, that "seasoned ginger is still the spiciest" (yup, literally translated). While Sony has staged a remarkable comeback after its disastrous early attempts into the flat-panel market, it's Sharp which has received the thumbs up from tech-savvy Japanese consumers based on the latest GfK study. According to the authoritative German market research institution, the LCD TV pioneer has captured a decisive 45 share of sales in the Land of the Raising Sun. More importantly, it wasn't even a close call, with Sony and Toshiba left lagging far behind at 18 and 13 percent, respectively.

So is this going to have a positive impact on local Sony Bravia, Sharp Aquos and Toshiba Regza sales? Probably not. Afterall, the Japanese are way ahead in the technology race with all the goodies designed primarily for internal consumption. As fellow Asians, we usually end up with the leftover, while the Americans and Europeans get to savor some of these HD concoctions after the Japanese.

On a separate note, call it patriotism or whatever you like as it's pretty obvious the Koreans--namely Samsung and LG--are left out of the lucrative Japanese market. That said, one of our senior Japanese contacts has conceded that the Americano iPod is one of the rare exceptions. Nice job, Steve Jobs.

Via Akihabara news | Photo credit: Akihabara news

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