In an effort to stay out of the price wars in the entry and mid-range TV businesses, Mitsubishi showed dealers and the press here last week its 2008 DLP rear-projection and LCD TV lineups that will all be positioned as “premium” lines for its retail partners.
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Frank DeMartin, Mitsubishi Digital Electric America marketing VP, said the company opted to position its entire assortment as “premium lines” this year in an effort to distance itself from the pricing pressures that continue to increase in the entry and middle tier segments of the flat-panel and rear-projection TV business.
Mitsubishi's timing here is absolutely fascinating, given that in the past Quarter, Pioneer has all but abandoned the high end display market, and Fujitsu has packed up their marbles and left the flat panel market completely.
I'm all in favor of upscale video, don't get me wrong. But it's a tough slog, and the bottom line that Fujitsu and Pioneer both discovered the hard way is that being "exclusive" means not selling very many units, which makes it harder to see a profit.
Mitsubishi makes superlative video displays, but is this ploy going to work? Clearly they don't think they can walk the same big box path that Sony does: putting on airs of quality while still being flogged on price. Despite being one of the most heavily discounted brands in big box retail, Sony still carries a cache with customers, and they sell a lot of televisions.
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