Hitachi has announced it is exiting the television market in Japan to focus on its Lumada Internet-of-Things (IoT) platform. The company also announced a new retail partnership with Sony — from October, it will sell Bravia-branded TVs at its retail outlets.
The decision comes over 60 years after Hitachi released its first 14″ TV in 1956. Its most recent sales peak occurred in 2010, ahead of the digital switchover in 2011, with 1.4 million units sold. However, this only equated to a 4% market share. In 2012, the company announced it would no longer manufacture its own-brand TVs, outsourcing production to third parties. Last year, 60- to 70-thousand of its Wooo-branded TVs were sold, representing a market share of about 1%.
Analyst Comment
Hitachi has run a business based on OEM suppliers for a number of years in Europe. We reached out to the company to see if the same withdrawal will apply in Europe , and we heard that Europe will continue in the business. We will have an official statement shortly.
Back in the days of CRTs, I had a Hitachi that was just too reliable. All sorts of small cosmetic issues appeared, but although I wanted to upgrade, my personal accounts department insisted that we should wait until it failed. In the end, my children were running around and knocked it over, so we got a new one. Unfortunately, it was just a day or two after moving into a new house, so I didn’t get the replacement I hoped for! (BR)
