Tougher economic times may have finally hit Pioneer, if reports in Japan's Nikkei newspaper are accurate.
A little over nine months after Pioneer outsourced plasma panel production to Panasonic (try that as a tongue-twister), it seems that tough times may have forced it to throw in the towel.
Not three months ago was Pioneer announcing a new line of KURO plasmas, with KURO LCDs coming earlier in the year. Now both development and production could be shelved due to a 100 billion yen consolidated loss.
In addition, the DVD business (which presumably includes Blu-ray) is likely to be pushed to a joint venture with Sharp.
Pioneer had recently launched a slew of Blu-ray players and integrated home cinema equipment, as well as working on higher-capacity optical discs. It's not clear what impact this will have on new hardware availability, existing customers and stock, and R&D moving forward.
If things are as bad as reported, it's a pretty big loss to TV manufacturing. Will Pioneer return when the economy picks up in the next year or two? Only time will tell. Sadly, Pioneer isn't the first and won't be the last casualty in the industry.
(Via Engadget HD)
