Sony acknowledges LCD TV software problem By Wen Dao (China Daily) Updated: 2006-02-15 07:10
Japanese electronics giant Sony's ambitions in the Chinese LCD TV market
suffered a blow as the company acknowledged five of its models had software
faults.
Sony China issued a statement on its Web site last Thursday saying two LCD
rear projection TV and three LCD TV models, all manufactured between August and
November in its Shanghai factory, had a timing problem.
The problem leads to an inability to switch off power or turn it back on when
it has been on standby, once the TV set has run for 1,200 hours.
The usual lifespan for a LCD TV set is 50,000 hours.
Sony promised to offer free software upgrade to consumers of the five models.
About 18,000 such sets have been sold in the Chinese market, according to Sony
China.
This is not the first problem to hit the Japanese giant: In the second half
of last year, an LCD display problem lead to distribution suspension of six
models of the Cybershot camera range
Sony, which refused to apologize and fix the problem when it first came to
light, was forced to offer free repairs and make an apology to consumers in
December.
Yu Liangchuan, a spokesman with the country's biggest electronics chain store
Gome, said his company received notice from Sony last week and suspended sales
of products involved.
He said that since Sony's share in the LCD TV set market was still quite
small, the impact on his company would be minimal.
Domestic firms took 75 per cent of the market in 2005, according to the
National Information Centre, while Sony had less than 4 per cent.
Sony China launched a series of products in December and said it would aim
for 8 or 9 per cent of the market.
However, the crisis could be a set back to the electronics giant.
Luo Qingqi, president of professional home appliance market consulting firm
Puly, said Sony used to be the top brand in both digital cameras and TV sets,
but frequent quality crises could hurt the company's image.
"This is a very sensitive and important period for Sony, as it must handle
the situation carefully to avoid large-scale erosion of consumer trust and
sales," said Luo.
(China Daily 02/15/2006 page10)
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