The percentage of electronics at the end of their lives which were recycled.
The EPA found that the percentage remained consistent from 1999-2005. Even as recycling rates went up, the amount of electronics reaching end of life outpaced the increase, leaving the figure static. (source: EPA, July 2008)
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So now Panny will be the top dog...
Is it really all doom and gloom ? I would think Panny could acquire the rights to the "KURO" brand and with Pio's help, get their TV's to KURO quality, and better as time goes by.
Overall, Plasma needs a huge marketing push this year if they intend on surviving the next 3 yrs.
Well certainly it isn't a happy day that Pioneer is leaving the Video business. They set the industry standard and they will be missed.
I don't think it would be wise for Panny to pick up Kuro. Pio has already quit, which is already a small victory for Panny because they get to absorb that market share now. They don't need to spend money on top of it all just so they can have Kuro in their name, even though Panny hasn't done as good a job marketing their TVs. Their product is nearly just as good, and I'd say better because of the cost savings, which is where Pioneer did poorly...not having enough low and mid market products.
Panny needs to spend money fighting back against LCD. They can't do it through the retailers, since they're in love with LCD profit margins. Most smart shoppers already admit PDP has LCD beat in price by size comparisons. What Panny needs to do is squash the lingering doubts about plasma and get a decent marketing campaign for a change. Hell, I've never even seen a Panny commercial. Panny needs to shout on the mountaintop about its advantages as a panel technology: color accuracy, motion performance, and most definitely contrast ratio. Panny ought to be all over LCDs bull crap about "infinite" contrast ratio and 120Hz processing. They still don't match up, hands down. Panny needs to educate the consumer what NATIVE contrast ratio(!) is, and how football/basketball/hockey will never look as good on an LCD compared to PDP. HELLO LCD owners, how the hell can you overlook motion blur? No matter what brand, you just paid good money for a product that often looks worse than your SD tube ever did in motion sequences. Finally, Panny needs to put to rest concerns about burn-in and longevity. Props to their advancements of 60k+ hour displays and pixel stir technology, but most Joe six packs don't know plasma is a completely different product than even 3 years ago. Especially considering energy efficiency. You need to shake the stigma in order to get back into the game. Kind of like what Ford/GM need to do...
Vizio makes a mediocre product by most standards, but I'd say they've been very successful getting their name out there and with the appropriate market segment (LT/football/value inherent in the brand Vizio). I don't see why Panny couldn't be just as successful. Hell, start off attacking Vizio and go from there. You're not going to beat Sony and Samsung, but at least Samsung still makes PDPs so make sure they don't leave the market also. And finally, Panny needs to offer people great financing options. They need to authorize 3 year no interest financing on all their TVs, just like cars or appliance shops. I don't know anyone who's out there spending a whole lot of money right now, so you have to make it worth while to the consumer. That's why Vizio has a leg up, because in the consumer's mind, Vizio=value, something Panny might want to keep in mind also. Maybe create a budget brand of PDPs separate from the regular Panny brand if necessary.
Sorry for the novel...