By James Wells
SYDNEY: Fujitsu General said it understood how competitive the flat panel category had become for Hitachi after its worldwide decision to leave the plasma market in the last month.
Fujitsu General announced its intention to leave the flat panel category in late December.
“It is unfortunately a sign of the competitiveness of the industry. It reaffirms our decision to exit plasma globally and concentrate on our strengths with products such as air conditioning,” said Fujitsu General sales and marketing general manager Phil Perham.
“From our perspective, it is always disappointing when a company in the industry makes the decision to exit. I feel sorry for the staff more than anything,” he said.
Fujitsu’s decision to leave the global plasma market and discontinue the Plasmavision brand was put down to a lack of profitability.
“We are disappointed not to be continuing in this product category, given the company’s history in plasma display development,” Perham said earlier this month.
“However, we fully understand and support Fujitsu General Japan’s position regarding the long term sustainability and profitability of our involvement in this product category."