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Kolin says it will meet shipment target

Television maker Kolin Co (歌林) said yesterday it would be able to meet its shipment target of 1.2 million sets this year, citing limited fallout from the US subprime crisis and a patent lawsuit with Japanese rival Funai Electric Co.

Kolin sells 90 percent of its liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs in the US, the world's second-biggest LCD TV market. The TVs are marketed under the Olevia brand by Syntax-Brillian Corp, in which Kolin has an 8 percent share.

"Young people buy our products [LCD TVs]. As they are still buying consumer electronics with price tags higher than those on our TVs, the impact [from the US credit crisis] should be limited," Kolin chairman Christopher Liu (劉啟烈) said after the launch of the company's latest 65-inch and 52-inch TVs.

Liu said the company was confident of meeting its target.

"Demand looks quite strong in the fourth quarter," Liu said.

Next year, he said, shipments would increase by more than 66 percent to more than 2 million LCD TVs after the company expanded into Europe, the world's biggest LCD TV market. Kolin is set to sell its TVs in Europe in the first half of next year, he said.

LCD TV sales increased by 70 percent year-on-year to 16.1 million in the second quarter of this year, Austin, Texas-based market researcher DisplaySearch figures showed.

Separately, Kolin said Syntax-Brillian has denied it has infringed any patents held by Japan's TV maker Funai Electric Co and should not have sever impact on its business.

Last week, the Osaka-based company said it has filed an application to the US International Trade Commission to block TVs from 14 companies including Kolin, Syntax-Brillian and local TV company Amtran Technology Co (瑞軒) into the US market, claiming they illegally used its patents.

Amtran, which sells flat-screen TVs under the name of Vizio in the US, overtook Samsung as the top LCD TV vendor in the US in the second quarter, while Funai's ranking advanced to No.4 from No.6,DisplaySearch said.

Kolin shares dropped 1.12 percent to NT$13.2 yesterday, underperforming the benchmark TAIEX index's 0.62-percent loss.

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