This year's soccer World Cup in Germany is firing up the consumer electronics market as new generation televisions offer fans the next best thing to the live experience.
Executives at the world's biggest high-tech fair, the CeBIT in the northern German city of Hanover, said the June 9 to July 9 event was a godsend for the market in flat-screen TVs, high-definition television (HDTV) and new mobile phones that can transmit broadcasts.
"For them, it is the big date not to be missed," an analyst of media devices and marketing at Forrester Research, Paul Jackson, said of the major manufacturers.
PHOTO: AFP
"The European market will be fueled by the World Cup," Hans Kleis, CEO of Sharp Europe, agreed.
The Japanese electronics group is counting on doubling its liquid crystal display (LCD) television unit sales in Europe this year. Meanwhile the global market is set to expand to 36 million sets from 20 million last year.
From Toshiba, which is marketing the Qosimo G30 laptop with a free ticket to a World Cup game, to chip maker Intel, which invited soccer players to its stand this weekend for a promotional event for a new video game, companies are increasingly turning to the World Cup to generate consumer enthusiasm.
"World Cup years always have strong sales growth for televisions and other accompanying accessories such as DVD players," said Philippe Poels, president of the French consumer electronics manufacturers association.
In France, which hosted the tournament in 1998, the sector saw growth of more than 10 percent.
"It created a lot of momentum which it managed to maintain for two or three years," Poels said.
Which is one reason why the big manufacturers have timed major product launches for this year.
Sharp is rolling out some 50 new devices, almost all destined to hit the market before June. They include a digital portable television "to watch matches in the garden."
Philips, an official World Cup sponsor, is also launching a new line of products to coincide with the event, according to Rudy Provoost, CEO of the Dutch group's consumer electronics division.
"With our investment in such a partnership, we hope to win market share," he said, adding that the company was banking on consumers deciding there was no better time to trade in their old sets for flat screens and HDTV.
However Jackson of Forrester Research said that high prices might keep the home-theater euphoria in check.
"In the past, major sport events have driven TV adoption by consumers, but now it's more problematic," he said. "Even if the prices are decreasing, a good-sized plasma screen is still far over 1,000 euros [US$1,200]: the question is, will the football fans be ready to pay for that?"
And although the World Cup will be the first major global sport event filmed entirely in the 16:9 widescreen format and in high-definition, most European viewers -- unlike their US and Japanese counterparts -- will still not have the televisions to appreciate it.
The majority of Europeans will also be unable to watch the matches live on mobile phones -- an innovation that the major handset makers plan to roll out in the second half of the year.
In host country Germany, however, fans using Deutsche Telekom's mobile service and the latest handsets will be able to watch 20 of the 64 matches, including the final at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source