The president of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co expressed confidence Friday that Japanese electronics makers, with their half-century of experience, will be able to ward off the recent foray of US and Asian manufacturers into television sets.
"Television technology is not that easy to imitate. I don't see them as a threat," Kunio Nakamura said at a news conference from the company's Osaka headquarters, broadcast by satellite in Tokyo. "I am confident we can have an edge in the competition."
Matsushita, which makes the Panasonic brand, has marked a turnaround, largely on the global success of its DVD recorders and liquid-crystal display TVs, after sinking into its worst loss since its founding 80 years ago for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002.
Recently, competition has been heating up in consumer electronics as US makers such as Motorola and Dell enter the TV market -- an area where the Japanese are already being challenged.
But Nakamura said Japanese TVs offer better image quality than those made in other nations.
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