Irvine-based flat-panel TV maker Vizio Inc.’s reign at the top was brief.
Vizio, which sells low-priced, flat-panel TVs, grabbed the top spot in its market for all of six months last year.
It’s since slipped down to No. 3 in terms of market share for flat-panel TVs sold in North America, behind more established Samsung Electronics Co. and Sony Corp., according to the latest data from El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.
For the fourth quarter, No. 1 South Korea-based Samsung had 14% of the market, up from 13% in the third quarter.
No. 2 Japan’s Sony had a 13% share, up from 11% in the third quarter.
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Powerwave testing site in Santa Ana: set to research, test cell phone antennas |
Vizio came in third with 12% of the market, down from 13% in the third quarter.
The company had a 9% share in the first quarter of 2007 and jumped to 14% in the second quarter.
The rest of the market includes TVs made by Polaroid Corp., Sharp Electronics Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Royal Philips Electronics NV and others.
Vizio nabbed the top spot earlier last year due to “a perfect storm” of events that included low pricing and getting its TVs into big box retailers and discount stores, according to iSuppli.
The company sells stripped-down TVs that have only basic features and don’t include a lot of bells and whistles.
It got a big boost last year when it landed distribution deals with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp.
The competition got a leg up by lowering prices during Christmas shopping,the busiest time of the year for TV sales,in order to grab market share from Vizio, according to Riddhi Patel, a television systems analyst at iSuppli.
“Samsung and Sony employed very aggressive pricing and promotion strategies to take advantage of the key holiday buying season,” she said.
Samsung slashed $300 off its price for 40-inch TVs and Sony gained more of the market with sales of its 46-inch and 52-inch sets, Patel said.
“Vizio’s pricing was still lower than Samsung’s and Sony’s in the fourth quarter, but the differential was not great enough to lure as many North American consumers away from established brands,” Patel said.
Testing Site
Powerwave Technologies Inc., a maker of antennas, amplifiers and other gear for cell phone towers, built a new high-end testing site at its Santa Ana headquarters.
The facility is about 3,500 square feet and is known as the “antenna spherical near-field measurement laboratory.” Powerwave has similar labs in Sweden and India.
It’s set to be used to research and test antennas for Powerwave’s customers, mostly cell phone service providers.
Royal Visit
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, visited Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc., a maker of business software, during a 10-day U.S. trade mission in February.
He met with Quest’s senior executives to learn more about the company’s British operations and talk about expanding the company’s recruiting programs.
“It was really quite an honor,” said Doug Garn, Quest’s president. “We both saw this as an opportunity to expand information technology investment in the UK.”
Prince Andrew showed interest in growing Quest’s recruitment efforts, called Project Duckling, which involves seeking out recent college graduates as potential employees.
“He would like to explore expanding Project Duckling by attaching us to other universities that would participate in the program,” said Simon Pearce, Quest’s vice president of Western European operations. “He is also looking to help us put in place a large research and development center in the UK.”
Prince Andrew is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Industry Vet Named to Board
Aliso Viejo’s QLogic Corp., a maker of switches and host bus adapters that speed the flow of data on computer networks, hired an industry veteran to its board of directors.
Kathryn Braun Lewis, who retired from a long career at Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. 10 years ago, joined QLogic’s board Feb. 12.
Her last post at Western Digital was as chief operating officer of the company’s personal storage division. She spent 18 years in executive positions throughout the 1990s, one of the few women in the disk drive industry at the time.
QLogic Chief Executive and Chairman H.K. Desai knows Lewis from his days as vice president of host products and input/output products at Western Digital.
“I am confident that Kathy will be a significant contributor to QLogic’s strategic vision,'” Desai said. “Based on her extensive leadership experience as a senior executive with a leading multinational technology company, as well as her previous board experience, she will be an invaluable addition to our board of directors.”
Lewis currently serves on the boards of a few local nonprofits.
She’s held board positions at three publicly traded companies, including Irvine-based Lantronix Inc., a maker of networking gear.
Our Bad
In last week’s column, it said that Local.com Corp. was based in Aliso Viejo. The company is based in Irvine.
