CE Daily: Here it is...

[krispydude]

edit: This is the September 5th edition. The September 4th edition is still MIA and does exist because it is quoted as a source in this newsletter.


‘Regrets’ About Sony E-Waste Plan
Philips CEO ‘Puzzled’ at Paramount’s Motives in Backing HD DVD
BERLIN -–“I’m still puzzled at the reason why they did it and the way they did it,” Philips Consumer Electronics
CEO Rudy Provoost, in an IFA interview Friday with Consumer Electronics Daily, said of Paramount’s decision
to support HD DVD only (CED Aug 21 p1). “Every scenario has a degree of probability,” and Paramount’s
dropping its Blu-ray support “didn’t rank very high on my scale of probability,” Provoost told us.
Paramount “apparently had reasons to believe it was worth doing,” Provoost said. Asked if he thinks promises
of HD DVD cash swayed Paramount, he said “you’ll have to ask people who you think are part of that deal.”
Later that day, we asked Toshiba HD DVD point man Yoshihide Fujii if Toshiba pledged money to Paramount to
get its endorsement; he confirmed it had. But Fujii said reports putting the sum involved as high as $150 million
were “totally wrong” (CED Sept 4 p1).
Asked if the Paramount decision surprised him, Provoost joked, “In this business, nothing is a surprise anymore.”
But he admitted, “to be brutally honest,” that he didn’t expect the decision “the way it went and when it happened.”
Having finally announced at IFA introduction of a standalone Blu-ray player for Europe, Philips “will
evolve with that market,” Provoost said. But Blu-ray won’t be “a huge source of revenue in the next 12 months,”
Today’s News:
‘IMPROBABLE’ PARAMOUNT DECISION backing HD
DVD only has Philips CE chief ‘puzzled,’ he tells us in
IFA interview. (P. 1)
CES TOPS IFA as biggest CE trade show, Shapiro says
in unusual rebuke of IFA organizers. Comcast CEO to
keynote CES. (P. 2)
WHDI SPECS EXPECTED 2008, with CE products
due in two to three years, chip developer Amimon
says. (P. 4)
DIRECTV-CURRENT DEAL not likely to raise major
regulatory issues, says state regulator. (P. 5)
DIGITAL TV: DTV coupon vendor isn’t talking, citing
contract ban on media interviews. (P. 6)
COMPANIES: Capacity issues not to blame for
Nvidia’s low Q2 inventory, CFO tells investor conference.
(P. 6)
FORMATS: Toshiba to give HD DVD players to first
150 buyers of 'Matrix Trilogy' set at London launch
next week. (P. 6)
INDUSTRY NOTES: JVC edged Panasonic in 2006 camcorder
share in Japan, where shipments fell 4.5%. (P. 7)
ADS & PROMOTIONS: Pioneer revises logo in rollout
of ad blitz for new Kuro plasma sets. (P. 7)
Copyright© 2007 by Warren Communications News, Inc. Reproduction or retransmission in any form, without written permission, is a violation of Federal Statute (17 USC01 et seq.).
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 VOL. 7, NO. 171
2—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
he said. Philips at last year’s IFA said it would watch market developments before deciding when or whether to
jump in with a standalone Blu-ray player for Europe. A year ago, it said a Philips Blu-ray launch could come by
the end of Q1 2007, but that didn’t happen. “We said we had a few scenarios in the drawer,” Provoost said, recalling
his company’s 2006 Blu-ray strategy. “We said we would take the scenario that was in line with what the market
allows us to do or requires us to do. So indeed, we’ve been waiting.”
One reason for the wait is that the Blu-ray rollout “is going slower than I would have liked it to go,” Provoost
said. Still, some 1.6 million Blu-ray have been sold and “I see a Blockbuster or a Target making strong choices, and they
are closer to the consumer than the guys upstream in the value chain,” he said. Provoost still thinks “in good faith that the
winner is going to be blue,” he said. “And that’s not a technical discussion. For me, it’s a consumer discussion.”
“From a pure Philips perspective, we’re basically saying, let the market determine its own destiny” on
Blu-ray, Provoost said. “Let the players who have probably more at stake do their jobs,” including game developers
and movie studios, he said. “We’re going to work together with them to the extent that we can afford
it, to the extent that it’s meaningful for our consumers,” he said. That’s why Philips has shared the stage at
past IFA shows with Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn and Buena Vista Home Entertainment
President Bob Chapek, he said. In Blu-ray, Philips “will continue to tell the world that we believe there’s a
format there that makes more sense than the other, but we will do that in a responsible way, both financially
and commercially,” he said.
The European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association, which Provoost chairs,
has been pushing “voluntary, but collective” green initiatives, Provoost said. Of the new Philips campaign, announced
at IFA, to apply a green logo to all environmentally friendly products in the line, “once in a while, you
need to lead by example,” he said. Philips has been very aggressive in promoting the green “envelope,” particularly
in campaigning for low-watt energy consumption in standby, Provoost said. With the Philips green logo, “we
hope that we can kind of drive a European agenda going forward,” he said.
On the Sony Take Back Recycling program recently debuted in the U.S., “I guess I regret that it is an
individual initiative,” Provoost said. It goes against “the principle of voluntary, collective agreements where
you join forces and think through all the implications and have a consistent offer to the consumer and the retailer,”
he said. “That is not really the case” with the Sony program, Provoost added. Asked how that hurts
recycling, Provoost said, “I’m not sure there is harm. I’m not familiar enough, to be honest with you, about
the specific economics of their decision. At Philips, we’re definitely studying what to do next, and harm or no
harm, if we should actually join them or not. At this point, it’s difficult for me to judge if this is right or
wrong.” -- Paul Gluckman, Barry Fox
Comcast CEO to Keynote

4—CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
early is worthwhile for another reason too: All the exhibitors who do so will be given priority when stands are
being allocated,” they said.
Funai had no comment on our query whether the company plans a Blu-ray hardware introduction in the
U.S. and under what brand. A nonworking prototype of a Funai-brand Blu-ray player was showcased under glass
at the company’s IFA stand. -- Paul Gluckman
Targeting High-End First
Wireless High Definition Interface Specs Due in 2008, Chip Maker Says
Wireless High Definition Interface (WHDI) specifications will be released by mid-2008 with a goal of embedding
the technology in CE products for less $10 within two to three years, said Noam Geri, vice president of
marketing and business development at Amimon, now developing an WHDI chipset.
Amimon, which released baseband processors (AMN2110, AMN2210) at the heart of the WHDI chipset,
expects Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. to start volume production of them this fall using a 0.13-
micron process, Geri said. The initial chipset will consist of four ICs, including baseband processors and two RF
chips. The processors, $20-plus in volume, will run at 100/200 MHz clock speeds. At first, the chipset will use
off-the-shelf 802.11a ICs, shifting in Q2 2008 to RF devices Amimon is developing with an undisclosed partner,
Geri said. IBM will make the RF chips for Amimon, Geri said.
The first products with the WHDI baseband processors and off-the-shelf RFs likely will be dongles
expected to appear in early 2008 priced in the “low hundreds of dollars,” Geri said. Sanyo has demonstrated
a $10,000 WHDI-equipped front projector expected to ship later this year (CED June 19 p4). Last week at
IFA in Berlin, Loewe and Funai demonstrated WHDI-equipped LCD TVs, but have no immediate plans to
ship them, company officials said. The major savings will come with the arrival of Amimon-developed RF
chips, Geri said. “Product can be out into the market based on the off-the-shelf RF chips with the same capability,
functionality and quality” as Amimon’s chips, but “it will be higher cost to use multiple of these
RF” ICs, Geri said.
In drafting an WHDI spec, Amimon will try to organize a consortium of companies by mid-2008, Geri said.
A small body is expected to form by January CES, Geri said. Geri declined to identify potential members. But in
March Motorola invested an undisclosed amount of money in Amimon. That infusion came in addition to $14 million
the company raised in a Series B funding round, Geri said. The consortium and the specs will help establish a
software-based WHDI protocol for connecting a set-top, link and multiple devices, Geri said. “You will see this
initially in high-end products as the volumes are low and the prices high,” Geri said. “We have a path to enable a
lower price by leveraging” the work already done in 802.11a/n technology, Geri said.
WHDI is seen as a rival to WirelessHD, backed by LG, NEC, Matsushita, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, but
Geri says the two formats can coexist. WirelessHD specs are expected to be set this fall in hopes of the first products
reaching market in late 2008 (CED Aug 30 p4). WirelessHD Consortium co-founder Sibeam developed a chip
to deliver uncompressed signals at a range of up to 10 meters using the 57 to 64-gigahertz band, as authorized by
the FCC (CED June 28 p3). The system initially is expected to transmit at two to five Gbps, fast enough to handle
720p, 1080i and 1080p video along with advanced digital surround sound. Longer term, the 60-GHz system could
yield rates up to 20 Gbps for future HD upgrades.