Toshiba consumer TVs will soon no longer be manufactured by the Japanese electronics giant itself. The company plans to continue to sell Toshiba branded TVs, however starting April this year they will be manufactured by other companies which have to license the Toshiba brand name. The change will affect the global market, except Japan.
"Toshiba intends to transform its consumer TV business in regions other than Japan, replacing own development and sales with a brand licensing structure", the company states in a press release.
Toshiba hopes the change in strategy should be in effect by April this year when the company also hopes to have closed deals with potential candidates to take over its TV manufacturing.
North America will be the first market where Toshiba will be sold that are no longer manufactured by the company itself. Toshiba has responded to shifts in the North American TV market with value-added products, including large screen and Smart TV with Cloud Portal, and also taken steps to cut costs and boost profitability by reducing platforms and reducing the employee headcount. However, as the growth of global market is slowing down, and continues to see harsh price competition, Toshiba has decided to build a new business structure.
The development and distribution of the TVs will be taken over by the Taiwanese company Compal in March this year. Toshiba isn't the first TV manufacturer to switch to this model, in Europe Sharp TVs are manufactured by the Slovakian company UMC and Panasonic TVs in the United States are manufactured by Sanyo and Funai. TVs sold by the Philips brand name are made by TP Vision.
Toshiba stated in 1928 with the development of televisions. In 1953 the company started production of black and white TVs and in 1957 the company introduced its first color TV.
