米市場調査会社のアイサプライによると、瑞軒科技（アムトラン）の自社ブランド「Vizio」が昨年の米国での液晶テレビ出荷台数で初の首位となった。



US-based Vizio became the leading LCD TV brand in the United States in 2009 as its shipments increased 92.1% on year to 5.9 million units in 2009 from 3.1 million in 2008, while Samsung Electronics took the top spot in the overall flat-panel TV market for the year, according to iSuppli.

Vizio's market share rose to 18.7% in 2009, up from 12.6% in 2008. Vizio led the US LCD TV market during every quarter of 2009, except for the third, when Samsung took the top spot due to the popularity of its LED-backlit sets.

The overall US LCD TV market increased 29% in 2009.

"Vizio continues to benefit from its strong brand recognition among US consumers," said Riddhi Patel, director, TV systems and retail services for iSuppli. "The company already has established itself as the price leader in LCD TVs. The company played to this strength in 2009 by offering attractive promotions to consumers. Furthermore, Vizio moved to make its LCD TV products more competitive with premium brands, adding higher-end features such as LED backlights and Internet connectivity."

Looking at the overall US flat-panel TV market, consisting of both LCD TVs and plasma sets, Samsung retained leadership in 2009.

Samsung's US flat-panel TV shipments rose to 6.6 million units in 2009, up 22.6% from 5.4 million units in 2008. The company ended 2009 with a market share of 18.4%, virtually unchanged from 18.5% in 2008.

"Samsung maintained its overall leadership in the US flat panel TV market due to the continued success of the LED-backlit LCD TVs and its strong price competitiveness in both value and premium TV segments," Patel said.

The second strongest performance among the Top-six LCD TV brands in the US in 2009 was posted by Japan's Toshiba, which achieved 81.7% increase in shipments for the year. The company ended 2009 with a 7.6% share of shipments, up from 4.2% in 2008, giving it a fourth-place ranking for the year.

"Toshiba's rise was due to its increased shipments of LCD TVs at aggressive price points, which are much closer to the value brands," Patel said.

Sony was the best performer in the US LCD TV market in the fourth quarter, with its share rising to 13.2%, up from 7.7% in the third quarter.

"Sony's strong fourth-quarter performance mainly was driven by its aggressive pricing and promotions for the Christmas season," Patel said. "Consumers were attracted by Sony's bundled deals combining LCD TVs with Play Station 3 video game consoles and Blu-ray players."

Sony ranked third in the US LCD TV market both in the fourth quarter and for the entire year of 2009.

米Vizioが、2010年度（2010.1～12）のLED LCD TV（以下、LED TV）目標出荷台数を明らかにした。
DIGITIMESが報じた。
同社CEOのWilliam Wang 氏によると、2009年度は10万台程度だったが、これを300万～400万台規模に引き上げるという。
さらに同氏は、2009年度におけるLED TVの売上比率は全社の5％未満だったが、2010年度第4四半期（2010.10～12）には50％前後まで引き上げる考え。
これを達成するために様々なサイズ/スペックのLED TVをラインナップする他、LED TVの価格も2009年度はCCFLモデルに比べ約100～200ドル高価だったが、3年以内にこの価格差は10ドル程度まで縮小させる。
一方、Vizioの2009年度におけるLCD TV出荷台数は600万台、世界シェアは約5％となったが、2010年度の目標は800万台で、2～3年以内に1,000万台を超えるとしている。

米VIZIO，Inc.は，同社の液晶テレビに，非圧縮HD映像の無線伝送機能を搭載する方針を明らかにした。
同社の液晶テレビの一部機種に，60GHz帯のミリ波を活用した無線インタフェース「WirelessHD」を採用する。WirelessHDは，最大データ伝送速度が4Gビット/秒（Version 1.0仕様）と高速で，1080pのHD映像を非圧縮で無線伝送できる。既に，パナソニックや韓国LG Electronics，Inc.などが，WirelessHD対応機器を発売していた。
VIZIO社は，WirelessHD対応の液晶テレビなどを，2010年中に発売する方針だ。
同社は，2010年1月7日から米ラスベガスで開催される「2010 International CES」において，対応するシステムの試作機を公開する予定。WirelessHD用の送受信チップセットには，米SiBEAM，Inc.の製品を用いた。
SiBEAM社は先ごろ，普及価格帯のAV機器に向けた第2世代のチップセットを発表しているが，VIZIO社は同製品を採用するもよう。なおVIZIO社は，業界団体「WirelessHD」に加盟することも明らかにした。
家庭のAV機器に向けたHD映像の無線伝送規格にはこのほか，AMIMON社などが推進する「WHDI」があり，既に複数のAV機器メーカーが採用している。このほか，米Intel Corp.などが推進するWiGigも，正式仕様を発表したばかり。今後，これら伝送規格を主導する企業や関連メーカーによる，業界標準を巡る争いが激しくなりそうだ。

台湾Wistronが、米Vizioから3D TVの生産を受注した模様。
DIGITIMESが報じた。
Wistronは、米Dynamic Digital Depth（DDD）とノートPCおよびLCD TVにDDDの「TriDef 3D」技術を採用することで合意。
ライセンス料4,300万NTドル（約1億1,600万円）を支払う他、DDDの株式15％を買い受けた。
ソニー、パナソニック、東芝などは、2010年に3D TVを発売する計画で、中でもソニーは、2013年度（2013.4～2013.3）に全TV出荷台数の50％以上を3Dに移行させたい考え。
2012年には、世界3D TV出荷台数は5,000万台となり、このうちLCD TVが4,000万台、PDP TVが1,000万台を占め、特にLCD TVでは全出荷台数2億台のうち20％が3Dになると予想されている。

Vizio saw its LCD TV shipments surge to 86,000 units in the US marketduring the week preceding Thanksgiving, hitting the highest weekly level so far in 2009, according to Amtran Technology, which makes LCD TVs for the US vendor.
Promotion in retail channels and smooth product transition generated strong sales during the week prior to Thanksgiving, with sales mostly from the 32-inch and 37-inch segments, Amtran said. Vizio shipped 3,600 units of 55-inch models during the week, and expects 55-inch shipments to exceed 10,000 units in November, Amtran added.
 in 2008 Vizio shipped 43,000 LCD TVs for the week preceding Thanksgiving, and 145,000 units during the Thanksgiving week, Amtran noted. Amtran expects strong LCD TV shipments during the Thanksgiving week for Vizio this year.
 Vizio lost its number-one LCD TV vendor position in the US to Samsung Electronics in the third quarter, as the Korea vendor placed a strong emphasis on advanced LED-backlit models and reduced prices for its high-end sets, according to iSuppli data. Samsung shipped 1.3 million
LCD TVs in the US in the third quarter, while Vizio shipped 1.2 million LCD TVs, according to iSuppli.
 Amtran expects Vizio to hit record shipments in the fourth quarter thanks to year-end holiday shopping, and Vizio will achieve the shipment goal of 4.2-4.5 million units for 2009.
 Amtran also said the joint venture it has set up in China with LG Display mainly targets clients in Asia and South America. It has received LCD TV OEM orders from the top-three China TV vendors, with shipments beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009 and expected to increase significantly in 2010, said Amtran.

Vizio's product team revealed here Wednesday a handful of new LCD TV models and holiday promotional prices aimed at maintaining the brand's competitive surge during the critical fourth quarter.

The company's CEO and founder William Wang, who was traveling in Asia this week, announced over there that Vizio expects to sell 6 million TVs in North America in 2009, and has set a goal of selling 10 million units in 2010.
Market research firm iSuppli recently ranked Vizio No. 2 in U.S. LCD TV shipment market share for the third quarter of 2009, and No. 1 in cumulative North American LCD TV shipments for the full year as of the end of September.
According to iSuppli, Vizio has shipped 4.075 million LCD TV units into the U.S. at the start of the fourth quarter, followed by Samsung with 3.894 million, Sony with 2.362 million, LG with 1.739 million and Toshiba with 1.686 million.
Vizio's third quarter LCD TV shipments grew 87 percent from 658,997 in the third quarter of 2008, to 1,234,667 in Q3 2009, iSuppli reported.

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