China's color TV cannot find North lacks key core technologies

"Color TV companies have been forced by IT giants to the edge of the industry." Is this an alarmist or cruel reality?

On February 11th, Facebook’s official “interesting industry” message on Facebook quickly spread around the world, causing concern. The content of this message is related to the upcoming Google TV.

Earlier, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt also said high-profile that by the middle of this year, Google TV device sales will grow rapidly. South Korea's color TV giant Samsung (microblogging) also said that this year after Sony, Logitech, join Google TV.

In fact, the powerful invasion of smart TVs by global IT giants such as Google, Acer, Intel, and Qualcomm has become a reality. The news that Apple iTV will be listed in May or so will also make consumers around the world expect it.

The collective silence of China's color TV companies seems to be proof that they have been “pushed to the edge of the industry”.

“At present, the competition in the global color TV industry is concentrated on operating systems, application software, core chips, panels, and content services. The addition of giants such as Apple and Google has led to a new round of industry reshuffle.” Konka Group Limited Xu Hongjun, general manager of the company’s Multimedia Business Unit Marketing Department, admitted in an exclusive interview with the “Excellence” reporter that it is inevitable that the Chinese color TV industry has been hit.

However, Chinese color TV companies lacking key core technologies are somewhat confused at the moment.

“Whether it is flat-panel televisions or 3D televisions, smart TVs, core technologies have always been in the hands of foreign companies, and Chinese companies lack the basic right to speak. At the same time, China’s color TV products have not yet established a global influence and cannot compete with international brands in overseas markets. The point of view of Liu Buchen, a senior observer of the home appliance industry, pointed out to the “Chartered” reporter: “These two points are the major problems constraining the development of color TV in China. Other problems are derived from these two.”

If the core technology is passive, will it be doomed that China's color TV companies will still play a role in the new round of smart TVs?

Where is the road "The global color TV industry is already close to 1 trillion yuan, so there will be so many companies and even IT companies involved in the competition." Yang Dongwen, Vice President of the Skyworth Group and President of the Color TV Division, accepts the "Excellence" reporter During the interview, he did not show his disdain for traditional color TV companies.

In Yang Dongwen's view, market competition is fair, there must be companies that are constantly being eliminated, and new forces are constantly being added. “The strategy of Skyworth is to take the specialization route and change from the original product manufacturing orientation to the consumer-oriented development model.”

Changhong Multimedia Industry Group said in an exclusive interview with the “Excellence” reporter that the competition in the smart era is not a competition for individual products but a competition for smart ecological trees with different genes.

Therefore, Changhong is also undergoing a change from a production machine company to an “intelligent” service company, from selling TV to building a “smart platform”. But the word "intelligence" is not simple. The person in charge said frankly, "The focus of home appliance intelligence lies in multi-screen interaction. The difficulty lies in smart applications."

The key to the transformation and upgrading of intelligence is Konka. The full integration of upstream and downstream resources is another key upgrade for Konka. After all, smart TV is a fusion of digital technology, network technology, and display technology. It depends on equipment production, content provision, information transmission, and receiving terminals.

Industry competition has shifted from the product hardware to back-office software, and color TV manufacturers are clearly aware of this. The integration of resources and the formation of a product application platform has become a consensus for TV companies to win the market.

“The first priority of the transformation and upgrading of color TV companies is technological innovation, and second is the grasp of consumer demand, as well as the integration of upstream and downstream industrial chains.” Xu Hongjun said, “The difficulty in the transformation of traditional color TV companies has mainly been in the past. The hardware made a meager profit, and the overseas giants stuck their throats in terms of core components and technology."

The wave of color TV innovation featuring intelligence is irresistible. In the face of competition in operating systems, application software, core chips, panels, and content services, how China's color TV companies choose their direction determines the future market landscape.

Two directions At present, most color TV companies in China place a breakthrough in transformation and upgrading on the two points of intelligence and integration of upstream and downstream resources. However, in terms of intelligence, IT companies that are already one step ahead have obvious technical advantages.

Does this mean that in the future competition, TV companies must be at a disadvantage?

"In this era of intelligent integration, TV manufacturers learn IT from IT companies, and IT companies also need to learn from color TV manufacturers." Lu Jiebo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, believes that after 20 or 30 years of development, domestic The color TV companies have advantages in applying technologies and manufacturing capabilities, and have the basic conditions for competition with international giants. However, due to the relatively young domestic color TV companies, lack of accumulated core technology, and R & D funds are too few, which restricts the development of enterprises.

However, some analysts also believe that the domestic color TV manufacturers, which have announced their entry into intelligence, continue to be at the lowest end of the interest chain, and are further and further away from their international counterparts.

"The core technology of smart TVs is in the hands of Microsoft. The core technologies of 3D and OLED are in the hands of Sony. Samsung and LG also have large-size tablet core technologies of more than 50 inches. While domestic large and colorful power manufacturers want to develop their own intelligent systems, On the one hand, it is also using Android extensively, and it is also lagging behind in terms of software services. If we do not improve the R&D system and make breakthroughs in technology, the outlook for domestic color TV companies will be worrisome.” Liu Buchen said bluntly.

In fact, the domestic color TV manufacturers are not aware of the importance of the core technology. The problem is that the color TV manufacturers are transitioning from the survival period to the development period, and there is not much strength to the technology research and development. In the reality that core technology is difficult to break through for a short period of time, many color TV manufacturers have to open up a new path – through the integration of upstream and downstream industries, to optimize resource allocation and form economies of scale to reduce costs. “The integration of vertical industry chains can effectively improve their own profitability; controlling retail channels allows companies to enjoy pricing power,” Xu Hongjun said.

However, there are certain drawbacks in the integration of industrial chains.

The first is a major reduction in technology. Because industry chain integration is difficult to bring key resources and core technologies into new areas. Some domestic home appliance companies lack the research on users in terms of technological innovation. They just blindly imitate and follow, leading to "homogenization"; secondly, the integration of industrial chains will increase business risks. The fluctuation of any link in the chain will affect the upstream and downstream. In addition, the huge management cost will lead to the reduction of innovation and resilience.

Liu Buchen pointed out that the entire industrial chain is one of the paths for the transformation and upgrading of China's home appliance industry, but not all home appliance companies are suitable. For example, Apple is the most powerful IT company in the world, but apart from R&D and technology integration, it does not involve manufacturing. However, the fact that Chinese companies complete this part of the outsourcing process does not hinder the power of Apple. The key is that Apple has established an unrivaled technology and brand advantage. Therefore, the ever-changing reality is that without strong technology and brand capabilities, other efforts are no good.