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Division of Philips
Philips Consumer Lifestyle
is a
subsidiary
of the Dutch
multinational
electronics
company
Philips
which produces
consumer electronics
and
small appliances
. It is the only Philips company headquartered in
Amsterdam
, the
Netherlands
. The Americas division is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut
. The company was formed in 2008 from the merger of
Philips Consumer Electronics
and
Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care
.
Philips receives
royalties
from the sale of every CD,
[1]
DVD
[2]
and Blu-ray
[3]
[1]
.
History
[
edit
]
While Philips' first product was manufactured in 1891, the first product that would fit in the Consumer Electronics division was a
television
, experimentally manufactured in 1925. In 1927, Philips began producing
radios
. Only five years later, Philips had sold one million of them. One other major product release came in 1963, when the
Compact Cassette
was introduced.
[
citation needed
]
After Philips Consumer Electronics acquired companies as
Magnavox
and
Sylvania
in the late-1970s, Philips managed to sell their 100-millionth TV-set in 1984. Philips still is the European television market leader, as well as the third in the world.
[
when?
]
Because of the enormous growth, Philips decided to split up their company divisions during the 1990s. While Philips CE contains most of the
Consumer Electronics
, other products such as Philips' shavers (
Philishave
and
Norelco
) were located under the Domestic Appliances division.
As of 2012 Philips is no longer directly involved in TV manufacturing, because it has outsourced it to a
joint venture
with
TPV Technology
, called
TP Vision
.
[4]
Philips announced in January 2013
[5]
that it agreed to sell its consumer electronics division to Japan-based
Funai Electric Co.
for Euro 150 million (US$201.8 million). This would leave mainly consumer products for personal care and health in this division of Philips.
[6]
However, in October 2013, Philips announced that it would not proceed with the sale, instead initiating litigation against Funai, alleging breach of contract by Funai.
[7]
Product timeline
[
edit
]
- 1949
, began selling television sets.
[8]
- 1951
, introduced the
Philishave
two-headed rotary shaver, marketed in the USA under the Norelco name.
- 1963
, introduced the
Compact Cassette
.
- 1963
, introduced the first domestic home video tape recorder, the
405 line
1" tape reel model
EL3400
.
- 1978
, introduced the
Laserdisc
player, using technology invented in the 1960s.
- 1978
, introduced the Philips Videopac G7000 (pictured below), a home video game console developed by its
Magnavox
division. Marketed in the United States as the
Odyssey
2
console. Variations of the console were sold worldwide through 1984.
- 1979
, introduced the
Video 2000
-system: a technically superior design, but a commercial failure.
- 1982
, launched the
Compact Disc
in partnership with Sony.
- 1983
, participated in developing the MSX home computer standard. This computer standard was mainly popular in Japan and the Netherlands.
- 1991
, introduced the
CD-i
, the Compact Disc Interactive system, which had many video-game console-type features,
[9]
but was not a sales success.
- 1992
, launched the ill-fated
Digital Compact Cassette
format.
- 1995
, manufactured the
Atari Jaguar
's
CD add-on
for
Atari
.
- 1999
, launched the
Super Audio CD
in partnership with Sony.
- 2000
, launched the luminaire Iridium.
- 2001
, successfully launched the
Senseo
coffeemaker, first in the Netherlands and from 2002 onwards, in other countries across Europe. It produces coffee by brewing from custom-made pads containing coffee grounds. The original Senseo pads are produced by
Douwe Egberts
. The Senseo has been available in the US since 2004.
- 2004
, Philips HomeLabs research center created the
Mirror TV
technology used in their MiraVision television line.
- 2006
, introduced the
Blu-ray Disc
in partnership with
Sony
.
- 2008
, introduced flatscreen with
WOW VX
technology. (3D TV)
- 2008
, introduced the Relationship Care range of
Philips Intimate Massagers
to the UK market. The company receives a royalty on every DVD manufactured.
[10]
- 2009
, introduced the
Philips Cinema 21:9 TV
in a widescreen mode for HDTVs with an LCD display using the aspect ratio.
-
Philips Cassette Recorder (1963)
-
Philips Videopac+ G7400 video game console (1983)
-
Philips SE246 cordless phone
-
Philips screenphone (2009)
-
Philips electric razor, 2010
Inventions
[
edit
]
Compact Cassette
[
edit
]
In 1962 Philips invented the compact audio cassette medium for audio storage. Although there were other magnetic tape cartridge systems, the Compact Cassette became dominant as a result of Philips's decision to license the format free of charge.
Laserdisc
[
edit
]
Laserdisc was a 30 cm disc designed with
MCA
meant to compete with
VHS
and even replace it. While not as generally popular as VHS, due to the initial investment costs of players, somewhat higher costs of movie titles, the initial read-only format and early manufacturing issues, it eventually enjoyed extensive success among serious video collectors, like its contemporaneous rival Betamax. The technologies created for Laserdisc would later be used again for the Compact Disc.
Compact Disc (CD)
[
edit
]
Although Philips' and MCA's Laserdisc project never reached the VHS mass market level, Philips still thought the format should be able to succeed, and, in collaboration with
Sony
, launched the smaller CD in 1982.
The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc), the eventual successor of the CD (Compact Disc), met a long road of setbacks. Philips wanted to continue with the CD in a new format called
MultiMedia Compact Disc
(MMCD), while another group (led by
Toshiba
) was developing a competing format, then named
Super Density
(SD) disc. Their representatives approached
IBM
for advice on the
file system
. IBM also learned of Philips' and Sony's initiative. IBM convinced a group of computer industry experts (among them
Apple
,
Dell
, etc.) to form a working group. The Technical Working Group (TWG) voted to boycott both formats unless they merged to prevent another
format war
(like the
videotape format war
). The result was the DVD specification, finalized in 1995. The DVD video format was first introduced in Japan in 1996, later in 1997 in the U.S. as limited test run, then across Europe and the other continents from late 1998 onwards.
Blu-ray Disc
[
edit
]
Blu-ray Disc, yet again primarily developed by Philips and Sony, utilizes
blue-violet
coloured diodes to create an even shorter wavelength beam than CD or DVD. Because of this, the capacity is much more than that of CD or DVD, being 25 GB single-layered or 50 GB dual-layered.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
General
[
edit
]
CE Product departments
[
edit
]
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