As the article states, it's not just the media industry, but other product categories like mobile phones and digital tv's, with such a huge domestic market and the hi-tech industry now to service that demand, who can blame them. That would be interesting, as, in the future China could be deciding all the new "standards" for consumer electronics. The example given of a DVD player costing 20 dollars with 7 dollars of that going to foreign patent holders, its not surprising they are looking to patent their own "standards"!
Em, that just seems crazy. I don't believe their will be a market for EVD inside or outside of China for two reasons- DVD is popular and HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have already occupied the market for next gen. technology. Really the only problem I see is that manufacturers let their prices get cut so low that they cant make a profit- it is pathetic that they allowed that to happen. I don't believe forcing a new technology onto consumers is the right solution to this problem. L J
And how do you propose to do that? If it costs you X to make a DVD player and you sell it for Y, there is always someone ut there who can sell it for 10 bucks less. If not that, you have retailers like Walmart demanding that you cut your prices or else they will buy from your competitor. Manufacturers are being left with a choice between proce-fixing which is illegal, or giving up on any hope of making a profit. Honestly, I can't say I feel too bad about that.
Nope. Only a fraction of the Chinese can afford HDTVs and most will buy "DVDs" because they are easily pirated and cheap to buy, plus, you can't really tell the difference between pirated material and legal. So by making their own format as close to DVD as possible they can retail the units for less and sell more, plus, keep more profits within China. It's a win-win situation for them. They are going it alone on the GPS system and already went their own way on a whole new Blackberry "Redberry" equivilent chinese system so they wouldn't have to pay royalties to other countries. Very clever management imo and the advantage of a communit state is they GET STUFF DONE because they can throw money at people who will work literally 24/7, despite the level of beurocracy.
How is there always someone out there who can sell it for $10 less if everyone is complaining about loosing money? Is introducing proprietary tech really the proper way to deal with competition? L J
I think part of what they are saying is that they can produce quality goods at a competeitive cost but they are paying a high price (relative to the cost of production) for foreign patents. They don't like it and are looking at home grown patents.
Think of it more as a move towards innovation rather than acting as the low-cost manufacturing solution to the world. Competition with 'outside' standards can only be positive for internal market since market forces can not be changed. If EVD is no good, then consumers will vote with their wallets and not buy but that doesn't mean they call EVD a failure and go home, it just means they have to improve. I think it's actually quite a clever method to keep sustained growth in the country.
This could be AMD competing with Intel on processors; design something compatible without infringing an existing patent. Or Japan, starting out with crude copies of Western stuff, getting experience, and then beating the West to a pulp with mass-produced cars and electronics. Interesting times...
Maybe $10 was a bad example, but there'll be someone who will do each unit for $1 cheaper - sure it makes them less profit but they get the deal. Then someone else says $2, then $2.50, and each cut eats into profit until it's almost now worth making the things. but because it's still just a bit more profitable to make them than now, they make them. Now if you could get rid of the 7 dollar licensing fee then that will give you a massive amount of extra cash to play with, so you can drop prices a touch and still make more money. So customers are happy and the company is happy.
First off the only chinese that can afford Blue Ray and Hd DVD are the really rich. Second, when a 3rd of the worlds population is China and they create a new standard does it matter if it doesnt get taken up outside of china. My father in law in China has a HD TV but he would not be able to aford a HD DVD or Blueray on his wage of £300 a month or $600 a month.
Mike - your example is kinda flawed, China may have a 3rd of the population but they certainly don't have a 3rd of the market so the odds of creating a new standard are low. L J
This is one of those long term plans that the chinese are good at. The economy is advancing very rapidly, so give them a few years and they will have a bigger slice of the market.
Surely any new tech that is better than the old is a good thing, it's cheaper than and of comparable capacity than HD-DVD. The only issue that i can see is that the US movie studios won't accept the standard because the backers behind HD-DVD/Blue ray will put pressure on the studios because they feel pressured. What like HD-DVD/Blue ray?
Fred EVD is different than HD-DVD and BluRay because HD-DVD and BluRay were designed primarily for the purpose of introducing high definition- they offer a good improvement over DVDs. EVD on the other hand appears to be nothing more than "We cant afford royalties so lets make our own standard!" Grand idea, make proprietary technology the solution to everything. We might as well just ditch the ATAPI standard so Creative, Sony, and others can charge us even more for CD-ROMs, it's the Chinese way! L J
I think your missing the point. The tech prob won’t be released out of china. Its so China can sell its own tech in china for its people and not pay other countries for the privilege. As a DVD player is common place now in UK and USA it aint in China. With top wages lower than minimum wage here its a right move for china to develop its own tech and can sell lower to its people than paying the likes of USA for its technology and force China to sell DVD at a higher price. Come on, a lot of china is still like a third world country, let them enjoy the benefits of life like you and me without the extortionate price. China wants to 'not rely' on other countries for anything and everything. I think the UK should do it too. We spend more money on imported tech and dont create enough of our own.
I pay for imported tech, I see no reason why China should be different. When DVD players were first released and I could not afford a DVD player I simply continued watching VHS tapes. MikeUK- if you look around these forums, EVD is getting a new flavor which will compete with BluRay and HD-DVD. Apparently, the new EVD will use cheaper red-lasers and a ton of layers to achieve nearly the same size as HD-DVD or BluRay. Personally, I think it's a pretty bad idea- I mean whats to stop HD-DVD and BluRay from getting just as many layers? L J
