Cover Story
The Japanese Printer Industry Faces a Crisis
Japanese manufacturers of printers, copiers and multifunction devices were once the top performers in markets around the world.Ricoh Company, Ltd. contributed enormously to the popularization of the general office copier.Canon Inc. developed laser printing methods and, besides its own products, manufactures core components for Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.Japanese companies were the ones that led the recent trend of integrating print and copy functions into multifunction machines.These manufacturers were able to achieve such outstanding operating income ratios envied by other Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers because they used their advanced technological strength to pioneer a new market.
Now the printer, copier and multifunction device industry is undergoing an unexpected transformation.Late entrants are on the offensive and are starting to achieve striking results and their charge is unlikely to abate soon as the structure of the industry begins to change.It is a shift toward the prominence of emerging markets, where there is high demand for low-priced products, and toward horizontal specialization carried out by specialized manufacturers, while moving away from vertically-integrated companies that take on anything and everything.New technologies have even surfaced that will encourage further horizontal specialization.
In the consumer electronics industry, falling prices and horizontal specialization has always implied a decline in power of Japanese companies.This trend is noticeable in notebook PC, DVD player and mobile phone markets, and more recently the markets for digital cameras and televisions.Will the printer, copier and multifunction device industry follow the same path?
Feeling the Pinch
Low-price competition closing in on Japan’s prize market—BRICs and horizontal specialization are contributing factors
Technology
Development of disruptive new technology—the arrival of inkjet line heads
Special Feature
1seg Mobile Phones Are in the Process of Developing into a “Real” TV
1seg mobile phones bearing the brand names of almost all the major domestic television manufacturers have reached the market.They contain image processing engines that not only correct color and smooth edges, but also adjust color gradation according to the actual footage and surrounding brightness.Looking at the functions alone, they are not too inferior to LCD televisions.Double-speed display is also expected to appear around 2008.Worldwide demand in the so-called “mobile television” market is expected to rise and image processing technology acquired through 1seg mobile phones will likely come in handy when confronting the competition.
Special Feature
Design Automation Will Be Used to Cope with Leak Current
Major semiconductor manufacturers are starting to exploit all their low power consumption circuit technology as they target the market for 65nm logic LSI. Application of technologies such as on-chip power switches, substrate bias control and dynamic/passive frequency and supply voltage control to actual products is moving into full swing. The aim is to counter problems such as power leakage, which increases dramatically with miniaturization. Environments for design of low power consumption LSI that will support these efforts are finally starting to take shape.
Special Feature
Cooling the Heat Source for PCs as a Package with Water
Hitachi, Ltd. and NEC Corp. have jointly developed a water cooling system for desktop PCs that cools the hard-disk drive in addition to the microprocessor. Using water-cooling methods, heat generated by multiple sources is pooled and cooled together. The resulting reduction in the number of cooling fans and fan revolutions lowers the amount of noise.
Special Feature
White Color LEDs: Emission Efficiency Soon to Overtake Fluorescent Lights
There is a growing momentum for the use of white LEDs in such equipment as lighting, which requires high light output. A large number of LED manufacturers have begun shipping LEDs with over 1W output that will be used for lighting. The design of lighting equipment differs when LEDs are used instead of conventional light bulbs, and therefore manufacturers have been launching new types of LEDs focusing on improving ease of use, in addition to brightness, to encourage their use in lighting equipment.
Guest Paper
Printer Manufacturers’ Inks Last Longer than Replacement Inks
Currently, one of the threats confronting Japanese inkjet printer manufacturers is the emergence of low-price ink refills.The more popular ink refills become, printer manufacturers will be able to rely less on a business model of ensuring profit through sales of their own ink products.Printer manufacturers are trying to differentiate their own designated products from refills by stressing the merits, including a longer storage life for photo prints.Allion Test Labs, Inc., which carries out a variety of quality assurance tests, evaluated the products and found there really is a large difference between maker-designated ink products and refill products in terms of the storage life of printed output.However, printers are not limited to printing just photos.Manufacturers will need to explore other features to clearly distinguish their products from refills.
Documentary
The Chip that Popularized CMOS (Part 3): A Conversation with an Old Friend Expands into a Huge Project
Keyword
Multi-Core
Key Person
Niigata Seimitsu Co., Ltd., Takeshi Ikeda: “We Will Make Some Electronic Parts Unnecessary”
NE Interview
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH, President & CEO, Rüdiger Müller: “Within 5 Years, LED Prices Will Drop Dramatically”
Tutorial
Protecting Devices from ESD: The Reasons for Malfunctions Can Pass Immunity Tests (First Half)
An unexplainable malfunction with no evidence leading to its cause—one possible factor in this kind of malfunction is electrostatic discharge (ESD).A particular problem is the occurrence of malfunctions in electronic devices that have already satisfied criteria for ESD immunity.
Tutorial
Introduction to Mobile Power Electronics (Part 9): The Fundamentals of Inverter Circuits
This installment explains the basic principles and control methods behind inverter circuits, which are used to realize the variable-frequency variable-voltage AC power supply needed to drive an AC motor.We take a look at half-bridge inverters, which use two, positive and negative, DC voltage sources, and full-bridge inverters, which form the basic circuitry for single-phase output inverters.
Tutorial
MIMO—From the Basics to Measurement (Final): Using Models that Are Not too Difficult
Commercialization of wireless equipment and components that support multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is underway.The development and mounting of multiple antenna systems is not an easy task as a number of aspects relating to wireless circuits and protocols need to be examined through simulations.
World Report
From Russia: The Hard to See Model of Consumers Is Revealed in Large Scale Interviews
News
- VIZIO Suddenly Gains the Highest Share of the North American TV Market
- Sharp Develops a New Type of Millimeter Wave High Speed Communication Antenna
- Komatsu Seiren Develops a 10µm Clear Sealant Film for Organic LED
- Sharp’s Aim in Its New Generation LCD Announcement
- IBM Discusses the Reason for Purchasing Telelogic
