Philips is returning to the consumer computer hardware
market by applying its brand to machines manufactured by other
suppliers.
After nearly a decade of absence Philips has joined forces with
electronics retailer Dixons to launch a range of PCs targeting the
emerging digital home entertainment market.
The product range, called Philips-Freeline, consists of four
desktop computers and two notebooks which are preconfigured to work
with Philips' Streamium range of wireless and broadband-enabled
home entertainment devices.
Dixons has begun to market Philips-Freeline products at its
stores in several European countries, including Ireland, Italy,
Spain, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Philips spokesman Simon Poulter said, "They are not business
machines with a full scope of functionalities. Rather, we see
opportunities, together with Dixons, to add computers to our
growing portfolio of home entertainment devices."
While the desktop computers are supplied by a European
manufacturer, the notebooks are coming from an Asian producer,
according to Poulter, who would not name the makers.
The desktop PCs will include several Philips components, such as
LCD monitors, DVD+RW drives and multimedia speakers.
Both the desktops and notebook computers are preinstalled with
Philips Media Manager software to provide interoperability with the
company's Streamium products which allow consumers to stream
audio-visual digital content from their PCs to stereos or TVs via
wireless Lan connections.
Philips has no plans to launch home entertainment computers
similar to Freeline in other markets, according to Poulter. "But we
do not rule out the possibility of working with other retailers and
other hardware manufacturers," he said.
Meanwhile Gartner has projected that three of the world's top
10 computer suppliers will drop out of the market by 2007.
Of the current top 10 only Dell has been consistently profitable
for several years, according to Gartner. The PC divisions of HP and
IBM could be spun off if their drag on margins and profitability
are deemed too great by their parent companies, Gartner said.
John Blau writes for IDG News Service