Philips Consumer Electronics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Philips Consumer Electronics | |
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| Type | Public Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG |
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| Founded | 1891 |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam, the Netherlands |
| Key people | Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Products | Consumer Electronics homepage = www.consumer.philips.com |
| Revenue |  €30.395 billion (2005) |
| Net income | €5.383 billion (2006) |
| Employees | 126,000 (October 2006) |
| Slogan | Sense and Simplicity |
Philips Consumer Electronics is a part of Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (usually known as Philips; Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) and is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2005, its sales were € 30.4 billion (US$38.9 billion) and it employed 161,500 people in more than 60 countries. Other Philips divisions are: Philips Lighting, Philips Medical Systems, Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care. The Consumer Electronics division is the only Philips division located in Amsterdam.
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[edit] History
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.
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.
Because of the enourmous 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 were located under the Domestic Appliances division.
[edit] Major consumer electronics products
In 1963, Philips introduced the Compact Cassette.
In 1978, Philips introduced the laserdisc player, using technology invented already in the 1960s.
In 1979, Philips introduced the Video 2000-system: a technically superior design, but a commercial failure.
In 1982, Philips launched the Compact Disc in partnership with Sony.
In 1991, Philips introduced CD-i, the Compact Disc Interactive system which was sold in the interactive kiosk market with some models featuring video game related content.
In 1992, Philips launched the ill-fated Digital Compact Cassette format.
In 1997, Philips released the first DVD, in parntership with Sony and Toshiba.
In 2004, Philips introduced Ambilight, a feature which combines television and lighting technology.
The company still receives a royalty on every DVD manufactured [1].
