Sharp and Sony on Wednesday released a joint statement to announce the end of the companies’ joint venture to produce and sell LCD panels. Due to the “rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions,” Sony will sell its shares of the venture, which represent 7.04% of the company. The manufacturer will also receive a cash payment equal to its original investment of 10 billion yen that will be paid by Sharp. Both the sale of shares and Sony’s cash payment will be completed by the end of June 2012. The joint press release can be found after the break.

Sharp and Sony to terminate joint venture to produce and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules

Sharp Corporation (“Sharp”) and Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that their joint venture relationship to produce and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules will terminate, and that Sony will sell its shares (representing 7.04% of the issued shares) in Sharp Display Products Corporation (“SDP”) to SDP*. In consideration for the sale of shares, Sony will receive cash consideration equal to its original investment of 10 billion yen to be paid by SDP*. Both the sale of shares and the payment of cash consideration will be completed by the end of June 2012.

On July 1, 2009, Sharp transferred its LCD panel plant in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, to SDP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp. On December 29, 2009, Sony invested 10 billion yen into SDP in exchange for new shares issued by SDP to Sony (representing 7.04% of the issued shares of SDP) and, as a result, SDP became a joint venture company of Sharp and Sony as of the same date. In light of the rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions, in March 2012 Sharp and Sony agreed to amend the original joint venture agreement to provide that Sony would not make additional capital injections in SDP. Based on this amendment, the companies agreed to study studied the future direction of the joint venture and other potential business relationships between the parties, including with respect to Sony’s interest in SDP.

* In the event SDP is not able to purchase or pay for those shares due to applicable legal restrictions on acquiring its own shares or for any other reason, Sharp will purchase those shares from Sony.
Impact on the consolidated financial information of Sharp, as the parent company of SDP
No material impact is anticipated on Sharp’s consolidated financial forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.
Impact on the consolidated financial information of Sony

No material impact is anticipated on Sony’s consolidated financial forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

Sharp Display Products Corporation

Representative:
Hiroshi Saji, President
Location:
1 Takumi-cho, Sakai-ku, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture
Principal Business:
Production and sales of large-sized LCD panels and modules
Date of Establishment:
April 1, 2009 (as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp)
Joint Venture

Establishment Date:
December 29, 2009
Share Holding Ratio:
Sharp 92.96%, Sony 7.04% (as of end of April, 2012)

Sharp on Tuesday announced that is has entered into an manufacturing partnership with Foxconn that will see the manufacturing giant take a 10% stake in the Japanese electronics company. Hon Hai has invested nearly 67 billion yen ($809 million) in Sharp in exchange for roughly 121.65 million new shares, which will be spread out between four Foxconn companies. Sharp CEO Takashi Okuda said, “Until now we have handled all of our R&D and manufacturing, but going forward we will need to include partnerships in our approach,” pledging to leverage both companies’ strengths to get products to market efficiently. Each company will hold a 46.5% stake in Sharp’s Sakai plant in western Japan, with the remaining 7% owned by Sony.

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After reportedly failing to meet Apple’s quality requirements, Sharp and LG Display have now apparently begun shipping a small volume of displays for the new iPad, DigiTimes reported on Friday. “The supply of panels for the new iPad has improved recently, with LG Display and Sharp to ramp up their shipments in the second quarter, which will also result in a significant increase in shipments of the new iPads in the quarter and onwards,” Digitimes’s unnamed industry source said. An earlier report suggested that Samsung was the sole supplier of displays for Apple’s new iPad tablet, but that report was quickly countered.

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Despite numerous ongoing legal battles between the two rivals, Samsung Electronics is reportedly the sole supplier of displays for Apple’s new iPad tablet, which is set to launch this coming Friday. While speaking with Bloomberg, IHS iSuppli analyst Vinita Jakhanwal said that high-resolution display panels supplied by LG Display and Sharp did not meet Apple’s quality requirements. As a result, Apple’s 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina Display panels will be supplied exclusively by Samsung at launch. ”The display specifications on the new iPad are very demanding in terms of the very high resolution,” Jakhanwal told Bloomberg. “Achieving this high resolution without compromising on the power consumption and brightness and maintaining Apple’s quality standards are supposedly proving to be a challenge for LG Display and Sharp.”

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Apple’s highly anticipated iPad 3 will reportedly be in short supply until some time in the second quarter according to a new report. Industry watcher DigiTimes on Thursday cited anonymous sources within Apple’s supply chain in claiming that the high-resolution 2,048 x 1,536-pixel display panels being supplied to Apple by Sharp may be in short supply. Initial shipments are expected to be limited as a result, and production supposedly won’t be ramped up until some time in the second quarter. Apple will unveil its next-generation iPad 3 at a press conference on March 7th and the tablet is expected to become available soon after. Reports suggest the iPad 3 will feature a high-resolution 9.7-inch display, a quad-core Apple A6 processor, embedded 4G LTE and a slightly redesigned aluminum case.

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Apple has been widely rumored to be readying a Siri-enabled television for release this year, but a new report claims component availability issues will prevent the highly anticipated “iTV” from launching in the first half. Citing unnamed sources within Apple’s supply chain, DigiTimes on Friday reports that Sharp, rumored to have been contracted to supply display panels for Apple’s debut HDTV, is not yet ready to ship the indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) panels Apple will use in its iTV. According to the site’s sources, upcoming HDTV models from Samsung and LG will occupy much of the OLED panel capacity during the first half, so Apple has chosen to instead utilize IGZO panels. Sharp is reportedly not yet ready to mass produce its latest IGZO panels, however, and Apple’s iTV launch may have been pushed to the second half as a result. Apple’s iOS-powered iTV will reportedly support apps and feature voice controls powered by Siri as well as access to on-demand content through iTunes.

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Samsung, Sharp, Innolux Corp, Hitachi, HannStar Display Corp, Chungwha Picture Tubes and Epson Imaging Devices Corp will pay a total of $553 million to settle accusations that the firms participated in an LCD price-fixing scheme. The price fixing resulted in inflation of display prices at the benefit of all companies involved, but at the cost of consumers. “This price-fixing scheme manipulated the playing field for businesses that abide by the rules, and left consumers to pay artificially higher costs for televisions, computers and other electronics,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. The United States, European Union, South Korea and Japan began investigating the seven companies in December 2006, Reuters said, and executives and other firms have already paid as much as $890 million in fines. Settlement papers filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ask Samsung to pay $240 million, the largest fine levied against any of the firms involved. Nokia also filed a lawsuit against several, but not all, of the aforementioned firms in 2009 alleging that the companies were purposely driving up display prices for screens used in Nokia smartphones.

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Sharp is reportedly working to supply Apple with 32-inch and 37-inch LCD panels for its Siri-equipped HDTV. Manufacturers could begin building the new televisions as soon as the first quarter, DigiTimes said on Tuesday, and a public launch could occur in the second or third quarter next year. Samsung reportedly began building chips for the “iTV’ devices in November, too. The Wall Street Journal said earlier this month that Apple was already beginning to pitch the voice-controlled TV to top media executives and an article in The New York Times recently said that Apple will “absolutely” launch a TV with Siri-powered voice controls that will replace the remote. Tuesday’s report is in line with an earlier report from an analyst that also said Sharp will provide the displays and that a mid-2012 launch is possible.

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Apple has reportedly met with top media executives to discuss the company’s vision of the television market’s future, suggesting that the company is moving full steam ahead on its rumored Siri-powered HDTV. The television is expected to include similar technology to the company’s current Apple TV set top box, which allows users to stream content such as movies, music and photos over a wireless network. Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue has reportedly been in the aforementioned meetings and has pitched the idea of  a television that could be controlled by voice or motion, seemingly similar to Microsoft’s Kinect technology, and Cue has discussed “new ways Apple’s technology could recognize users across phones, tablets and TVs,” The Wall Street Journal said Monday. Steve Jobs was said to have been working on a prototype for several years before his passing in 2011. It remains unclear when such a product might hit the market, although early rumors have suggested it will use a display provided by Sharp and will launch in mid-2012.

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Apple’s competition is scrambling as it attempts to figure out exactly what the company has in store for the television industry next year, one analyst reports. In a recent note to clients, Jefferies & Company analyst Peter Misek writes that production of Apple’s debut television will begin in February at a Sharp plant in Japan. The HDTV will utilize Sharp display panels according to the analyst, and it will launch some time in mid-2012. Companies like Samsung are reportedly looking to Google TV as a potential draw for future sets, but first-generation devices powered by Android and Google’s TV product did not fare well. A report from last month suggested that the key ingredient in Apple’s HDTV will be Siri, allowing users to replace remotes and standard navigation with voice commands like “put on the Yankee game” or “turn to channel five.” Apple has not yet made any announcements regarding the rumored HDTV.

Apple’s manufacturing partners are running into a few speed bumps creating the new high-resolution Retina Display for the iPad 3, CNET reported recently. LG CEO Young Soo Kwon confirmed that his company, which also builds the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and 4S, is working on the next-generation iPad 3 screens. Samsung and Sharp are also allegedly behind the development. However, CNET said that mass manufacturing a display with a 2,048 x 1,536-pixel resolution, twice the pixel density of the current iPad 2, has been a struggle. “It’s not a question of just making one,” a source said. “That, of course can be done. The challenge is making lots of them. This is a quantum leap in pixel density. This hasn’t been done before.” In August, a report surfaced that suggested Apple had delayed the iPad 3 due to display issues. CNET said the companies have 1,600 x 1,200-pixel resolution screens prepared as a back-up in case the Retina Display can’t be mass produced in time.

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LightSquared Announces Collaboration with Sharp® on L-Band Smartphone and Tablet Product Development

LightSquared will provide device solutions for its network partners using Sharp’s leading-edge smartphone and tablet technologies.

RESTON, Va., October 3, 2011 – LightSquared™, which is building a nationwide wireless broadband network that will drive consumer choice and industry innovation, has announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Sharp®, a worldwide leader in consumer electronic products and solutions.

LightSquared has selected Sharp as its first manufacturer to provide advanced smartphones and tablets which will operate on its 4G-LTE network. The goal of the agreement is to leverage Sharp’s leading-edge product solutions to develop a range of innovative devices which will incorporate an extensive selection of unique device components, such as Sharp’s advanced LCD panel and camera module, for LightSquared’s 4G-LTE network partners including carriers, retailers and others.

This agreement underscores how LightSquared’s open network and growing ecosystem can help manufacturers expand their wireless offerings and develop innovative products without restrictions.

LightSquared will showcase devices during CTIA Enterprise & Applications, October 11-13, in San Diego.

“Sharp has a rich history of producing unique products that push the extremes of design and functionality, and we’re proud that they will be developing innovative devices for LightSquared’s 4G-LTE network,” said Sanjiv Ahuja, chief executive officer of LightSquared. “LightSquared’s wholesale-only business model and open network will provide Sharp with a platform from which they can aggressively expand into the U.S. wireless market with an exciting portfolio of smartphones and tablets.”

LG, Samsung and Sharp will provide Retina displays for Apple’s iPad 3, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday. In mid-July, rumors surfaced that Apple was testing Retina displays from Samsung and LG, and those rumors were confirmed days later when LG’s CEO said Apple will use its Retina LCDs in its next-generation iPad. Apple is also reportedly considering an investment of as much as $1 billion in a new Sharp factory that will be used to provide screens for its iPhone and iPad products. LG will be the largest iPad 3 LCD supplier followed by Samsung, although DigiTimes said Sharp could soon surpass the South Korea-based company as Apple’s second largest iPad 3 panel provider. Radiant Opto-Electronics will be the largest backlight unit supplier for the screens, according to the site’s sources. The most recent reports have suggested production of the iPad 3 could begin in September with a launch expected in early 2012.

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Apple may invest $1 billion in a Sharp LCD factory to ensure adequate production of screens for its iPhone and iPad, according to MF Global FXA Securities analyst David Rubenstein. Apple typically buys its LCD displays from Samsung, LG and Chimei Innolux, although recent reports have suggested the iPhone maker has boosted its orders with Samsung after LG failed to meet iPad 2 display requirements. However, Apple’s recent legal battles with Samsung in the United States, the European Union and Australia could be why the company is looking to invest in other manufacturers. “If the situation escalates into a state of war, this could mean a huge shift in orders,” a source told Reuters, suggesting that Apple could give larger orders to Elpida Memory and Toshiba. Sharp is expected to provide the LCD displays for Apple’s sixth-generation iPhone, which is expected to launch next year.

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T-Mobile already has the Samsung-built Sidekick 4G, but it may have another up its sleeves. Images of a new Android-powered Sharp phone have been leaked by Unwired View, and its slide-up screen form factor and small rounded keys definitely resemble a Sidekick. The device is rumored to offer a 3.2-inch display with an HVGA resolution, Wi-Fi, GSM/CDMA connectivity, and GPS, but other specs remain in the dark. Sharp has built plenty of Sidekicks before, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it get in on the Android game and re-enter the U.S. market. We just hope it has more beefy hardware muscle to make any future offerings even more compelling than the already solid Sidekick 4G.

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