"Konka" means "all good things will come to you."
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ENTER THE DRAGON
China's Konka challenges U.S. video market 9/23/1999
By David Katzmaier
September 23, 1999 -- Like Ancient China, Konka has long been shrouded in mystery to American consumers. But that will change mighty quickly if the manufacturing giant has its way. Konka threw its first official full-line show and press conference at New York's Warwick Hotel on Tuesday. It appears that the range of Konka's video gear and the aggressiveness of its pricing may present a serious challenge to established brands.
"We've worked hard to make it known that we're the first television manufacturer from mainland China to enter the U.S. market," Wendy Wu, executive VP of Konka USA Ltd, told the assembled press. "In order to support our sales more effectively, Konka currently has a partnership with a facility in Mexico to produce products for the U.S. market. Also, Konka will begin building a large manufacturing facility of its own in Mexico by the end of this year. This ... demonstrates the fact that Konka is very serious about the American market and is permanently setting up shop here."
Greetings, capitalists
"Konka" means "all good things will come to you." According to Wu, Konka is currently the best-selling TV brand in China. It was one of the largest Original Equipment Manufacturers of TV sets until 1995, when it completely ceased producing equipment for others to instead focus on building the Konka name. "One of the brands that Konka supplied equipment to was Thomson," said Wu. Thomson Consumer Electronics is a French-owned company that encompasses the RCA, ProScan and GE brands.
Wu introduced Gary Whitney, VP of sales and marketing, to discuss Konka's plans for competing on the crowded shelves of American retailers. "We're currently setting up a national service network that will be in place by the end of this year," he said. "In 1997, we set up a digital research and development center in Silicon Valley to keep up with cutting-edge technology. Konka products can be found at over 1000 storefronts in the U.S. in key regional markets across the country, including Video Only, Fry's, ABC, Boscos, Brandsmart and several others. We're currently in negotiations with national chains."
Whitney responded with tact to the sticky question about Konka's policy on Internet sales. "Our official policy isn't in writing, but it would be foolish to think that our products won't appear on the Web and simply forbid them from being sold there, unlike some manufacturers I could mention. We will go with Internet retailers that aren't unlike brick-and-mortar retailers, but we will be very careful with what products we put online."
Speaking of products ...
Every Konka product has one thing in common: a darn low price. Konka's bread and butter (or noodles and peanut oil) is direct-view TV sets. The Warwick suite was temporary home to numerous incarnations of the boob tube, from a rainbow of 13-inchers to a fully integrated 30-inch 16:9 direct-view HDTV.
Konka also offers a $199 DVD player, the KD-1800U, which passed the muster of etown.com video stickler Kevin Miller. The company is scheduled to introduce a pair of step-up DVD models, the 1900U and the 2000U, in December. The 1900U ($249 list) adds built-in Dolby Digital decoding, and the millennial 2000U ($299 list) ups the ante with component video outputs. None of the players passes a DTS signal, though.
Nestled in the rear of the suite was a little prototype 13-inch DVD/TV combo. Why would anybody want such a combo? In the words of Konka's PR rep, "It's perfect for the kids' room." Due in February 2000, the TD138U will list for $399 and will be available in black or white with little yellow "feet."
Color isn't just for the birds
The stuffed orange-faced parrot dressed in colorful velour and an "I love Konka" shirt was ubiquitous at the conference. The scary part was that it matched the TVs. Thirteen-inch offerings are priced from $109 to $129 and have names like Blackberry (it's black, folks), Coconut (white), Plum, Blueberry and Pineapple. The 19-inch sets ($169 list, $149 list for black) come in a similar palette. All are in stores now, except for Pineapple, which is still ripening in factories.
Moving out of the kids' room, Konka presented its black 25-inch and 27-inch analog sets and a pair of upscale flat-screen 27-inch TVs. Available in February, the FL2792U ($699 list) and FL2799U ($799 list, with picture-in-picture) boast a Sony Wega-like 100 percent flat screen and a very funky audio feature. The Cannon Super Woofer is a detachable cylinder containing a subwoofer. I was immediately reminded of the big-tube subs I had in my car way back when, but I couldn't help but wonder how the Cannon would fit under my couch.
Year of the digit
Also on display were Konka's 27-inch SDTV-ready Art TVs, with green and blue color schemes, real wood accents on the face and a back panel shaped like a shallow ski jump. The A2781U ($699 list) has a semi-flat tube, whereas the A2791U ($999 list) keeps it flat.
The Art TVs can display 480p in its native format, but it should be noted that Konka chose to use 15-pin VGA/RGB inputs instead of the industry-standard component video jacks in these first-gen sets. Accordingly, they'll accept a computer signal, but they must be mated to a digital set-top box or a progressive-scan DVD with RGB outputs (or you could use a $900 transcoder). Art TVs will hit stores in December, according to Konka.
What TV manufacturer would be caught without a pair of 1080i-capable 16:9 direct-view TVs? Actually, quite a few, but Konka's pushing toward direct-view HDTV. Priced ridiculously low ($3499 list), the HD3298U ($3499 list) has a built-in HDTV decoder/receiver. Unfortunately, Konka plans a very limited initial production run of this set. The HR3293U ($2499 list), on the other hand, is an HD-ready set; it, too, has RGB inputs.
Finally, Konka's 18-format digital set-top box, model HD-001 ($999 list), is also equipped with RGB jacks. (RCA's set-top box has these outputs. Accordingly, as Konka's engineer noted, it can be used with Konka's HDTVs.) All of the HDTV products are expected to be in stores by November. Check the etown.com product database for details when they hit the market. |
