NEC to pull TVs out of Australia

In a statement to the media, the vendor said the decision was part of a strategic restructure of its local business to focus solely on its core ICT/network communication solutions and services.

“There will be a greater emphasis on delivering service and consultancy to its business and government customers,” said NEC.

Craig Norton, general manager for marketing at NEC told CRN that all warranties and guarantees of all products sold by NEC will be fully honoured.

“We will continue to provide servicing of these products,” he said.

According to Norton, the vendor plans to cease all retail operations by 1 March.

However resellers and distributors will still be able to sell any television products left over, after that date, said Norton.

The decision will not affect NEC’s other business division, including its digital signage arm.

“This decision affects only the retail side of NEC’s business in Australia which represents only a small part of the total operations,” said Norton.

“Our digital signage business will continue and form an important part of our overall offering to the business market alongside networking, telephony and business displays.”

The move also follows NEC's decision to bow out of the low-end LCD display market in February 2008.

Wataru Takeuchi, managing director at NEC Australia, claimed the move comes in response to rapidly changing market conditions in retail, the weakening Australian dollar, and is in line with a focus of its resources and energies on the business and government markets.

“As a result of the restructure, NEC Australia will cease its retail offerings as of 1st March 2009 including whitegoods, consumer appliances, home entertainment as well as consumer LCD and Plasma TVs,” he said.

“Commercial displays, including digital signage and business projectors, are unaffected by the restructure and NEC will continue to sell this range to the business market via its Display Solutions Division.”

According to Takeuchi, the restructure will result in approximately 200 staff leaving the business by the end of March through a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies, with the majority coming from the retail division.