One Million Recorders Sold in 21
Months Plus Involvement of 15 Companies Confirm the Popularity of
Audio CD Recording and Underline the Continued Consumer Support
for CD as the Music Carrier of Choice
BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30,
1999-- The Audio CD Recorder has become one of the fastest-growing
consumer electronics products in history, Philips confirmed today
at the IFA trade and consumer exhibition in Berlin, Germany.
The company stated that the number
of Audio CD Recorders sold around the world since October 1997 by
Philips, Marantz and Pioneer the first manufacturers on the market
with products - had reached sales of one million units by June of
this year.
This significant growth in audio
CD recorders is in line with the overall continued growth of Audio
CD as the consumer's music carrier of choice. More and more
consumers are purchasing additional CD playback devices, such as
portables and in-car systems, on which to listen to their
pre-recorded and own-compilation discs.
It is now expected that Audio CD
Recorder sales will grow even further with the number of
participating hardware and recordable media companies extending to
15 with Denon, Kenwood, Onkyo, Harman-Kardon, TEAC and Yamaha
(hardware), and EMTEC (BASF), Kodak, Maxell, Mitsui, TDK and
Verbatim (recordable media).
It is expected that these
companies' involvement - plus others who will announce their entry
into the market shortly - will accelerate market growth even
further, with predictions suggesting that hardware sales could
exceed 1.5 million Audio CD recorders by the end of 1999, and
three million by Christmas 2000.
"The Audio Compact Disc continues
to grow in popularity, with around 800 million CD players in the
world, and more people every day extending their accessibility of
the format via portable players and in-car systems," says Guy
Demuynck, Managing Director of Philips Business Group Audio. "Since
all audio CD players are capable of playing recordings made on an
Audio CD Recorder, the tremendous growth figures for Audio CD-R
clearly indicate that consumers around the world are continuing to
endorse the CD as their favourite music carrier."
Royal Philips Electronics of the
Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies
and Europe's largest, with sales of US$ 33.9 billion in 1998. It
is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric
shavers, color picture tubes for televisions and monitors, and
one-chip TV products. Its 227,600 employees in more than 60
countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer
electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors,
medical systems, business electronics, and IT services (Origin).
Philips is quoted on the NYSE, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and
other stock exchanges.
News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com. |
