DS screen fiddle?
The two companies that supply the LCD screens for the Nintendo DS were raided yesterday by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission.According to Yahoo news report, the Commission is investigating both Hitachi and Sharp for limiting competition by price fixing the DS displays.
Sharp has been supplying the panels since DS machines debuted in November 2004, and Hitachi Display became a second DS panel supplier for Nintendo a year later, the FTC official said. Investigators believe the alleged price-fixing began around the time of Hitachi's participation.
"It is true that the Fair Trade Commission is doing an on-the-spot inspection on our company, but we are still trying to confirm further details," said a Sharp spokesperson.
Nintendo, who themselves were fined 149m euros (£92.1m) by the European Commission in 2002, for trying to rig the computer game market, claim to be unaware of the allegations.
Source: Yahoo
