Top of the world, ma! Nearly
HEXUS: The competition between the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc is currently a very hot topic. Can you tell us if Lite-On is backing one or other of these high-def DVD formats?
JV: Blu-ray Disc is the direction for Lite-On right now – we supply what companies want us to make for them on an OEM basis, and that's what they're asking for. We will produce Blu-ray Disc hardware under our own brand, too. We are currently in the testing phase.
HEXUS: And HD DVD?
JV: Blu-ray Disc is the direction right now.
HEXUS: Care to explain about the coming together of Lite-On and BenQ that took place a couple of months ago?
JV: Back in April, we announced that BenQ had taken a stake in Lite-On of around 13 per cent. As a result, Lite-On took over all of BenQ's optical-drive manufacturing – and as you know, BenQ used to make a lot of optical drives. We also have access to all the opticals-related patents that BenQ had access to, including some interesting ones from Philips.
HEXUS: If you're making for BenQ on top of everything else, that must mean you are now close to being the world's top optical-drive maker.
JV: That's right, though LG/Hitachi – Hitachi-LG Data Storage - probably just holds the No.1 spot.
HEXUS: Any idea of worldwide market-share figures?
JV: Things are close, very close. As I recall, they're on 27 per cent and we're right behind on 26%.
HEXUS: Who's next in the pecking order?
JV: Samsung, with around 18/19 per cent – so the top three currently have around 75 per cent, while all the other firms are sharing what's left over. That's a big change even from five years ago when the five biggest firms between them only had 54 per cent of the market.
HEXUS: Got any predictions about what's going to be happening next in opticals or the digital-home generally?
JV: I can see some potentially big changes happening in the PC world, as a result of the falling prices of PCs, the rise and rise of the internet and the massive competition which is developing between different internet service providers. One scenario I can see is some smart ISP borrowing the business model used by mobile phone service providers and offering free PCs to people who are willing to subscribe to the internet on fixed contracts of two or three years' length. That wouldn't surprise me and, considering how cheap PCs have become, it's perfectly possible.
