Thread: Outsourcing....hahahaha!

Glitches rise in complex high-tech items
By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Early adopters of some swanky high-tech products are getting hit with glitches, bugs and recalls.

Phiilps, makers of Ambilight TVs (not pictured), is recalling 11,800 of the plasma sets.
Philips

Philips Electronics revealed Friday that it is recalling 11,800 plasma television sets. The Ambilight TVs were sold in the USA from June 2005 to January 2006 for $3,000 to $5,000.

Faulty capacitors inside the sets can spark. Nine incidents have been reported, but retardant material inside the TVs has prevented any fires, spokeswoman Katrina Blauvelt says. The problem is not expected to affect other brands, because it is a part related to Philips' unique Ambilight feature, which casts a colored glow on the wall behind the TV.

Plasma TVs are often professionally hung, so Philips is sending technicians to homes, offices and stores to replace the part. Owners who have registered with Philips or an installation firm are notified by mail. Others can call 888-PHILIPS (888-744-5477).

Philips has been sending letters for two months and is about halfway through the repairs, Blauvelt says. Philips won't say how much the fixes it will cost. "It's probably enough to take all their profit (on the sets)," says TV analyst Bill Coggshall at researcher Pacific Media Associates.

About 3 million plasma TV sets have been sold since 2001, the Consumer Electronics Association says.

Philips' recall is large. But it is not unique. Mistakes are inevitable as tech firms churn out increasingly complicated products for ever-falling prices, says tech analyst Stephen Baker at researcher NPD. Recent examples:

• Motorola had pulled its popular RAZR phones from Cingular and T-Mobile stores this month because of a defective part that caused calls to be dropped. The problem is now "rapidly being resolved," spokesman Alan Buddendeck says.

• Some Apple computer owners last week reported problems with their PCs — such as icons that don't work — after downloading a software upgrade. Apple has released patches.

• Some BlackBerry e-mail device users experienced outages last week. Maker Research In Motion blamed a behind-the-scenes software upgrade.

The problems don't necessarily mean tech firms are suddenly designing shoddy products, NPD's Baker says. But they are outsourcing more to save money.

A manufacturer might hire one company to write software, another to build components and another to assemble the product. "Stuff slips through," Baker says.

The top 10 TV-makers control only 66% of the market, researcher iSuppli says. With no dominant player, everyone rushes new ideas to market. The results are often buggy and over-complicated, Coggshall says. "A TV should be a really simple device, but (most are) not," he said.




Maybe if these companies lose enough money trying to fix these products, they'll return to manufacturing in the USA....one can hope!

Yep, that wonderful cheap labor! It's going to come back and bite these greedy jerks in the AS _!

Maybe they don't want to do the work.