http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/ Engadget Comments for The Engadget Interview: Cesar Vohringer, Chief Technology Officer for Philips Consumer Electronics Business http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Aug 24th 2008 3:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Jun 10th 2006 9:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Dec 18th 2006 10:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/ Before anything else I would to introduce my self my name is Rosana N. Maniquiz 37 years old single a Filipina Im really happy right now that I found you at this site you know for almost 10 years i just keep very well your picture that i found one of the leading magazine at first time that i got your picture in the magazine im really attract your personality ]]>Sep 2nd 2006 9:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Sep 6th 2006 9:22AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/How the establishment of National organization and Product division helped Philips?
what is the strategy adopted by Philips electronics during the 1980s and the 1990s to establish itself in the global market?
]]>Dec 4th 2006 6:36AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Feb 19th 2007 3:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Jul 9th 2007 5:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/
Anyway, far too much use of 'good', 'nice', big' and 'very' type words in this interview for my liking. Didn't enjoy listening to this guy one bit.]]>Jan 30th 2006 1:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/ It would be a surprise if a CEO used words as 'horrible, pathetic, and shoddy workmanship'

But through the lines you can read some interesting facts of how an 'old' company tries to reinvent itself, I think a company as SONY might find itself in a similar position in a decade or so. What also interested me is that Philips does not really want to be in North America, I wonder what reason is behind that.

Philips is betting on the Blu-Ray, but coming from the inventors of video2000 this does not mean much.]]>Jan 30th 2006 11:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Jan 31st 2006 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Feb 3rd 2006 3:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/
I was an early adopter of DCC (Digital Compact Cassette). Horrid quality control. Although the PASC engineers did a great job with 1:4 data compression given the limitations of tape. The best at the time.

Marantz (owned by Philps at the time) made 2 high-end DCC units at the time. I ordered one. It took several exchanged units before I got a good one. Not good when you are behind a format that the management has decided is the next important strategic step for the company (and the industry). Marantz CD players, too. Horrid quality control. All under the ownership of Philips back then. Ownership has since changed. It's no wonder, really.

Regarding DCC, Philips got BASF (another dinosaur nowhere to be seen in consumer products since they sold their division) to make DCC tapes for them. I bought several and took a couple apart, to examine. Horrid quality control where the tape was spliced to the transparent plastic 'blank' leader. TDK, as usual, made the best DCC by far (but for a brief time only as they were testing the market) - both in design of casing (radically different and superior to Philips "stock" DCC casing, and also so superior quality of tape (magnetic material used - as usual the best, not 70's-era chromium dioxide) and splicing of tape which is (as typical) seamless and athe best in the industry by TDK.

It's no surprise when Philips announced the death of DCC a few years later. Meanwhile MiniDisc (a DCC competitor in the early days of this particular format war) still lives on, now as Hi-MD).

I ignored Philips (and associated brands) for many years.

Then, the Philips 170B LCD monitor I got recently. Look and feel is important, you say? Then why design monitors that CREAK every time you touch the sides of the monitor to position the LCD to your liking? Samsung: no such noises at all when moving their LCDs around. Might be due to the fact they actually think about the user-experience and perceptions of the consumer and consequently pay attention to construction rather than just bang 'em out, like Philips appears to be doing.

Why package products in such a way as to allow warped CDs to develop in the box, on the way to being delivered to the customer? That's how I got mine. Asked for a replacement CD. It was replaced. Look at how Samsung (and others) packages their LCDs and compare it to Philips. World of difference.

Why design tiny buttons on the unit facing the user, where you need your fingers on the back of the unit to prevent the unit from moving back every time you press a button? Samsung: no such issues as the buttons are on the underside of the unit and the functions of the buttons are printed clearly in icons in a different colour to the colour of the monitor (not embosssed in the same colour as the plastic) so you can see what you are doing clearly each time you touch a control and NOT have to prevent the monitor from moving every time you decide to touch a button (or even to turn the unit on and off).

One plus with the Philips 170B: physically tilting the monitor up/down with a very wide range and the ability to lay the stand flat against the back of the unit for easier transportation. Good.

But I can go on on the negatives, believe me. And that's just one real-world example of Philips inferiority next to the competition.

To me, Philips' name is worth very little in consumer electronics. Semiconductors and R&D and so on I have no doubts they do far better in and have great respect for their work and notably, some of their more prominent engineers. But consumer electronics, product design (actually making desirable products..) and marketing? Horrible. It's telling that 'new' brands like LG and Benq have better images in the public for consumer electronics than Philips (which might be the reason why you don't even see Philips-branded CD/DVD drives for PCs available in Australia, nor Philips-branded mobile phones (which they once sold in Australia and elsewhere). For a company with this type of history (and so many patents in these fields and so strong in semiconductors in these fields), it's shameful that the brand has been diluted so bad. The co-development with Benq on PC CD/DVD drives is just fine, but the consumer's perception of Philips is just dirt, I feel. Hence the Benq branding in most parts of the world..

That's my perception, anyway. I think the average Joe doesn't see them as a player or an innovator or a particularly desirable brand at all. Not next to so many others. There are reasons for that, and I have shared some of mine, and no doubt others have their own reasons for and against Philips.

The experiences with products dictate brand image, quite often far more than advertising can, IMO.

'Let's Make Things Better'.
Have you started yet, Philips? Branding and advertisements is more than just talk. Execute with real products that surpass expectations and you'll have to do less convincing by way of hollow corporate slogans.

(Yes, I know the hollow corporate slogan has changed to a new one now, but the point still stands).

:)]]>Feb 5th 2006 1:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/
What about Panasonic, which have bugs in everything they put out., Plasma TVs with no aspect ratio for HDTV signals and no burn-in prevention modes leaving the end-users with image retention issues, the early plasma models wheren't able top display a normal 720p signal thru the main VIDEO inputs {Not a problem with Philips' FlatTVs}, Or what about their rear projection DLPs and LCDs with lamps that last less than the estimate 6,000-hours?, Or what about their commercial front LCD projectors that caugh fire?, or more; SD card products that will not accept or display re-touched or altered photo files?, and let me not forget microwave ovens that have faulty magnetrons which result in exploding ovens? Should i continue describing how "wonderful" Panasonic is?

your rambling is completely boring and baseless. I'm 100% sure you are one of thouse people who are so cheap that instead of purchasing brand-new products from the authorized dealers you get the refurbished ones hoping to save a few dollars and expecting their performance and quality to be far more than a new one of the same type.

People like you bash a company the caliber of Philips under an alias are simply cowards, people like you lack the judgement and inteligence needed to substain such allegations.


Before talking, investigate the whole deal of the industry and take a few hours to study the history of the company., transitions in the industry have force Philips to sell a few assets they acquire thru out the years. Unfortunately the Marantz of today owned by Hitachi-Denon WILL NEVER be the same quality of the Old Philips manufacturing format. Thouse new Marantz products are the worst thing i've ever seen or heard.

Philips has been here and will be for many, many, many, years to come., the quality they put into their products is top notch.

Their MANY UNIQUE inventions over the years have proven to be far superior over the Japanese which tend to steal everything they can get their yellow hand on, change it a little, then claim it as their own and the entire world wows and bows over it.]]>Feb 5th 2006 2:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/30/the-engadget-interview-cesar-vohringer-chief-technology-office/Feb 5th 2006 2:38PM