Thomson leaves consumer electronics altogether

It's a sad day indeed for Thomson fanboys worldwide, as the storied French corporation has announced plans to exit the consumer electronics industry altogether in an effort to refocus its resources on B2B digital video services. Following completion of the sale of its remaining non-European AV businesses to Audiovox on December 31st (which, as you'll recall, already bought the RCA brand and accessories division), Thomson will no longer have a presence on domestic or foreign retail shelves, and will also be short €30 million ($42.5 million) as a result of yesterday's announcement to shutter its AVA Europe operations. So here's to you, Thomson: we can't honestly say that we ever got into any of your various products, but as with any other departing member of our loving CE family, you'll be missed.

Update: After speaking with a Thomson rep, it seems inaccurate to state that the company is getting out of consumer electronics altogether, when in fact they do continue to sell home telephones. Therefore, please note that this is just an exit from the company's various A / V businesses.

[Via generationmp3]

[Richard John @ Oct 18th 2007 10:35AM]

This is slightly off topic, but I'm sure I heard something a few years ago that Philips would be withdrawing from the consumer electronics market. s this actually happening, or did I dream it?

[Satish @ Oct 18th 2007 10:18AM]

Will Miss you Thomson in CE Market..
as a former employee of Thomson Grass Valley.. I feel damn sad about this. Thomson had some good stuff in its' basket. ( Patent issues for mp3) ,RCA...
remember ppl still call those cables for home video networking as RCA cables...

sigh..

[John B @ Oct 18th 2007 10:47AM]

Interesting. Thompson Consumer Electronics has a lot of engineers and support personnel in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which is only 30 miles from me. I believe that they also do manufacturing. I know that Sony has several manufacturing plants in PA. I would love to see RCA purchased by a private equity firm so that "America" comes back not only into what was the Radio Corporation of America but also see the U.S. come back into the electronics marketplace. Probably just a pipe dream, though. :(

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 18th 2007 10:45PM]

Glad to see someone get it right. The name is THOMpSON not thomSON


http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=thompson+electronics&btnG=Google+Search

[Evan @ Oct 18th 2007 11:01AM]

Wow, those brands dropped off the face of the planet! Last century I had a Thomson monitor, an RCA VCR, and an RCA television, but I haven't seen Thomson or RCA for years.

[Kerry Saylor @ Oct 18th 2007 11:16AM]

Good riddance Thomson Consumer Electronics!! You customer service sucked, and your products lacked the quality control levels that we have come to expect.

Hopefully the new owners can make up for the mess you made....


Just my 2 cents worth - no need to flame! :)

[asshat @ Oct 18th 2007 5:19PM]

The first failure clue, french owned!
France is great for visiting the sites, not much more. 100yrs ago they wouldnt be called france, lacking any viable military all hope for future tax revenue in the Eiffel Tower.

[Ryan @ Oct 18th 2007 8:28PM]

Dang! Thompson made the GE branded DECT 6.0 Cell Fusion phone I was planning to get. Probably not a good idea anymore. Sad. It was the only setup like it.

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 18th 2007 10:49PM]

thomSON is not THOMpSON the makers of RCA, they are two different companies. Engadget, are you sure this article is legit?


thomSON is a French Company not affiliated with RCA
http://www.thomson.net/EN/Home/MiniSites/BAP/

THOMpSON is the parent company of RCA
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=thomPson+electronics&btnG=Search

[mrjamela @ Oct 18th 2007 11:41PM]

Actually you are quite mistaken.

I'm an ex-Thomson employee and they DO own RCA.

The article is correct. Click on the Thomson press release.

[James Grinter @ Oct 19th 2007 8:35AM]

Thompson is just a very common spelling error.

http://home.rca.com/en-US/RCA-Brand.html shows that they are indeed currently a brand of Thomson Inc., a subsidiary of Thomson SA (and the press release makes it clear that, in the USA at least, that had already been licensed to Audiovox.)

Frankly their consumer products in the UK market were always a little, erm, lacking in style (demonstrated very well, I think, by the Scenium "styling" applied to the UK's one and only TiVo model.)
Who will end up with custody of the Grundig brand, now?

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Oct 19th 2007 10:45AM]

Dear Capital Hungry Corporations,

Please do not bastardize Grundig, it's my last bastion of hope for great HIGH QUALITY radios.


Sincerely,
THE CAPS LOCK KEY

[Stanley Olson @ Dec 6th 2007 3:33PM]

I bought a 6.o phone at Wal-Mart about3 months ago, and not very happy with it. Looks good, and generally ok, except for volume. Can hardly hear the ring and also most of the time can hardly hear the voice on the end of the line. I wish I had waited until I got my Consumers Report magazine, which rated the Thomson (under the GE name), at the very bottom of the list. Buyer Beware!!