Hitachi, Sharp raided on DS screen price fixing suspicions

Price fixing isn't ever fun -- unless you're the company doing it and expect to get away with it, and then it's like a total blast, dude. But hopefully that isn't actually the case with Sharp and Hitachi, whose offices were apparently raided by the Japanese Fair Trade Commission on suspicion of fixing display prices for the DS; Nintendo's throw its hands up in the air exclaiming that it was unaware of the supposed screen cartel, and something else about just when they thought were out, they got pulled back in.

Update: A spokesperson for Nintendo of America commented that "The Fair Trade Commission in Japan conducted on the spot investigations with Sharp and Hitachi Displays in Japan with the suspicion that these two companies formed a cartel regarding the prices of LCDs that they sold to Nintendo. At this point in time, Nintendo is not in a position to make any comments on this, except to confirm that Nintendo itself is not being investigated by the FTC."

[derX @ Feb 28th 2008 2:42AM]

Wait, I'm not getting that last sentence. Is there something I'm missing?

Perhaps, this is my sign to go to bed.

[Vesh @ Feb 28th 2008 2:55AM]

"Nintendo's throw its hands up in the air exclaiming that it was unaware of the supposed screen cartel, and something else about just when they think were out, they got pulled back in." - Ryan Block

Hehe, it appears that Mr. Block, in fact, may be the one in need of the rest! All this blogging is tiring, get some sleep so you can fill us in on all the good stuff tomorrow (er...I guess later today).

[tiuk @ Feb 28th 2008 3:04AM]

Glad I'm not the only confused one.

[Justin @ Feb 28th 2008 3:07AM]

or... we're all crazeryiers!

[Ryan Block @ Feb 28th 2008 3:08AM]

Watch The Godfather series sometime, they're classics.

[caramelzappa @ Feb 28th 2008 3:20AM]

It's an awesome Godfather reference. As Ryan said, watch the series, they're really great films.

[Leo M. @ Feb 28th 2008 3:22AM]

ahahah, good, I felt kind of stupid for not understanding that last sentence...glad I'm not the only one

[sw @ Feb 28th 2008 3:23AM]

indeed...Michael Corleone!

[theletterj @ Feb 28th 2008 10:43AM]

Wrong, Godfather 3 sucked pretty hard. The first two were classics though.

[theletterj @ Feb 28th 2008 10:44AM]

Wrong, Godfather 3 sucked pretty hard. The first two were classics though.

[fyusupov @ Feb 28th 2008 3:23AM]

Good night!

[Kurian @ Feb 28th 2008 3:43AM]

Someone's trying to act normal while intoxicated...

[Jesse S @ Feb 28th 2008 4:07AM]

Why is it that all the companies that make good products are the ones getting investigated? (Samsung, for example.)

[guerilla779 @ Feb 28th 2008 9:19AM]

dude samsung is a totally different case all together ..if it was located in any other country most probably it would have been shut down a long time back.


they have cases of murder (2 execs) , slush funds and god knows what all.

[tekdroid @ Feb 28th 2008 6:43AM]

investigating the broke has poor return on investment.

[Danny @ Feb 28th 2008 4:53AM]

Please correct me if i'm wrong butisn't nintendo actually the one benefiting from this investigation? It's sharp and hiatchi who are keeping the prices up for nintendo to pay. And once the prices reflect the real value the ds prduction costs go down.

[m-p{3} @ Feb 28th 2008 8:11AM]

Not really. It is Sharp & Hitachi who takes benefit of this situation. Nintendo will sell the hardware at cost price + profit margin, so they don't really absorb the additionnal costs, the consumer does. The only change this will occur is a low Nintendo DS price, and the winner are going to be the consumer, and Nintendo increased sales.

[Verbatim9 @ Feb 28th 2008 8:30AM]

@Danny -- finally a comment that makes some sense.

To be more specific, *both* Nintendo and the consumer are hurt by such collusion. A decrease in the cost of inputs means that the producer can increase their profits by increasing the number they produce, and selling them at a lower price. Nintendo makes more profit, consumers get the product for less.

[Killer @ Feb 28th 2008 10:15AM]

You are all assuming the cost difference is enough to lower the cost to the consumer. I think Nintnedo just makes more of a profit.

[Peter S. @ Feb 28th 2008 2:17PM]

Well, in due time, the DS price will lower. Maybe not immediately, but decreased screen costs are a factor for the eventual price lowering of the DS.

[Pedo Bear @ Feb 28th 2008 2:41PM]

Good I want the DS price to go down I had my black DS lite stolen out of my car. I wanted to get a new one but there to much money.

[jason @ Mar 1st 2008 11:00PM]

"just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in." -
That was from Goodfellas, not Godfather, wasn'tit?