cartel
Latest
Philips, Samsung named in CRT-cartel suit
A whole bevy of companies have been named in a suit alleging that a CRT-cartel has been price-fixing the good-old tube. Companies claimed to be "in on the fix" include Philips, LG, Tatung, Matsushita, Samsung and Toshiba. The suit states that these companies banded together in the face of (precipitously) dropping demand for CRT-based sets to, you guessed it, keep prices artificially high. The plaintiff's lawyer cites "...unnatural and sustained price stability, as well as inexplicable increases in the prices of CRTs" as evidence of the shady goings-on stretching back to 1998. Ten years seems like a stretch to us, and we haven't exactly been keeping up with CRT prices; but we'll see how this one settles out.[Image courtesy of TheHarrowGroup]
Cartel's nostalgic handsfree system brings back the car phone
Yeah, we did a double take upon seeing the above image too, but believe it or not, that car phone is actually a new Bluetooth handsfree system. Developed by Cartel Mobile Solutions, this in-car setup can reportedly be installed into nearly any whip and will connect up with most every BT-enabled handset. From there, it mysteriously warps you back to the 1990s where you can dial on near-Chiclet sized buttons; once the haze clears, it ushers you back to modern day by enabling motorists to chat without holding anything up to their yapper. Users can opt to wire it to their vehicle's sound system or plug in an external speaker, and yes, that display you see does indeed handle Caller ID duties. Unfortunately, no price was readily apparent, but you can can bring that 1979 Buick of yours a few years closer to the 21st century by hitting Cartel up for purchasing details.[Thanks, Mickel]
NVIDIA, AMD in hot water for potential price fixing
Hoo boy, this could be a nasty one. You know how NVIDIA and AMD got slapped with those federal subpoenas a week ago? At the time, no one was sure what the DoJ was getting at, but apparently it wasn't just to look at the pretty graphics these firms churn out. Turns out NVIDIA, AMD and ATI have been accused of some antitrust shenanigans, with the DoJ alleging the firms "have engaged in a contract combination, trust or conspiracy, the effect of which was to raise the prices at which they sold graphics processing units and cards to artificially inflated levels." We're not so sure that the main argument -- that graphics card prices are almost always the same, reaching around $500 in the high end -- will hold a lot of water, given the specs pumping nature of the graphics card biz, but allegations of secret meetings between graphics card execs to discuss pricing could be a bit more damning. The DoJ is requesting documents as far back as 1990, so this could get messy. Intel has managed to steer clear of this whole cartel fiasco, thanks to its lack of a discrete graphics biz, but we're sure they're totally jealous right now -- perhaps they'll buy NVIDIA just to join in on the fun.[Thanks, Mack S.]
US DOJ investigates Mitsubishi's prior SRAM biz
It's been several years since Mitsubishi bailed out of the crowded SRAM business, but apparently the US Department of Justice still has a bone to pick with the mega corporation. After handing off its SRAM operations to Renesas -- "a joint venture founded by Mitsubishi and Hitachi" in 2003 -- the firm had seemingly bypassed the barrage of DOJ inquisitions which pinned Samsung with a $300 million fine and led the Korean FTC to examine the uber-low NAND memory prices that only Apple seemed to be receiving. Now the anti-trust agency has tagged its third victim regarding the US SRAM market, but has yet to explain what issue(s) piqued their interest. Mitsubishi, however, is seemingly already hanging its head in shame, as it made statements insinuating that unforeseen penalties could be faced, and noted that the probe could lead to "a possible adverse affect on the company's future business performance." While we aren't exactly sure what skeletons may still be in Mitsu's closet, we've certainly been forewarned that potentially harmful discoveries could be imminent.
