Jan 14th - Toshiba To Tap Mid-Income Africa, Mid-East Consumers

Toshiba Corp. said Thursday it will bring its LCD TVs designed for emerging market economies to African and Middle Eastern viewers.

Toshiba starts producing Power TVs in Egypt.

The Power TV series is aimed at viewers in regions with poor airwave reception. The TVs in the line include functions that prevent broadcast glitches.

Toshiba will start producing Power TVs in Egypt in March, targeting 2 million units a year in fiscal 2013. About a third of them will be marketed in Egypt, with the rest shipped to other African countries and the Middle East.

Toshiba produces Power TVs at its Indonesian factory for African and Middle Eastern consumers.

The Egyptian factory will also produce LCD panels. For 32-inch televisions, costs will be 5% lower than when panels are imported. A 32-inch model will be available starting at around 360 dollars.

South Korean manufacturers dominate the LCD TV market in Africa and the Middle East, with a share close to 50%. Toshiba aims to tap the growing number of middle-class consumers in those regions with annual incomes of 3,000 dollars or more, in hopes of beefing up its market share from the current 9% to 20% in fiscal 2013.