Gordon-
The lead-free Panasonic mini disk player did indeed gain an 11% share in its market,
and without any other distinguishing characteristics from other players in the market
at that time. I received this confirmation from Panasonic when meeting with Dr.
Kenichiro Suetsugu, who is one of the leaders of Panasonic's lead-free activities.
As you may have also seen in a posting on this forum, Panasonic also has more than 60
other audio and video products on the market with the same "green leaf" logo you will
find on the mini disk player.
I am sure Tom Baggio, Panasonic, will be more than happy to address any further
questions following his presentation, "The Panasonic Mini Disk Player: Turning a New
Leaf in a Lead-Free Market," which will be presented during the Case Studies session
at IPCWorks.
Chris Jorgensen
IPC
>>> "Davy, Gordon" <[log in to unmask]> 10/06/99 04:19PM >>>
One of the arguments being used for getting the lead out of electronics is
that there is a consumer demand for green electronics. To support this
assertion, the story is told that Panasonic produced a leadfree minidisc
player and increased its market share by ten percentage points (or something
like that). I have been looking for corroboration of this story, so far
without success. I received a letter from Panasonic USA a few days ago
saying that they don't know what a minidisc player is.
I didn't either, but I found out from an enthusiast's page at
http://mdf1.tripod.com/. (I have copied a part of the text below.) As far as
I have been able to tell, Panasonic is not the originator of the minidisc
and introduced its leadfree version on a trial basis in Japan alone. I don't
know how the market share information was obtained, but given the frequency
with which this story is being told, it seems to me that it would be nice to
find out. I'd be particularly interested to find out how the increase in
market share was attributed to the leadfree feature and not to any other
distinguishing characteristic.
In case anyone is interested, they can go to the MiniDisc Community Page at
http://www.minidisc.org/ and do a search on Panasonic. You can read some
reviews of some Panasonic models, but you won't see any references to
leadfree. Panasonic seems not to be making much of a splash about being
first to market with this feature.
Excerpt from tripod:
The MiniDisc is the logical successor to tapes, just as the CD was to vinyl
records. It's important to note that the MiniDisc is primarily a recording
medium. It was not designed as a replacement for the CD, just the
decades-old cassette tape format. Confusion over the MiniDisc's intended
purpose plus early technical limitations and high cost made its initial
acceptance slow outside of Japan, but things have changed. In late 1997,
Sony (inventor of the MiniDisc [in 1992]) lowered its prices and the format
is now within the reach of most consumers. MiniDiscs are a digital recording
& playback format much smaller than a CD, yet capable of delivering
virtually identical sound quality. Each disc is encased in a protective
housing measuring roughly 7cm x 7cm x 5mm thick. In addition to the housing
is a plastic sleeve for each disc. Their compact size and durability makes
MDs ideal for use outside the home. A typical MiniDisc stores up to 74
minutes of stereo music and newer MDs can hold 80 minutes.
Gordon Davy
Northrop Grumman ESSS
Baltimore, MD
[log in to unmask]
410-993-7399
The author's views expressed here are not necessarily those of his employer.
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IPCWorks -October 25-28 featuring an International Summit on Lead-Free Electronic
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IPCWorks -October 25-28 featuring an International Summit on Lead-Free Electronic
Assemblies.
Please visit IPC's Center for Lead-Free Electronics Assembly
(http://www.leadfree.org ) for additional information.
For technical support contact Gayatri Sardeshpande [log in to unmask] or 847-790-5365.
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