Vizio
Encyclopedia
Vizio is a privately held producer of consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...

, based in Irvine
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, USA. It was founded in October 2002 as V Inc. Vizio's major partner in the consumer electronics arena is AmTran Technology, a Taiwan-based OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...

/ODM
Original Design Manufacturer
An original design manufacturer is a company which designs and manufactures a product which is specified and eventually branded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the brand firm to produce without having to engage in the organization or running of a factory...

 that manufactures more than half of the televisions sold by Vizio and owns a 23% stake in the company. Vizio also manufactures its products in Mexico and China under agreements with ODM assemblers in those countries.

History

The company started in 2002 by William Wang
William Wang
- Early Life :Wang was born and raised in Taiwan, moved to Hawaii, US at the age of 13 and then to California at the age of 14. He attended the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1986.-Vizio:...

, Laynie Newsome and Ken Lowe with $600,000 and three employees. In 2006 the revenue was estimated around $700 million, and in 2007 it was estimated to have exceeded $2 billion. Vizio is known for aggressively pricing their HDTVs against major competitors.

On October 19, 2010, Vizio signed a 4-year contract to sponsor the college football's annual Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

 game in Pasadena, California
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...

, beginning with the 2011 Rose Bowl
2011 Rose Bowl
The 2011 Rose Bowl was the 97th edition of the annual bowl game played on January 1, 2011, as part of the 2010 college football season. Played in Pasadena, California, the TCU Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference defeated the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference. The Pasadena...

 presented by Vizio and ending with the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Game.

Products

Vizio currently primarily produces television sets. Vizio became the largest LCD TV seller (by volume) in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 for the second quarter of 2007, with 606,402 TVs sold, a 76% jump from the previous quarter. Its market share increased from 9.4% to 14.5%. In September 2008, Vizio started selling LCD TVs to Costco
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...

 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. In February 2009, Vizio announced they would stop production of plasma televisions. At the CES
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...

 2009, Vizio introduced a 240 Hz LED-backlit VF551XVT 55" LCD TV.

The company has come under some fire in the news for telling some owners of broken sets that their televisions cannot be repaired. If the set is past the 12-month factory warranty, Vizio advises owners to buy a replacement set from the company. In one case HD Guru came across Jeff Bartran's letter to Vizio CEO and founder William Wang complaining that the company's service department had deemed "unrepairable" his 13-and-a-half-month-old, high-end $1868 Vizio 55-inch LED LCD

Vizio has also begun production on other Audio/Video equipment such as High Definition Surround Sound Systems, LCD computer monitors and HDTV accessories. The company released its first Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 player in August 2009. At the beginning of 2011, it was stated that Vizio will extend its portfolio of electronics devices to mobile phones, with the name Via Phone, and tablets, named Via Tablet. The new phones and tablets are expected to be shown at 2011 Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...

.

External links

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