Japan's Fair Trade Commission has conducted an investigation of Sharp and Hitachi Displays Ltd. in response to accusations that the two companies have unfairly fixed prices of LCD displays for DS Lites (in what AFX News Kaori Kaneko referred to as a "cartel"). The organization searched both companies' offices, presumably for physical evidence in the form of documentation or company communications about some kind of price fixing scheme. Nintendo spokesperson said that the company is "not aware of the reported allegations," and it is as of yet unknown who made the accusation.We kind of wonder who else it would be, if not someone at Nintendo. This is an antitrust issue in which prices are unfairly set for exactly one entity -- Nintendo. It had to be the one thing Nintendo decided to use two of.
[Via NeoGAF]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-28-2008 @ 11:25AM
Nigeria said...
Price fixing is illegal, but don't most companies come to an "agreed" price regarding most products. I'm not talking about the RRP. I mean, there comes a point where competing businesses see little point in undercutting each other and through an unspoken understanding they agree a common price.
I'm not being cynical, I'm just under the impression that every business acted this way.
Or am I wrong?
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2-28-2008 @ 5:32PM
Donald said...
It's a common practice, but that doesn't make it legal.
I'm just shocked Nintendo had enough clout to get an investigation opened.
2-28-2008 @ 2:51PM
ssuk said...
(Technically the DS uses two processors... One ARM7 and one ARM9 processor.) Ahem.
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3-01-2008 @ 8:28PM
hvnlysoldr said...
So that's why the screens are supposed to be worse than launch screens.
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