Philips is Coooool

Sony. Samsung. Nokia. Nikon. Olympus. Epson. HP.

Etc etc.

These companies always get lots of attention and “press” in the US, be it mainstream press, right on down to the lowly blog. Lots of the “press” is positive, or at least buzz generating. But one company that doesn’t get its due in the US just happens to be my most favouritist high tech, appliance, and electronics company: the Dutch company Philips.

I really like Philips, and here’s why.

1. They don’t really market or sell many of their product lines in the US 😉 (for instance, they make electric shavers, but in the US, they are sub-branded by Norelco)
   
2. They often “buck the trend” when it comes to big electronics companies. Case in point – when Sony was balking at the idea of ever daring to make an mp3 capable CD Discman, Philips created one and marketed it (the first “major” company to do so). Another example – Philips was the first major company to create a dual deck VHS VCR. And it didn’t even have macrovision built in 🙂
   
3. They don’t really depend on the US market for sales of their products
   
4. They’ve made some REALLY innovative stuff for the coffee market when companies like Krups and Braun were just concerned with making stuff look good (without really working good)
   
5. They are probably the only major electronics, appliance, and high tech company that doesn’t seem to place “digital rights management” at the top of their priority list. In other words, they’re giving consumers what they want, not what is dictated.
   
6. They don’t really care about the US market 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
   

Philips is always bringing out cool stuff, stuff that other major companies always seem to be “afraid” to release (Sony’s the worst – it seems their film and music subsidiaries rule the electronics side). A few years back, Philips had one of the few “proper temperature” thermal carafe coffee makers I knew of. They built a cellphone with a 30 day standby time. They marketed and sold the first dvd recorder / divx player / streaming deck device from any major electronics firm. Their HomeLab is bringing out all sorts of cool shit, like the Mirror TV.

And here’s the latest thing… that photo at the top? Flexible ePaper. How freakin’ cool is that.

Philips. Gotta love them.