Bingo:

Shouldn't  Bang&Olufsen go back to a pricelevel like ten years back and not get stuck with the same prices, even when flat panels LCD or Plasma got cheaper and better every year?

I was wondering this morning what are the most expensive elements of the £6K BV7-32 (without the BS3)? My conclusion? The LCD technology - surely the most expensive element of the TV - which was researched, developed and produced by Samsung. I'm assuming, based on the price of the 32" Samsung, that this must be available as an OEM product for around £100/panel.

The other thing that concerns me is that television economies of scale have reduced significantly over the last four years, since the BV7-32 was released, yet the BV7-32 remains the same TV - without any new innovation - that was designed in 2004. The panel is, effectively, the only part that has improved....yet this was, as mentioned, researched, developed and produced by Samsung and is probably 10x cheaper than it was to purchase as an OEM product, than in 2004.

Yet the BV7-32 is still over £6K. I'm getting a headache thinking about the margins involved with this TV.

60% gross margin is the answer when most mainstream brands are working on 10/18%

the buying in price for the Samsung panel FOB is a good deal less than you suggest! nearer to $80

I think you'll find the tooling for making it, the design, R&D and marketing comes into play.  Huge amounts of investment for what is essentially a low-volume product, and this really bites in cost terms!

I'm certainly not defending the £6,800 price tag - but the margins are probably not as mind-boggling as you might think.  However, what do we think the 7-32 is ACTUALLY worth as a TV?  If it had no price tag - what would you be prepared to pay for it, realistically.

I feel a poll coming on.. shall i do one?  I can start it now! 

Lee 

I feel that a few critics are making the mistake of focusing too much on price, relative to a brand that is operating in the premium-to-luxury market. I can get a meal at Burger King, or I can go to El Bulli. I'd say that in spite of some weaknesses in the range, the B&O experience is still closer to El Bulli than to Burger King, and then it becomes somewhat unreasonable to be comparing their offering with the market averages -- after all, the integration, the premium service, the dealer network all costs money, as does the brand's insistence on production excellence.

That said - I do not want to be served anything at El Bulli that even reminds me of a Burger King experience, and on that score I feel that a few of B&O's offerings have been too transparently opportunistic, particularly in recent years. They should also make up their mind as to whether they are into audio/video experiences or selling furniture and interior decoration.

The urge to sell has been way too obviously on show for a luxury brand - at El Bulli the chef isn't out on the street shouting at passersby that there are tables available inside; and B&O's ads and newsletters have been mcuh too off-key in that respect (the recent Christmas "ad" for instance, stood out like a sore thumb in the magazines where it appeared.) Or look at the magalogue, which was supposed to be half catalogue and half brand stories/editorial -- already in the first magazine you saw the urge to catalogue up the whole thing.

Maybe there are too many products, forcing the company to spread resources too thin. As to the knocks the BV8 is getting -- I don't see any other TVs out there even close to the BV8 as a statement in its category, and I'm not just defending my own purchase of one. I love the set, have no trouble with the picture quality and bought it for what it is - I'm using it with my computer, for cable and for playback of movies, etc. Works perfectly -- the Nintendo Wii problem above should be easily solved with a Scart Splitter, reducing the number of cable runs to the set - just put the splitter where you have a scart connected to your STB or similar).

Really don't know what to think or say about this. It's been very interesting reading through everyone's comments and of course there are all sorts of opinions. I am not too worried about Torben, he'll be fine and be head hunted in no time. He'll probably be snapped up quite quickly. But, I do feel sad for B&O. Like most people who visit this site, I am a huge B&O enthusiast. Few companies produce products that effect people in the way that B&O products do.

I related to Lee's post a lot and share the same passion he obviously has; that many others have too. I have liked nice cars - my brief love affair with the Porsche for example, I have liked nice design laptops, I liked early Sony products like the Walkman and I liked designer clothes when I was going through my teens and early 20s but, nothing has every caught my attention, and held my attention as much as a B&O product has, and I suppose I am referring mainly to the 80s when I used to peer through the window of B&O dealers.

I have said it before on this forum and I'll say it again, it was a love affair for me. As Lee said, it is the whole experience you buy into with B&O, it's not just about the product. Having said that, many of their earlier products were so often groundbreaking. I mean, who would come up with the thought of a remote control that raises up towards you when you put it down? B&O. Who would come up with a system to link your lights, audio, video (and other devices) throughout your home? B&O. Who could conceive audio systems with sliding doors and raising clamps? B&O. Who would build a dedicated area with a dedicated listening team solely for the purpose of producing groundbreaking acoustics? B&O. The BeoCom 2 phone which I love, who on earth could come up with that bizarre shape and make it so appealing? B&O. I first saw it on the Graham Norton show, it had only been out a day! Of course I could go on and we all have our favoruite products from the range. But this is what B&O represented. They were totally unique. Of course the design process also incorporated beautiful brushed metals, red and green LEDs. The colours and typefaces used were all done with absolute perfection resulting in the perfect product, something that you would imagine not possible but B&O proved otherwise. They pushed boundaries where others would dare not go.

Their products were assembled by hand and quality tested in Denmark. When you bought a B&O product, you knew you were buying something truly outstanding in all areas. I love my B&O when it is turned off and I love it when it is turned on. I treat it all with dignity and the utmost respect, taking so much care to polish it often and make sure it never gets scratched. Honestly, I laugh at myself as I write because it's almost like stroking your partner's hair or adoring her in other ways!! (Not open to interpretation!) I don't know how B&O have achieved that effect with their products, all I know is that they have.

People often talk about Apple on this forum and while I agree that some of their products are interesting, particularly the iPhone, I can say that they hold my attention only for a brief period of time before I get bored and lose interest. Something is missing. But many of the older B&O products do not have that same effect on me. Again, to refer to Lee's post, I think its that when I am using anything B&O I feel special. The product makes me feel special. It's the whole package: the people who buy into the product, the shops and people that sell the products, the reputation the product has, the design of the product, its functionality, the fact that people are in awe of the product, it's timeless, it stands out from the crowd. I could go on.

Sadly, as I have commented on in other posts, like many people I do feel that the last decade has been really quite poor for new B&O products and many of them have not given me these feelings. I have to ask myself how reasonable it is for me to expect B&O to keep coming out with groundbreaking products? There are so many factors involved in producing such a product and many posts have considered these points, but I suppose the reason I have come to expect it is because B&O have previously done it! Could it be a classic case that they are becomming (or have become) a victim of their own success? Either way, credit where credit is due and for what B&O have acheived in the past I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for them. They have earnt it. I do so hope that this isn't the end for B&O. I will be so sad and feel a great loss. After all, and in the spirit of true romantic tragedy, it will be the end of a rich and long lasting love affair so there will be plenty of broken hearts.

Come on B&O, you've done it before and you can do it again. Keep suprising the world with your amazing innovations and design classics that you are renound for. I am with you all the way!

Good luck to you Torben on your new journey. Thank you for your excellent efforts with B&O to date. 

Simon. (In a somewhat romantic fantasy, far, far away in a distant BeoWorld!)

Sitting here, just south of the Equator, it is pretty shocking news tonight.

I too met the man a few years ago in Struer, and it feels as though I lost a very likeable relative. Torben was quite sincere in his care and love for Bang and Olufsen, the employees, and the products. I truly wish him well for the future, as most do.

I know the responsibility at the helm goes with the Captain's title, but I think Beocool has hit the actual target here referring to the stockholder's earnings loss, and subsequent voting reaction.