NeoGAF

Is this why the DS has had no price drops?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aegh15zgIoys

Sharp, Hitachi Displays Probed by Japan's Fair-Trade Regulator

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Sharp Corp. and a Hitachi Ltd. display unit said they were probed by Japan's antitrust regulator, after Kyodo News reported the companies were raided on suspicion of price-fixing for liquid-crystal displays used in game players.

The Fair Trade Commission searched offices and outlets of the companies today, Kyodo News reported, without saying where it got the information. The LCDs were used in Nintendo Co.'s DS game player, Kyodo said.

Hitachi Displays Ltd.'s Tokyo-based spokesman Masayuki Ishibashi and Sharp's Osaka-based spokesman Akinori Shibuya declined to comment beyond saying their respective companies were under investigation. Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said he couldn't immediately comment on the report, while officials at the commission weren't available.

Sharp is Japan's largest maker of liquid-crystal displays. The handheld DS was the best-selling video-game system in the U.S. last year, with almost 8.5 million sets sold, Nintendo said on Jan. 17, citing data from researcher NPD Group Inc.

The DS has had no price drops because it doesn't need price drops to continue selling. :lol

And now that Nintendo owns Japan, this betrayal will not go unpunished.

Uh oh. Fucking with papa Nintendo was a bad move, Hitachi and Sharp. You know you're going to be making components for them more or less indefinitely - they've got the time to make the percentage you'll have to concede to save face for this indiscretion worth more than it ever made for you in the first place.