Lite-On and Philips, both well-known names in their respective markets, will be teaming up to produce a join optical venture. Launching less than a month from now, the new venture will focus on manufacturing and marketing optical drives, which is exactly what Lite-On has made a name for themselves doing. The new company will be called “Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions”, and will first be operating in Europe:

PLDS will be effective in Europe from 1st of May 2007. Lite-On IT BV, the European head office of Lite-On IT Corporation, will continue to provide the same service to its customers under the new flag of PLDS. The company will handle sales, marketing, service, finance and logistics of Optical Disc Drives (ODD). PLDS will continue to sell ODD under the brand names Lite-On and HP (under exclusive license from Hewlett-Packard).
Lite-On made a big name for themselves among the enthusiast crowd by often making drives available with newer featuresets considerably cheaper than drives from the big names, even if they were built from the same OEM units. Will the new company keep it up?