Harman Kardon 2008 Annual Report Download - page 20

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2
provide high-quality products to the sound reinforcement, music instrument support and broadcast and
recording segments of the professional audio market. Our Professional products are marketed worldwide
under brand names including JBL Professional, AKG, Crown, Soundcraft, Lexicon, DigiTech, dbx and
Studer.
We offer complete systems solutions for professional installations and users around the world. Our
products can be linked by our HiQnetTM network protocol providing a central digital network for audio
professionals to control different aspects of a complex system. We believe that we are uniquely equipped
to provide turnkey systems solutions for professional audio applications that offer the customer improved
performance, reliability, ease of installation and reduced cost.
Our results of operations depend on our sales of audio products and electronic systems in the automotive,
consumer and professional markets. Our products are sold worldwide, with the largest markets being the
United States and Germany. A significant portion of our net sales are denominated in Euros.
We believe growth opportunities continue to exist with automotive manufacturers through an increase in
the number of models offering our audio, navigation and infotainment systems, supply agreements with
additional automakers, increases in per-vehicle content through the provision of integrated infotainment
and premium branded audio systems, higher penetration levels of audio and infotainment systems within
existing models and providing systems that will include additional functionality such as driver assist
safety measures. We believe growth opportunities exist in the consumer electronics market due to
expansion in emerging markets, such as China, India and Russia, and through opportunities to leverage
brand strength in growing categories in home installations. We also believe growth opportunities exist in
the professional markets as we expect our HiQnet system protocol to allow us to capitalize on these
opportunities as this technology simplifies the interaction of our products and provides users with an
incentive to purchase complete HiQnet compatible systems.
Harman International Industries, Incorporated was incorporated in Delaware in 1980.
Products
Automotive
We believe that we are a leader in developing and manufacturing high-quality, high fidelity, digitally-
integrated infotainment systems and premium branded audio systems for automobiles.
The automotive market is currently experiencing strong demand for information and entertainment in the
car. We have developed leading technical competencies to address this demand. Our infotainment
systems are a combination of information and entertainment components that may include or control GPS
navigation, traffic information, voice-activated telephone and climate control, rear seat entertainment,
wireless Internet access, hard disk recording, MP3 playback and a high-end branded audio system. In
fiscal 2008, we supplied infotainment systems for vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz, BMW,
Porsche, Audi, Hyundai, Chrysler and SsangYong Motor. Our business objective is to maintain our
leadership position in the infotainment business.
We continue to leverage our expertise in the design and manufacture of premium branded audio systems,
as well as the reputation for quality associated with our JBL, Infinity, Harman/Kardon, Mark Levinson