Facing stiff competition from expected places, such as Logitech with their Harmony brand remote and Universal Remote Control (URC), as well as some unexpected ones like, as in "There's an App for That," Philips announced it was exiting from the universal remote control market.
CE Pro says that the company had originally tried to move some of its operations to Asia, with the hopes of finding a buyer. That didn't seem to work. Last week, the company made the announcement that they were planning to shutter that portion of the company.
According to another CE Pro article, it doesn't seem like the company really tried that hard to unload the unit -- and doesn't seem to want to talk about it either.
Pronto had gained a lot of popularity over the years, especially among the home enthusiast crowd. One of the company's more popular releases is the TSU9400 handheld. In September 2010, Pronto launched the TSW9500, the company's first in-wall solution. Despite some good reviews, the company is still abandoning the label, telling CE Pro in an email that the Pronto brand is "too niche of a line for the Philips Consumer Lifestyle portfolio."
Philips plans to sell off Pronto inventory through November 29, 2010. After that, the company says it will still honor all warranty obligations.
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