Never knew it was also a problem in other developed nations. Just imagine how bad this will be in countries which have lot of voltage fluctuations.

This story is so true; Many philips bulbs and even Ikea ones have not lasted more that a few to even less than an year. However the older CFL laster much longer. Maybe it is the complex electronics that is fragile to household voltage fluctuation.I am writing this from India where such is common, but living in an apartment which has still the best protection circuits. Assume that such is not there and for all developing countries , is it not mandatory that they are actually built to survive even the worst conditions to be environmentally effective in such vast markets.