Flat screens in the newsGood afternoon all , here a article from the National Post
https://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.asp?id=46E78540-58D0-459A-AE98-076CDCC3E3CA
The fight for the flat screen
There's no profit in conventional televisions: LCD, Plasma TVs are duking it out for your viewing dollar
Wojtek Dabrowski
Financial Post
Saturday, November 08, 2003
Best Buy vice-president Grant McTaggart says LCD TVs are "the trend, and we're seeing a dramatic ramp-up in the sales of these products."
Until recent years, innovation in television set technology could be compared to improvements in toilet paper -- the product has undergone minor adjustments to its look and feel but has remained essentially the same. That was before liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, appeared on the scene.
Already the dominant technology in the computer monitor market, LCDs seem poised to deliver the coup de grâce to the traditional cathode-ray tube TV, or CRT.
The TV market is undergoing a rapid evolution as flat screens increasingly replace traditional tubes. Right now, two formats -- LCD and plasma screens -- are jockeying for market share. Plasma TVs gained 50% in global sales since 2002; LCDs, however, registered a whopping 110% jump.
And while LCDs are smaller and more expensive than plasma TVs, analysts tip LCDs to eventually win the battle of the big screens.
Projections for growth in LCD TV sales are even more impressive: This year, worldwide sales are expected to reach four million units. That number will balloon to 46 million units by 2007, according to forecasts by market research firm IDC.
"That's incredibly aggressive growth, but it's only a portion of where it could go," says Bob O'Donnell, IDC's director of personal technology. Further, "the prices are going to plummet over the next couple of years."
According to IDC, the average cost of an LCD TV with a screen size of 30 to 39 inches is US$4,800, about 10 times that of an average CRT TV. In four years, the price is expected to be US$1,050. Despite these high prices, LCD TVs are grabbing market share and Sharp Corp. is emerging in top spot. In the second quarter, global LCD TV shipments jumped 162%, according to research firm DisplaySearch.
Traditional CRT televisions are still expected to outpace LCD sales by a wide margin over the next few years. However, manufacturers are encouraged enough by the market reception of home entertainment LCD technology to ramp up their investments.
Last week, Sony Corp., which has been criticized by some analysts for falling behind in new product introductions, said it plans to boost its TV business by entering a US$2-billion joint venture with rival Samsung Electronics Co. to make LCD panels.
Sony, which made huge gains when it introduced its Trinitron brand of CRT sets, is cutting its global CRT production lines to five from 17 by March 2007.
LCD TVs' attractive profit margins are even drawing PC makers. Last week, Dell Inc. announced the launch of a new line of 17-inch LCD TVs. It plans to roll out a 30-inch LCD TV in the U.S. later this month and add other models later.
Dell would not be entering the LCD TV market "unless we see excessive profit pools in that market," says Kevin Peesker, director of software and peripherals for Dell Canada Inc.
The increasing cash being poured into LCD panel production is likely to make the market less lucrative for the manufacturers, some analysts warn. Market leader Sharp especially may see its profits come under pressure.
Sharp president Katsuhiko Machida does not seem worried. "We are happy that [Sony and Samsung's] alliance will give further momentum to the LCD TV market," Mr. Machida said last week. "We see it as a tail wind rather than a threat."
But Sharp may be underestimating Sony's commitment to the sector -- at its peril. While Sony was a slow starter in the market, it is catching up fast. Sharp remained the biggest maker of LCD TVs for the ninth straight quarter in the three months ended June 30, but Sony has surpassed South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. (best known under the Lucky GoldStar brand) to slip into the second spot, DisplaySearch says in a report.
As various manufacturers battle for market share, LCD has to contend with flat-screen plasma technology in its bid to replace CRT TVs. Although more expansive and smaller, LCD TVs are said to beat plasma TVs on several fronts, including product life-span, durability and energy efficiency. As well, unlike plasma TVs, LCD TVs don't suffer from burn-in, the ghost image effect produced after a static picture remains on a screen for a period of time.
LCD TVs work by trapping a liquid crystal solution between two sheets of polarized glass. When a current moves through the crystals, they align so light cannot pass through. Each crystal then either blocks the light or lets it pass, based on the broadcast information. By contrast, plasma TVs use thousands of chambers filled with a mixture of neon and xenon -- the plasma. Coloured phosphors are behind these chambers. When energized, the plasma chambers give off invisible ultraviolet light. The light strikes the phosphors on the back glass of the display, making them produce visible light.
Retailers are seeing both technology categories growing fast. Plasma and LCD TV sales make up about 10% of revenue at Best Buy and Future Shop stores in Canada, says Grant McTaggart, vice-president of merchandising for consumer electronics at Best Buy Canada Ltd. LCD TVs are "the trend and we're seeing a dramatic ramp-up in the sales of these products," Mr. McTaggart says, adding he agrees with IDC's growth projections.
As LCD and plasma penetrate further into the television market, the old CRT technology is coming under growing price pressure. "There is no profit in conventional CRT business," says Carmine Cinerari, assistant vice-president of the entertainment and home and office division at Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd.
Still, there is one hurdle LCD TVs face: they perform much better on high-definition TV signals than standard broadcast content. In that sense, they're a bit ahead of the curve. "Standard definition on an LCD TV looks like crap, period," says IDC's Mr. O'Donnell.
It will take some time before HDTV becomes the broadcasting standard, Mr. O'Donnell adds.
The rollout of HDTV content is happening at a quicker pace in the United States than in Canada, but by 2007 Mr. O'Donnell expects it to be prevalent enough to make LCD technology truly stand out.
Mr. McTaggart agrees, saying that "as broadcasters catch up and start delivering more HD ... content on television, I think it's sort of a no-brainer that this is where it's headed pretty quickly."
Cheers
The Bridgejumper