According to a report released last week by market research firm Strategy Analytics, worldwide plasma and LCD television sales are expected to break the $100 billion barrier during 2007. The firm's "Digital Home Entertainment Devices Quarterly Report" said that flat panel sales will reach 73.7 million units by the end of the year and generate retail revenues of $104.9 billion, an increase of 17 percent since last year.
Why the surge? The growing popularity of HDTV is one reason, Strategy Analytics said, with HD-ready sets now accounting for 71 percent of flat panel sales.
I've got another explanation for the growth of flat panel sets. Well, two explanations, actually.
First: as price points erode, they become accessible to more consumers. Translation: if they're cheaper, more people buy them.
Secondly, the growth of the flat panel category (categories, plural?) is also driven by the manufacturers focusing on them, and scaling back their offerings of other technologies, such as micro display rear projection. Look around on retail sales floors and manufacturer websites and you will see a lot fewer DLP and LCD RP TVs this year. When you scale back one technology, and ramp up another, the success of the latter is what Marx would have called an "historical inevitability."
Sphere: Related Content
No comments:
Post a Comment