Dave Horvath
9 Aug 2007 8:26
Osaka, Japan based manufacturer Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic brand of televisions and worlds largest supplier of plasma TVs has announced that it will revamp its policy about providing televisions at and larger than 37 inches in LCD. Previously, Matsushita had held fast to the belief that anything larger than 32 inches would be better served up as a plasma display. Subsequently, they've been losing out on a strong market growth while the demand for large LCD TVs has risen.
With this announcement, Matsushita has unveiled its latest 37-inch LCD television which will go on sale in Japan on September 1st. Price is estimated at 300,000 yen ($2,500) and is expected to be offered to oversees markets by as early as the end of this year.
At one time, plasma displays had dominated the large flat television market with cheaper prices and better picture quality. Recently however, LCD has gained a lot of ground by offering bigger models at cheaper prices thanks in part to companies introducing larger more cost-efficient production lines.
The global market for LCD sales was up 54% from last year to $13.6 billion for the period of January to March. In contrast, plasma TV sales have fallen 9% to $3.6 billion, according to DisplaySearch. With this type of change in market trends, its no wonder why Matsushita wanted a piece of that action.
Source:
Reuters