HDTV Almanac - Concerns Continue Over HDTV Inventories

[alfredpoor]

A report this week from DisplaySearch showed that the growth of global television shipments slowed in the third quarter of 2010, compared with the same period in 2009. Last year’s shipments over the prior year were up 26% for the third quarter, but this year, that figure shrank to just 9%. Weak sell-through at the [...]

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[Roger Halstead]

All the the figures in the are what I'd expect with the current state of technology and economy. Plasma losing ground, LCD gaining, and sluggish sales overall building inventory. IE...a good time to buy!

[JazzGuyy]

If you read the article, you will see that plasma is gaining ground, not losing. There has been a resurgence of plasma this year.

[alfredpoor]

Plasma has indeed been experiencing a "resurgence" this year, but that is primarily based on its price advantages in the larger sizes where the LCD HDTV makers tend to put their high-end features such as 3D and LED backlights. Even with these gains, however, plasma remains a tiny minority of the total television market with only about a 10% share. Even Panasonic, the bastion of plasma technology, now makes more money from LCD HDTVs than from plasma. I expect that plasma's total unit shipments will not increase significantly in the coming years, and as CRT models continue to be replaced by small LCDs in developing markets, the plasma share will continue to diminish.

Keep in mind that the Apple Mac has done just fine with its 5% share of the personal computer market, however, so I don't expect plasmas to go away completely any time soon.

Alfred