After a dramatic rise to the top of the LCD TV market last summer, Vizio seemed to have gotten a taste of reality as it settled back down to the No. 3 spot through the end of the 2007.
But it appears Vizio is ratcheting up the price pressure again on its closest competitors, according to new figures from iSuppli, a market research firm that monitors the LCD industry.
For the first quarter of 2008, the top vendors' share of unit shipments, led by Samsung with 13.9 percent of units shipped, and followed by Sony (13.7 percent) and Vizio (13.5 percent), remain separated by 0.3 of a percentage point. The three were separated by 1.8 points in the fourth quarter of last year.
As the economy worsens, and consumers have less discretionary income for luxury purchases like a flat-panel TV, lower-priced sets are going to sell better. Vizio is in a better position than most in its industry to do that because of its distribution channels, which are mainly bargain-friendly outlets like club stores, and Wal-Mart Stores, and because it saves money by not building and maintaining multi-billion-dollar fabs, or panel manufacturing plants. Instead, it buys its panels from those that do.
Both Sony and Samsung have already responded to Vizio's price pressure with lower-cost LCD TVs of their own. But those TV manufacturers that haven't responded similarly to the Vizio threat are finding the North American flat-panel market an increasingly difficult place to do business.
Philips was the first to buckle under the pressure, announcing last month that it would no longer make or distribute its own TVs in North America. Instead, it arranged for low-cost TV vendor Funai to do so on its behalf.
Shipments of LCD TVs were down across the board in the first quarter, reaching 5.6 million units, versus the same quarter a year ago when 7.96 million LCD TVs shipped, iSuppli said. Although the first quarter is always the weakest for the industry, it appears the second quarter may not fare much better.
iSuppli says unit shipments in North America are expected to grow just 26.6 percent overall this year, to 27.4 million units. That's a far cry from the 88.8 percent growth in 2007 and the 92.6 percent seen in 2006.
If you've been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to own the thinnest flat-panel LCD TV, now's your chance.
Hitachi's 1.5 LCDs are just that thick.
(Credit: Hitachi)Though already available in Asia, the 1.5-inch-thick TVs from Hitachi are now available in the U.S. The sets come in three different screen sizes, 32 inches, 37 inches, and 42 inches.
One of the secrets, by the way, of how Hitachi managed to slim down the TVs so much is that they took out the ATSC tuner. And although it is definitely the thinnest LCD TV, it's downright bloated when compared to Sony's impossibly thin OLED TV, which measures a mere 3 millimeters thick.
See my colleague David Katzmaier's take on the latest TV from Hitachi here.
Though CRT monitors have been made practically obsolete for consumers by the LCD industry, a few industries--photography/visual design/filmmaking--still cling to them for their nonpareil color quality.
Hewlett-Packard is trying to loosen their grip on those clunky desktop space-hoggers by offering a liquid crystal display for visual artist types that boasts the ability to show 1 billion colors for "one quarter" of the cost of other LCD monitors in this category.
At the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas on Monday, Todd Bradley, vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, announced that HP has teamed up with DreamWorks for a technology it calls DreamColor.
It will offer 30-bit color using LED-backlighting technology on a widescreen display that will work with a Mac or PC--not just HP products. The displays are intended to keep colors consistent throughout the creative process: from a display on a workstation to film and/or to print. Printers with DreamColor technology were introduced last year.
HP says it's only a "preview" announcement, which means it's not announcing pricing yet. The displays are scheduled to start shipping this summer.
Sony might be gaining share in the LCD TV market, but the overall television segment of Sony Electronics is still losing money.
(Credit:
Target)
On Tuesday, Sony announced a change to top management intended to reverse its sagging TV profits. The head of Sony's audio business, Hiroshi Yoshioka, has been tapped to replace Takashi Fukuda, who has run the TV business, the Wall Street Journal reported. The change takes affect Tuesday.
Though Sony has aggressively stepped up its TV shipments recently--it shipped the most LCD TVs worldwide for the last quarter of 2007--profits are a different story. The company said earlier this year it did not expect to post a profit for the fiscal year that ended Monday.
Sony's TV unit has struggled over the last year, but its electronic business has improved overall. The head of its U.S. electronics business, Stan Glasgow, said last month that the holiday sales period in late 2007 was the company's best ever.
Many of the top-tier TV manufacturers were caught off-guard by upstart LCD TV brands like Vizio and Westinghouse, which quickly drove down the costs of LCD sets in 2007 by selling through club stores like Costco and Sam's Club.
In response, Sony, which has traditionally branded itself as a high-end electronics seller, began cautiously testing out LCD models made specifically for discount retailers Wal-Mart Stores and Target last summer. The lower-priced and more basic-featured models were a smashing success, according to Glasgow, and Sony has increased the number of models it offers through both retail outlets.
Even though news sites are touting the eventual release of new HDTV technologies and calling them the saviors we've been waiting for, the simple fact is they're not anywhere close. And to make matters worse, many of these are nothing more than proofs of concept that have no marketability. In other words, don't start trashing your plasmas and LCDs just yet because they'll be around for quite a while.
On Monday, I had the opportunity to interview Bob Perry, Panasonic's senior vice president for its display division, for the next episode of my CNET Digital Home podcast. During the interview, I asked him what the future of the HDTV market looks like and what we should expect.
Much to my chagrin and certainly some of those who will listen to the interview, he said that the chances of a new HDTV technology hitting store shelves anytime soon are slim. According to Perry, we're still at least a decade away from the next real HDTV technology that could actually supplant LCDs and to a lesser extent, plasmas.
Suffice it to say, it's a sad day for those of us who want to see the next big thing.
... Read moreDon Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Update:This blog has been corrected to reflect that the total flat-panel display business value represents global sales.
SAN DIEGO--This year could be a turning point for the flat-panel TV industry, as it decides how it will face the dual threats of market saturation and rapidly declining prices.
The total flat-panel display business in the worldwide in 2007 was $102 billion, up from $11 billion in 1998, according to DisplaySearch. And while that growth is encouraging, it's not necessarily good news for all sectors of the market.
One of the success stories is the rise of LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions, which finally overtook CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs in units shipped in 2007 for the first time ever. Other good news for the industry: the prices of the actual panels coming out of the factories owned by Sharp, Samsung, and others, were actually up last year, something that hadn't happened since early 2003, according to DisplaySearch. Panel suppliers engineered that by creating a shortage through carefully controlled inventory.
But the picture for the year ahead isn't as rosy for everyone.
Second-tier TV brands like Westinghouse continue to drive down prices for LCD TVs, which is good for consumers, not so good for retailers and other TV makers.
(Credit: Westinghouse)"It's going to be a tough year for (original equipment manufacturers), brands, and retailers," Ross Young, president and founder of DisplaySearch, said here at the U.S. Flat Panel Display conference put on by his firm.
That's principally because the average selling price of flat-panel televisions in retail stores continue to drop, thanks to second- and third-tier TV makers that are driving down prices, as well as the growing power of Wal-Mart Stores and other mass-market retailers in the consumer electronics space.
Wal-Mart in particular is positioning itself as a place to buy traditional top-tier brands, not just cheap imports. It's expanding all consumer electronics offerings in its stores this coming year. Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler, who follows the CE industry, called it "a well-coordinated set-up" that displays and promotes brands like Samsung and Sony.
"Clearly, there's the beginning of a market-wide shift here, which for specialty retailers, doesn't bode all that well," Fassler said.
Sony first started offering specific models of its LCD TVs to Wal-Mart (and also to Target) midway through 2007 on a limited basis. Last week, Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics in the U.S., told CNET News.com that his company would be expanding the number of TV models in the deal with Wal-Mart by 40 percent.
There seems to be a number of shifts occuring, including one back toward the established brands like Sony, Sharp, and Samsung, and away from the smaller players.
"This could be a shake out year in LCD TV market," DisplaySearch's Young said.
More than others, he added, it will probably help Sony in particular. "They're well positioned in the high end of market, and well positioned to take lots of share. They're making a lot of aggressive moves with OEMs, which makes things more difficult for second and third tiers."
The signs are already pointing that direction. After a poor showing in the first half of 2007, Sony rebounded in a major way in the most recent holiday season and despite its tradition of charging higher prices than its competitors, came away in the fourth quarter of 2007 as the top supplier of LCD TVs.
SAN FRANCISCO--Though times may be tough for other TV manufacturers, Sony says it isn't feeling a thing yet in its electronics division here in the U.S.
At a press briefing with reporters here Wednesday evening, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow said that despite indications of a weakening U.S. economy, all is well with the Japanese electronics giant.
"I don't think consumers buying consumer electronics yet feel that," Glasgow said. "Sony did particularly well during the holidays. It was the best in the history of Sony Electronics in the U.S."
A boon to Sony's bottom line has been the growth of its Sony Style stores, both brick-and-mortar outlets, and its online presence. Glasgow said Sony Style experienced a 34 percent growth in sales over the 2007 holiday shopping season.
Another high point was its TV business. According to data collected by market research company DisplaySearch, Sony lead all LCD TV manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2007 with 12.3 percent of worldwide shipments, considered a major comeback for the company.
One of the things that appeared to help Sony in 2007 was its expansion of specific television models made to sell in Wal-Mart Stores and Target. Glasgow said the company is expanding that commitment to supplying those retailers with 40 percent more variety of TV models this year.
Glasgow kept the gloating to a minimum, however, when it came to Blu-ray's recent victory in the format spat with HD DVD. As one of the leading investors and supporters of Blu-ray, Sony does see prices dropping on standalone Blu-ray players over the next couple years, but it will be 2009 before a $199 unit becomes a reality, he said. Price drops will happen, but it needs to be done in an orderly fashion, Glasgow said.
"I don't see any reason to do it stupidly and lose money," he said.
In the meantime, Sony is "in discussions" with a number of partners in order to get them on the Blu-ray bandwagon. An Microsoft Xbox 360 console with Blu-ray is certainly "a possibility," he said.
But perish the thought that Sony will take trade-ins of now-obsolete HD DVD players. "Sony is not going to make up for Toshiba's sins," Glasgow said emphatically.
Other tidbits gleaned from the evening:
- Though 11-inch OLEDs are the largest size Sony is offering right now, bigger screen sizes are on the way--some day. But there are currently limits on exactly how big Sony can make them right now. Glasgow specifically said that there are major obstacles (mostly to do with the physics of creating the panels) to make OLED screens larger than 30 inches. "It would take another significant investment to get bigger than that," he said.
- Sony is apparently unfazed by Amazon.com's recent entrance into the electronic book reader market. "The Kindle has helped," Glasgow said. "I think the (Sony) Reader market needed a boost. We're selling more since the Kindle came to market."
Pioneer plans to let someone else make its plasma TV panels, according to several reports.
Reuters reported Tuesday that the company will cease production of its own plasma panels because that portion of its business continues to lose money. The company will still sell plasma sets, but plans to get its plasma panels from Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, the Nikkei business daily reported. Panasonic is the biggest plasma TV vendor in the world, shipping nearly 40 percent of all plasma displays, while Pioneer ranks fifth, shipping just over 6 percent of plasmas worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to DisplaySearch.
(Credit:
Pioneer)
So far, Pioneer isn't confirming or denying the reports ("Our headquarters are planning to publicly discuss our TV strategy at the end of this week, so we'll have no information until then," said a spokesperson), but it doesn't look good.
As CNET colleague and resident TV expert David Katzmaier put it, this news amounts to "a black day for black levels."
Pioneer has been repositioning its plasma business over the last few years as a premium brand, most recently pushing its "Kuro" technology, which emphasizes deep black levels and contrast, at CES 2007 and 2008. CNET Reviews ranked the 50-inch plasma from Pioneer as "the best it's ever tested" last year.
Though it appears Pioneer will continue to sell plasmas sets, if it's not making the panels, it seems unlikely that it will prolong the life of its Kuro technology. Pioneer is, however, already planning to buy liquid crystal display panels from Sharp in order to start selling LCD TVs. LCD sets have quickly become the fastest-growing TV technology, displacing traditional cathode-ray tube sets, as well as rear-projection and plasma.
(Credit:
TigerDirect)
It's rare to see a 22-inch LCD for less than $200, so I'm quite excited to find the Acer AL2216WBD on sale for just $179.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate). This is a new unit, not a refurb, and it has a stellar pedigree.
For starters, check out some of the specs: a 700:1 contrast ratio, 5 milliseconds refresh time (ideal for games and movies), and DVI and VGA inputs. Better still, the AL2216WBD earned a five-star rating from more than 200 TigerDirect customers and a 7.1/10 from CNET. (Readers gave it an even better score: 8/10.)
In short, this is one sweet monitor, and if you don't mind waiting on a rebate, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better deal. I've got a similar model, the AL2223W, staring me in the face at this very moment, and I absolutely love it. The rebate deal ends January 31, but I'm pretty sure this baby will sell out before then. Don't wait.
On Tuesday, we wrote that the 1998 Mitsubishi Pedion was the thinnest notebook ever.
On Thursday, we learned that isn't the case, thanks to Jorge Pullin, at the Horace Hearne Jr. Institute for Theoretical Physics at Louisiana State University.
Back in the first years of the decade, Sharp released the Muramasas. Measuring 0.54 inch thick, the Actius MM10 Muramasa notebook, which hit shelves in 2003, came with a 1GHz Crusoe processor from Transmeta, 256MB of memory, a 15GB hard drive and a built-in Wi-Fi module. It ran 2.5 hours on a regular battery, and cost $1,499. Sharp also had a Mebius notebook in the Muramasa family that measured 0.65 inch thick. Jorge bought the Mebius.
There might be one or thinner notebooks out there, but not many. If you know of one, let us know. The Muramasas (named after a renowned sword smith) were quite attractive. They also had a definite gap over the Pedion (just over 0.72 inch) and the MacBook Air (at 0.76 inch) in thinness. The MM10 weighed 2.1 pounds, less than the 3-pound MacBook Air.
Too bad about the Transmeta processors, though.
We back in 2002 and 2003, but completely forgot about it.
Sharp has had a good number of firsts and near-firsts. It came out with the first , for instance, as well as one of the first cell phones with a camera. That came out in 2000. (Philippe Kahn claimed he invented the cell phone camera, but the theory has been debunked.) Japanese colleagues also say that the company's TV phones are quite popular because of the screen quality. But people forget about them in the U.S. sometimes.
And, like a lot of Japanese companies, it didn't start out in computers. Sharp's first product was a mechanical pencil that came out in 1915.
