The plasma manufacturers are not doing well. With the recent boom in LCD screens, plasma manufacturers are fast loosing ground. The recent decline in plasma screen price tags will also see a revenue decline over the year.
Back in February (this year), unit sales recorded a $181 million. This is a 16% drop since February ‘06. According to iSuppli, the Plasma sales will top out to be $10.2 million.However, they predict that the figures will nose dive after topping out with serious competition from LCD industry. The revenue will start to fall. Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group said:
We’ll likely continue to see average prices continue to drop, but the market still has quite a bit of upside left to it.
The current industry boost is mostly due to the healthy competition between all the panel makers. More efficient manufacturing processes as well as lower costs for materials, are couple of other factors that have boosted the plasma industry.
The biggest manufacturers of the plasma screen like Matsushita and LG recorded pretty good sales figures during the first quarter of this year. Yet another screen maker Samsung SDI is going pretty strong.
As far as I know, various factors contribute to the rise or drop in sales. It’s not always about ratcheting up the screen size or attractive discounts. Plasma manufacturers are always finding new ways to add more features and charge higher prices.
Image Credits: Tsunami conference
