31 Aug 2006
Dubai: The television market is set for some fine-tuning as innovative flat-screen technologies jostle for the top spot.
However, the rumbling battle between liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma TVs is sure to make obsolete the current standard of cathode ray tube (CRT) televisions, the big and bulky workhorses used over the past three decades.
Brad Bennett, business development manager for Plug-Ins Electronix in Dubai, said plasma TVs have the current price edge but he favours LCD screens over the longer term.
"Large screen plasmas are outselling LCDs purely from a price perspective," Bennett said. Plasma TVs perform better with a picture's response time, or the time a screen updates itself with new images. They also cost less inch for inch, than LCD TV's.
He said sports fans were the primary consumers of flat-screen plasma models sized 42 inches and above.
However, LCD televisions had a definite advantage over picture clarity, and their prices would come down in the next few years, Bennett said.
"I don't' see plasmas completely fading out of the market in the next three to five years, but I do see LCDs dominating purely because pricing is going to come down more and more," he said.
The growth in 32 and 40-inch LCD televisions is mainly attributable to replacement buys, or people buying new flatscreen monitors to replace clumsy old CRT televisions.
To capitalise on this growth, Taiwan-based BenQ has just unveiled four new LCD monitors ranging from 26 to 42-inch.
BenQ has set a target of increasing its market share from 8 to 12 per cent in the UAE and from 12 to 17 per cent in Saudi Arabia.
Manish Bakshi, general manager for BenQ Middle East and Africa, said he expected LCD sales to grow throughout the Middle East because of rising consumer awareness in the technology and a trend towards lower import duties that will reduce prices further. He also said LCD televisions can be made larger than 40 inches while traditional TVs cannot.
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
