Rear Projection OUT, LCD IN - Sony

Sony has sensed the change of demand from 3LCD - and SXRD-based to LCD TVs. So, it is going to stop the production of Rear Projection TV in U.S.

In an announcement made by a Sony spokesman, he said, “We are moving our resources more toward LCD TV, because that’s what people really want.”

"There is huge demand for Sony Bravia flat-panel products in the US. This decision is about Sony focusing its resources to meet that demand and satisfy consumer expectations," he added.

The company does not want the unwanted and outdated inventory to build up, so they are going to continue the sales of these category items till the stocks are finished. After that there won’t be any replacements. These TVs are sold in U.S. only, so the decision won’t make any difference in Europe.

The in-demand Bravia series will be the major focus of Sony in the coming few years. According to the estimates by DisplaySearch, an NPD Group company, North American sales of rear projection sets are expected to be around 1.6 million in 2007 which is almost half of the 3.1 million in 2006. The firm estimates sales of total rear projection of about 670,000 in 2008.

Rear-projection TVs (RPTVs) have been favorites till date as they offered large screen size at affordable prices. But the increasing efficiency of flat panel TVs has lowered their prices and these have been competing with the RPTVs in terms of better quality and large screen size at the same prices.

Earlier Philips, Toshiba and Hitachi have also declared that they will primarily focus on flat-panel TV. The left players in the RPTVs segment are Samsung, Mitsubishi, RCA, Panasonic and JVC and they are also now moving to larger screen sizes.

The decision came despite the fact that Sony ranked second in the category for sell-through, with 28 percent of the U.S. market through November, behind Samsung, according to The NPD Group.

Sony will continue to produce SXRD and 3LCD front projectors, "and consider SXRD a very important part of the business in the PJ (front projector) realm," the spokesman said.

According to Current Analysis West, an NPD Group company, Sony rear projection sets were leaders in sales in November with a share of 31.77 percent of the overall market.

Another important factor behind Sony's decision is thought to be the immense costs involved with developing OLED technology.

However, the company denied any such thing and said that it is always committed to investing in future technologies. This is evident with the launch of the XEL-1 OLED TV in Japan.

Sony recently started offering an 11-inch OLED TV called the XEL-1 in Japan, and the company demonstrated a 27-inch 1080p resolution prototype at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show.