Sony opts out of RPTV market

Rear Projection TVs are getting outdated now and this is clearly evident from the pace at which companies are dropping out of this market. The latest in the series is - Sony.

One might wonder that why are the companies leaving RPTV segment. They are pretty good! Provide large screen size at an affordable price. So, why is it that companies don’t see future sales in this segment?

It is because the efficiency of flat panel TVs is increasing day by day and they are providing better quality and large screen size at the same prices. So, a customer obviously prefers to buy a flat screen TV than an outdated rear projection TV.

In October, Sony lowered its global sales forecast for rear-projection TVs to 400,000 from 700,000. Las year this figure was around 1.1 million.

On the other hand, LCD segment appears prosperous as Sony expects to sell 10 million LCD TVs this fiscal year through March, almost a 4 million increase from last year.

The consumer electronics firm plans to stop making rear-projection TVs at three plants in Japan, Mexico and Malaysia in February, company spokesman Shinji Obana said. The in-demand Bravia series will be the major focus of Sony in the coming few years, he added.

The flat screen displays have been in big demand in this festive season with the big players like Sony estimating a 100% increase in the products sold in this segment.

The LCD segment is seeing lots of agreements and patch-ups between the companies which want to make every effort to cash in the benefits from this fast growing industry.

The three big shots in the Japan’s electronic industry, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, Hitachi Ltd. and Canon Inc have already entered an agreement to help themselves compete in a better way in the fast growing market of flat panel displays.

Sony also has an alliance with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in LCDs.

Philips, Toshiba and Hitachi have already declared that they will primarily focus on flat-panel TV.

Sharp Corp., another major Japanese LCD maker, joined hands with Toshiba Corp., which will buy LCD panels from Sharp for its TVs.

Sony is leaving no stones unturned to make profits out of this promising industry.

It 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.