Plasma TVs Burning Out?

Pioneer, the Japanese electronics company, announced to pull out of loss making Plasma TV display business. The electronics maker is cutting 10,000 job and shutting down some of its factories including those in Pomona, California and Castleford, Britain. The company plans to completely close down its Plasma TV making business by year 2010.

The global demand for large screen Plasma TV displays seems to be plunging. The superior picture quality could not stand against cheaper LCD alternatives. The global financial meltdown and the rising yen only added to the Pioneer's woes.

Is this an opportunity for Panasonic and Samsung to capture bigger market share or an alarming bell that the Plasma's are losing out to LCD technology? If Panasonic cannot bring the production cost of plasmas lower, it will not be able to offer it for long. And without a healthy demand bringing the cost down is a challenge. Samsung and LG also produce plasma TVs but the future of plasma TV lies with the market leader Panasonic who enjoys about 37% of the market share.

Panasonic will have to do hard selling to convince people why they should buy plasma. The general perception is that Plasma TV life is much shorter than the LCD TV. Early on in the game, plasmas did well because they were bigger and brighter. Now, LCD technology have come a long way. Sony and likes are making large screen LCD TVs so consumers need to know why plasma. And why pay more for it. If Panasonic cannot win consumers, it too cannot keep producing loss making televisions for long.

Will the world stop seeing Plasma TV in the market?

Resources:

• Compare TV Prices
• Plasma vs. LCD TVs
• Plasma TV Reviews
• LCD TV Reviews

By: Ajay1159 days ago