14 DAY TRIAL // That there is always a first time seems to have just been proven true now that the liquid crystal display TV market has achieved what it has never before achieved, though one might not see recent developments as part of the encouraging variety.
Usually, when talking about a feat first achieved in history, one would expect excitement, perhaps even celebrations of some kind.
This once, however, what happened on the market of LCD TVs, in the US at least, was less fortuitous and more disheartening, at least in some measure.
Basically, the US LCD TV market, for the first time, declined, or are expected to decline on-year during 2010.
The shipments of LCD TVs, by the end of December, will supposedly be of 31.9 million, which is 1.2 percent under the 32.3 million of last year, 2009.
This is not exactly that big a loss, but considering that said market has been growing fast since 2006, one might start to wonder about what direction will be taken next.
“Year after year, in both good economic times and bad, U.S. consumers always have found a way to devote more of their disposable incomes to purchasing sleek, new flat-panel LCD TVs,” said Riddhi Patel, director and principal analyst, television, for iSuppli.
“However, in 2010, the realities of the economy finally caught up with the LCD market, causing sales to decline for the first year ever,” Patel added.
“Despite this setback, shipments will resume their growth in 2011 as consumer confidence rises again,” he went on to saying.
“LCD TV makers shifted strategy in 2010, moving away from the traditional market-growth approach of cutting prices to stimulate sales—and toward a value-added tact of offering sets with more advanced features that retained their price power,” the principal analyst explained.
“These features included LED (light-emitting diode) backlighting, built-in Internet access and 3-D display.”