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Yet more rumours suggesting the Kings of PDP are set to abdicate
We'll forgive regular readers a sense of déjà vu as rumours once again surface that Panasonic is about to exit the plasma TV business. By our reckoning, this is at least the third time the story has been reported so, is it just another bit of internet hearsay or is there no smoke without fire and this time there's some substance to the speculation?
Today's reports have come from sources, speaking with Reuters, said to be ‘familiar with the situation' and whilst that is an undoubtedly vague sounding association, equally this particular news agency does have a good record in getting the inside track on matters financial.
These sources go as far as to say that Panasonic's plasma exit will come by the end of this financial year (March 2014), which would mean we would see no new PDP's from the Company at CES next January. To many enthusiasts, us included, this would be sad news, as we're still of the belief that plasma produces superior pictures to those found in LED/LCD TVs and it would really leave only Samsung as the credible standard bearers for the technology.
Despite the superior quality of Panasonic's plasma TVs, their TV division has been losing money consistently for the last few years and posted losses of nearly £570 million in the last financial year alone.
For the first time, this year, the 2013 range of LED/LCD TVs used outsourced panels, across the board, in an attempt to cut costs and Panasonic has already shifted the emphasis of its display business in to producing smaller panels, for the smartphone and tablet markets, so there's no doubt that they're not afraid to make major policy decisions for the good of the Company, as a whole.
The advent of Ultra HD (4K) TVs and technology is also another factor that could mean that the story has some legs. Whilst it is possible to produce 4K plasma – and Panasonic already has, with a phenomenally expensive professional panel – there's zero chance of that ever becoming a domestic proposition, as it's both cheaper and easier to do with LCD/LED technology.
The market looks to be shifting quicker than expected to panels with a 3840 x 2160 resolution and it's going to be diffculted to tout, say, the VT70 as a flagship product when, on the spec sheet, at least, it will be lacking against some of the competition.
And, of course, OLED is just around the corner, if it's not already here. LG and Samsung already have OLED panels available at retail and we know Panasonic is readying themselves to launch their own. We saw a prototype 4K OLED from Panasonic as CES 2013, last January, and this is surely where the future of TV now lies for the enthusiast market.
The problems with OLED are well known, of course, low manufacturing yields means very expensive TVs for the consumer but Panasonic's ‘RGB all-printing method' promises to be far more reliable than other means of production have been. It's just possible, that by 2014, they will have refined the process to the extent where they could launch an OLED TV for a price not that much higher than the current RRP of their flagship ZT65 (ZT60) plasma TV.
The Company is already on record as saying they want to commercialise OLED by 2015, so why not start that in Vegas next January? If they could launch a product with a significant price advantage over the Korean manufacturers, it would be something of a masterstroke and could see them go on to regain some former glories.
We've said for a long time now that having 3 (arguably 4) TV technologies competing for attention is not good for consumer understanding – and therefore trust – and perhaps Panasonic feels the same way so whilst its plasma range makes an exit, perhaps OLED will be brought to centre stage sooner than we thought. Certainly their LED/LCD TV range is not pulling up any trees, in performance or sales, so they need to pull a rabbit out of their hat if they want to compete with the other big boys.
Of course, a lot of the above is speculative but then so is the original story from which it stems. In response to the Reuters piece, Panasonic issued a statement saying, “that it continued to consider various options for the plasma display panel business but that nothing had been decided yet,” so there's certainly nothing concrete to go on as yet.
Whilst it will be a sad day when Panasonic does finally confirm its plasma exit – and that day will certainly come – we're withholding judgement on the validity of these rumours, for now, but the more we think about it, the more it makes sense that the departure is fairly imminent.
Have your say in the comments below…
Source: Reuters
We'll forgive regular readers a sense of déjà vu as rumours once again surface that Panasonic is about to exit the plasma TV business. By our reckoning, this is at least the third time the story has been reported so, is it just another bit of internet hearsay or is there no smoke without fire and this time there's some substance to the speculation?
Today's reports have come from sources, speaking with Reuters, said to be ‘familiar with the situation' and whilst that is an undoubtedly vague sounding association, equally this particular news agency does have a good record in getting the inside track on matters financial.
These sources go as far as to say that Panasonic's plasma exit will come by the end of this financial year (March 2014), which would mean we would see no new PDP's from the Company at CES next January. To many enthusiasts, us included, this would be sad news, as we're still of the belief that plasma produces superior pictures to those found in LED/LCD TVs and it would really leave only Samsung as the credible standard bearers for the technology.
Despite the superior quality of Panasonic's plasma TVs, their TV division has been losing money consistently for the last few years and posted losses of nearly £570 million in the last financial year alone.
The advent of Ultra HD (4K) TVs and technology is also another factor that could mean that the story has some legs. Whilst it is possible to produce 4K plasma – and Panasonic already has, with a phenomenally expensive professional panel – there's zero chance of that ever becoming a domestic proposition, as it's both cheaper and easier to do with LCD/LED technology.
The market looks to be shifting quicker than expected to panels with a 3840 x 2160 resolution and it's going to be diffculted to tout, say, the VT70 as a flagship product when, on the spec sheet, at least, it will be lacking against some of the competition.
And, of course, OLED is just around the corner, if it's not already here. LG and Samsung already have OLED panels available at retail and we know Panasonic is readying themselves to launch their own. We saw a prototype 4K OLED from Panasonic as CES 2013, last January, and this is surely where the future of TV now lies for the enthusiast market.
The problems with OLED are well known, of course, low manufacturing yields means very expensive TVs for the consumer but Panasonic's ‘RGB all-printing method' promises to be far more reliable than other means of production have been. It's just possible, that by 2014, they will have refined the process to the extent where they could launch an OLED TV for a price not that much higher than the current RRP of their flagship ZT65 (ZT60) plasma TV.
We've said for a long time now that having 3 (arguably 4) TV technologies competing for attention is not good for consumer understanding – and therefore trust – and perhaps Panasonic feels the same way so whilst its plasma range makes an exit, perhaps OLED will be brought to centre stage sooner than we thought. Certainly their LED/LCD TV range is not pulling up any trees, in performance or sales, so they need to pull a rabbit out of their hat if they want to compete with the other big boys.
Of course, a lot of the above is speculative but then so is the original story from which it stems. In response to the Reuters piece, Panasonic issued a statement saying, “that it continued to consider various options for the plasma display panel business but that nothing had been decided yet,” so there's certainly nothing concrete to go on as yet.
Whilst it will be a sad day when Panasonic does finally confirm its plasma exit – and that day will certainly come – we're withholding judgement on the validity of these rumours, for now, but the more we think about it, the more it makes sense that the departure is fairly imminent.
Have your say in the comments below…
Source: Reuters
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