pascal jeannenot

Sharp vs Sony: LCD TV Battle Heating Up in Japan

Yes Steven , you rightly said 'because this is where the major players are shifting their resources and where margins are highest' but beware of the war of attrition.
I shall add fuel to this article by stressing that the the Large Flat Screen TV price is now rapidly going down in Japan. Price per 'Inch' of flat panet TV is forecasted to down to 4000 Yen (30 % down compared to last year). The Japan domestic diffusion has now reached 20 % of market. The cheapeast LCD TV screen found on the market is 32 inches at 120,000 Yen. Competition has been heating up on this very segment therefore makers focus on +40 inches segment . Price per inch was 10,000 Yen by last year end. This year it is trending toward one fourth at 4000 Yen per inch. When electronics discounter store chain (3048) Bic Camera opened its Kawasaki megastore the 28th of september it registered double digit demand. Up to last year Baby Boomers were the main buyers but customer range has now extended to people in their 30's or 20's. usually 30 % of sales for large LCD TVs are concentrated in october november period. For current fiscal year sales already increased 30 % at 2 million 200,000 units. If the price per inch further decreases the more Japanese consumers will come in (which is good for the scale merit). Matsushita chairman was quoted saying that should the price continue downward the only way to make it profitable is secure top market share. Matsushita is now preparing to market 50 to 65 inches TV screens. Same for the others. Sharp is obviously one step ahead but the huge convertible launched has put a short term cap over the stock.
Problem is that large LCD srceen TVs are now becoming 'standard' consumers's product in Japan therefore asolute value of the product comes down with the price itself. Still Japan leads the race by far.