Through a special arrangement with Japan-based Techno Systems Research (TSR), Insight Media can now offer the English-language edition of TSR's, "2006-2007 Key Devices for Projection Displays" report. The new report provides a knowledgeable look at the trends for projection system makers while providing a wealth of details about the key components that are used in the manufacture of these projection systems.
Report Objective:
The Key Devices for Projection Displays report provides data and information regarding the status of both finished projection systems and the key components that compose these systems. This is presented in a series of charts and tables that offer rich details about shipments, pricing, roadmaps and market share. Additional text provides insight into key trends that will affect the industry.
Key Findings:
The Key Devices report covers front and rear projection in consumer and professional markets. Over the last year, there have been some significant developments in these markets that are affecting investment decisions, product developments and profitability.
Key trends include:
· The need to cultivate new applications due to drop in RPTV demand
· Technical advantages in the front projector market and improvement of production efficiency become a KSF (key success factor) again.
· Review of operational frameworks toward the cost structure that generates profits
The slowdown in the rear-projection TV market has created many problems for projection makers supporting this segment.
As LCD and PDP TV sales boomed over the last few years and prices rapidly declined, RPTV sales climbed initially, but are now flat and are expected to decline. This is a reversal of the trend that most were anticipating and has resulted in lowered forecasts and the withdrawal of some players from the market.
The situation also created some excess capacity in the projection industry, which helped fuel even faster price declines.
This quick reversal in the RPTV market trend created a sense of crisis as serious competition became a market reality - something most projector makers have been relatively insulated from for years due to the ability to sell projectors with unique technology at profitable prices.
As a result, many are now focused on consumer-oriented projectors such as toy projectors, home projectors and embedded projectors. Fortunately, the factors that will make these products possible and cost competitive are arriving just as the RPTV market declines.
In professional front projection, tenders for education projectors and strong demand characterized the market in 2006 and in the first half of 2007. This helped to relieve some of the excess capacity created by the difficulties in the rear-projection TV market segment.
The distribution of professional front projectors is also shifting into IT channels for many of the commodity-type products. For smaller players, this shift is more difficult as it requires higher scales of volume manufacturing to compete on price.
These smaller players have thrived so far on using innovations to differentiate themselves, but this is becoming a less successful strategy going forward. Therefore, many are looking at the new opportunities in consumer front projectors and are searching for ways to establish cost structures that can compete in a consumer electronics market place - and deliver profits.
Amazingly, 2006 turned out to be a profitable one for the projection industry despite the negative factors caused by the RPTV market situation. Profits were partly helped by the devaluation of the yen too.
