Insight’s Daily Outlook

Every weekday morning, Insight Media’s Steve Sechrist and Ken Werner have a conference call with Jamie Townsend and Alex Hamilton of IM’s financial analysis partner, Townhall Proprietary Research. We screen the news of the display and consumer electronics industries, and we figure out what matters and how to use it. We do this to help in our editorial process and to support Townhall’s analysis on the financial impact of the news. Now, we’re sharing those insights with a wider community.

Our goal is to simply – and very briefly – tell you what we think is interesting or important from today’s headlines. This is your opportunity to see how we look at events each day and how we judge their impact. It is your chance to get an early jump-start on an important event – with a little guidance from the experts at Insight Media.

Welcome to Insight Media’s Daily Outlook.

Ken Werner
203-831-8464
kwerner@insightmedia.info

PDP to Study, Unite and Conquer Big Display Threats

by Steve Sechrist

Steve Sechrist
Projection Industry and
Editorial Expert

December 16, 2005 - On the heals of a new coalition announcement this week by the big five Plasma manufacturers, a next generation joint PDP research center is opening in Korea to the tune of almost $9M in committed funds from the Ministry of Commerce, private corporations and two major Korean universities. Both announcements bring to the forefront the importance of cooperation in securing technology dominance over the long-term.

The Korean research center focuses on regional standardization and infrastructure issues targeting a secure and balanced approach to demand and supply of key components for the PDP industry.

The PDP coalition announcement broadens cooperation between the key international suppliers of plasma panels, namely LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Pioneer, into the New Jersey-based Plasma Display Coalition. While the new group is committed to R&D projects to advance plasma technology's TV performance, make no mistake, they plan to be active in promoting the technology and are looking to have a "significant impact on the market".

It is high time this group has formed. It will not only help develop technology in a more efficient manner, but will help boost the marketing power of PDP technology. This will help counterbalance similar efforts from DLP and 3LCD and even LCD supporters.

As recent as this week Circuit City and Costco were running ads in a common HD feed touting the competitive advantage of an unnamed technology because of the absence of "screen burn-in"-a problem solved long ago by PDP makers. Because of this, the ad is disingenuous at best.

Hopefully the Plasma Display Coalition will seek the moral high-ground and abstain from bashing the competition. Such negative talk only hurts the display industry in general and tends to draw into question the motives and character of the one telling the story. As a rule, no successful sales campaign stoops to these tactics.

Suffice it to say, all technologies have inherent advantages and disadvantages and the consumer can benefit from honest open discussion of each to make informed decisions. And that is what the Plasma Display Coalition should be all about.

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Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info) provides a full array of market research, news, analysis and consulting services for the display industry, with special attention to projection products. Tracking the complete supply chain from components to finished products and the distribution channels, Insight Media follows technologies, markets, business and trends in displays and display-related application markets. Broad coverage is offered through our newsletters and conferences with in-depth analysis available via our reports and consulting services. Insight Media has a world-class team of industry analysts and associates to provide comprehensive coverage and analysis of the display industry.

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