News

Monitor vendors bemoan price sensitivity

October 15, 2003

HOLLAND -- During Display Forum 2003, monitor vendors gathered to discuss the pressing issues of the industry. Among the issues was fluctuating prices.

Monitors are the largest growth area in the global TFT (thin-film transistor) LCD market, said Ross Young, president of DisplaySearch, who spoke at the event.

According to an article in the Inquirer UK, Young predicted that the LCD monitor market will grow about 30 percent and not saturate until 2007, when penetration will reach 80 percent.

"The market is highly price sensitive," said Young. The 15-inch monitor market has already become supply-limited, as most panel suppliers focus on larger sizes that command larger profits. CRTs (cathode ray tubes) are still filling this supply gap, the article said.

Sam Matsuno, senior vice president for DisplaySearch, said the average LCD monitor size has increased from 15.6 inches in 2002, to an average size of 16.5 inches in 2003, and is growing steadily.

Other market drivers beside price and size include the increase in monitor bundling by PC makers; improvements in design; and demands from energy, radiation, weight-sensitive or space-sensitive applications in the medical, financial, industrial, call center, POS (point of sale) and kiosk markets.

On the question of quality, Young said high-resolution LCD monitors do exist for niche applications, but are far from mainstream, with UXGA (ultra extra good appearance) LCD monitors earning less than 1 percent of market share in 2002, with not much increase predicted by 2007.

He explained that the price-sensitive nature of the market puts a premium on lower cost, and therefore lower-resolution panels, despite high-resolution roadmap predictions in recent years. The emphasis is now very much on size and multimedia.

Paul Karadi, European display manager for Hewlett Packard, said he sees LCDs being increasingly used in mainstream, as well as niche markets. He argued that flat panel monitors contribute to office-worker moral, reduced clutter and streamlined access to technology.

"TFTs are more than a replacement for CRTs. They add a whole new layer of value," Karadi said.

He predicted that prices will go up to enable HP to "continue to meet the needs of its customers." This will be offset by new innovations such as multiple monitors and improved ergonomic design, with brighter, wider, clearer and more compact displays.

However, when monitor prices have risen in the past, sales have dropped, so time will tell if customers will be happy to dig into their pockets for this "added value," the article noted.