According to Takashi Fukuro, president of Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan, a subsidiary of Pioneer Electronics, the 50-60 class segments will become the common size in the PDP TV market. "In the 50-inch market, LCD technology will gradually eat PDP TV's share in 2009 when 8th generation lines come on board. This will push makers to develop more 60-inch class TVs." The global PDP market will reach 16 million units next year, up from 13 million units in 2007, amid the take off of digital broadcasting and the acceptance of high-definition media. Mr. Fukuro indicated thet Pioneer will be able to deliver 780,000 to 800,000 units in 2008 as compared to 720,000 units this year.
Most of Pioneers PDPs are made in house while 1.38% are ODM-based, Pioneer has the capability today to produce 970,000 PDPs per year. Prices are expected to be 25% less in 2008 than this year. This year, 42-inch PDPs accounted for 80% of the overall PDP market, while the 50-inch took in 20%. It is expected that 50-inch units will have an increase of 25% to 30% of market share in 2008.
The good news: prices will be dropping for those beautiful 50-inch sets you've been lusting after.
