Posted on Monday, March 19 2007 @ 2:10 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
DigiTimes
reports Philips will quit its plasma display panel production to fully focus on LCD display panels in the future.
Except for North America and Australia, Philips will drop PDP TV sales and it plans to stop PDP TV sales in China later this year, Rudy Provoost, Philips' CEO of Consumer Electronics, pointed out.
Philips currently offers 42- and 50-inch PDP TVs in China, according to the company's website. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 in Las Vegas (January 8-11), the company showcased a 63-inch PDP TV (63PFP7422D) and said the new TV will hit the market in June with a suggested retail price of US$3,499.
Besides Japan-based Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic and Korea-based LG Electronics (LGE) and Samsung Electronics, Philips is one of the major flat-panel TV vendors that are betting both on LCD and PDP technologies.
Philips ranked the fourth in the global PDP TV market for the full year of 2006 with a 10% revenue share, trailing Panasonic, LGE and Samsung, according to DisplaySearch. The Netherlands-based company ranked the second place in LCD TV market with a revenue share of 13.0%, with Samsung being the top player, the research firm added.
