The Korea Times reports today that South Korean consumer electronics company LG Electronics is facing a few problems in the oh-so important North American market.
According to the pixels, new figures from industry watch firm DisplaySearch state that LGE's share in the flat panel market dropped from 8.5% in this years first quarter to 8.2% in the second quarter. The small decrease of 0.3% doesn't sound all too dramatic, however the company slipped out in the plasma display market and saw its market share drop from 13.6% to 10.7% quarter over quarter. A spokesLG said that the company had become a victim of arch rivals Sony and Samsung electronics.
Samsung was able to expand its share of the North American LCD market from 13.5% in the first quarter to 18.3% in the second quarter, whilst Sony's share dropped from 13.4% to 11.7%. LGE hit the fourth spot in the entire flat panel market (LCDs and plasma screens) after it lost 0.3% market share. Samsung managed to increase its entire share and now holds 18.9% of the market.
Samsung and Sony are going to keep on selling their displays at prices designed to hurt the competition. Apart from bashing it out by selling flat panels on the cheap, display makers are also going to face conservative and picky buyers in the third quarter holding onto their money as the US economy takes a dip. Whilst Samsung and Sony battle it out between themselves, all runner-ups are going to face problems.
Brian Sohn, head honcho of LG's investor relations mob, said LGE won't twiddle with the prices of its flat screen TVs, as the market won't grow all that much in the US and LGE also doesn't have such a big brand name as its foremost competitors. The company appears to be happy with the fourth spot and flat growth without having to come up with any major steps to keep hanging on. DisplaySearch said the price competition is expected to intensify and it forecast sales of flat-panel TVs of 40 inches or larger are weakening after a strong run. Market soothsayer Isuppli has predicted LCD shipments to grow by 27% this year, after shipments grew 88.8% in 2007 and 92.6% in 2006.
Various display makers had to throttle production of LCD displays in July due to full inventories and weak demand. Not even the Olympics were supposed to help, as Chinese economic growth cooled down and world and dog had to sell big panels on the cheap to clear out warehouses.
Digitimes however cited 'industry sources' today stating that display prices will stablise and rise from September onwards. Some people believe that the current cheap prices will spark demand anew, leading display makers to make things a bit more expensive again once the warehouses have been cleared out.
However, it is feared any upward price adjustments will trip the market over flat on its nose, as customers will ask for price drops in November and December to make up for costs incurred in September and October. Some telly makers have already said they'd keep orders low if prices should rise, which is why others say it'd be witty and clever to just keep prices stabile. X |