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An aggressive Panasonic who during the last quarter have often been overall market leader in the flat panel TV market has rolled out an impressive new range of products including a 46″ plasma TV the first twin tuner recordable Blu ray player and a new LCD TV range.
“We want to be a leader in the overall flat panel market not just the plasma market” said Paul Reid, Director of Panasonic’s Consumer Electronics Group. “A key element in Panasonics push to take on the likes of Samsung and Sony is their multimillion dollar investment in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.”
At a gala launch at Sydney’s Wharf 8 Panasonic along with several 2008 Australian Beijing Olympians rolled out their 2008 consumer electronic offerings. Among the new Panasonic range are nine Full High Definition (FHD) 46-inch FHD Plasma TV, and five new LCD models – including 37-inch and 32-inch FHD LCDs.
Their strategy according to Read is to position their over 50″ plasma TV’s as being ideal for watching movies and TV in a big room while their LCD range is being positioned as ideal for brightly lit rooms.
Reid said “We believe that the choice of TV technologies is application based – how and when you will be watching the TV will differ from room to room from building to building. In a well light environment and in smaller screen sizes, LCD is the ideal solution. We believe the IPS Alpha panel offers superior LCD picture quality.”
Reid said Panasonic would continue to in LCD, saying construction of their new IPS Alpha LCD panel plant to begin in August 2008, with operations commencing in January 2010.
A key product in the new Panasonic line up is a new 500GB recordable Blu ray player which is the first to be released into a market outside of Japan. “Globally Australia is the most successful DVD recorder market in the world for Panasonic “said Read. “We have 35% share Vs Europe with 15% and the USA with 14%. Japan has 36%. As a result of this we believe we can grow share in the recorder market while also delivering for consumers the ability to record Full HD 1080p content”.
Taking advantage of the booming demand for Full High Definition technology, and pre-Olympic TV purchasing, 11 of the new VIERAs will be available by August -including six Full High Definition TVs.
Panasonic’s latest generation of VIERA Link which is built into all their TV’s delivers access to a 7-day Electronic Program Guide.
Paul Reid added: “Panasonic is demonstrating its commitment to the flat panel market with a range of televisions to fit every need the customer may have. We can offer the consumer their choice from 32-inch to 65-inch TVs.”
According to several TV market observers Panasonic is well positioned to grow market share in Australia “They have the products and the brand and excellent distribution. Their main competitors are Samsung and Sony” said a GFK executive.
