A Feast for Your Eyes

Its official now! The LCD/TFT monitor market has finally surpassed the CRT.
And there is no denying the fact that the Indian monitor market is truly
witnessing a visual revolution.

Traditional CRT monitors look old and bygone, a fact proved beyond debate by
the dipping revenue clocked by the segment in FY 08: a 38% dip in share
compared to the year before. The LCD monitor market, on the other hand,
registered a robust 68 % growth, contributing a good 74% to the total monitor
marketa significant jump of 22% from the previous year. Thanks to this LCD
boost, the overall monitor market grew by 15%.

Interestingly, till last year, even though the overall CRT market had started
dipping, it had ruled in terms of unit shipments. However, during FY 08, it
dipped both in terms of unit shipments and revenues.

Trends on Display

In the 15, and 17- inch market, while a CRT monitor could cost anywhere in
the range of Rs 3,200-4,500, LCD monitors were priced somewhere between Rs
6,500-8,900.

As per IDC India, interestingly, nearly half of the LCD monitors sold in
India during FY 08 were 17 inch, while the 15, and 16- inches together added up
to 20% of the market. The 19-inch monitor was more popular (market share) 23%,
clearly indicating that size (and style) does matter, even if it means paying
more. The remaining 7% of the market belonged to 22-inches and more.

The same applied to CRT monitors, which saw 17-inch monitors contributing two
thirds to the overall sales, while the rest came from the 15-inch.

It was only some of the bigger players like Samsung and LG that still
continued to remain big in the CRT market, in terms of units sold. Other than
these two, HCL is the only big player that sold more CRT monitors than LCD
during the fiscal. The other biggies, Acer and Viewsonic, seem to have focused
more on LCD, though in the last quarter they gained some grounds over Samsung
and LG in the 15-inch CRT front.

Industry analysts point out that Samsung started to phase out CRT monitors
during the last quarter of the fiscal. A fact which is supported by Samsungs
CRT sales at 1.3 lakh units in Q4 FY 08, way behind the other quarters put
together (at 6.45 lakh).In line with this strategy, and to meet the demand for
LCD monitors which account for almost 70% of the digital market, the South
Korean major rolled out a series of products which included enhanced LCD monitor
seriesT Monitor, Lime, and Myst Plus. Most of their new models are in the
category of wide screen LCD format. Interestingly, in the LCD market also the
square screen saw a dip, as wide screen emerged the more preferred choice.

Samsung and Viewsonic were the market leaders, contributing 28% and 16%,
respectively. LG, Acer, and AOC followed. During the fiscal, LCD monitors
contributed a major chunk to the revenues of all big playersSamsung at 70%,
ViewSonic at 94%, Acer at 83%, AOC at 67%, and LG at 62%.

Switches: Top Players
Form	Revenue (in Rs crore)		in
Factor	FY 08	FY 07	(%)
CRT Â	1,170	1,898	-38
LCD	3,359	2,045	68
Total	4,529	3,943	15
Source: DQ Estimates
LCDs recorded a big 68% jump, mainly at the expense of crts that dipped by 38%

Almost all major players believed that CRT would reach the end of life by
the year end, and that reflected in their strategy. Last year was especially
good for AOC, which is a relatively new player. It launched quite a few new
technologies in the last few months, focusing more on stylish look and more
competitive features. AOC expects its CRT LCD ratio to go down to 20:80 from
last fiscals 40:60.

Source: IDC India

This was the first year when LCDs surpassed CRTs, even in terms of units shipped

The last six months have seen AOC invest hugely in the LCD Monitor
technology. It launched the first 16-inch LCD, with an eye on the 15, and16-inch
market, and a 17-inch wide series called Toriba. The company now plans to come
out with 18.5- and 21.5-inch LCD monitors in the near future.

It is interesting to note here that almost all major players in the market
launched 16-inch screens in the last two quarters of the fiscal. Analysts
believe that the16-inch varity has started to eat into the shares of the 15, and
17-inch monitors. It is further expected that 18.5-inch screens would be a big
trend in the coming years.

ViewSonic too, another high-end player, recently launched the VP50 series LCD
monitors for professionals who demand wide tonal range and large color gamut.

The OEM market is also shifting toward LCD monitors. Most players tried to
strengthen their network by appointing more partners from the B and C class
cities in order to implement an integrated marketing strategy at the regional
level. This year ViewSonic targeted scaling up business operations in the
country by expanding its reach in the tier-2 and -3 cities. Which, vendors
expect, will soon be hit by the LCD boom. Vendors further believe that games and
home entertainment segments will contribute significantly toward the growth of
bigger and wider screens along with the growth in demand for faster response
rates and innovative computing solutions.

Beyond Aesthetics

During the year vendors also explored newer markets. In addition to higher
consumption of LCD monitors in the home segment, the BPO, finance, and retail
industries provided enough fuel to sustain the momentum toward growth in the LCD
market. Significant upgradation in the government and education sectors too
contributed to the growth of the LCD segment.

Other than this, among both corporate and commercial users, the shrinking
price difference between the two form factors have been making the LCD a more
affordable option, and most of the bigger players realize that. Enhanced
technical features and aesthetic appeal further helped grow the momentum.

According to Pankaj Chawla, assistant manager, Computing Products Research,
IDC India, Over the quarters, the price gap between CRT and TFT has been
narrowing, which is helping vendors increase penetration of TFTs. Vendors have
launched economically priced widescreen TFT models, which helped TFTs surpass
CRT shipments this year. CRT shipments are further expected to decline this
year. With the launch of new TFT models with additional features and better
aesthetics, TFTs will be a good option for both corporate and home users.

Besides aesthetic reasons and the fact that LCD panels occupy less space, the
switch has been happening for a variety of other reasons. TFT terminals offer
inherent advantages such as higher resolution and contrast for high-quality
display, and eye-friendly viewing experience.

Source: DQ Estimates

Though Samsung & LG still ruled in FY 08, gradual phasing out of 15 CRTs by the Korean giants could signal better times ahead for Acer and AOC

The LCD panels are also coming with integrated entertainment and other
operational functionalities such as speakers. When it comes to consumer
preference, as desktops move into living rooms and become the entertainment hub,
displays and other entertainment functionalities have taken centre-stage.

Monitors being the most visible component of a desktop and also the most
expensive one, has given it the honors of being considered as a stand alone
product. Hence, they have a lot of style quotient attached to them now.

Analysts expect that monitors are very soon going to become an all-in-one
product with TV, office display, work zone, gaming, etc, all activities
happening on the same display. Consumers are no more looking for just speakers
and DVI, it is now more about inbuilt webcam, mike, i-pod docks, HDMI port, HDCP
compliance, Vista certification, USB ports, and so on.

Globally too Convergence Technology is not only expanding the lifecycle of
technology products but also offering an opportunity to manufacturers to target
larger sections of the customer base. This trend is experiencing exponential
growth with support from the gaming and entertainment sectors.

In the given scenario, the LCD boom looks like it is here to stay, and get
bigger.

Urvashi Kaul

urvashik@cybermedia.co.in