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   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

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