Sharp Corporation will start selling world's largest LCD display

Famous Japanese electronics company, Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), announced that it is going to start shipping the world’s largest LCD display from next month. The 108-inch display would cost roughly 11million yen and would be made to sell to various business organizations. Next year, another Japanese company, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (TYO:6752), is planning to sell its 150 inch plasma display for billboards. Network World.com reports:

Sharp has begun offering a monitor based on the 108-inch LCD panel that it first unveiled over a year ago. The panel, which is the largest yet to be shown by any LCD maker, was first unveiled in January 2007 at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and promised for later in the year but was delayed. Now it's available to customers worldwide, built-to-order, for ¥11 million (US$102,000).

The Full HD (1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels) monitor comes with a wide array of input sockets. There's analog RGB and DVI computer inputs, 3 HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs, two composite video inputs, two sets of component video inputs and one S-Video input. The entire set weighs an impressive 195 kilograms and consumes 1.1 kilowatts (kW) when in use.

Weak demand for big televisions has hurt major manufacturers like Hitachi Ltd, Pioneer Corporation (TYO: 6773), and Sharp Corporation. Hitachi and Pioneer incurred losses on their TV operations. Initially, Sharp had plans to focus on larger displays but it shifted switched to 40 inch and smaller displays in the middle of 2007.

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Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. takes the top position in global LCD market

According to the report of market research firm Display Search, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (SEO: 005930) is the current LCD market leader. The South Korean multinational giant took up 22.1% of the global LCD market by revenue shares in the first three months of 2008. Japan’s Sony Corporation (TYO:6758) and its major domestic rival Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753) took the second and third position by gaining 18.1% and 10.1% over the same period. Samsung has also remained the top global brand for the ninth straight quarter in terms of revenue, maintaining a 39% year-on-year growth. Korea Times reports:

By shipments, the company ranked top, while Sony was No. 2 on a revenue basis for the third straight quarter, declining to about 13.2 percent revenue share after a strong fourth-quarter performance. LG Electronics remained the third-largest player, leveraging a No. 2 unit share position to offset lower than average selling prices (ASPs). ASP is a key measurement to gauge profitability.

LCD TV’s continue to post the strongest growth, rising 45 percent year-on-year to 21.1 million units, though this was the weakest quarter of growth to date.

On the other hand, Japanese company, Panasonic, took over the top position in global Plasma television market. The company had the top Plasma Display Panel (PDP) revenue share of 33.7%; followed by Samsung at 22.7% and LG 16.4%. Samsung’s PDP sales rose 20% to nearly 2.8 million units most of which comprised of 32 inch models.

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Earth quake forced to change Sony and Sharp's sales projection in China

The May 12^th earthquake has been a major shock for the people of China and this is also hurting the business of the country. Sony Corporation (TYO: 6758) and Sharp Corporation (TYO:6753), two of the largest Japanese electronics companies are expecting lower sales for unknown period of time. Normally, summer is a big sales season but the death and destruction has spoiled people’s mood for shopping. Every day, they are seeing death and destruction on the television. Sony’s camera sales has dropped 20% and it has changed its Bravia TV sales projection. Sharp Corporation, Japan’s largest LCD monitor producer is also expecting lower sales due to earth quake shock. Bloomberg.com reports:

China's electronics sales may have fallen 10 percent in May from April because of the quake's impact on consumer spending, said Kevin Wang, a Shanghai-based analyst at researcher iSuppli Corp. Retail sales in the world's fastest-growing major economy probably slowed last month after surging the most since 1999 in April, based on economists' estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Sony rose 1.1 percent to 5,480 yen at the end of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while Sharp fell 1.9 percent to 1,778 yen. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1 percent.

Sony has delayed its promotional offers to liquid-crystal display. Best Buy Co.Inc. (NYSE:BBY) the largest US electronic store chain also postponed plans to bring Japanese all-girl band Morning Musume to China. Despite the emotional shock of the people, Sony is expecting to sustain a higher than 30% sales growth.

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