Menlo Park, CA-Display research firm Pacific Media Associates has reported that unit sales for flat panel televisions and business displays in North America rose 19% in August over July’s sales. Their Flat Panel Display Sell-Through Tracking Service also shows that the average street price–using actual transaction-based data–fell another 6% in August, for a total drop of 27% from August 2005.
“The upswing in August sales was a familiar event,” said Rosemary Abowd, vice president with Pacific Media Associates. “We’ve seen similar increases in late summer for the past three years.”
The preference for LCD over plasma is moving to larger models. 60% of all flat panel sales were for LCD models. In the 40- to 44-inch size segment, lower prices helped increase LCD’s share of that segment to nearly half of the market at that size, with a 49% unit market share.
“We saw continued aggressive price strategies in August,” said Abowd. “The average street price for the 35- to 39-inch 1080p LCD segment dropped more than 19% in August, dropping below $2,000 for the first time.”
Panasonic took top honors for unit market share across all markets, but Sony had a slim edge in the consumer segment, edging out Panasonic 21.2% to 20.9%. The best-selling consumer model in August was the Panasonic TH-42PX60U.
For more, visit www.pacificmediaasociates.com.
