Flat Screen Prices Get Flattened
Electronics | Nov 30, 04
In a time of ballooning deficits it may seem no one in Washington believes in basic economics lately, but when it comes to buying a flat screen television, it might be wise to take a page from Adam Smith. Competition produces lower prices, and there are few more competitive markets than the one for LCD, plasma and rear projection televisions. These technologies, and the firms that manufacture them, are the forces behind the flat screen revolution, and they've been pounding each other into offering consumers ever lower prices.
Consider, for example, two popular 42 inch models: the Sony-KDL-42XBR950, an LCD set that has fallen 30% it was released back in February, or the Panasonic TH-42PD25U/P, a plasma off more than 33% since the middle of June. If you've waited to buy, you're already a winner in the pre-holiday price drop derby.
LCDs may come under greater price pressure yet. Screen manufacturers in Asia – Samsung, LG, and others – have been under-cutting each other in a vicious cycle, but firms that integrate the panels into television sets, such as Panasonic, Zenith and Sony, have been loathe to cut prices quickly. The same goes for retailers. However, this strategy of keeping prices artificially high to preserve profits has the effect of preventing the LCD from becoming a true mass-market technology, especially in the face of declining plasma and rear projection prices (and some feel these later screens have significant advantages over LCDs, including lack of so-called ghost images, availability of sizes greater than 40 inches, etc.). When there's an unfilled potential demand at the mass-market level, and price competition from other technologies as well, sooner or later someone cuts prices to stay competitive, meet that demand and make up the smaller profits per unit by selling greater volume. So as much as LCD prices have dropped already, the fall is not over. Look for more declines as we move into 2005, and for flat screens of all three technological stripes to make more headway against traditional CRT televisions.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 6:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
When It Comes to Printing Photos, Should You Drive to Wal-Mart?
Digital Cameras & Camcorders | Nov 30, 04
That's the question a lot of people have been asking lately. With the price of printing a 4x6 image at big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Costco running between 20 and 30 cents, some argue the cost of printing at home – still perhaps as high as 60 cents a print – makes schlepping to the store worth the trip. The fact that low cost printing is available at retail stores makes digital cameras practical for people who do not own a printer, or even a computer for that matter. For those who don't feel like screwing around with printer settings and aren't interested in different print sizes and effects, printing at a store they go to anyway might represent a big boost in efficiency and convenience.
What's missing from this analysis is the added cost of driving to the store, both in time and money. Gas isn't free, and some may not find the atmosphere in a superstore's photo printing kiosk less than conducive to the creative impulse. Photo kiosks have HP scared out of its (or at least Carly Fiorina's) mind. They've been taking a loss on printers for a while now, making their profit on ink and paper, but now they're slashing prices on these items as well. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, HP claims to have lowered the cost of printing down to about 29 cents, competitive with the upper end of retail store prices. Now, if you want to print without a computer, for around $70 you can plug your camera directly into the portable HP PhotoSmart 145 4x6. On the slightly higher end, the more versatile HP PhotoSmart 7550 is selling for less that $100. So some may forgo the ambiance of Wal-Mart, especially hobbyists and anyone who wants to see their pics instantly.
Significant revenue is at stake for HP, the retailers, and firms like Kodak and Fuji that make the retailer's photo-printing equipment. So the question is, how many people fall into each category, and what the fall-out will be for players betting their future on the question of desktop versus Wal-Mart.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 4:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
