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| 2002/2003 Press Release Archive | ||||||
December 29, 2003
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FOR MORE INFORMATION,
CONTACT:
Rosemary Abowd (flat panel displays, rear projectors), 518-384-0948, rosemary@pacificmediaassociates.com
Michael Abramson (front projectors), 650-726-3904, michael@pacificmediaassociates.com
William L. Coggshall (flat panels, front projectors, rear projectors),
650-561-9020, info@pacificmediaassociates.com
Menlo Park, CA - December 29, 2003. The first major battle between LCD and PDP (plasma display panels) in the large-format flat panel displays (FPDs) wars is being fought on the 30-39 inch battleground, and LCDs are gaining ground rapidly. From a level of 7% during the second half of 2002, LCDs have grown dramatically to account for nearly 34% of this size category in the third quarter of 2003, according to the monthly Reseller Tracking Service, a survey of 50 key North American retailers and resellers conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the Worldwide and Americas large-screen display markets.
"Such a rapid change in any category is significant," says Rosemary Abowd, who directs flat panel displays research for Pacific Media Associates, "and it demonstrates the strength that can be expected from LCDs as the technology improves to overcome some of its original shortcomings regarding the quality of video viewed on the display. Other key factors playing a part are the rapid increase in the number of brands and models being offered and the declining price premium as compared with similar PDP-technology models."
LCD-centric manufacturers have been saying for some time that they expect to dominate the sub-40 inch size range, and if their penetration continues to grow at the rates experienced during the last four quarters, their expectations will be fulfilled. In the 40-49 inch and larger size ranges there will be bloodier battles, as the preponderance of PDPs fall into these size ranges and their prices are already low. So far LCDs have made little penetration, showing only 0.7% of the 40-49 inch total in North America in the third quarter, according to the same Reseller Tracking Service findings from PMA.
According to PMA's president, William Coggshall, "the LCD and PDP camps are so focused on their own technologies that they-and manufacturers' product planning and marketing decision-makers-often forget that both technologies perform essentially the same functions and satisfy the same large-screen viewing experience for prospective buyers. To accurately quantify the large-format FPD market, it is vital that the market research methodology include BOTH technologies, and BOTH consumer and professional buyers. PMA has proven this with its top-rated research on front projectors, and has taken the same approach to the FPD market."
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce an audience-sized (20+ inch diagonal or larger) picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel display markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, street prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panel displays sold by leading North American retailers and resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys--of organizations and of individual consumers--explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – November 10, 2003. Key North American resellers of large-format (20+ inches) displays perceive that both plasma and LCD technologies have roughly equal advantages but each has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, according to the 2003 annual Reseller Survey conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the large-screen display market.
“The survey supported — and quantified — the conventional wisdom that LCDs offer better lifetime and less burn-in tendency” said Rosemary Abowd, who directs PMA’s research on large-format flat panel displays. “It also found that plasma had clear advantages in terms of size ranges offered, contrast ratio, and price. Regarding displaying different content, plasma was strong for full-motion video and LCDs for static text/graphics.”
The question in PMA’s survey concerning the relative advantages of the two technologies was answered by 122 respondents. This response rate provides a high level of statistical validity, especially given the expertise of the respondents (resellers know a LOT about the products they sell and how they are used, far more than all but the most savvy buyers) and the combined sales clout of their organizations. The survey asked resellers to rate plasma displays vs. large LCD displays in the following areas:
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 20+ inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel display markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, street prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panel displays sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – May 25, 2003. The Worldwide market for 30+ inch flat panel display sets is expected to grow from 605,000 units in 2002 to 4,675,000 units in 2007, a compound annual growth rate of 50%, according to Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the Worldwide large-screen display market. These newly-released figures include PMA’s extension of their well-accepted coverage of the plasma displays market in the Americas to a Worldwide scope and their premiere forecast of the emerging market for larger LCDs, which appear in their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service.
“The steady growth in demand, plus the surge in the third and fourth quarters of 2002 — as prices fell and consumers became more aware of the possibilities — boosted shipments to a level that strained manufacturing capacity,” says Rosemary Abowd, who directs PMA’s research efforts in large FPDs. “Our monthly Reseller Tracking Service shows flat prices for the last few months, indicating that demand is equal to or greater than supply. Apparently, the total of the announced capacity of the plasma manufacturers, which is substantially larger than the 2002 shipments, does not take into account yield or other practical considerations.”
From fewer than 10,000 units in 2002, the worldwide 30+ inch LCD set market is expected to grow to almost 1,400,000 units in 2007, though still making up less than one-third of the total. “Although the LCD glass manufacturers are investing billions of dollars in factories capable of making the larger sizes, and the growth of sets is expected to be very rapid, PMA believes that LCD-based models will not overtake plasma-based models by 2007,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “In addition to considerations of manufacturing cost, and thus final set cost, myriad factors such as yield (and thus true supply level), branding, and distribution will play important roles in determining the mix of plasma vs. LCD technologies.”
The conventional wisdom (at least among LCD makers) is that LCDs will dominate in sizes below 50 inches by 2007. PMA’s forecasts do indicate that LCDs will dominate the sub-40 inch range, but they do not show that this dominance will extend to the 40-49 inch range, as LCDs are expected to account for only about 500,000 of the 1,750,000 total sets in this range in 2007.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 20+ inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel display markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, street prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panel displays sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – April 18, 2003. North American buyers of plasma displays (and 20+ inch LCD displays) have recently put a dent in the “bigger is better” theory commonplace in the market for large flat panel displays (FPDs), according to Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the Worldwide large-screen display market. The latest results compiled in the monthly Plasma/LCD Displays Reseller Tracking Service show that during the October 2002 through February 2003 period, the sub-40 inch size category grew from a 12% share to a 22% one, a near-doubling in size, which is dramatic in such a short period of time.
“We think that an important factor in this growth was the 7 percent decline in average street price, in contrast to less than 1 percent price movements for size categories of 40 inches and above,” says Rosemary Abowd, who directs PMA’s research efforts in large FPDs. “A second factor that likely also helped considerably was the strongly increasing role of Sony’s consumer models in this size range. Sony now has a share of over 50% of the sub-40 inch market.”
“The large FPD market is still behaving like the Wild West,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “with dramatic shifts in product preferences, market shares, and distribution channels. But given the continued depressed state of the American economy, it is not surprising that buyers are opting for the lower-priced smaller screens. And even though the screens are smaller, on average they have higher resolutions than many 42-inch models, so that they provide a good picture even if viewed from relatively short distances.”
PMA’s Plasma/LCD Displays Reseller Tracking Service, which was launched in January 2002, is the only market research instrument that provides detailed monthly data and analysis, from a large sample of resellers, giving true sell-through unit volumes and street prices of both consumer and professional models. Its highly-acclaimed sibling, the Projectors Reseller Tracking Service, has for over 5½ years provided the projector industry (manufacturers, distributors, and resellers) with an accurate barometer of demand and prices that all major participants have used to support their product planning strategy and their sales and marketing tactics.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 20+ inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, street prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panels sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – March 15, 2003. North American resellers of plasma displays to professional (organizational) buyers expect that small- and medium-sized businesses (those with 2 to 499 employees) will demand 26% of all professional plasma displays sold during 2003, up from 23% in 2001, according to an annual survey conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the large-screen display market.
“In the early days of plasma displays, most of the organizational purchases were either by specialty companies for public display applications or by very large companies using them to create an image or achieve visual effects not otherwise possible,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “But now prices have come down, products have improved, and installation knowledge has increased to the point that smaller organizations can make cost-effective use of them.”
The survey also found that large (500+ employees) businesses were expected to remain the single largest group of buyers, but to play a smaller relative role in demand, decreasing from 48% in 2001 to 40% in 2003. This finding is consistent with PMA’s findings regarding data/video projectors, and appears to stem from the tighter budgets, and better enforcement of them, in the larger organizations.
PMA’s annual Reseller Survey is widely recognized as the authoritative source of facts, figures, and opinions of resellers of professional AV equipment throughout North America The 2002 survey covers a broad range of facts, figures, and opinions from the 221 participating resellers, many of whom are among the largest in North America.
Some of the other topics of interest to plasma-oriented manufacturers and resellers include:
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 25-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and this annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panels sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – February 23, 2003. According to a survey just completed by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm specializing in large-screen displays, the overall ratio of “Stay” projectors to meeting rooms is 18%. “Stay” projectors are stationary within one location such as a conference room or auditorium; they may be mounted in place or sitting on a stand or table.
“We believe this level of penetration is very low compared to, for example, the penetration of meeting rooms by overhead projectors during the height of popularity of that technology,” says PMA’s president, William L. Coggshall. “In addition, while the Stay projector to meeting room ratio rises substantially with increasing organization size, it does not rise as fast as the rate of utilization of the projectors in current use, so there should be ample opportunity for the projector industry to sell a lot of units for use in meeting rooms across all organization sizes.”
This finding is one of many from PMA’s 2002 Professional Front Projector End-User Survey, which contains detailed findings from a survey of 474 actual or prospective projector buyers, screened from over 2,300 prospective respondents based on their recent purchases/near-term intentions.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 20-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel display markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panel displays sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of
the information in this release
without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – January 23, 2003. Thanks to their high scores on most of the 11 aspects of marketing support, products, and after-sale support related to resellers’ sales of professional front projectors and plasma displays, ActiveLight and Stampede came out on top in the overall composite rating in the annual survey conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the large-screen display market. PMA’s annual Reseller Survey is widely recognized as the authoritative source of independent, unbiased ratings of large-screen displays manufacturers and distributors by resellers throughout North America. The 2002 survey covered a broad range of facts, figures, and opinions from the 221 participating resellers, many of whom are among the largest of their type in North America.
“Each of the distributors who specialize in large-screen displays have made strong efforts to add more value than their competitors,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “Although these two distributors topped the list based on our composite of the 11 different aspects, there was a lot of shifting among the individual aspects, with scores that indicated an overall high level of satisfaction by the resellers.”
IMPORTANT CAVEAT: In those cases where the number of responses for any particular distributor might not be large enough to make strong statements about the exact ratings figure, the results should be viewed only as guidance and not statistically conclusive. In fact, the five display-specialist resellers all rated highly, and even the differences highlighted here cannot be supported at a truly high level of statistical significance.
The survey also ranked the 11 aspects according to their importance, so distributors scoring highly on the more important aspects boosted their overall composite score more than those who scored well on less important aspects. Since the report includes numerical ratings for each distributor for each aspect, distributor can learn if they are doing well on those aspects to which they have dedicated the most effort, and to see where they are lagging.
The individual top-rated front projector distributors (including only those with 10 or more responses) for the most important five aspects are given below:
Actually, PWS scored higher overall and on some of these (and other of the 11) aspects, but the number of respondents was too small to draw statistically valid conclusions.
The individual top-rated front plasma display distributors (including only those with 10 or more responses) for the most important five aspects are given below:
Actually, Visual Solutions scored second just below ActiveLight and Stampede overall and higher on some of these (and other of the 11) aspects, but the number of respondents was too small to draw statistically valid conclusions.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 20-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel display markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and this annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panel displays sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of
the information in this release
without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – December 31, 2002. Thanks to their high scores on many of the 25 aspects of marketing support, products, and after-sale support related to resellers’ sales of professional plasma displays, NEC came out on top in the overall composite rating for the second year in a row in the annual survey conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the large-screen display market. PMA’s Annual Reseller Survey is widely recognized as the authoritative source of independent, unbiased ratings of large-screen displays manufacturers by resellers throughout North America.
“Manufacturers go to great lengths to offer sales and marketing programs that are attractive to their resellers to assure that those resellers give their brands high priority during selling situations,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “Although these three brands topped the list of our composite of the 25 different aspects, various different brands were tops in one or more of the individual aspects, with scores that indicated an overall high level of satisfaction by the resellers.”
The survey also ranked the 25 aspects according to their importance, so manufacturers scoring highly on the more important aspects boosted their overall composite score more than those who scored well on less important aspects. Since the report includes numerical ratings for each manufacturer for each aspect, manufacturers can learn if they are doing well on those aspects to which they have dedicated the most effort, and to see where they are lagging.
The individual top-rated companies (including only those with 10 or more responses) for the most important eight aspects are given below:
The 2002 survey covers a broad range of facts, figures, and opinions from the 221 participating resellers, many of whom are among the largest in North America. Although the number of responses for any particular pair of brands might not be large enough to make strong statements about the true statistical difference if the ratings figures are close, the difference between the highest and lowest rated brands for any given aspect is clearly statistically significant.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 25-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panels sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of
the information in this release
without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – December 9, 2002. Thanks to its top scores on six of the 25 aspects of marketing support, products, and after-sale support related to resellers’ sales of professional front data/video projectors, Mitsubishi came out on top in the overall composite rating for the second year in a row in the annual survey conducted by Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that tracks the large-screen display market. PMA’s Annual Reseller Survey is widely recognized as the authoritative source of independent, unbiased ratings of large-screen displays manufacturers by resellers throughout North America.
“Because of the extremely competitive nature of the professional front data/video projector market, manufacturers strive mightily to offer sales and marketing programs that are attractive to resellers to assure that resellers give their brands high priority,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall, “Although these three brands topped the list of our composite of the 25 different aspects, actually 15 different brands were tops in one or more of the individual aspects, indicating an overall high level of satisfaction by the resellers.”
The survey also ranked the aspects according to their importance, so manufacturers scoring highly on the more important aspects boosted their overall composite score more than those who scored well on less important aspects. Since the report includes numerical ratings for each manufacturer for each aspect, manufacturers can learn if they are doing well on those aspects to which they have dedicated the most effort, and to see where they are lagging.
The individual top-rated companies for the most important eight aspects are given below:
The 2002 survey covers a broad range of facts, figures, and opinions from the 221 participating resellers, many of whom are among the largest in North America. Although the number of responses for any particular pair of brands might not be large enough to make strong statements about the true statistical difference if the ratings figures are close, the difference between the highest and lowest rated brands for any given aspect is clearly statistically significant.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 25-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panels sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of
the information in this release
without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Menlo Park, CA – November 15, 2002. Pacific Media Associates (PMA), the Menlo Park, CA market research firm that specializes in the large-screen displays market, has just delivered the sixtieth monthly issue of their Reseller Tracking Service (RTS), the most relied-upon information service in the world of front data/video projectors sold to organizations. “The rapid changes in product mix and pricing in the super-competitive projector market demand equally rapid tools for measuring those changes, so that manufacturers can continually adjust their pricing and other marketing and selling tactics to stay abreast of the competition,” says PMA’s president, William Coggshall. “The Reseller Tracking Service has become the leading source of tactical data for the industry, and today is arguably the single most used and respected information service of any description, from any source, and in any geographical region, that tracks and analyzes the professional front data/video projector market.”
The Reseller Tracking Service was launched jointly by Dr. Candace Petersen, now Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategy at projector industry leader InFocus Corporation, and Pacific Media Associates during the third quarter of 1997. Thirty-seven (later increased to fifty) of the largest and most sophisticated North American resellers of front data/video projectors to the professional market agreed to provide monthly data on unit sales, average street price, and month-end inventory level for each model they carried. That detailed data was entered into PMA’s proprietary SQL Server database, combined with the key specifications for each projector model, and analyzed into an array of tables and charts. Manufacturers and participants could then clearly see the trends in unit demand and price levels at the level of detail needed to take actions — in terms of both shorter-term pricing and promotional tactics and longer-term product planning.
According to Michael Abramson, the PMA team member who directs the Reseller Tracking Service, “Actual sell-through to final buyers is the critical tactical information that correctly represents the condition of the market, and PMA’s RTS is the only one that does this in North America with the accuracy and timeliness demanded by the projector manufacturers today.” The greatest strength of the RTS is its month-in, month-out identical sample. In fact, nearly 30 of the original 37 participants are still active participants, because they have found that the data is highly valuable in their own businesses. This long-lived comparability permits accurate longitudinal tracking of trends in unit sales and average selling ("street") prices for all important resolution/size/brightness combinations, manufacturer shares, inventory levels, and other key variables. In addition, every month the RTS tabulates the top 50 models, showing recent trends in their unit shipments, revenues, and prices.
Comparing the September 1997 and September 2002 issues of the RTS shows just how dramatically the professional projector market has changed in 5 years:
The fifth anniversary of the Reseller Tracking Service coincided with the tenth anniversary of Pacific Media Associates itself. Although projection of computer data was already a reality for some years, thanks to CRT-based ("three gun") projectors and overhead projector panels, self-contained projectors incorporating LCD or DLP imaging technology were in their infancy when Dr. William Coggshall founded Pacific Media Associates in August 1992. Dr. Coggshall is perhaps best known as a founder of Dataquest Inc. (now Gartner Dataquest), the market information company often referred to as the "Rolls Royce" of high-tech research organizations. He also founded Software Access International, Inc and Desktop Presentations Inc. (later renamed New Media Research Inc.) before founding PMA. The "Pacific" in the name referred to Dr. Coggshall’s long-term interest in Japan and other countries of the Pacific Rim, while the "Media" was from multimedia. Although PMA initially covered multimedia platforms and multimedia software tools, as well as multimedia delivery, the delivery part soon became more than a full-time pursuit, and ever since PMA has focused their entire research effort on displays suitable for audience viewing.
Pacific Media Associates is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in the large-screen displays business, covering all technologies that can produce a 25-inch (diagonal) or larger picture on a wall or screen from an electronic (video or computer) signal. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service currently provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates on front projectors and large-format flat panel markets, newsletters on new product announcements and other key industry developments, and an annual survey of North American resellers. Their monthly Large-Screen Displays Reseller Tracking Service offers timely tactical data on unit sales, prices, and inventories of front data/video projectors and large-format flat panels sold by leading North American resellers. And their two separate annual Large-Screen Displays End-User Surveys — of organizations and of individual consumers — explore the behavior of owners and shoppers.
Pacific Media Associates is headquartered at:
1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Tel. 650-561-9020. Fax 650-561-9019.
www.pacificmediaassociates.com
No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Pacific Media Associates.
Copyright © 2003 Pacific Media Associates
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