According to industry sources and data from Consumer Electronic Association (CEA), Panasonic is experiencing weaker sales in the Plasma TV market in the first quarter this year, while Samsung Electronics is continuing to gain share to 20%, and LG Electronics is also seeing an increase in its own brand sales.
CEA’s analysis on POS data reveals that Panasonic has continued to see its market share slide in major markets like the USA from 36% to 26.8% and 27.8% over the past three weeks from mid-February through early this month. By contrast, Samsung Electronics’ share has surpassed 13.9%, 16%, and 19.3% over the past three weeks, heading for the 20% range. This increase in share is driven by robust demand stirred by shaved prices for its mainstream 42-inch HD models. LG Electronics has also enjoyed an increase in its own brand sales (excluding its ‘Zenith’ brand), allowing it to gain a considerable share soaring from 2~3% to 6.1% in early this month.
In the American PDP TV market, Panasonic was still No. 1, closely followed by Samsung Electronics in second place. Next came Hitachi, Pioneer, Philips, and LG Electronics.
According to CEA’s survey on PDP TV sales in the U.S. for January, the share of 50-inch and larger products surged from 25% in December 2005 to 31% in January.
