A Visual Treat......

The need for experiencing

a visual ecstasy in computing is the key factor shaping up the

monitor market today across India. The need is particularly being

driven by the boom in the gaming and personal entertainment segment,

making computers more personal and the growth exponential. In effect,

fueling display innovations that are high on technology as well as

design and aesthetics, like 3D monitors, feather touch buttons, sleek

designs, etc that go beyond the traditional and the given.

The emphasis on visual

treat and aesthetics has given an additional spurt to the already

emerged trend of shift towards LCD. Apart from the growing consumer

preference for aesthetics, the technological advancements taking

place in the LCD category and the reducing price gap between the CRT

and LCD categories is also driving the clear shift towards LCD

monitors in India. With the result that the market reached that

significant inflection point two years back, when the LCD share

overtook the CRT market share.

The pricing in monitor

market is dependent on the demand and supply matrix of the monitor

panel. This is termed as the Crystal Cycle phenomenon. This trend

primarily governs the pricing of monitors in different markets across

the country. The LCD pricing trend is also, therefore, well defined

through a 'Crystal Cycle', governed by demand supply situation.

While the overall YoY trend shows a 5-10% price erosion from entry to

exit, the Crystal Cycle swings up the pricing to high levels for

about 4 to 6 months in a year. Thus, if we consider the average price

for the year, many products will not show significant price erosion.

Within LCD monitors, the

shift is now happening towards the larger screen. The 19 inch has

become the mainstream model now. Now the market is clearly moving

towards the 22 inch Wide TFT monitors. The buying trend will also be

focused on wider monitors with the price difference between 17 inch

and 19 inch coming down. On the technology front, newer technologies

incorporating higher resolutions, multi-functional solutions and

integration of other computing peripherals like speakers, webcam,

iPod, etc with monitors is revolutionizing this segment like never

before. Advanced Performance Liquid Crystal Display (AP/LCD)

technology is the latest display technology breakthrough. LCDs with

extreme view angles, advanced resolution and LCD-TV models are some

of the emerging technological advancements. The superiority in

technology is through various factors like Digital Fine Contrast

Ratio (DFC), Ultra Fast Response Time, Wide Color Gamut 100% and

Wider Viewing Angle. Higher DFC to the tune of 10000:1, ability to

toggle between two aspect ratios (seeing 4:3 in wide), Wide Color

Gamut 100%, Lightning Fast response time of 2ms are some of the

technologies that are fast coming up. LCD monitors with higher

contrast ratios, lower refresh rates and HDMI inputs.