LCD sales may well overtake CRT sales in 2005

For the past couple of years, South African analysts have been predicting a greater uptake of LCD monitors in the business market. Now with the combination of a favourable rand and the international reduction in cost of flat panel monitors, 2005 is finally set to become the year that these predictions come true.

Says Darryl Squara, business manager at Tarsus Technologies: "We have been anticipating that LCD sales would overtake CRT sales in the South African market for the last year-and-a-half. While this has not happened yet, it is apparent that LCDs are becoming more popular and this prediction may come true by the end of 2005.

"For one, there has been a substantial decrease in LCD prices over the last eight to nine months. In fact, we have seen price drops in the region of 40% to 45% over the past nine months. This has partially been due to the rand strengthening against the dollar, but we have also noticed that the base prices have dropped on LCD monitors," Squara says.

"Testimony to the increasing interest in LCDs can be gauged from the high double figure growth that Tarsus has noted over the first quarter of 2005 in LCD sales. We also believe that LCD displays have become more affordable, and the price gap between CRT and LCD has narrowed," Squara continues.

"Customers are also becoming more and more aware of the benefits of LCD screens over the traditional CRT screens," he says. "Benefits such as space saving, lower radiation levels, power saving and less heat generation are definite plus factors that make LCD a far more appealing option than the traditional CRT."

Squara says the increasing popularity of LCD monitors is not just visible in the business space. "It has been interesting to note that the demand for large format LCD screens, such as 32- and 40-inch units is definitely increasing. This is obviously due to the prices coming down, but also the realisation by customers that LCD screens provide a much longer life span than that offered by their plasma counterparts.

"You get roughly a 20 000-hour life out of a plasma screen, but in the region of 60 000 out of an LCD. This is three times the life span, but definitely not at three times the price," he explains.

Squara also believes that the popularity of LCD is not something that is going to disappear anytime in the near future. "It is important to note that most manufacturers` R&D funding is being spent on LCD technology. Most of the CRT ranges are, and will, remain very static going forward, with only very small changes occurring. The aim is to expand and improve drastically on the current LCD technology in as short a space as possible," he concludes.