Thursday, August 03, 2006

Flat Screen rock because of Germany 2006


Sales of flat-screen television sets powered ahead this year in Germany with larger 32-inch screens dominating the market, an industry leader said Thursday in Berlin, a month before Europe's top consumer-electronics show IFA.

Consumers have rapidly adopted liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions as the new technology becomes affordable and offers bigger screen sizes than old-fashioned cathode-tube televisions installed in most German living rooms.

Hans-Joachim Kamp of the Consumer Electronics Industry board GFU said the football World Cup in June and July had driven this year's sales as expected, with first-half sales of LCD screens growing 130 per cent year on year and sales of plasma screens up 80 per cent.

Overall consumer electronics sales are set to grow 11 per cent this year in Germany.

Kamp said 45 per cent of the televisions leaving shops in Germany were currently flat screens, and in money terms these made up 80 per cent of sales since they are more expensive. The flat screens were expected to surpass the 50-per-cent level this year.

In May, nearly 80 per cent of LCD panels sold had had diagonal widths of 80 centimetres (32 inches) or more and 25 per cent had exceeded 90 centimetres, Kamp said. Last month industry leaders said 42-inch screens might become standard within a couple more years.

The IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin September 1-6 will be the first in decades to be held annually. Since the Second World War, the show has been held every second year. Fair chief Christian Goeke said it will feature more than 1,000 companies from round the world.

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