The Future is Flat! : By - R. Manikandan Business Group Head, IT Division, LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd.

 CRT monitors are increasingly becoming a thing of the past now. There is a huge demand for flat panel displays or LCD monitors due to their higher resolution, power and space-saving features. The PC market is witnessing a galloping growth rate for LCD monitors in India and it is true that LCDs would be soon overtaking CRT sales in India.

Better technology, good contrast ratio, wider screens, better flat screen looks, space- saving, less radiation emission, less electricity consumption and decreasing price differentials between CRTs and LCDs are some of the major features driving the consumers and vendors speedily towards LCDs.

Most of the corporates are upgrading their CRT monitors to TFT LCDs. The technology is getting more popular in individual or home segment and they are using the same for various gaming and movie watching (entertainment) applications. Not only the home users and SOHO, but also the demand has seen a rapid increase from travel, hotel and hospitality, banking and many other industry verticals.

Says R. Manikandan, Business Group Head, IT Division, LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd., “The overall monitor market is fast shifting towards LCD monitors. In absolute volumes, LCD has overtaken CRT volumes last year (2007) itself. It is a matter of time, before LCD completely replaces the CRT Monitors.”

Adds Vakul Bhatnagar, General Manager, eSys Technologies, “In the past few years, we have seen LCD taking over CRT market. The entry-level market will be dominated by the CRT monitors in the consumer and SOHO segment, while in the commercial segment; LCD monitor will have higher growth as compared to CRT monitors. Still, the price difference between entry-level LCD and high-end CRT monitors is considerable, making the takeover slow. 2008 will have both the products in the market, but growth of LCD monitors will be high as compared to CRT monitors.”

Gautam Ghosh, Country Manager, ViewSonic Technologies India said, “As monitor market matured in India and people realized the benefits of LCD technology over CRT along with aesthetic benefits, environment friendliness, power saving features, and space saving in spiralling real estate costs, LCD sales exceeded CRT sales. We believe in tier I cities LCD sales has already exceeded CRT…however we feel this trend is yet to catch up in Tier II and Tier III cities, which too shall switch over to LCD technology in the months to come. It is taking over!”

Market Growth
As per MAIT, the monitor market grew by 6 per cent and 2 per cent in terms of revenue and units, respectively during April-September 2007 over the same period last financial year. The growth of LCD market has been more than 100 per cent. India is amongst those countries that are expected to show the strongest uptake of LCDs by 2010 (Source: IDC).

Most of the vendors expect that by the year 2010, LCD monitors will be six millions market. As per the industry expectations, the market share of LCD displays will grow by 113 per cent this year. According to the industry estimates, LCDs are expected to sell around 1.7 million units this year as against 3.3 million CRTs.

Monitor market closely follows the Desktop PC market with a small additional upgrade market of 5-6 per cent. As the Desktop PC market grows by 11 per cent, the monitor market also will grow at 17 per cent. However, the consumer market growth is only 5 per cent CAGR. Thus, the growth in the consumer segment alone is about 10 per cent, including the upgrade market.

The total LCD monitor market in India is expected to grow at 100 per cent.

LCD vs CRT 
The demand for LCD is more than CRT this year. This is primarily because of space- saving, rich aesthetics, power-saving features, etc. Further, LCD monitors have become a lifestyle product in itself. LCD monitors with better technology and aesthetics will be a dominant product from now on. CRT monitors will lose the economies of scale as the volume nosedives, leading to price hikes, which will narrow the gap between CRT and LCD. This could further fuel the LCD monitor market growth.

The industry is clearly witnessing a growth for LCD monitors and diminishing market share for CRT monitors. Till 2004, the LCD monitors were priced very high because of the shortage in the supply of LCD panels. This trend has witnessed a reversal after 2004. Now, a consumer could buy an entry-level 15-inch LCD monitor at 7 thousand and 17 inch at 8 thousand rupees. With a surge in PC sales, the LCD industry is likely to grow further because of its direct linkage with the PC industry. The utility pattern of PCs is undergoing a change. Consumers want to invest in a PC not only for office applications but also for something more than that. Indian PC consumer is becoming more and more demanding and is looking for innovations and value additions. A monitor is no longer looked upon just as an interface between the user and the application. It has to add aesthetics to the computing environment.

With an upsurge in the technical quotient of the users, there is a rapid adoption of technologically advanced monitors. PC revolution in India is being driven by Internet and gaming. More than 70 per cent of PC applications are audio-visual intensive/Internet based. A user could make the best out of these applications only through TFT-LCD monitors. With the increasing popularity of TV tuner cards, the use of TFT-LCD monitors is increasing as the TV presents an interesting option. The use of TFT-LCD monitor as TV is the most prominent factor in their multifunction use. The picture quality, flat screen and wall mounting are the qualities, which are enhancing its use as TV.

With increasing space constraints, TFT-LCDs are a smart option. A TFT-LCD monitor occupies 25 per cent of the space of a conventional CRT monitor. LCD monitor’s usage enhances the image of the company. Hence, these are considerably catching up amongst corporates. These monitors are speedily making inroads in corporates, financial institutions, aviation industry, architects, medical professionals, etc. due to their multifunction characteristics. Another important factor is that they produce virtually no radiation as compared to the conventional CRTs.

Standard Size 
Both 17” and 19” TFT LCD displays have a good demand”because of growing preference for higher resolution and wider screens. However, the 17” definitely leads as most of the home and SOHO users find it cost-effective.”This could be due to the narrowing gap between 15” normal LCD and 17” Wide LCD. On the other hand, a 19” or 19” W screen finds its space with great speed across all segments. 50 per cent sale is of 17" TFT and 20–22 per cent each of 15" and 19" TFT.–Now, 22” W is coming up, being a favourite amongst graphic designers, fashion houses, hospitals, etc. as the extra resolution adds to the details of their work.

“We believe the LCD is bringing to India what we term as `Visual Revolution` where Display becomes the focal point for accessing information as well as entertainment. Combined with that the boom in home entertainment and gaming are pushing this market fast to bigger and wider screens in India. Therefore we believe that 19” and 22” will continue to show growth where 17” will still be widely used by corporates and enterprises,” informs Ghosh.

The worldwide monitor market is facing acute shortage in the 15” CRT and LCD segment, the major reason being that the big players are exiting out from this due to acute panel shortage among the manufacturers. This is causing the prices of 15” to go high. The wide monitor market (e.g. 15.6” W, 17” W and 19” W) is picking up very fast due to cost-effective price.”However, with the launch of 15” Wide LCD, it is expected to gain momentum, taking away sizeable portion of CRT monitors. Not only 15" monitors are in short supply but heat is also catching on 17" and 19" too in respect of price and availability because of high demand.

Ish Bawa, Marcom Head, BenQ India, said, “We have seen 17” and other larger sizes gaining in market share over the last year due to technology becoming more affordable and global quantities for these sizes achieving better economies of scale. For 15", as globally many markets have moved to larger size segments, naturally brands and manufacturers have also shifted the focus to larger formats, although understanding the demand for 15" in India which is of greater percentage when compared to global percentage share for this size we do manage for allocations for this size to keep it going in the Indian market.”

The wide segment has been growing and has been preferred at individual/home level segment and has started gaining acceptability in the commercial segment now. Bhatnagar adds, “In fact, Wide monitor market is picking very fast in the commercial and SOHO segment, whereas the consumer segment still favours regular products. Both products have their own advantages. It will be contrary to compare these products.” There is a shift towards wide screen LCD monitors with an aspect ratio of 16:10. In the consumer market, the widescreen ratio in India is almost 75 per cent, whereas in the commercial space the preference is more towards square LCD monitors with an aspect ratio of 4:3. In the consumer segment, majority of the user applications are multimedia- centric such as movies, browsing, gaming, etc. that favour the wide screen.

Standard Response Time 
Response time is an important attribute. 2ms, 5ms and 8ms are primarily standards of response time in the market. The Indian market is very happy with 5ms of response time. Fast Response time of 5ms is more common while the leading brands like LG offer ultra-fast response time of 2ms also. However, equally or more important is the Contrast Ratio. This factor defines the depth and clarity of pictures. Thus, more the contrast ratio, better the picture quality will be.

Consumer Pattern 
Customers look for the ideal mix of size, response time and contrast ratio. Larger screen sizes, high on technology features, design and aesthetics are some of the emerging trends. The home and SOHO users look at the size and affordability and the professionals like graphic designers go for the response time. Gaming geeks prefer monitors with minimum response time. Sanjay Kumar, Business Manager – PC, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd., informs, “Generally, the consumers make their decision based on aesthetics, brand and price. Response time is not a major criterion.”

Growth Factors 
Affordability, Aspiration, Space Saving, Energy Saving, Lifestyle, Multimedia applications, Extra long computer usage hours are the key attributes that are driving the LCD monitor market. LCD market is growing immensely in India. It is finding use in new segments like digital Signage and Gaming which in the coming future will be a very big growth driver for the business.

The aesthetics and space and energy-saving features of LCD monitors have a great role to play in the rise in its demand. Also space and power crunch being such a major concern in the new era, LCD monitors definitely have an advantage. These monitors consume 30 per cent less power as compared to CRTs. Also, with the price of LCD monitors going down, the difference between CRT and LCD monitors is now pretty marginal. The end-consumer anyway today does not mind paying a slight premium if he gets an edge in terms of performance and looks. There are various customer contact domains that have indeed fuelled the demand for LCD monitors owing to its rich looks and design factor. These functions include banking, travel, hospitality, corporates, financial institutions, aviation industry and not-to-forget call centres. The increase in efficiency owing to the usage of LCD monitors has a critical role to play in its adoption by various functions.

Future 
The growth of LCD monitors has currently been majorly concentrated in the A-class cities. Gradually, the volumes would be shifting to B- and C-class cities. LCD monitors are doing extremely well in the Indian market, but that has not made the marketers relaxed in any way. In fact, vendors are consistently looking for newer options to create demand. Innovations in terms of technology and design hold the key for future.