Trend

LCDs lead

Current adoption reveals that in the next few years, LCDs would outnumber other displays. By Vinita Gupta

We have come a long way from the days of 14” B&W monitors. Today the de facto standard is the 15” colour monitor. However, the proportion of 17” colour monitors and TFT monitors is on the rise. According to ITOPS, IMRB International’s syndicated tracking programme on the IT market, the share of 17” monitors has increased from 12 percent in 2002-03 to 30 percent plus during 2006. Similarly, the TFT segment has picked up quite significantly. Today the share of TFT monitors is approximately 30 to 40 percent as compared to 17 percent in 2002-03. The trend in displays is largely driven by better display devices or specifications, display technology, availability and price.

The size, work of an organisation and position of an employee all have some impact; however these are not the key drivers for adoption of the newer and improved display technology in business. The larger impact is on increased adoption of newer display technology over old.

Desktop display

In a country like ours, real estate is at a premium and hence the space occupied per user has started gaining awareness. A TFT of a similar footprint as a CRT occupies about two-thirds less space; thus companies can use the same floor area for many more people with TFTs, when compared to the area populated with CRTs.

On the power consumption front, power usage is around 60 percent less with TFTs compared to similar sized CRTs. In the case of larger displays, the savings go up substantially.

LCD monitors are therefore expected to replace CRTs as the dominant monitor type in the near future. Also, the higher price of the LCD monitors over the CRT monitors would be offset by key benefits such as lower power consumption, space saving and zero radiation, which will ensure lesser or no eyestrain even at times of continuous use.

Rajnish Gupta, Country Manager – Business Desktops, Personal Systems Group, HP India adds, “CRT prices have been stagnant, whereas TFT prices have been crashing. The CRT market is limited by the fact that displays are not available in sizes larger than 19” in the mainstream space; whereas TFTs can be as big as 30 inches.” HP has a TFT range, with models ranging from 15” to 30”; multi-display solutions and support for digital and analog outputs.

Vertical-wise

Organisations in the enterprise and MNC space have been faster in their adoption of TFTs when compared to SMBs and Indian corporates. Also, organisations with a larger workforce, like BFSI, ITES and software development are more likely to deploy TFTs. Longer work hours or working in shifts also lends itself to more use of TFTs. Even in other verticals, senior management prefer TFTs to CRTs.

IMRB feels that the adoption rate of TFT however has been faster in the industry verticals and application areas that require extensive usage of computers—IT/ITES, media and professional services, cyber cafés, private education and training institutes etc.

There has seen a major shift in the adoption of TFTs in Tier 1 cities. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are catching up, but are far behind; here low-cost CRT monitors still dominate. There is a shift happening in the government and public sector as well although educational requirements are largely on CRTs.

Dhananjay Shah, Managing Director, Pureview Technologies feels that the LCD market has grown to a great extent and in the coming three years, it will account for the majority of sales as compared to CRT. However, the replacement market for CRT to LCD shall go on for another 10 years.

Projectors and plasma

LCDs are surely the way to go for desktop displays, but plasmas and projectors are also increasingly finding their feet in the conference and video conference areas. The increase in adoption of projectors has been on account of increased need for people to share work and collaborate.

According to Rajesh S Kurup, Associate Vice President and Research Services Director, eTechnology Group at IMRB, projectors are likely to show a flat trend. Growth will require newer application areas other than office application such as presentations example home projectors for viewing TV/ DVDs, viewing of photo albums etc at the right price point. He adds, “Depending upon on the office segment for continued sales would not lead to a huge spurt in projector sales as we see for monitors both LCD and Plasma.”

Though it has been a constant debate between the two products, LCD and Plasma, and by now, there is a general divide in the market that focuses on each of the technologies. Both have advantages and disadvantages in terms of sharpness, brightness, gas filling, power consumption, viewing angle etc but the numbers in case of LCD higher than Plasma.

Shah adds, “I think, it is ultimately LCD which is going to win the race. Every time, Plasma comes out with the bigger size, it works. And then LCD catches up with the size and price always a little higher than Plasma.”

The use of display is largely driven by business applications. Given the fact that the use of business applications is on the rise display devices and terminals too would be increasing significantly in the future. In the workforce for display up to 17” monitors it will largely be LCD technology that will prevail in the near future. For large public display Plasma could dominate in the future.