Flat Panel Monitor Sales to Reign This Year
Wed Oct 23, 2:43 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales of sleek flat-panel computer monitors will top sales of bulkier traditional models this year, signifying a long-expected turning point in the computer industry, a research firm said on Wednesday.
The shift comes as personal computer makers offer steep discounts on flat-panel screens, which are lighter and slimmer than their traditional counterparts but cost more, the research group, DisplaySearch, said in its annual monitor report.
There are still expected to be more traditional monitors -- which like televisions work with cathode ray tubes -- sold than flat-panel monitors until 2004. But measuring by dollars, flat-panel screens will overtake cathode ray, or CRT, monitors this year, DisplaySearch said.
Flat-panel screen sales are expected to grow at a 49-percent compounded annual growth rate from 2001 through 2006, giving them an 82-percent share of the desktop computer market. In contrast, CRT monitors are expected to decline by a compounded annual rate of 24 percent over the same period.
By 2006, the group said, flat-panel screens will outsell CRT monitors by a ratio of five to one. |
