Matsushita — whose products are sold in North America under the Panasonic name — will soon be the world’s largest producer of plasma display panels (PDPs). Panasonic Corporation of North America also sells LCD-TVs, and the company has a very clear position on what an LCD-TV should be: small. For Panasonic, flat-screen TVs larger than 32 inches in diagonal are plasma; 32 inches and smaller are LCD. That makes Panasonic the only purveyor of 37-inch PDP-TVs in North America, although 37-inch — and even 32-inch — plasma sets are popular in Asia.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor
of HDTV Retailer

So a DigiTimes story with today’s dateline grabbed our attention. DigiTimes quoted the Chinese-language Economic Daily News as saying that Taiwan’s AU Optronics has received orders from Matsushita and JVC (a major part of which is owned by Matsushita) for LCD-TV panels with 20-, 26-, 32-, and 37-inch sizes. If those 37-inch panels are destined for Matsushita rather than JVC, does it mean Panasonic is rethinking its plasma-only-at-37-inch policy?

Another data point: nearly a year ago, a representative of another major LCD panel company told Insight Media, but not for attribution, that Matsushita was discussing the purchase of significant quantities of 37-inch LCD panels, with the goal of replacing its plasma TVs in that size.

Today, we checked with Will Safer, Public Relations Supervisor, Panasonic Corporation of North America, who reaffirmed that plasma over 32 inches is still Panasonic’s policy. He also noted that JVC pursues its own product strategies, and perhaps the 37ers are for JVC. What about AUO? They refused to confirm the report for reasons of client confidentiality.

So, right now we have an intriguing question. Panasonic has drawn a line in the sand separating LCD from PDP TVs by screen size. If this screen size is creeping upwards, it could represent another chink in the LCD armor. We’ll continue digging to flush out this.