The Public Display market in Europe, Middle East and Africa grew 20.5% on a volume basis compared to Q1 2013 according to Meko’s DisplayCast Public Display service. Volumes were down slightly compared to Q4 2013, but value was up on the sales at the end of the year.
“Over the last couple of years, we have seen a distinctly seasonal trend in the Public Display market in Europe”, said Bob Raikes, Meko’s principal analyst. “In the first few years, there was no distinct pattern, but over the last couple of years, sales at the end of one year and the start of the next have been stronger than the middle of the year. We believe that the seasonality is influenced by the budget cycle. Many companies use the calendar year as their financial year and tend to commit to projects at the start of a budget, or at the end of the year, when there’s no need to keep money back for emergencies”, he added.
Germany had been flat during 2013, after a good start to the year. Q1 saw good growth in this region and Western Europe remains the dominant geography for public display applications. Samsung continues its dominance of the market at 48.3% of volume, while NEC stayed in second place, with a stronger value share. Larger sizes continue to increase their share, with L46H the largest single segment by volume, although L55H takes the most value.
“We reported what we expect to be Panasonic’s last PDP sales in this quarter”, Raikes added. “PDP was never as popular for professional applications in Europe as it was in the US, but it’s sad to see the technology dying out”.
