On the heals of a new coalition announcement this week by the big five Plasma manufacturers, a next generation joint PDP research center is opening in Korea to the tune of almost $9M in committed funds from the Ministry of Commerce, private corporations and two major Korean universities. Both announcements bring to the forefront the importance of cooperation in securing technology dominance over the long-term.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly &
Microdisplay Report

The Korean research center focuses on regional standardization and infrastructure issues targeting a secure and balanced approach to demand and supply of key components for the PDP industry.

The PDP coalition announcement broadens cooperation between the key international suppliers of plasma panels, namely LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Panasonic, Hitachi, and Pioneer, into the New Jersey-based Plasma Display Coalition. While the new group is committed to R&D projects to advance plasma technology’s TV performance, make no mistake, they plan to be active in promoting the technology and are looking to have a “significant impact on the market”.

It is high time this group has formed. It will not only help develop technology in a more efficient manner, but will help boost the marketing power of PDP technology. This will help counterbalance similar efforts from DLP and 3LCD and even LCD supporters.

As recent as this week Circuit City and Costco were running ads in a common HD feed touting the competitive advantage of an unnamed technology because of the absence of “screen burn-in”-a problem solved long ago by PDP makers. Because of this, the ad is disingenuous at best.

Hopefully the Plasma Display Coalition will seek the moral high-ground and abstain from bashing the competition. Such negative talk only hurts the display industry in general and tends to draw into question the motives and character of the one telling the story. As a rule, no successful sales campaign stoops to these tactics.

Suffice it to say, all technologies have inherent advantages and disadvantages and the consumer can benefit from honest open discussion of each to make informed decisions. And that is what the Plasma Display Coalition should be all about.