Olympics likely to propel LCD TV sales in Mideast

Dubai: Beijing Olympics is expected to propel LCD TV sales in the Middle East to more than 30 per cent to four million sets in 2008 as consumers demand higher product performance at reduced cost, said a Samsung official.

"The Middle East's remarkable economic growth and booming freehold property market have generated unprecedented demand for new consumer electronics products," said Ashraf Sajid, Head of Sales and Marketing, Digital Media Business, Samsung Gulf Electronics.

"The rapid shift toward digitisation in the audio-video segment has meant that LCD TVs are a must have for consumers."

He said according to a report by DisplaySearch, LCD TV demand from the Middle East and Africa is forecast to rise to 7.32 million units in 2012.

Total TV shipments into Middle East and Africa are expected to touch 10.8 million units this year, an increase of 8.3 per cent when compared to 2007.

"Demand for TVs will be strong in the region as consumers replace old ones or the number of households grows and due to the CRT to Flat Panel TV transition," said Paul Gagnon, Director of North America TV Research, DisplaySearch.

He said LCD TV average prices should fall about nine per cent year-on-year on average in 2008, with slightly faster declines at larger screen sizes.

Paul said flat panels are here to stay, with no revolutionary technologies hitting the mass market for many years. Improvements will be focused not as much on performance (but still important), but on improving the usability and connectivity of televisions.

Regarding the importance on design, he said vendors usually respond to customer feedback.

Bordeaux series

In 2006, when Samsung introduced the stylish Bordeaux series of LCD TVs, they were very well received in the market place, and much of the development since has been on improving the aesthetics.

Samsung has announced that for the first half of 2008 it occupied the largest market share in the Middle East for LCD TV sales, with further growth expected.

According to research analyst GFK, Samsung won the top spot with a share of 28.2 per cent in the UAE, 31.6 per cent in Bahrain, 27.9 per cent in Egypt, 71.9 per cent in Kuwait, 38.1 per cent in Oman, 38.2 per cent in Qatar, 37.6 per cent in Saudi Arabia and 39.2 per cent in Iran.

"We've seen great pick up locally for the Series 4, Series 5 and Series 6 LCD TVs. The Olympics historically has been a keen time for consumers to purchase these sorts of items," Sajid added