Visually LED Revolution

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">The
visual display segment has been undergoing a dramatic change with the
form factor. Consumers have increasingly begun to prefer monitors
that are sleek in design with slim size. The traditional monitor
market has come a long way from CRT to plasma displays, LCD backlit
square displays to the CCFL LCD displays, to energy-efficient LED
technology and more recently OLED display and IPS panels. The
underlying design direction is to move towards sleeker, more
energy-efficient designs that give higher contrast ratios and true
color reproduction.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">It
has been the tendency of the market to shift to new technologies and
innovative products. However, in the display market this trend is not
common to see technology breakthroughs. After the slow extinction of
LCD, now the latest buzzword in the display market is LED, however,
the technology is not entirely new from its predecessors but is based
on the already proven and matured LCD technology. The transition has
already begun with LED technology taking over the erstwhile LCD
monitors. The transition was moderate in 2011, however industry
expects the transition to be much faster in 2012.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">LCDs
are cheaper than LEDs, but the advantages of LED have resulted in a
huge shift to the sleek and slim LED monitors in the recent times. A
reduction in price of LEDs will make them the preferred choice for
all customers. Even if a new technology offering new advances enters
the market, it either dies mid-way (as in the case of plasma TV) or
takes an extremely long time to become mainstream.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">LED
monitors are technically a member of the LCD monitors family. The
display screen on LED is a liquid crystal display which is the same
as any LCD monitor. The LED technology coexists with the LCD
technology. The difference between the two is mainly in the
backlighting techniques which changes the picture quality
characteristics dramatically.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">According
to Saurabh Grover, sales head India, href="http://www.dqweek.com/AOC-service-woes-affect-partners">AOC
Monitor Business, “LED
monitors offer better color reproduction and sharp imaging compared
to LCD monitors. Factors driving
the growth of LED monitors are high-quality display, slim designs and
power saving. The gaming/entertainment enthusiasts would surely love
LED technology because of its high-definition and sharp picture
quality. Other than that, LED technology will find great use in
medical diagnostics and architecture since these segments require
study of minute details and close examination of the object in
focus.” There are many new innovations coming up in the LED
monitors space. Uniformity will be one of the key focuses in panel
backlit technology. OLED will be the preferred technology in the
various panel types and more monitors will see the transition from 2D
to 3D.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">MARKET
IS READY FOR THE SHIFT

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">With
display manufacturers becoming more and more invested into LEDs,
manufacturer commitment for LCDs seems to be on the wane. Most of the
prominent players appear to be phasing out their LCD monitor lines,
shifting their emphasis to LEDs completely by H1 2012. However
players like ViewSonic is already out of the LCD game for the last
one year. Companies like LG and AOC is also following suit. The
market is more than ready. Most vendors have either launched or are
about to launch an entire range of LED monitors. Ajay Sharma, country
manager, href="http://www.dqweek.com/Viewsonic-appoints-IRIS-and-Pacetel-as-partners">ViewSonic
said, “The display product market consists of
monitors LCD and LED. While India is seeing a dramatic shift in
volumes from LCD monitors to LED monitors, most western markets have
already witnessed this shift, and are slowly doing away with LCD. The
transition from LCD to LED has to happen as most of the monitors
manufactures have stopped the production of LCD. Whereas in India,
the technology shift is happening late, but we feel 2012 will be the
last year for LCD.”

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Grover
pointed out, “AOC made a complete shift to LED range in Q1 2011
itself, starting from 15.6” LED to 27” LED monitors. Hence, all our
mainline models are LED monitors. However, in order to meet
certain tender requirements or for price specific deals, we arranged
small lots of one or two CCFL LCD monitors off and on. The percentage
of LCD and LED units varies on monthly basis depending on special
deals and corporate business. Till December our LCD ratio was less
than 12% of the total sales volume. By the end of Q1 2012, we plan to
completely phase out the CCFL LCD monitors. Similarly Sanjoy
Bhattacharya, product group marketing head, LG India said, “LCD
monitors continue to die off, hopefully by the end of H1 2012 we will
be completely out of our LCD monitors range, wherein the entire
industry will be shifting from LCD to LED display by Q3 2012. Having
said that, we still sell 20% of LCD monitors range. In fact as per
our planning, we will discontinue the production of LCD monitors by
Q1, but we will keep some trade stock available until Q2 2012.”

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Vinay
Shetty, country head, component business, ASUS India said, “Over
90% of transition has already happened from LCDs to LEDs. LCDs should
be phased out in the next 2 years time. LCD monitors have been
launched in the last fiscal. We plan to sell about 700 units this
year for LCDs, since most of the transition will lead to LED.” “We
have an ideal combination of both LED backlit LCD's and CCFL LCD's.
Our portfolio consists of 60% of LED backlits LCDs and 40% of CCFL
LCD's. We have a wide range of LED screens available in India at
affordable prices. Today our customers have an option to choose from
a display size range starting from 15.6” to a 27” LED backlit LCD
monitors,” highlighted Saji Kumar, director, product management,
Acer India.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">DIMINISHING
PRICE GAP

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Several
companies are trying to capture this momentum, more so because the
cost difference is not very huge, unlike the cost difference between
LCD and CRT monitors. “Over the years, the price gap has been
predominately diminished. Even, performance has been improved. LED
monitors uses less energy as compared to the LCD. LED's can save
about 25% of the energy over LCD device. Average pricing for LED is
declining, allowing LED-backlit devices to become more price
competitive as compared to CCFL LCD monitors. This should allow
penetration of LED monitors in tier-2 and tier-3 cities,” said
Kolkata based Veenith Kala, Starcomp Infotech, a dealer for Acer, LG
and Samsung.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Bhattacharya
also added, “LED is definitely the future in monitors. LED
monitors-with their far better picture quality, slim design and up
to 45% power savings-are a superior value proposition for
customers. With more awareness about the products and their benefits,
the technology will gain wider acceptance and will slowly replace
LCD. However, the main challenge faced by the LED monitor is pricing.
LED monitors are much more expensive as compared to LCD monitors.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">SMOOTH
TRANSITION

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">It
took long for the industry to migrate from CRT to LCD. In the case of
LED, the transition from LCD was quite natural and smooth. Delhi
based Ajaya Kumar, MD, Park Network, a regional distributor for AOC
recalled, “LCD technology faced numerous challenges when it was
launched, and for a long time CRT continued to challenge LCD
monitors. Apart from a huge price premium, LCD picture quality was
initially poor with a low contrast ratio, high response time and high
error rates. LED technology doesn't need to go through this
maturity curve of a few years, so it is expected to be mainstream
within a year. When LCDs were launched in India, they were priced
more than three times higher than CRT monitors. That is not the case
with LEDs.”

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Monitor
is not just a component commodity any more. Monitor is the face of
the PC. It is the product in driving position. Moreover, segment
wise, LED monitors are growing at a bullish pace and are expected to
capture the entire segment by 2012. In the LED category most popular
monitors category are 20” LED, growth wise 22”+ category are
leading the pack. In addition to that, multi-function monitors are on
good demand today. Within the LED space, some of the emerging
categorize are O-LED, foldable display and 3D without glass etc are
the areas where R&D people are working hard. Also, wireless
monitors are about to come to the market. “In the coming year there
will be mostly LED monitors in all panel sizes in the market and very
few vendors will be selling LCD panels. The transition is natural as
people are moving to better and more efficient display design,”
added Shetty.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">LATEST
INNOVATION

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Vendors
are including many innovations and features to increase the
attractiveness of LCD monitors-higher resolutions, full
high-definition (HD) wider screens and multi-functional solutions,
plus computing peripherals such as speakers, iPod docks and webcams.
Consumers will look for more innovations and features in their LCD
monitors. Features such as full-HD and ultra-fast response time,
along with the latest interfaces like HDMI and USB, will become more
common in the coming days. These advances in technology are bound to
grow further, and penetrate even smaller towns and cities. Consumers
are already showing interest in 3D capable monitors. As these become
more affordable, they are likely to gain wide popularity in the
market. Also the popularity of improved panel technologies such as
IPS panels is also expected to increase, provided the pricing becomes
more affordable.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">A
recent innovation by AOC is the USB monitor (e1649Fwu). This is an
ultra-portable, energy-efficient LED based monitor (presently only in
15.6” size) which uses a single USB cable for display as well as
drawing power when connected to a PC or laptop. So we can expect more
variants of such displays as well. Power saving is the main feature
that drives the
growth of LED monitors. In addition, consumers also prefer to look at
the sleek and slim designs
coupled with good aesthetics. There are many new innovations coming
up in the LED monitors space. Uniformity will be one of the key
focuses in panel backlight technology. OLED will be the preferred
technology in the various panel types and more monitors will see the
transition from 2D to 3D.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">NO
PROFITABILITY FOR PARTNERS

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Mumbai
based Hitesh Mody of Jaydee Electronics said, “The transition to
LED is also rapidly gaining momentum in the channel. Today, we do 75%
of LED monitors. Moreover, the traction is more towards mid-high-end
monitor. But the entry level which is 15” and 18” monitors are
predominately driven by LCD range of monitors. Hence when the price
tipping point of LED comes at par with LED, the predominant shift
happen on its own.” Interestingly, Chandigarh based Dinesh Sharma
of OST Electronics, said, “Though the market of LED has picked up,
but the conversion from LCD to LED is still at a gradual stage. We
don't see customers disposing off LCD and harping on LED much.
Nevertheless, we are educating our first time buyers to move to LED.
But the awareness for LCD TFT to LED TFT is very little as there is
not much physical changes between the two.” Kumar of Park Network
said, “As far as vendors are concerned most of them have been
moving out of the LCD business. In the distribution the same trend
has started seeing.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">Slowly,
the shipment of LCD has started dying off. Moreover, in terms of
technology and pricing there is not much of a change. The
profitability remains at par for partners. However, 3D and network
monitors do offer better margins then plain vanilla LED.”

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">E-WASTE
OF LCD MONITORS?

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">The
most important initiative with regards to handling e-waste of
monitors is a paradigm shift in the entire production from LCD
monitors to LED monitors. ASUS supports for individual producer
responsibility (IPR) and the involvement of the producer in the
responsibility for proper end-of-life management. “When ASUS
directs the management of its products at end-of-life, we exclude the
use of incineration as an option for all vendors managing ASUS
end-of-life products in any situation and prohibit the use of
incarcerated labor for processing and management of ASUS end-of-life
products in any situation,” said Kumar. ASUS seeks to keep the
product take back program accessible to all customers, including
consumers, small businesses, and institutions but keep it in
accordance with their unique stance in the marketplace and prohibit
export of end-of-life electronics, components, and scrap to any
countries in violation of the Basel Convention.

style="font-size: 13pt;" size="3">On
the other hand, AOC offers eco-friendly and green LED products that
work on lesser energy. “Our promotion campaigns focus on creating
consumer awareness about the benefits of using LED products that
reduce toxic materials and waste, are mercury-free with reduced power
consumption. AOC will continue to find new ways to enhance our green
efforts. Consumers and businesses are giving importance to the
environmental impact while making purchase decisions which will help
AOC make its contribution in this regard,” concluded Grover.