Availability: Well, this one certainly has been a conundrum for manufacturers of plasma displays. Originally, many plasma manufacturers had counted on the market switching from CRT to plasma early on (in 1998 and 1999). But, that didn't happen. The prices never reached the level required for most buyers to substitute a plasma for a CRT monitor or even a projector (as most portable projectors are less expensive than plasma displays). The manufacturers had built up an inventory of panels in anticipation of massive growth in sales that never really materialized. So, they backed off in production and made fewer panels. But, that cut in production couldn't have come at a worse time. Just as sales had started to take off in 2000, availability was short. Manufacturers couldn't get them fast enough as market demand increased. But, now we're caught up. Most manufacturers can keep up with current growth projections in plasma and some have even increased production capabilities with new manufacturing plants in Japan. So, availability is no longer an issue.

So, it must be price. That's the only conclusion I can draw. Maybe the price point is just a bit too high?

Oh, wait a minute, maybe it's content. There really isn't much HDTV aspect ratio (16:9) content available in video form. That probably explains the slow adoption rate in the consumer AV market, but not the ProAV market. We have PC's that output 16:9, we have the factor of the human eye that looks at the world in more of a 16:9 aspect ratio than in 4:3 and we have a display technology, the plasma, that's really come a long way in less than 3-years.

Take a second look.

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Gary Kayye, CTS is Principal of Kayye Consulting an industry consulting firm specializing in providing marketing, business development and training consulting for ProAV dealers and manufacturers. He, and his partner Jody Thomas,have developed a business plan that is effectively a "Blueprint" Guide to building a Systems Integration company from scratch or by converting a projector reseller to a Systems Integrator. The Blueprint Business Plan is over 100 pages long and even includes sample systems projects. It's expensive, but worth the investment. He may be reached at his web site at www.kayye.com or via e-mail at gkayye@kayye.com.

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