In just 6 months 3D TV has gone from a hope to a reality, and more than that, a reality that is being thrust at consumers from every direction. But unlike previous innovations 3D TV will have an impact comparable only to the introduction of radio or the shift from B&W to color. But why?
It is the savior of the manufacturers. The Global Economical Recession aside, revenue from TV sales was plateauing or even dwindling. The HD TV introduction did not create an almighty stir - the general public were skeptical at first, then cautious at making a significant purchase for what in reality was a selective improvement.
Sure you could watch high definition movies, but to take full advantage you needed blu-ray. Sure you could watch high definition television, but what serious improvement was there for the majority of programs - Days of Our Lives in HD?
Then came manufacturing improvements and competition. Early Plasmas, then LCD's and beyond were incredible expensive at first, but modest in size. Over the last year however they have reduced dramatically in price, and bar some new technologies that have surfaced (OLED) the only significant way to entice customers to make larger purchases was by selling a bigger unit.
55 inch, 70 inch, 90 inch and going - the market was soon to reach a stage where a modest size HD TV was going to be a very affordable, coming to disposable product, and the larger TV's were becoming too big for the normal home - a 6 foot wide TV? 8 foot? 12 foot? It was getting to the stage that the next major revolution in size would literally not fit on the average wall.
3D TV is such a technology tangent it offers an adrenalin shot. New manufacturing processes, materials, tech and supply chains return introductory units to the US00+ price. The size boom has been reset slightly back to 55 inch, allowing room to grow.
3D TV also rides off the media hype, particularly started by Avatar and now continued with Alice in Wonderland, etc etc. People are experiencing 3D movies, they hear the news, they are plummeted with sales brochures and internet campaigns. The manufacturers are riding this wave.
Additionally the 3D revolution ignites a whole new revenue stream of accessories. Never in TV's history has this been so true. Sure we have had VCR and DVD, but now even relatively new technologies such as blu-ray are being defunct by the requirement of 3D blu-ray, and then there are the glasses.
TV was a siloed purchase, you bought it and you watched it. Now to see that latest movies you have to buy that player, you have to buy those glasses. Want to watch with your family? Having some friends over to watch the football? You cant share those glasses... LG's supposedly will be around US, Samsung's could be US0 - family of four = 0 to 0.
It used to be that when going to a mates place to watch the Superbowl you had to remember the beer, now its the glasses as well.
All this reinvents the market for the major manufactures and allows a reset of the direction standard TV's were heading. The ongoing cross promotion and self rejuvenating markets is almost impossible to forecast. Cable 3D TV, 3D TV movies, 3D TV movie hiring, 3D TV related internet.
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