Panasonic ties with Best Buy for 3D TV promotion

TOKYO | Mon Mar 8, 2010 8:00am EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp will launch its 3D televisions in the United States on Wednesday, and work with top U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy Co to promote the products, the Japanese electronics maker said.

The maker of Viera flat-panel TVs said it expects a 50-inch model to retail for $2,500, and aims to sell 500,000 3D TVs in the United States in the first year of their launch, half its annual global sales target.

Under the joint promotion, Best Buy will set up special sections at its retail outlets, where prospective customers can try out Panasonic's 3D TVs.

Panasonic, the world's No.4 flat TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp, holds high hopes for 3D TVs as it aims to turn its TV business profitable in the year starting April.

The sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar" and other recent titles have sparked massive interest in 3D movies, raising TV makers' hopes for a strong debut of 3D models.

Shares in Panasonic closed up 2.8 percent at 1,307 yen on Monday, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which gained 2.1 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Rupert Winchester)
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Comments (7)
cgallaway wrote:
This is a neat idea, but bringing it to market now is a dumb idea. Does anyone really expect it to take off? I mean, within the last 5 yrs HD has been adopted, as has Blue Ray DVD’s, the transition to digital broadcast signals, meaning that the vast majority of people that adopt these technologies have just purchased new tv’s. Couple it with the current economic situation and I don’t expect people will want to pay $2500 for a new tv just yet. Add in the annoyance factor of the 3d glasses (minor issue, admittedly). I don’t think it will be adopted for another 5-10 yrs.

Mar 08, 2010 10:41am EST  --  Report as abuse
DannyKFL wrote:
With only a million sets it doesn’t seem to make economic sense for much new programming to be produced.

Mar 08, 2010 11:11am EST  --  Report as abuse
beliha wrote:
First of all, shouldn’t there be a small description of this alleged “3D” technology in the article, so we know what the writer is talking about? What is “3D” about it? Do we still have to wear glasses?
I find it ridiculous that I have to set the article aside and search the net looking for answers to the most basic questions about this technology.

Second, As it turns out, you still need 3D glasses to view 3D content on these “3D” Tvs. So what exactly may I ask is so “3D” about them? I can watch 3D content on my HD TV right now, and I don’t need to go out and buy a new TV!

After a little more searching, turns out it has the ability to layer out regular content into 3D space, which still doesn’t make it 3D, just kind of layers them on top of each other, like cardboard cutouts.
Once again, why do I need a special TV to do this?

And I don’t care what anyone says, the general public isn’t going to buy a TV that requires glasses to watch the content, that’s a HUGE annoyance.

This is by far the dumbest move by TV companies as of yet. Its nothing more than a cash grab to try and take advantage of the success of 3D movies in the theater.

And it will fail.

Mar 08, 2010 12:06pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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