LCD price fixing has been obvious to me for a year or so now, and I've posted about it in comments on here, so let me say "I told you so" to all those who told me I was crazy.
Look at the marketplace for LCD panels. Over a billion cellphones. TVs. Computer monitors. Laptop screens. Portable music/video players. Billions and billions and billions of products use LCD panels. LCDs don't require any exotic or hard-to-acquire components. Their manufacturing has been mastered. The truth of the matter is that LCDs are nearly as ubiquitous as paper, and should be priced accordingly. If demand and honest competition were driving the price, devices which incorporate LCDs would be MUCH cheaper than they are. Long before LCDs were ever practicable, it was pretty obvious that the display industry was just about the laziest bunch of slobs on the planet. They stuck with CRTs doing NTSC and PAL for decades and decades with very few significant technological leaps. Well, with the move into LCD they have to accept an entirely different worldview. They're in the domain of rapid product changes and even more rapid price drops. It probably was not entirely unforseeable that they would fight this with back-room deals to keep their prices artificially high.
And when discussing this, don't forget there are very few companies that actually produce LCD panels. Most of the TV manufacturers buy their panels from these companies and then repackage them, that's why it's important to find out what panel a computer monitor or TV uses and not just rely on the brand selling it.
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LCD price fixing has been obvious to me for a year or so now, and I've posted about it in comments on here, so let me say "I told you so" to all those who told me I was crazy.
Look at the marketplace for LCD panels. Over a billion cellphones. TVs. Computer monitors. Laptop screens. Portable music/video players. Billions and billions and billions of products use LCD panels. LCDs don't require any exotic or hard-to-acquire components. Their manufacturing has been mastered. The truth of the matter is that LCDs are nearly as ubiquitous as paper, and should be priced accordingly. If demand and honest competition were driving the price, devices which incorporate LCDs would be MUCH cheaper than they are. Long before LCDs were ever practicable, it was pretty obvious that the display industry was just about the laziest bunch of slobs on the planet. They stuck with CRTs doing NTSC and PAL for decades and decades with very few significant technological leaps. Well, with the move into LCD they have to accept an entirely different worldview. They're in the domain of rapid product changes and even more rapid price drops. It probably was not entirely unforseeable that they would fight this with back-room deals to keep their prices artificially high.
And when discussing this, don't forget there are very few companies that actually produce LCD panels. Most of the TV manufacturers buy their panels from these companies and then repackage them, that's why it's important to find out what panel a computer monitor or TV uses and not just rely on the brand selling it.