by Héctor Gómez Pérez
A few years ago seeing a flat screen in the room of a house or in the middle of the waiting room of an airport was a real novelty; now these teams are part of everyday life and allow the user to watch from a football game, delight in the publity in a shopping center or know how many people precede him in a dental appointment. The uses are multiple and the possibilities of purchase as wide as the colors that the new models of flat screens are able to reproduce.
Obviously, this multiplicity of uses and the increase in demanta has led to more and more actors entering the scene every day to serve a market that tends to expand and technify with leaps and bounds. AVI Latin America interviewed Maria Luiza Steiner, product manager of the display division of Samsung Electronics Latin America and Juan Carlos Chavez, regional account manager for Nec Display Solutions, Inc. They discussed product sales in these times of crisis, market trends and the challenges ahead for manufacturers.
Although since the last months of the previous year there is talk of economic recession, sales of flat screens, at least as far as Nec and Samsung are concerned, did not have a negative impact. Nec, which within the region serves the markets of Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, had a positive balance at the end of the year as it introduced the brand in the region thanks to the distribution partners that promoted in a good way their LCD screen products in sizes from 32 '' to 82 ''.
Steiner said Samsung maintained its growth and market share in the region, meeting forecasts for 2008 and without canceling any of the launches budgeted for the previous year. However, Juan Carlos Chávez hinted that although the negative impact of the economic crisis has not been fully felt, there are some aspects that highlight it tangentially, especially in what has to do with a particular application. "Digital signage in our region was starting to take off strong when the crisis fell. Indeed, many projects were paused, but the value of digital signage is real, there is a real return on investment, and in most they are being reactivated, "said the professional.
The region and sales strategies
Latin America, according to the two guests, plays a preponderant role in the commercialization of these technologies since it is considered in a market of great potential as expressed by Steiner. Samsung has been working on various projects in airports, shopping centers and advertising agencies, and added that "our launch, promotion and distribution plans will place special emphasis on Latin America in 2009."
In the same vein, Chavez said, noting that the niche market for Nec's flat panel products in the region has been heading towards professional integration represented in monitoring centers, digital signage, transport terminals and finance centers that require deploying information in large formats and continuously.
Faced with the issue of advice and accompaniment of the staff of these companies so that the user makes the purchase decision, the guest said that Samsung "has executives dedicated to this business who know the product and are working in Latin America together with the end user to identify the best solution. Our history shows that we have been able to respond to the needs and demands of our consumers, making available those products that meet their priorities." Chavez noted that "all of our distribution and integration partners are fully advising the user on display technologies as everything behind each team. To this end, at NEC Display Solutions, Inc., we have held webinars and technical courses, to inform our partners of the different technologies behind Digial signage."
Undoubtedly, today's user is much more informed than that of a few years ago, and that is why he is looking for equipment that meets all his expectations, in addition to the design of the equipment being harmonious with his spaces and that they help to conserve the environment. However, the price factor is still decisive in the purchasing decisions of many people in the region.
Trends and challenges ahead
In these technologies, research goes hand in hand with new trends, so it is not uncommon for companies to allocate important items to issues such as lower energy consumption, durability of parts and thermal control. Among the novelties presented by Nec stands out the LCD of 46 '' without frame, in video-wall type installations in which the separation between the image of each monitor is 7.3 mm. For its part, Samsung will focus its efforts this year on the manufacture of larger screens (larger and wider), in addition to being functional and have a low power consumption.
"In the case of Nec, the main challenge is to continue offering products within our professional niche. This niche is very demanding with respect to the characteristics of the product," Chavez said, while María Luiza Steiner said that the challenges are represented "without a doubt to respond to an increasingly competitive market that remains in constant transformation, and to a consumer that varies its demands, demanding superior products if it comes to technology."
The environment matters
Concern for the care of the environment has touched a large part of the industries and screen manufacturers have not been on the margins of this trend. Currently Samsung has been working with environmentally friendly materials and has achieved thanks to a dual injection process an exclusive TOC (transparent opaic color, also called color touch) that allows the screen to offer a clear image, under an ecological concept and that eliminates the production of VOC (volatile organic compounds).
On the other hand, Nec has epeat certification in 59 of its models; It also has 38 models of screens certified by Energy Star and the newly launched monitors have an environmental impact meter (Carbo Footprint). In addition, Chavez said that "it is important to raise awareness among the user who wants more brightness and contrast that these aspects increase the use of energy. Ideally, users should be informed of their real minimum requirement and thus help the planet."
