Underestimating the Power of Secondary Features

Have you ever spent tons of money on a birthday or Christmas present for a young child, only to find that he/she is more fascinated with the box it came in? I've noticed a similar situation when it comes to high-tech products and the "average" consumer. Sometimes the feature that you just gloss over during your presentation, or worse, don't even mention, is one that's likely to pique the customer's interest.

This Father's Day was a case in point for me. We arrived at my parent's house, where my dad was overly enthusiastic about showing us a new discovery he made about his flat-panel TV and DVD player. When he puts in a music CD, the track titles come up on-screen, along with a standard play/pause menu, controlled via the remote. He had no idea, but absolutely loved the ability to pop in a CD, sit on the couch, and scroll through some tunes! My mom is planning a party with the girls next weekend, and she plans to set up her background music using this newly discovered method of theirs. Of course they don't really have any speakers, but let's take things one step at a time...

We often overlook simple functionality like the ability to play back CDs and control them using your TV. The same goes for features like being able to play back photos on the big-screen, or even connecting the TV to a computer and surfing the 'net using the flat-panel as an oversized monitor.

These hidden gem features go way beyond just TVs and DVD players. Lots of consumers don't know that you can use the same flash memory card in a digital camera that you can in an MP3 player or a digital camcorder, for instance. I'll bet lots of dads that received iPods this Father's Day (or Father's Days past) don't realize they can also play back photos and video on the device. Or what about that portable iPod dock? I'll bet many owners don't even know that they can connect other things, like a different portable player, speakers, or even a CD player attachment, to that nifty device using an AUX input on the back.

It's amazing how much we take for granted that the consumer knows. If you're selling technology products, learn to read the customer and gauge what features he/she might like, and might not care about. It doesn't hurt to say "did you know that this product X and can also do Y?" You might just be surprised at the response.

First-Ever Brand Repair Rates for Flat-Panel TVs

Since flat-panel TVs have been a relatively new product category, we haven't had any historical data to indicate what repair rates might be...until now. Consumer Reports has just issued what it deems the first-ever brand repair rates for flat-panels and rear-projection TVs, based on approx. 93,000 sets purchased between 2004 and 2007. The outlook? It's good!

Although many manufacturers might be banking on one technology coming out superior to the other, this isn't the case: there was no difference in reliability between LCD and plasma TVs, both of which had a very small 3% repair rate. Kudos to Panasonic, which took top ranks with just a 2% repair rate in both LCD and plasma categories.

Other highly-reliable LCD brands included Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Toshiba, and JVC; and in plasma, a gold star also goes to Pioneer and Samsung. Although they haven't been on the market for a full three years to qualify for the longevity tests, Consumer Reports says that the reliability of the latest Olevia and Sanyo LCDs, and Hitachi plasmas, looks "promising".

Rear-projection TVs, on the other hand, didn't rank so well. These sets required much more frequent repairs than LCD or plasma sets, with a repair rate of 18% that was mainly due to bulb replacements. Sony and Panasonic had the least repairs in this category with their rear-projo LCDs, followed by Samsung's DLP TVs.

As both LCD and plasma technologies continue to improve, we can only predict even better repair rates in both categories. Congratulations to all of the flat-panel TV manufacturers that came out on top. These reliability rates are just another notch in the belt to convince lagging consumers to switch over to flat-panel TV.

[Photo: Panasonic Canada's Barry Murray at the company's product showcase last year. Panasonic came out on top in terms of repair rates for flat-panel TVs, with the lowest percentage of repairs in both LCD and plasma categories.]

TV Prices to Drop Like Flies

It's no secret that price erosion in the flat-panel TV market is running rampant. Pricing usually dips to an all-year low during the final months of the year, due to holiday season promotions and the like. Now with many retailers already reducing prices in wake of the strong Canadian dollar, how significant of a drop can we expect to see over the next few months? According to Consumer Reports, pricing will be somewhere in the ballpark of 30% cheaper than we saw this time last year.

Consumer Reports predicts that plasmas will see the cheapest pricing, with a 42" 720p model available for as little as US$1,000 (so would this translate to $920 CDN?), and some 50-inchers flying off shelves at $1,500 a pop.

Translation: if you're in the market for a flat-panel TV, and even think you might be in the near future, now is the time to buy. Pricing probably isn't going to get any better than it is now, given that so many factors are coming into play to drive it to an all-time low.

Plasma Continues To Be Maligned In The Trade Press

From the desk of Lee Distad’s Professional Opinion:

It seems like only yesterday that LCD and plasma flat panel televisions were a mysterious future technology, just off on the horizon of the CE Industry’s future, when really it was more like 10 years ago. In that time, we’ve all see the sea change. Even as recently as four years ago, we were all still talking about the coming “Flat Panel Revolution.”

Well, the Flat Panel Revolution is over, and the flat panels won. In that time, I’ve witnessed plasma technology be the victim of concerted vicious rumors on retail sales floors about their durability and lifespan. Granted, the earliest iterations of Plasma tech had birthing pains, but these stories have grown legs all out of proportion to the original shortcomings of the technology.
Fact: The big boys of the plasma world, such as Pioneer, Panasonic, Hitachi, and LG have spent boatloads of money over the years to make plasma a viable display technology for home consumers. The end result is flat panel sets with a lifespan in the neighborhood of old-school tube televisions, and brilliant, dynamic picture quality.

That’s why this morning, I was shocked to see an article in a daily trade newsletter riddled with misinformation about plasma.

The Retail Bridge: It's Official: Plasma Isn't Dead Yet
Sure, the technology is expensive, delicate and prone to burn-in, but sales of plasma HD television sets are expected to grow by as much as 25 percent in 2007, according to a report published Tuesday by the (admittedly biased) Plasma Display Coalition.

I’m sorry, but “expensive, delicate and prone to burn-in”? This isn’t 2001 anymore. If you look at the median prices for major manufacturers, it’s pretty much a level playing field for both LCD and Plasma in terms of what the customer pays for a set.

While I can remember five years ago the boxes for Hitachi plasmas had a little level gauge on the outside to warn if the box had been tipped in transit, that’s pretty much a non-event now. I’ve seen plasmas that were stored face down for a week with no ill effect. Granted, that’s not what the manufacturer recommends, so I don’t recommend it either, but there you go.

The “burn in” thing is a boogey man that’s right up there with “dead pixels.” Every major brand uses a technique in their sets’ video processing that slowly creeps the picture vertically and horizontally, pixel by pixel to reduce the likelihood of any cells permanently etching themselves. The static logos that networks run in the bottom corners of the screen are no longer the television-ruining threat that they were back when CRT-rear projection was the standard.
From an image quality perspective, while I have been much more impressed by the last two generations of major brand LCD panels than I have been in the past, I still have to give the nod to plasma for clarity, sharpness, and colour saturation in the 50-inch and larger category, at least among all the panels I’ve critically examined (hint: it’s a LOT).

Despite having to swim through a sea of misinformation, the plasma category continues to sell well to consumers, which is really all the rebuttal that is needed.

http://businessopinions.blogspot.com/ (For more of Lee Distad's Professional Opinions)