Taipei, May 12, 2008 (CENS)--Tatung Consumer Products (Taiwan) Co., Ltd., the home-appliance sales arm of local Tatung Group, recently claimed that it would return to the domestic plasma display panel (PDP) TV market in July, aiming to sell 20,000 units of PDP TVs this year.

Ranking officials of Tatung`s major counterparts Panasonic Taiwan and Sampo deemed that Tatung`s move is expected to further expand the local PDP TV market.

At Tatung`s recent 2008 new-product presentation, group chairman W.S. Lin said that Tatung sold about 50,000 LCD TVs in the first quarter in Taiwan, making Tatung the No. 1 LCD TV brand for the first time by defeating strong rivals such as Sony, Panasonic, LG, Samsung etc.

Tatung Consumer president Hsiao Chih-an pointed out that his company successfully adopted a price-cutting strategy to win a 21.5% market share in the first quarter, during which his company`s revenue climbed by 50% to NT$3 billion (US$98.4 million at US$1: NT$30.5) while profits reached NT$50 million (US$1.64 million), the same amount of whole-2007`s.

Hsiao added that his company would launch a 52-inch Full HD LCD TV model equipped with thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels supplied by local Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO) and priced even lower than a similar model pushed by CMO`s parented Chi Mei Group (CHIMEI brand). In addition, Tatung would also push a 22-inch TV-monitor model soon. Hsiao is confident of achieving an annual sales goal of 220,000 LCD TVs this year.

Although the picture quality of PDP TV models is better than that of LCD counterparts, Hsio admitted, the monthly PDP demand in Taiwan has plunged to 4,000 to 5,000 units due to LCD TV`s price competitiveness.

To meet customers` requirement, Hsiao said, Tatung decided to continuously push three PDP models using panels supplied by LG, including 32-, 42-, and 50-inch. The 50-inch Full HD PDP model would be priced at the same level as Tatung`s 46-inch LCD TV, while the 32- and 42-inch PDP models would be 10% cheaper than Tatung`s same-size LCD models, Hsiao said.
(by Quincy Liang)