Panasonic to unveil 150-inch plasma TV

Panasonic's 103-inch monster plasma TV at CEDIA 2006.

Panasonic is expected to unveil a 150-inch plasma television at the Consumer Electronics Show this week.

Japan Inc will put on the hard sell at the CES next week.

Panasonic is expected to unveil a 150-inch plasma television during a keynote speech Monday by Toshihiro Sakamoto, president of the Panasonic Audio Visual Networks Company (Panasonic is owned by Matsushita Electric). Sakamoto, a new speaker to the CES keynote circuit, is also expected to unveil a number of other products during his speech.

Rival Hitachi, meanwhile, will show off a series of ultraslim LCD TVs that have yet to be exhibited in the US. The 32-inch TVs, shown first at Ceatec outside of Tokyo last October, measure 19 millimetres wide. These TVs are expected to come out in 2009. In the meantime, Hitachi plans to release a series of 35-millimetre-wide TVs in 2008.

Sharp and JVC, which showed off similar slim LCDs at Ceatec, will likely bring them to CES for a US debut as well. Expect other slim TVs too. And, as usual, Sony will be there with a host of products and execs.

Back in 2004, traditional electronics manufacturers were besieged by competition from PC makers and small companies such as Westinghouse Digital entering their field. "Five or six years ago it was a peaceful marketplace, now people from the outside are coming in like hunting tribes," Hideki 'Dick' Komiyama, then president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, said in 2004. Komiyama is now president of Sony Ericsson.

The onslaught didn't turn out exactly as anticipated. Companies like Westinghouse and Vizio have succeeded, but Dell and Hewlett-Packard have not done as well as expected in electronics. Moreover, members of the old guard like Panasonic and Sharp are still standing and in some respects are becoming more aggressive in terms of pricing and product design.