"It's been great for the consumer but somewhat difficult for some manufacturers. Prices have eroded rather quickly as more and more companies got into full scale production. So what we have now is many, many companies competing in plasma and the LCD space…and we're seeing price erosion because of that. So while the quantity and overall dollar volume is going up, certainly the margins and profits have gone down."
Sony has been one of the companies struggling with that. But its new line of Bravia LCD TVs is helping the company rebound. Stan Glasgow is president of consumer sales for Sony Electronics…
"Within the first few weeks of introduction, we were able to gain number one market share on dollar terms in the United States."
What's unique about Sony's approach with the Bravia line…is its bid to target advertising towards women. Glasgow says so far, so good…
"We had the strongest October in the history of Sony in the United States last and we think HD television is ripe and taking off.
And the introduction of Microsoft's Xbox360 game console…designed for high definition screens…may fuel demand even more. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.