3D TV Is Here ... Ready Or Not

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 3/8/2010

Many times when a new technology gets the International CES spotlight, you don’t see it at retail until some point in the fall, if you’re lucky.
Not so with 3D TV. Spring hasn’t offi cially sprung yet, but 3D TVs are popping up at retail right now, like crocuse

For instance:

• Sony has had its Sony Style stores demo its 3D Bravias since late last month and taken preorders too.

• Linder’s Furniture Superstore in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., got things rolling last Thursday, under the watchful eye of board member and CE PR maven Tom Campbell, selling Mitsubishi 3D TVs.

• Best Buy and Panasonic are hosting an event at the chain’s Union Square store in New York City Tuesday, with Mike Vitelli, president/Americas of Best Buy, and his counterpart at Panasonic, Shiro Kitajima, to sell the latter’s fi rst 1080p 3D HD TV.

And be reminded that Panasonic is launching that 15-city “Touch The Future” tour this month, partnering with retailers that will highlight 3D TV. It is part of the company’s $100 million promotional push for the new technology and all of its lines.

Also next week in New York, Samsung will display and discuss its 3D TV lineup for the assembled media at its Samsung Experience Showroom in the Time Warner Building. No retail sales at the showroom, but its 3D lineup will be on display when it opens for the general public.

The stakes are high for the success of 3D TV for all the players involved. For instance, at a Tokyo press conference last week, Panasonic Corporation’s president Fumio Ohtsubo said he expects its TV business to turn a profi t by the fiscal year ending March 2011, due in part to 3D TV.

Ohtsubo, whom I have interviewed a number of times, has never been what I would call glib. Yet he was quoted as saying, “If we post another loss in the coming fi scal year, I would be too embarrassed to appear in public.”

The industry’s promotional push makes 3D TV seem like it is the second coming of HDTV. And why not? Anyone who has seen demos of the various 3D lines can’t help be impressed. And even if initial sales this year are small — due to the price tags and the weak economy — 3D will get people talking and into retail stores for demonstrations.

But I agree with the view of Eric A. Taub, who wrote in The New York Times Gadgetwise blog last Thursday, “The development of high-defi nition TV didn’t need much research to determine if consumers would like it; if the price was right, who wouldn’t want to watch a sharper TV image? But 3D TV is different … what sort of programming will [consumers] want to see in 3D, and what might turn them off?”

Getting two 3D glasses with your new TV could be a turnoff, as well as the initial lack of programming and, of course, price, even for early adopters.

I’m writing this before last night’s Academy Awards, so I don’t know if “Avatar” — the most-watched bit of 3D programming to date — has won an Oscar for Best Picture. If it did win, it will take 3D into another level of promotional spin, on top of what the CE industry and retailers are going to do this year.

Whatever you think of the prospects for 3D TV in the short term and beyond, one thing it will do is create excitement at retail and in the industry. For that alone it may be the industry’s success story of the year.