Poll: 1.63M HDTVs In '02

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. — Key consumer electronics retailers anticipate selling more than 1.63 million HDTV units this year, according to a new Neretin Associates retail study.

Aaron Neretin, president of the Mapelwood, N.J.–based research company, said the number represents approximately 92 percent of total sales to consumers for 2002, based on the 106 dealers who provided research data.

Slightly more than 6 percent of the 1.63 million DTV sales would come in fully integrated models, 60,705 in projection, and 47,175 in direct view, according to Neretin.

Of the sales estimates for HD-ready monitors, dealers see sales of 995,450 projection TVs and 535,850 direct-view TVs. They identified 23 brands that they carry in their stores when asked for brand-penetration information.

"The enthusiasm and expectations for HDTV is checked only by the breadth of stations broadcasting high-definition signals. Dealers feel that sales will go through the roof once that barrier is lifted," Neretin said.

The survey showed that, of the comparatively few brands offering fully integrated HDTV sets, Sony was far and away the leader, with 51 percent penetration in stores. This was followed by Mitsubishi with 23 percent and RCA with 12 percent.

In HDTV monitor brand penetration, Sony again leads the field at 67 percent, with Toshiba following at 52 percent, RCA at 49 percent, Panasonic at 44 percent, Samsung at 35 percent, Mitsubishi at 31 percent and Sharp at 26 percent.

The 90 pages of results also targeted screen sizes and configurations, set-top decoder boxes, plasma TV, national and in-store brand support, store display and HD demonstrations and concluded with a broad section of verbatim comments on virtually all questions posed.

More information on the research is available by contacting Neretin Associates via e-mail, researchup@aol.com, or by phone (973) 763-1894.