After the heartbreak of losing
Pioneer's excellent Kuro line, Panasonic's plasma displays were the last
bastion of hope for plasma TV enthusiasts, but now even they are going
extinct. Panasonic today confirmed a Reuters report
from earlier this month that it is exiting the plasma TV market with
almost immediate effect — production of new units will end in December
and all related operations will be wrapped by March next year. Two of
Panasonic's three factories have already stopped building new units and
the third will join them in about a month's time.
Panasonic made a strong effort to push its plasma TVs this year — coming to CES in January with a fully refreshed home theater lineup
— however the economics of plasma display production just haven't
worked out for the company. Though consumer demand is apparently still
firm, Panasonic says that "due to rapid, drastic changes in the business
environment" and price pressure from more affordable LCD TVs, the
unhappy decision had to be made. That leaves HD enthusiasts with a few
months to save up the money to buy a ZT60, the last in a proud line of beautiful TVs.
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