Panasonic 3D TVs sell out in their first week in the USA
While some pundits have been saying 3DTV would have a difficult time taking off, it would seem that the early adopters were chomping at the bit to get their hands on the first sets that came out in the United States because they are sold out.
According to a report from Bloombergs, the first shipment of Panasonic 3D television sets took only a week to sell out, and the company is now taking back-orders from retailers. The first sets were sold as part of a bundle at Best Buy stores where for $2,899.99 you got a 50-inch 3D plasma set, a pair of glasses and a 3D Blu-ray player. Of course, if you want more than one pair of glasses, those will set you back around $150 a pair.
Samsung also started offering a 55-inch 3D plasma set this month for $3,299.99, and Sony is expected to launch its own 3D sets as part of its Bravia line in June of this year.
There has been a lot of questions about if getting a 3D TV set yet is worth it due to the lack of content available for it. The ESPN channel is expected to launch a 3D channel in June, but it will only show about 85 events over its first year. Discovery Channel, Sony and the IMAX theater chain are teaming up for another channel of 3D content to be launched in 2011, and 25 matches of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa are expected to be transmitted in 3D.
Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. in Tokyo said to Bloomberg, “There are always people who want to buy high-end products, that’s probably what’s driving sales.” This of course raises the question if this sell-out is an anomaly, or are we actually seeing the dawn of 3D televisions as a viable product? Only time will tell.
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