Trying to save cathode-ray tube TVs

Samsung's investment in designing a slimmer CRT is tiny compared with investments in flat panels.  The company opened a $2 billion LCD plant near Chonan, South Korea, this year in a joint venture with Japan's Sony Corp. and is building an LCD plant for $2.1 billion right next door.

Still, Samsung and LG are defying conventional wisdom that the days of conventional TV are almost over.

In December, Matsushita and Japan's Toshiba Corp. closed their joint CRT plant in Horseheads, N.Y., eliminating 800 jobs.  Matsushita said demand for the old-style TVs was flagging.

There are signs Samsung also is shifting its emphasis toward the LCD at facilities in Tijuana, a city of 1.2 million people across the U.S. border from San Diego.

At a Samsung factory across the street from Hyundai automobile and Coca Cola factories, the larger of two buildings was converted two years ago for newer technologies including plasma and LCD. Today, about 2,000 of the plant's 3,500 employees work on those new TVs.

But CRTs still accounted for 75 percent of televisions sold in the United States and Canada last year, according to iSuppli.

LCD is projected to overtake CRT in 2007, and CRT is expected to claim only 16 percent the U.S.-Canada market in 2009, iSuppli said.

"The shift is monumental," said Bob Batt, executive vice president of Nebraska Furniture Mart Inc., which sold nothing but CRTs about five years ago. CRTs account for about half the TVs at his stores in Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Kan., and Des Moines, Iowa, today, and Batt said they may disappear entirely next year.

Circuit City Stores Inc. sells about 40 to 50 models of LCD TVs, up from four only two years ago, said Tom Crowell, merchandise manager for television. Its plasma offering jumped to about 20 from two. To make room, boxy CRTs are being dumped.

Samsung isn't fazed.  The slim CRT will do well as long as it can compete with LCDs on price, said Peter Weedfald, a Samsung marketing executive.  Besides, some shoppers may already have cabinets that were made for boxier sets.

"Why would I pay two, three times as much for an LCD or a plasma when I'm not going to be able to see the attributes of a flat panel in my cabinet?" Weedfald said.

One recent weekday, Samsung's assembly line was on schedule to produce about 1,200 slim CRTs, slightly short of its target of 1,500.  The rest of the more than 10,000 CRTs assembled daily are much bulkier and mostly will be sold in Latin America, where fewer people can afford pricey TVs.

Samsung says it has sold "tens of thousands" of the slim CRTs since they hit U.S. stores in May.  They began selling in South Korea earlier this year.

Shoppers at a store in San Diego said they liked the picture and the price, but nearly all said they wanted something flatter.

Alejandro Herrera, 38, a software specialist at a Mexican bank in Tijuana, plans to save up to $3,000 to buy a plasma TV later this year.  His wife, Amparo, walked up to the Samsung TV, inspected the back and shook her head disapprovingly.  "It's obsolete," she said.

MORE FROM TECH AND GADGETS

Tech and gadgets Section Front

Dumbest Facebook quizzes ever!   British scientist says she penned call-girl blog   Egypt to apply for first Arabic domain name Windows Mobile 6.5 phone gallery Google narrows book copyright deal Facebook message frees NYC robbery suspect YouTube to support 1080p high-definition videos Clicker launches a TV guide for the Internet Facebook, Wikipedia brief Vatican on Web Britney’s Twitter, MySpace accounts hacked Tech and gadgets Section Front   Add Tech and gadgets headlines to your news reader: