Specialty LCD Monitors Set For Growth Spurt

The market for specialty monitors is predicted to almost double by 2010, with unit shipments expected to grow to 4.3 million from 2.3 million in 2005, says market research firm iSuppli. Among the industries leading adoption are the medical field and graphics and film production, but the researchers expect to see growth in other areas, such as air traffic control.

Specialty monitors comprise only a small slice of the overall desktop monitor market -- which is expected to grow from 136 million in 2005 to 195 million in 2010 -- but they offer higher profit margins than generalized business monitors because there is a higher value placed on performance.

"The need to meet performance requirements comes first; cost is a secondary factor in the purchase decision," says Paul Semenza, vice president of display research for iSuppli.

Specific performance requirements vary by application, but higher resolution, for example, becomes much more important in many of the specialized displays. LCD is the predominant technology used for specialty monitors, with the bulk of the displays in the 20- to 25-inch size range from vendors such as Dell, NEC, HP, Apple, Samsung, Philips and ViewSonic.

The burgeoning market also provides an opportunity for the channel to play a key role given these displays are highly customized for specific applications and require a high level of support.

"The success heavily depends on channel strategies, with the ability to deliver to the customer and understand their needs and meet their needs and provide support for a long period of time," Semenza says. "These are markets that can't overemphasize performance, where you really can't have something go wrong, these are mission-critical kind of things...but vendors do need to really consider carefully the commitment involved."