OSAKA--Sharp Co. said April 18 it will market a liquid crystal display TV with a screen the size of a tatami mat in Japan from June.
The electronics giant said the 80-inch LCD TV, priced at 950,000 yen ($11,875), will be the biggest of its kind in Japan and sold under the Aquos brand.
Sharp said the screen, 1 meter high and 1.8 meters wide, is best viewed from 3 meters away.
The big TV will have Internet capability.
Sharp, which has sold an 80-inch LCD TV in the United States since last fall, expects sales in Japan to reach 12,000 units a year.
The Japanese LCD TV market has fallen off after a rush for digital due to the termination of analog broadcasts and the end of the government's Eco Point program for environmentally friendly appliances.
The number of units sold in fiscal 2012 that started this month is expected to fall by 7 million from fiscal 2011 to 10 million.
Sharp is pinning its hopes on the novelty of owning a huge TV to make up for the drop in sales.
"The key is whether people are attracted to the idea of a big screen and getting that message across," said Masanobu Tomatsuri, a senior official at Sharp, adding that Sharp expects demand to rise before the London Olympics get under way this summer.
Sharp operates the world’s only factory that can efficiently manufacture 60-inch or larger LCDs. The plant is located in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. Last autumn, the company started selling a 70-inch Aquos TV, the largest available in the domestic market at that time.
Large-sized TVs are becoming increasingly popular in Japan. According to Sharp’s estimates, the market share of 50-inch or larger TVs almost tripled from 5.1 percent in June 2011 to 15.2 percent in December the same year in terms of sales amount.
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