CES: Report on Panasonic

"Ideas for Life" is the theme from Panasonic (NYSE: PC) this year.

The press release started off with the president of Panasonic addressing the crowd live via video conference from Osaka, Japan.

He announced the opening of the full HD 3D TV era, and stated that Panasonic has focused on developing end to end 3D solutions. He proceeded to display the first 3D dual-lens camera, which will be available to producers off the shelf.

He re-stated Panasonic's commitment to green technology, and then turned the conference over to local speakers.

Panasonic announced their own HD visual communication system, which is what they just used for the video conference. It will be coming to market in April.

They talked about how they committed to 3D TV last year. At the time, they were the only ones in the marketplace; now their competition are all talking about it too.

They also talked about Avatar and how it shows consumer interest in 3D movies. It was the first movie that made over 1 billion. Along those lines, to help bring 3D to the home viewing audience, the 3D blue ray standard was just finalized.

Panasonic has been demoing their 3D plasma TV. They are announcing the Viera line of full HD 3D TVs starting this spring.

Panasonic will be involved with all aspects of the 3D technology, from production (3D HD cameras) to viewing by consumers (3D HD TVs and DVD players).

As of June this year, Panasonic and DirectTV (NASDAQ: DTV) are partnering to bring 3D TV to consumers.

DirectTV representative:

They led the way in HD, and they are now leading the way in 3D, partnering with Panasonic because they too are innovators. They are committed to launching three 3D channels by June. Commitments from movie studios and TV channels (including FOX Sports) are to provide content.

This will work over existing DirectTV hardware... and only requires an over-the-network software update.

Back to Panasonic:

There are also improvements with current plasma technology.

Jon Landau, producer of Avatar: Panasonic has been a partner in the production of Avatar, initially with plasma screen technology to help in production of the movie, but now 3D as well.

3D is not about stuff jumping out at you, but about a window into the world. Panasonic’s new 3D TV technology supports this. He believes 3D will become ubiquitous; it is the next step to reproducing the world the way we see it.

Back to Panasonic: We are moving to a world where consumers get content where and when they want it, and Panasonic is pleased to support this.

New Viera Cast products will feed Skype, and IP TV.

President of Skype: the TV will move from being the center of entertainment to the center of communications. Last year, Skype accounted for 8% of the world's communication minutes. Two years ago they added video to their services. Now, more than a third of all skype calls are video calls, and most of these are families (grandparents) and businesses.

Panasonic TVs allow Skype video calls to happen at the push of a button.

Panasonic again: In 2009, Panasonic reorganized to be closer to the market and have a faster response to customer needs. They also increased their share in key markets, including TV and large 37+ inch displays.

In 2010 the strategy is again to focus on the consumer. They will drive consumer awareness to shift demand to new technology products.

They will be relaunching the Lumix brand of cameras in the US. They will be launching a 15 city tour to promote the line.

Key new products to be launched:
Viera plasma V series TVs
- Full 1080p HD 3D capability.
- New scan technology and phospor system (Black Panel Pro) for a greatly enhanced image quality.
- Built in wireless and Skype video conferencing.

Lumix Camera lineup
- dmc-fp3
- gf 1
- tm55 hd camcorder with 25x optical zoom

Blueray lineup:
- pp-bdt350 - HD 3D player
- Faster regular blue ray players and portable blue ray players with wireless fir Viera cast support.

Audio product lineup:
- Wireless speakers with built in subwoofers in each speaker.
- Audio focused photo frames with cd,and ipod docks.