3M Taiwan enters the local market for home projectors

Eying the growing demand for home projectors fueled by the increasing popularity of home theater systems, 3M Taiwan Ltd yesterday launched its first home projector.

"We expect sales in Taiwan of home projectors to reach 12,000 units this year, from 7,000 or 8,000 last year, an increase of more than 50 percent," said Alex Chuang (莊坤霖), product marketing manager at 3M Taiwan. He said total sales, including office and home projectors, would climb to 60,000 units this year, a 20 percent increase from last year.

The company hopes to sell 2,000 units of the new model, priced at NT$49,900, this year, he said.

In view of the rising popularity of home theater systems worldwide, leading projector brands such as Epson, Hewlett-Packard and InFocus have boosted their investment in the production of home projectors.

Chuang said his company was competing not only with its projector rivals, but also LCD TV manufacturers.

"I think the product will appeal to many consumers as it is cheaper than LCD TVs in the market now," Chuang said.

Chen Wen-tang (陳文棠), an analyst at the semi-official Market Intelligence Center (資策會), agreed with the strategy, saying that as large-screen plasma TVs and LCD TVs are still expensive, home projectors that can provide large screens at lower prices would be attractive.

The main force driving the sector are middle-priced products costing between NT$50,000 to NT$100,000, Chen said. The main players in the sector include Panasonic and Sanyo, he added.

However, low-priced products under NT$50,000 have become increasingly popular, Chen said, led by BenQ, Panasonic and Epson.