Plasma's Bright Future

TRADING UP: For retailers such as Best Buy, flat TVs are fabulous, since they can cost 10 times more than old models

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For the future, the biggest question mark is high-definition programming. Not every flat-screen television comes equipped to handle the new HDTV format, which many consumers will want this summer when cable TV goes high def. And there are HD-ready conventional televisions that produce picture quality rivaling that of even the best plasma screens, at a much lower price. On the flip side, an HDTV set can sometimes make regular programming look worse. Catapano's advice: Start with the size you want, and match it to the technology that fits it best. Then it's up to your budget.

Flatness may prove even more important than picture quality in getting consumers to trade up. Best Buy's Simonson notes that until now "the form factor of the television has never changed. It's always been a very big product." The slim profile of plasma and LCD TVs is finally attracting the attention of a group largely ignored by consumer-electronics peddlers: women. "What really makes a $3,000 TV sell is that the consumer can do things with this space that they couldn't do before," Milne says. "It's a furniture experience more than a television experience. We are at the edge of remodeling people's homes."

Consumer-electronics companies will now have to market their products in a completely different way. Gateway and Best Buy are planning flat-panel promotions for Mother's Day and will increase their advertising in women's magazines. Capitalizing on the home-makeover television craze, Gateway tried a "technology makeover" offer at its retail outlets, providing customers with advice in the store or at home. Best Buy plans to retrain its sales staff. "We need to change," Simonson says. "We need to appeal to women. We want the female customer to want the TV instead of just being the approver." The Dutch electronics giant Philips is taking a more subtle approach to marketing its flat-TV line, with ads pitching a sleek, refined design aesthetic rather than low prices or picture quality. To make that point, the company featured its product on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

By associating flat-screens with hip home remodeling, the consumer-electronics industry hopes to convince Americans that they need a television in every room. Once hot video recorders and DVD players each provided a sales surge for the industry, but most households made do with one device. Getting Americans to watch not just more TV but more TVs would be a vastly superior growth model for electronics companies. When the TVs are as thin and light as the latest flat-screens, they argue, why not?