TV Plasma: This Is the End?

For many customers, having a plasma TV has been an inaccessible wish at the beginning of the century, who did not dream of having a flat panel TV in his living-room in 2000? If today, prices have been nearly divided by 10, this is not only due to reduced production cost linked to the mass market, but rather to the competition driven by the LCD-based TV. Within the last 2 years, innovations allow LCD TV to offer an image quality nearly identical to the TV plasma, while consuming less energy, so days for plasma panel might be counted as one can not justify a premium price when there is no more
In recent months, several announcements have already indicated that the future was getting darker for plasma TV: Pioneer stopping production of plasma panel, EU willing to apply eco-tax on such high-power consuming penal, and today Digitimes reports that Philips could also quit plasma TV market in 2009. The reason might be driven by the annual growth demand, 13 millions units for plasma TV vs. 100 million units for LCD TV...
While large OLED-based panel will finally hit the shelves, the LCD TV will soon be the only alternative for flat panel TV, let's simply hope that the lack of competition will not stop technology innovation which could offer even better experience to customers, such as the development of variable lighting for diodes to creating even deeper contrast on LCD panel.