HAVING EXPERIENCED a character-forming end to 2007, desktop monitor suppliers were keeping their fingers crossed for better times in early 2008. Sadly, new figures show this is far from the case.

Research from Meko on the status of the desktop monitor market in EMEA for Q1 2008 suggests that things have not improved with volume shipments down by 30 per cent on what was, in fairness, a damn fine Q1 last year as plummeting prices drove demand.

"As prices continued to rise during the latter part of 2007, there was a notable slowdown in sales into the channel", says Pete Gamby, research director at Meko.

"This seems to have continued in Q1 2008 as we heard numerous reports at CeBIT and in the past few weeks which suggest that sales are slow."

Meko's latest forecast for sales in Q1 2008 indicate that shipments should be in the region of 13.4 million units. However, if the trend seen in distribution is more widely reflected in the whole market, total sales for the period could be as low as 12.3 million units. This would represent a 13 per cent fall compared to the same period in 2007.

"Whilst we have only just begun to collate the data from the monitor makers for Q1, this early indication from the channel data tells us that the expected tight supply in the LCD market could become over-supply very much more quickly than expected", adds Gamby.

"If sales in the LCD TV market do not progress as expected, prices in both the notebook and the desktop monitor market could come under downward pressure in the latter part of this year as LCD panel capacity is moved to these two markets". µ