Panasonic Strikes Deal With Best Buy To Push 3D TVs

It may not have won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but Avatar, the biggest box office smash ever, has helped to ignite interest in 3D movies. In fact, there has been a rash of 3D movies lately – and film studios are planning to release more this year.

If you watched the Academy Awards last night, you saw an ad for a 3D TV from Samsung. Now other TV manufacturers are getting ready to flood the US market with 3D televisions. Panasonic is hooking up with Best Buy, the leading electronics chain, to promote its 3D TV offering this month in 300 stores. Best Buy has agreed to show 3D videos on behalf of Panasonic in "exhibition corners" in 300 stores now, and 700 more stores by the end of 2010.

The move is likely to spur interest in 3D televisions in general, since Panasonic, LG, Samsung, and Sony are all bringing 3D TVs to market now. Some models will also feature Internet connectivity.

The last big technological advance in televisions was flat screens, which pushed the cost of larger models above the $1,000 mark. The 3D models will be pricey when they first hit the market – Panasonic's 50-inch 3D model will cost around $2500 in the US. Will consumers pay a premium for the emerging technology... and will they take to wearing those silly glasses?