Dami pa din kasi kumakagat sa pricing ng mga major players. Plus consumers still go for brand namesk. Sa US kasi aside from the big players (Samsung, Panasonic, Sony etc) they have tons of other brands (Oleiva, Insignia, Dynex etc) that are very competitive with the big players. And the bigger thing there is consumers are actually buying lesser known brands. The risk kasi in the US is lower compared here sa atin. Dun pag hindi mo nagustuhan no questions asked you can return the merchandise and get something else or get credit. So if you just want to try out a brand ok lang. If you are not happy then go for the branded ones. So it spreads the buyers across all brands. Makes the market more competitive and ang winner in the end eh ang consumers.
Dito sa atin hirap ang mga lesser known brands to compete with Samsung, Panasonic, Sony etc. Ask 10 people who owns an LCD/LED/Plasma, a very high percentage (probably 100%) will tell you they own a branded display. So konti lang ang competition and their price point is high to begin with. Tapos pasukan mo pa ng taxes (lalu na pag assmbled outside the Philippines). Then the mark up, since hindi naman volume and labanan diyan mas mataas ang mark up nila for each piece na mabenta nila. Kaya ayun ang taas ng presyo.
Hirap lang talaga bumili ng big TV sa US because of taxes. IMO kung personal use dapat walang importation tax. Ayun nga lang, mahirap i-prove na personal use lang talaga siya. Last year during Thanks Giving sa Best Buy, you can get a full HD 42" LCD for only $700 (Dynex brand). That was last year!