The old square desktop monitor in the study is about to get the boot in the coming year as widescreen LCD display monitors take off.

According to iSuppli, sales of widescreen format monitors are going to quadruple this year alone with consumers leading the charge. The market-watcher has said that growing video usage, Microsoft’s Vista operating system and aggressive pricing will all lead to skyrocketing sales of widescreen monitors in the next five years.

Worldwide sales of wide-format LCD monitors will grow to 146.9 million units by 2011, up from just 9.1 million units last year. That’s a whopping compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 74.3 per cent. This year alone will see sales hit almost 36 million units. In revenue terms, the market will be worth $20.9 billion by 2011, up by a CAGR of 55 per cent, from last year’s $2.3 billion. Revenues for this year will top $6.7 billion.

“The wide-format cut allows for more efficient glass utilisation than standard-format panels, making the format a favourite of LCD panel manufacturers, but end-users in the monitor market have lagged behind television and notebook users in adopting the new standard,” explained Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at iSuppli.

“With the introduction of Vista, which favours a wide-format display, and attractive pricing on wide-format offerings, monitor users are finally shifting to wide alternatives. Adoption varies substantially by region, with China leading the way to date in wide-format adoption.”

Consumers will drive sales for a number of reasons, not least of which is the growing importance of video applications like games, movies, IPTV, and video clips. As screen sizes go, the most cut-throat segment in 2007 will involve 19in, 20in and 22in displays.

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