iZ3D Demo Day, GPU Sales Report, S-3D Silver Lining?

iZ3D is having a special 3D monitor demonstration day at Fry’s Electronics and MicroCenter stores nationwide this coming Saturday, January 31st!

2D/3D iZ3D Logo Conversion with Photoforms

Fry’s Electronics stores are located in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada. MicroCenter stores are located in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Readers can easily find a listing of store locations and obtain information on iZ3D’s products and special offers at http://www.3Drulez.com.

Our esteemed colleagues at Jon Peddie Research have revealed steep declines in GPU sales across the board. Total sales for GPUs in 4th quarter 2008 were 72.35 million compared to 100.5 million the same period in 2007. Similarly dramatic was the quarter to quarter drop from 111.26 million units in Q3 2008. According to JPR, this is the first time Q4 shipments have decreased compared to Q3 since the year 2000.

Keep in mind that these shipments include all GPU lines including industrial and medical systems, point of sale terminals, kiosks, digital signs, and PCs.

“NVIDIA has held a slight edge in the desktop segment with a market share of 37.9%. The company has gained on Intel. AMD also raised its market share on the desktop from 20.3% in the third quarter to 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Given the tough circumstances of this quarter, AMD’s increase is no mean accomplishment.” – JPR Research

There is a silver lining to this. MTBS knows for certain that stereoscopic 3D (S-3D) technologies are strong motivators for high-end GPU equipment purchases. While the 3D display market has been criticized for being niche, at least initially, it is a proven driver amongst gamers to spend more on upgrades like graphics cards and high performance CPUs. We will reveal the exact findings in the U-DECIDE Initiative report.

That said, even during these challenging economic times, S-3D will be a critical ingredient for the continued success of companies like NVIDIA and AMD in the desktop markets. We are hopeful that this will bolster their support for S-3D gaming even further.