Hmmm, 11.4 million units sold last year doesn't look like a dead format to me. And the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association (JEITA) just last month projected that plasma sales would increase to around 25 million units by 2012. Dead would imply that sales are near zero, and technological investment is at an end, which is not the case with plasma.

The only thing factual about this article is Pioneer getting out of manufacturing plasma panels, which is not surprising considering that they only produce plasma panels in the hundreds of thousands, while Samsung, LG, and Panasonic each manufacture plasma panels in the millions. Just about everything else in the article is speculation, as I'm sure you're aware.

Pioneer's problem is that other manufacturers passed them technologically, while Pioneer maintained their higher price points. Panasonic's highly reviewed 1080p plasmas sell for less than Pioneer's 720p models. Pioneer's plasmas are well regarded for their black levels and color accuracy, but they lost on the spec sheet to other competing models while charging substantially higher prices. Subjectively, the Pioneers have always had top notch picture quality, but their advantage has narrowed as competitors have improved their picture quality.