By some accounts, 3-D technology has been one of the biggest stories of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (taking place this week in Las Vegas). Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, and Sony have all launched 3-D televisions at the show, and the success of 3-D movie “Avatar” is setting the stage for what will likely be the biggest revival of 3-D filmmaking since its “golden age” in the 1950s. 3-D may even be coming to your mobile device or tablet PC, thanks to new chips by NVIDIA.
The market analysts at DisplaySearch predict rapid growth for 3-D displays — from about 700,000 units shipped in 2009 to 196 million units in 2018. TVs are expected to make up about a third of 3-D ready displays, with 64 million units expected to ship in 2018. Surprisingly, 3-D ready mobile phones will outnumber 3-D TVs, with 71 million 3-D mobile phones expected to ship in 2018. DisplaySearch predicts that 17.7 million 3-D notebook PCs and 10 million 3-D monitors will ship in 2018, comprising 3-4% of total shipments for those products.
The rapid growth and increased availability of 3-D displays 
means we will be able to don our 3-D glasses (technology does not yet exist to watch in 3-D without glasses) and watch 3-D movies virtually anywhere. But what will we watch?
A PriceWaterhouseCoopers report shows that there were only 45 3-D films released in that past decade, a far cry from the 158 that were released in the 1950s. They predict that through 2014, 3-D movies will make up only 10-15% of total movie titles released. 3-D production is still enormously expensive, there are limited 3-D movie screens throughout the country, and the higher admission price point will limit the number of 3-D movies some can afford to see. After all, box office revenues are the biggest source of income for movie studios before the movie ever makes it to your home screen.
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Other sources of 3-D content are television programs and video games. PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts minor growth in premium 3-D live broadcast television content. Hardcore gamers will continue to seek out 3-D monitors and laptops to play the more than 300 3-D video game titles currently in existence.
The CES hype around 3-D TV demonstrates that 3-D capability will become an important feature to consumers as they look to buy the most advanced devices. I predict that 3-D at home will still be a niche activity in eight years, once consumers confront the reality of watching 3-D: having to buy glasses for each household viewer, having to buy a 3-D capable movie player, and then coming up with quality 3-D content.
