Back in March, we reported that according to rumors, Panasonic could be pulling out of the plasma TV market and it seems that has been confirmed by the company’s vice president, Kiyoshi Okamoto. Okamoto revealed that the company’s latest plasma TV, the ZT60, will be the last and best plasma panel that will be coming out of the company’s R&D department. However he did state that what this meant was that while R&D of plasma panels would be ceased, production of the devices are expected to continue well into 2014, claiming that they have a responsibility to their customers, and naturally so.
The Verge asked Okamoto if there were plans to bring R&D for plasma back into action one day, but Okamoto denied those plans, claiming that some of their plasma engineers have already been shifted to the OLED department which Panasonic plans to eventually replace its plasma lineup. Plasma TVs were definitely popular back in the day, so in a way it is a bit sad to see an era come to an end, especially since reports have indicated that shipments of plasma have dropped by 23% year-over-year in 2012, compared to the 1% drop for LCD (via NPD).