Is there room for OLED in the TV market?

After examining Sony Corp.'s 11-inch Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) television exhibited here at iSuppli Corp.'s Flat Information Displays (FID) 2007 conference last week, there is no denying how stunning the picture is. But at just 11-inches, it's hard to imagine
a family gathering around it to watch a DVD or television
show. But because the OLED-TV market is still in its infancy, with the Sony set being the first to be manufactured and sold to consumers, it's unreasonable to expect it to compete effectively with Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Plasma Display Panel (PDP) televisions at this time.

However, this begs the question: Will OLED TV ever be able to match up with LCD and PDP televisions? "It will be a challenge for OLED to catch up, given the investments that have been put into the other technologies," said Paul Semenza, vice president of displays at iSuppli Corp., speaking at FID 2007 last week. "But there is no doubt about its performance and there is a lot of potential for the display technology, maybe in mobile applications." With Sony being the first to throw its hat into the OLED-TV ring, due to its introduction of the 11-inch set this month in Japan at a price of $1,800, shipment volumes are expected to be very small, targeting a small niche of well-heeled, tech-savvy consumers.  And even at such a high price, Sony indicated that it is taking a loss on the sale of each OLED set, according to Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli.  A few more brands are likely to enter the OLED-TV market in 2009, including Toshiba Corp. and Panasonic Corp. The major motivation for these companies' entrance into the market is to make a statement to the industry that they are capable of producing OLED TVs, Jakhanwal added. Full article here: EMSNow