Worldwide OLED revenues up 60% year-to-year in third quarter 2008, report says

DisokaySearch report reveals OLEDs still facing strong competition from LCDs. The worldwide OLED display revenue in 3Q08 was US$141M, down 11% Q/Q but up 60% Y/Y, according to a new report by DisplaySearch.

"OLED displays have very attractive performance: wide viewing angle, wide color gamut at all gray scales, fast response time, low power consumption, thin/light weight and wide operating temperature. Lifetime has improved dramatically in recent years, and red and green lifetimes are long enough for many consumer electronic applications. Despite this, OLEDs still face strong price competition from TFT LCDs and PM LCDs," said Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch.

"The OLED display industry is changing rapidly, with new companies entering the business, existing companies expanding capacity or exiting the market, and other companies changing their application focus," added Colegrove.

TV forecast for 2009

No surprises here, but the analysts at DisplaySearch have evidently been working overtime in order to revise the 2009 forecast for LCD TV shipments. We're not particularly sure where the originals sat, but if these new numbers prove true, we'll see LCD TV revenue fall year-over-year for the first time in the history of LCD TV shipments. The updated report notes that key factors in the downturn are "reductions in forecast TV prices and revised forecasts for year-over-year shipment growth for LCD and PDP TVs in 2009, down by 7 and 6 points from previous, respectively." As of now, LCD TV revenues are slated to drop 16% year-over-year, with total TV revenues falling 18%. Get a few big-screen OLED TVs out for under two large, and we bet all that changes -- don't mind that we're asking for the impossible or anything.

Kodak increases the lifespan of an OLED TV

Kodak has developed a new type of OLED TV that has a life span of more than 65,000 viewing hours, Kodak claims. The claim would boost the lifespan of emerging OLED TVs, which have been reported to suffer from limited screen lifespans.

OLED TV, or Light Emitting Diode television, is popularly tipped as being set to replace LCD and Plasma TVs over the coming years. Market researchers, DisplaySearch, believe that the global OLED TV market will grow to £10.8 billion by 2015.

Until now there have been concerns over the life span of OLED TVs, and it has been reported that the picture fades severely after only a few thousand hours of watching. Kodak's OLED Material EK-GD403 technology, is said to bring the life span up to around 65,000 hours, which is comparable to the life span of a plasma model.

When Will Large OLED TVs Come Out?

"CEATEC JAPAN 2008," a general exhibition of the latest IT and electronics technologies, took place from Sept 30 to Oct 4, 2008. Among TV-related exhibits, which can be described as the "face" of electronics manufacturers, exhibitors presented a variety of display technologies, including a slim TV with the thinnest part measuring less than one inch (25.4mm), 3D video devices and higher image quality based on a super resolution technology.

Sony Corp attracted many visitors to its booth last year because it announced the world's first 11-inch OLED TV on the day before CEATEC. I remember thinking to myself, "The future of OLED TVs is bright." Sony, of course, presented OLED TVs at this year's CEATEC as well. The company exhibited a new 0.3mm slim OLED panel and an OLED TV that only measures 0.9mm at its slimmest part.

In spite of all this, Panasonic and other manufacturers aiming to commercialize OLED TVs did not have any OELD-related exhibits. And I heard many of the display engineers I met at the show say, "I don't feel the same impact that I felt last year." I suppose such an impression stemmed from their disappointment that they could not see any progress toward larger OLED TV products this year. Read full column at Tech-On.

Sony Shows Wireless OLED TV

Sony Japan has shown off another OLED TV model, it sees Sony taking the XEL-1 concept, removing the power cable and adding a battery to create a wireless OLED TV. Aside from the newly added, and unquoted, battery life stat, specs elsewhere should be exactly the same as the XEL-1. That means a 960 x 540 resolution, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (a believable claim when actually seen) and an 11in diagonal size. The design is a little different from the XEL-1, as the tuner has been moved from below to behind the screen, resulting in a slightly less stylish design, but one that seems more practical. Sony haven't confirmed the release date, and they haven't mentioned the price. 

Sony to Sell OLED TV in Europe in 2009

Sony will expand sales of its 11-inch OLED (organic light emitting diode) television to Europe in 2009. According to Japan's influential Nikkei business newspaper, Sony will indeed by selling an OLED TV – most likely an updated version of the XEL-1 – in Europe some time next year. Sony didn't confirm the report but said the XEL-1 television has received a positive reception from consumers in Japan and so an expansion of sales into other markets is being considered.Should Sony decide to launch the set in Europe the announcement could come as soon as the IFA trade show, which begins on Aug. 29 in Berlin and is Europe's largest consumer electronics show.

Sony's XEL-1 has won broad praise for its thinness and bright, vivid images. But at around ¥200,000 (US$1,829) in Japan and around US$2,500 in the U.S. the TV set remains too pricey for most consumers. For Sony to significantly expand sales it will need to increase production from the current 2,000 sets it manufactures per month but technical hurdles remain as OLED is a new technology and production processes are still being refined. The company is planning to invest over $200 million in the mass production of larger OEL screens by the end of this fiscal year. Sony is not alone: Matsushita (Panasonic) is expected to build prototype 40-inch OLED displays in early 2009, with plans of offering them to Japanese customers in 2011. Samsung plans to roll out 14-inch OLED TVs in 2010.

Projected growth of OLED TV

DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research and consulting, has released the Q2'08 Worldwide Flat Panel Forecast Report showing what applications will grow the fastest over the next eight years. The report forecasts a 167% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for shipments of OLED panels from 2007 to 2015. The CAGR of shipments for mini-note PC applications may be 74% over the coming eight years.

"OLED TV and mini-note PC applications are the next big opportunity for flat panel suppliers," explained David Barnes, VP of Strategic Analysis for DisplaySearch. He added, "Last year, we identified the potential for digital picture frame demand to lead unit growth. That application is still growing strong but these two applications will be even stronger."

Shipments of flat panels for all applications decreased 12% from Q4'07 to 881.7 million units on normal seasonal weakness in Q1'08. Compared to Q1'07, shipments increased 15%, led by demand for mini-note PC, digital picture frames and portable navigation devices. On a unit share basis, mobile phone applications consumed 45.8% of all flat panels in Q1'08. By comparison, the next largest consumption came from conventional PC applications for desktop and laptop displays, which used 9.1% of the flat panels shipped. Panels for LCD TV and Plasma TV sets comprised 3.5% of shipments. On a display area basis, TFT LCD technology provided 88.6% of total FPD area in Q1'08. PDP technology delivered 9.4% and OLED delivered 0.1% of the total.

The Quarterly Worldwide Flat Panel Forecast Report covers all flat panel and CRT technologies in 40 categories of applications. The report provides historical data from 2006 through 2008 and forecasts demand through 2015. Clients obtain detailed data in spreadsheet formats that allow them to create custom studies or create presentations using formatted tables and charts provided.

A glimpse into the future of lighting (OLED technology)

Even though this post refers to OLED technology and its potential as a light source, applied to various situations and environments, and not specifically to TV, it is a very interesting peice of video to watch. I recommend to take 3 minutes to find out what we can expect from OLED technology. The video is found here: ecomagination

Panasonic is planning to market a 40-inch model within three years.

If there was ever any doubt about the bright future of OLED television sets, that can be all but dispelled by the news today that Panasonic is planning to market a 40-inch model within three years. The unofficial word is that the Japanese company will convert its Kyoto semiconductor R&D lab into a full-scale OLED TV factory at a cost of "several dozen billion yen" (£165 million and upwards). The large organic electroluminescent TVs will be preceded by 20-inch prototypes made next spring in Kyoto. The likely move comes less than a year after Sony introduced the 11-inch XEL-1, which was the world's first OLED television set. Sony has also shown a 27-inch prototype, while Samsung has a 31-inch pre-production model of its own. Source: Techradar

Sony to join forces with Toshiba, Matsushita to develop large-sized OLED TV

Sony and a group of Japanese manufacturers including Toshiba and Matsushita said they plan to work jointly on the development of mass-producible large-sized OLED panels for TVs, according to a Reuters report. Although details of the collaboration were to be announced later, Sony said it would join other firms, including joint ventures with Toshiba and Matsushita Electric Industrial, in the project, which is being initiated by the Japanese government. Key goals of the project are to establish basic technologies needed to mass produce energy-saving, high-definition OLED displays with screen sizes measuring 40 inches and larger. Full article here: TWICE

Samsung SDI plans increase in OLED production

Samsung SDI plans to expand production of OLED (organic light emitting diode) display panels this year, it said Monday. The company, in which Samsung Electronics holds a 20 percent stake, will invest 551.8 billion won (US$528 million) to increase production between now and June next year, it said in a regulatory filing with the Korea Stock Exchange. OLED is an emerging flat-panel display technology that uses an organic material in the pixels that emits its own light, so a backlight isn't needed. That helps make the displays thinner and much less power-hungry. OLED screens also handle fast-moving images better and offer richer color reproduction than current LCDs (liquid crystal displays) and PDPs (plasma display panels).Full article here: ARN

Sony ''awfully close'' to start selling a 27-inch OLED TV

Sony is currently selling an 11 inch OLED TV (XEL-1) for about $2,500. This TV is more like an expensive executive desk decoration than a home entertainment product. Sony's COO Stan Glasgow said this week at a dinner event in San Francisco that Sony is "awfully close" to selling a 27" OLED TV. What "awfully close" means in terms of time frames can only be guessed. The biggest problem in producing OLED TVs lies in the amount of manual labor needed according to Sony. The key for Sony is to find ways to automate the production of the OLED screens, which right now require significant amounts of labor. After the 27 inch OLED Sony plans to offer a 40 inch OLED TV. More at Barrons.

Panasonic eyes 37-inch OLED TV

Panasonic plans to put TVs featuring 37-inch OLED screens on sale in the next three years, according to a Japanese newspaper. Panasonic is moving toward commercialization of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels and plans to put TVs with 37-inch OLED screens on sale in the next three years, according to a Japanese newspaper report. The panels will be produced on new production lines that will be installed at the factory of IPS Alpha, a display-panel-manufacturing joint venture owned by Panasonic and Hitachi, the Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday. Responding to the report, Panasonic said it was working on OLED technology but did not yet have any plans to start production. OLED is an emerging flat-panel display technology that uses an organic material in the pixels that emits its own light, so a backlight isn't needed. That helps make the displays thinner and much less power-hungry. OLED screens also handle fast-moving images better and offer richer color reproduction than current LCDs (liquid crystal displays) and PDPs (plasma display panels). Full article here: ARN

Masushita to produce 37-inch OLED TVs in 3 years

Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co is finalising plans to mass-produce 37-inch organic light-emitting diode TVs in three years, aiming to overtake rivals in the next-generation flat-TV race, the Sankei Shimbun daily reported on Tuesday. The newspaper said that Matsushita would be the first to mass-produce OLED TVs of over 30 inches, and that the company aimed to challenge Samsung Electronics for the top share in the global flat-TV market. The paper also said Matsushita would likely start selling the OLED TVs for around 150,000 yen ($1,390). Full article here: Reuters

27-inch OLED TV 'fairly soon'

Sony plans to launch a much larger version of its impressive OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) television within the next year, CEO Howard Stringer said Wednesday. Sony launched its first OLED TV, an 11-inch model, in late 2007. The set, which also has the distinction of being the first commercial OLED TV in the world, won great acclaim thanks to the smoother, sharper and more richly colored images it offered over today's LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) technologies. At the same time Sony began showing a prototype 27-inch OLED screen and last month in Tokyo showed an OLED screen that was just 0.3 millimeters thick. Stringer, speaking at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in Carlsbad, California, on Wednesday, introduced the thin prototype and talked about commercialization. Full article here: PC World

A laymans view on OLED TV

Modern tech life teems with long-standing dilemmas, questions that never seem to go away. Mac or Windows? Turn off the computer every night or let it sleep? Plasma or LCD? Or why not OLED?

At a cooperative Best Buy store, I did a little test. I set the XEL-1 up next to state-of-the-art plasmas and LCD sets, all hooked up to the same video signal for easy comparison, and recorded the reactions of shoppers and employees. Their adjectives for this picture included "astonishing," "astounding," "incredible" (twice) and "amazing" (five times). They were right. The XEL-1's picture is so colorful, vibrant, rich, lifelike and high in contrast, you catch your breath. It's like looking out a window. With the glass missing. Name a drawback of plasma or LCD -- motion blur, uneven lighting across the panel, blacks that aren't quite black, whites that aren't quite white, limited viewing angle, color that isn't quite true, brightness that washes out in bright rooms, screen-door effect up close -- and this TV overcomes it. Full article here: journalnow.com

Dribbling over a non-Sony OLED TV?

Samsung showed off a 40" OLED TV at CES in January, however it's taken until now for them to announce they'll be available commercially as of 2009. They've supposedly started producing the panels already - 1.5 million of them - however that number will reach 3 million in 2009, and 6 million in 2010. If they enter the market next year with OLED panels, they'll be joining Sony who managed to pip everyone to the post with their XEL-1.OLED screens are looking like the Next Big Thing in the world of consumer electronics, due to their wider viewing angles, faster response times, better contrast and colours, and of course - the fact that they're so darned skinny! Full article here: TechDigest

Sony Reveals Another Paper Thin OLED TV

Sony has cut the thickness of their LED OLED panel to a mere 0.3mm or 0.1 inches. The new TV was shown for the first time at the Display 2008 expo trade show held in Japan. At the CES Expo in Las Vegas in January Sony stunned crowds with the commercial release 11-inch XEL-1, the world's first mass-produced OLED TV. The new display panel which measures just 0.3mm thick (0.01in) is a major reduction and could go commercial as early as December 2008. Full artcile here: Smarthouse

OLED to Show Rapid Growth This Year

According to DisplaySearch, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays will grow 69 per cent this year to reach more than US$826.5 million, and are expected to continue to grow to achieve an impressive US$3.1 billion by 2012. The research company, which is a division of The NPD Group, predicts an 83 per cent growth in the category in 2009, following by 53 per cent in 2010 as Active Matrix OLEDs become mainstream products. Full artcile here: Marketnews

Why Toshiba Dropped OLED TV

Investigation by engineers of the Sony 11” OLED offering has revealed that power is still a major issue and could well affect the roll-out of any future OLED screened as governments world-wide move to bring in rating systems for all TV technology including Plasma, LCD, DLP and OLED. Full article here: Smarthouse

Digital Journal TV First Look: Organic LED and the Future of Television

In this episode Digital Journal TV will give you a first look at Sony's 11-inch XEL-1 and discuss the pros and cons of this emerging TV technology. There is a long list of benefits but we've also found a few setbacks, and we look into just how much Sony plans to invest in the future of television. Source: Digital Journal

Analysis of Sony's OLED TV Reveals Design Innovations

The XEL-1 organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV released by Sony Corp of Japan in December 2007 has a display only 3mm thick. In addition to its innovative design, another key selling point is the display performance. We measured and evaluated the display performance with the help of a panel engineer, and came to understand the difficulties that Sony faced in overcoming the drawbacks associated with using OLED panels in TVs, and how it made the best use of the superlative image quality that OLED panels offer.

Extending Service Life
The most intriguing of the difficulties Sony faced was brightness time control. It turns out that after the TV is turned on, the brightness is automatically adjusted through five levels in only 300s (Fig 1). This appears to be a clever way of utilizing still-developing OLED panels.



Full article here: Nikkei Electronics Asia

Hitachi to launch slimline Wooo TV (range only 38mm wide)

Following on from Sony’s launch of the 8mm thick XEL-1 OLED TV in Japan, Hitachi has thrown down the gauntlet in Europe by announcing the imminent arrival of its so-called Wooo range of slimline TVs.

Well, Hitachi isn’t actually going to describe any of the models in its new range specifically as a TV, as none of them feature an on-board TV tuner. Quite what it will call them isn’t yet clear. However, with a suitable set-top box and an HDMI cable, they are all perfectly able to function as TVs.

Space saving mission

The omission of a tuner is just one of many space-saving and size-reducing measures taken by Hitachi. The on-board power supply has been downsized by 33 per cent too, a move that allows for a much thinner screen overall. Full article here: Techradar

OLEDs: Past, present and future

First appearing in 1999, the OLED display was expected to be the wunderkind of the flat-panel display world, the LCD killer that would quickly take over across a range of applications. Pundits cautioned, however, that it might take OLED technology until 2002 or even 2003 to scale up to 10 inches.

Flash forward nine years to 2008, and only one 10-inch-plus OLED has made it to production—and that only in relatively small quantities, with the manufacturer reportedly losing money on every one. Otherwise, the OLED has yet to progress beyond a few small-screen applications. What happened? And now that Sony Corp. has started testing the market with an 11-inch OLED TV, what's next?

Two reasons are most often cited for the OLED's failure to meet expectations. The first is that the LCD, ever a moving target, continued its relentless drive to better performance for lower cost, and passive OLEDs became less attractive. The second is that active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLEDs) present manufacturing challenges in the active-matrix circuitry, in the display materials and structures, and in the interaction between the circuitry and display. Given the advances in active-matrix LCDs, the investment required to iron out the wrinkles in AMOLEDs and achieve reasonable manufacturing yield just didn't seem worth it. Full article here: EE Times

OLED TV lifespan doubled by new build tech

The new breed of OLED televisions are, without a doubt, wondrous to behold, but the use of organic materials that degrade gives them a lifespan that's around 40 per cent less than a standard LCD screen. That, however, is no longer a concern - providing you buy a TV from Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology. The joint venture between the two electronics heavyweights has come up with a new display that doubles the life of OLED screens by increasing the efficiency of the way they use emitted light. Full article here: Techradar.com

CES 2008: Sony OLED TV Interview

OLED technology is extremely interesting and produces the best picture we've seen yet in a commercially released device, but there are some doubts about its longevity, cost, and mass producability. Sony's Jim Arvanitis was more than happy to talk about their support of OLED technology and tell us all about the 11" OLED HDTV that is currently available from SonyStyle.

Is there room for OLED in TV market?

After examining Sony Corp.’s 11-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) television, 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. “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. Full article here: Engineer Live!

CES 2008: Super thin 27" Sony OLED TV prototype

The scene stealer at Sony's booth was their ultra-thin organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions. Starting with a crazy thin 3mm thick 11" model, the 27" prototype pictured above is only 10mm thick. OLED technology not only allows this extreme thinness to be achieved but offers much greater viewing angles then LCD's, and an amazing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The 11" XEL-1 OLED TV is now available for about $2,500. Initially, it will be in limited supply at Sony Style® retail stores nationwide

Samsung presents two OLED TVs at CES

Two next-generation OLED models (14.1" and 31") is presented by Samsung at CES 2008 in Las Vegas. "OLED and quadruple full-HD technologies represent an entirely new
paradigm in picture resolution technology," said Dr. Jongwoo Park,
president of Digital Media Business, Samsung Electronics. "This is a
level of clarity that is in some cases four times beyond current
industry standards yet retains the slim fits and light weight that
have made our models preferred among consumers."

OLED is seen as a powerful contender to be at the center of the
future display market mainstream given its very high resolution,
svelte profile and extremely light weight. Electronics manufacturers
have already begun exhibiting these next-generation displays at major
trade shows, but Samsung is going a step further at CES 2008. The OLED
is being presented as a finished TV product that features an elegant,
optimized design.

The chic, ultra-slim OLED TVs employ AM OLED panels developed by
Samsung SDI, a Samsung affiliate dedicated to display production. The
finished products weigh some 40 percent less than other LCD TVs of the
same size while boasting a contrast ratio of 1 million to one, color
gamut of 107% and brightness of 550nit. Samsung will begin commercial
production of mid- to large-sized OLED TVs around 2010. Source: Reuters.

Sony to Sell Super-Thin OLED TV in U.S.

Sony Corp. on Sunday said it is introducing to the U.S. market a high-quality organic LED television only as thick as three stacked credit cards.

The 11-inch XEL-1 television, to go on sale this month, is Sony's first television for the U.S. to use organic light-emitting diode technology, which enables superior picture quality on super-thin displays. The company also is demonstrating a prototype 20-inch version at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas.

The XEL-1 has a contrast ratio — the difference between maximum and minimum brightness — of 1 million to one, because pixels can be turned off completely for a near-perfect black. That compares with 30,000 to one for a good conventional flat-panel TV, which can't show a perfect black.

The high picture quality comes at a hefty price: about $2,500 for the XEL-1. It sold for $1,700 at its launch in Japan in December. Source.