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