Sony has announced it is to be the latest company to exit the rear-projection television market.
The Japanese electronics giant said it is to focus its future resources on LCD and OLED technology, seeing the flat-screen market as the way forward for consumer's living rooms.
Samsung has some interesting updates -
Hitachi may scale down or exit its liquid crystal display (LCD) panel operations on the back of a deal with Matsushita Electric Industrial and Canon, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The firms have agreed to a tie-up on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, a competing display technology, by which Matsushita and Canon would each invest more than 100 billion yen ($880 million) to take minority stakes in unit Hitachi Displays Ltd, it said.
Research and Markets has announced the addition of Opportunity Analysis in the OLED Markets to their offering.
With their advanced technology, improved energy efficiency, and superior viewing angle, OLEDs are identified as the technology of the future. While also a formidable technology, the LCD market will face gradual saturation, which will positively influence the demand for OLEDs. "OLEDs promise to be one of the key technologies of the future, particularly with respect to display and lighting applications," notes the analyst of this research. "The absence of the back light in OLEDs makes them much lighter and extremely thin compared to LCDs, which tend to be large due to the presence of back lights." The key advantage of OLED displays is that they are based on an emissive technology. Besides, the absence of back light units gives OLEDs certain advantages over LCDs. Reduced power consumption also makes OLEDs superior to LCDs, as the latter require more power due to the back light of the display module. Being emissive in nature, OLEDs offer significant power-saving capabilities, reducing long-term application costs.
Over the last few years, applications of OLEDs have increased in cell phones, camera, and MP3 players. As the technology advances and larger size panels get manufactured, they will have tremendous potential in a range of applications including thin TVs, flexible displays, transparent monitors, and white-bulb replacements. They are also expected to increase in the medical equipment market, automotive utilities, lighting equipment, casinos, and other industrial usages. Moreover, in the consumer electronics market, the emergence of 27-inch and 11-inch range OLED televisions is anticipated. These factors are increasing the demand for OLED panels.
Carving out Niche Market and Co-existence with LCDs Necessary Strategies for Long-term Success of OLEDs
Experts anticipate that the OLED market revenues will reach the billion-dollar mark by 2009. However, this might be a premature calculation and the market might require a few more years to touch $1 billion. Constant price reductions in LCD technology will make the OLED market a niche one. In the long term, the OLED market will grow at a faster rate due to the low competency level of thin film transistor (TFT) plants.
OLEDs will face strong competition from LCDs. Although the performance benefits of OLEDs surpass LCDs, the decreasing cost of LCDs and enhancement in LCD technology is key factor constraining the industry. The best strategy to overcome this will be the development of applications where OLEDs and LCDs can coexist, for example, in the backlight of an LCD panel. "OLEDs can carve out a market niche since LCDs have greater mass appeal due to their lower price," states the analyst of this research. "With declining prices, OLEDs might compete strongly with LCD technology in the future, but, at present, LCDs have better market presence and penetration rate even though OLEDs offer superior technology." To establish a significant market presence, OLED manufacturers should build on energy efficiency, improve resolutions, and boost OLED life cycles. Over time, OLED technology is projected to make a major impact on the overall electronics industry.
Update: the new company is called Sichaun CCO.
Changhong Electric, a Chinese TV maker, announced an OLED JV with another chinese company - Chengdu Hi-Tech investment group. The companies invested around 80M$ in the new company, in which Changhong will have 60%.
OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has developed a transparent white OLED tile with outstanding performance. Under laboratory conditions, the OLED prototype has achieved a luminous efficiency of more than 20 lm/W at a brightness of 1000 cd/m². This opens up possible applications such as partitions that are almost invisible by day and can provide a pleasant diffused light at night. The large-scale prototype of the transparent white OLED tile with color coordinates 0.396/0.404 (CIEx/y main emissive side) lights up an area of nearly 90 cm². The OLED is transparent whether it is powered on or off, and its transparency is currently rated at 55%. As the product is further developed, this value is expected to reach 75%.
The performance results were achieved as part of the project known as OPAL 2008. This research effort is the initiative of the Germany Ministry for Education and Research dedicated to studying organic light emitting diodes for illumination applications.
The relative strengths of the beams in the two hemispheres of the OLED tile can be adjusted within a wide range. This means, for example, that a surface light source installed in furniture or on a canopy can be configured so that light shines only in the required direction.
Idemitsu Kosan and Universal Display Corporation today announced that they have signed an agreement to extend their collaboration to accelerate the development of phosphorescent OLED materials for use in displays fabricated through dry processing methods, such as vacuum thermal evaporation. The agreement expands the collaboration into red and green phosphorescent OLED materials, in addition to the blue materials that the two companies have been collaborating to develop since December, 2006.
In order to further expand the market for phosphorescent OLED devices, blue phosphorescent OLED materials need to be more fully developed and the quality and lifetime of red and green phosphorescent OLED materials should continue to improve. Therefore, Idemitsu Kosan and Universal Display have agreed to extend their collaboration into red and green phosphorescent OLED materials, in addition to continuing their work together on blue phosphorescent OLED materials. The collaboration is focused on matching Universal Display’s phosphorescent emitters with Idemitsu Kosan’s phosphorescent hosts and other OLED materials. Through this collaboration, both companies expect to improve efficiency and operational lifetime of their respective phosphorescent OLED materials, which in turn should help accelerate the spread of phosphorescent OLED displays and lighting products.
Idemitsu Kosan has been developing OLED materials for middle and large size panels jointly with Sony Corporation (Sony) since 2005, and Universal Display also has been working with Sony since 2001. Idemitsu Kosan and Universal Display expect the results of this collaboration to be utilized for the OLED material development for Sony products.
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.
OLED problems and benefits
Potential is everything
Sony's CEO said that they will offer the XEL-1 (11") TV in the US in 2008, as soon as they ramp up their mass production capabilities.
Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it has succeeded in producing TVs equipped with a 40-inch AM OLED screen for the first time in the world. They said they plan to showcase the latest TVs in the International Consumer Electronics Show to be held earlier next year in Las Vegas.
It is the first time in the world that such a large AM OLED TV was produced, Samsung officials said.
