September 2008

Already skeptical about the ability of OLED to uproot the TV technology dominance of plasma and LCD in the next few years, the company cast even more doubt on the opening day of Ceatec 2008.

Speaking to a group of reporters, Panasonic AVC Networks President Toshihiro Sakamoto reiterated that OLED TVs will not be made in sizes of 30 inches or greater for now, and it's still not suitable for mass manufacturing. Currently, Panasonic does not have an OLED product on the market, but Sony does: it makes and 11-inch OLED TV, and is working on a 27-inch model.

CMEL is adjusting its AMOLED focus to medium- and
large-size panels as result of pricing pressure from TFT LCD in the
small- to medium-size segment, according to company chairman Jau-Yang
Ho.

They say that while AMOLEDs have better quality and colors, it's hard to compete on price against TFT LCDs. It will take time for lower the prices of AMOLEDs. 

Apart from developing 7.6-inch AMOLED panel fro Kodak, CMEL will head
for the 10-inch and larger segment. CMEL expects to volume produce
AMOLED TV panels in 2010 or 2011.

Read more here (digitimes)

The iRiver SPINN will ship to cusomters in the US on October 3rd. iRiver are already taking pre orders. The 4GB model costs 250$, and the 8GB goes for 290$.

The SPINN has a 3.2" touchscreen AMOLED display (480 x 372). 

Alps Electric Co developed a P-OLED panel using printing technology. The panel uses a film substrate on which a getter, in addition to the emission layer and the electrodes, is formed by printing. The getter is used to absorb water, etc.

The emission colors are yellow and white. Both types have a luminance of 100cd/m2. The luminance half-life of the yellow emission type is longer than 1,000 hours and that of the white type is longer than 300 hours. The drive voltage of both types is 7-25V.

The latest polymer OLED panel was developed in collaboration with Add-Vision Inc, according to Alps.

According to a new report from NanoMarkets the OLED lighting market will reach almost US $4.5 billion ($US) by 2013 and grow to $5.9 billion by 2015. The firm claims that in the past year the prospects for OLED lighting have made great leaps forward due to improvements in OLED performance and manufacturing.

OLED-Info users can get a 10% discount on the report. Contact us to get your discount.

Key findings of the OLED lighting market report:

• The unit costs of OLED lights are likely to remain higher than older general lighting technologies but the extra costs will be offset by improved OLED lifetimes and efficiencies. During 2008, OLED lifetimes improved from 24 Khrs to 100 Khrs. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy now expects OLED lighting to reach 150 lm/W efficiency in 2012 rather than 2014 as previously forecast. NanoMarkets believes that these and other improvements in OLEDs will drive the general illumination market to $2.3 billion in revenues by 2015.

   

• Manufacturing processes for OLEDs have also progressed significantly. GE and the Fraunhofer Institute have both demonstrated roll-to-roll manufacturing of OLED lighting which will ultimately lead to significant cost improvements in OLED fabrication. Low cost printing approaches and new small molecule inks will also help propel OLEDs into the backlighting market. NanoMarkets expects that the OLED backlighting market will reach $1.1 billion by 2015. And while the first OLED lighting panels are quite small, the recent scaling up of factories in Asia to build large OLED displays will certainly benefit the manufacturing infrastructure for OLED lighting and lead to larger panels within a few years.

   

• The flat and flexible format presented by OLEDs creates an opportunity to design high-value added lighting fixtures with an appeal to upscale consumers and especially architects. During 2008, lighting designer Ingo Maurer introduced the worlds first OLED "function table light" and researchers at GE are targeting lighted curtains and lighted wallpaper. By 2015, NanoMarkets projects that sales of OLED architectural and specialist industrial lighting will reach $1.9 billion.

DisplaySearch says that SamsungSDI's AMOLED second quarter shipments are down 22% from previous quarter (the forecase was an increase of 12%) due to low demand from phone makers, including Nokia. The slowdown is expected to continue in the next quarter.

Total AMOLED revenue was 54M$, down 27% quarter to quater.

PMOLED shipments are up 17% from previous quarter (20M$), after 3 quarters of slowing down. PMOLEDs are now 60% of the MP3 players market.

RiTdisplay had a record quarter with revenues of US$33.8 million. Pioneer maintained its shipment volume of 4.4 million units, most of which were monochrome displays. Chi Mei EL (CMEL) also reported AMOLED revenues of only US$7.6 million, down from US$12.8 million last quarter.

Read more here (digitimes)

A strategic partnership between Powerlase, a UK developer of
diode-pumped solid-state lasers, and France's fibre laser specialist
Eolite Systems will see the companies jointly develop products for new
markets and business opportunities.

The new, broader product line will be applied to multi-stage
manufacturing processes that require multiple laser parameters, such as
the manufacture of photovoltaics or the development of active matrix
OLED displays.

Read more here (Optics.org)

The iRiver P20 is now on sale in stores all around Korea.

The player has a 4.1" AMOLED,it is H/W based and costs between 440euro and 490euroe (depends on configuration).

Art.Lebedev is gonna release their new small 15-key OLED keyboard towards the end of 2008, or at the beginning of 2009.

The 15-keys keyboard is obviously going to be cheaper than the Optimus (which costs around 1500$). It will be naed Aux.

Read more here (slashgear)

Philips electronics is now offering a "starter-kit" for OLED Lighting. It is aimed at lighting designers, architects and artists f- ro them to discover how OLEDs are gonna change the lighting world.

The Kit includes some samples of various shapes, structures and colors, and DVD an information pack with explanation of the tech and possible applications.

Philips say that their OLEDs will 'shortly' become commercially available, in fact they are aiming for 2009. The products will be marketed under the name of Lumiblade, and will include panels up to 50 square cm, in several shares and colors.