Selux and design studio ART+COM unveiled a new OLED luminaire, the Manta Rhei. They call this a "kinetic luminaire" - because it integrates mechnical movement, with several individually designed choreographies:

The Manta Rehi is 1.2x2.4 meters and it has 140 OLED modules. The OLED modules were provided by Tridonic (Ledon), so we assume these are either Osram Orbeos panels or LG Chem ones. The design here is very nice, although I wonder how much power is wasted by the moving mechanism...

Novaled announced that they will be showing new OLED luminaries at the L+B 2012 show next week. They will be showing three new luminaries: a suspension light (Linfinity), a wall light (Lucentury) and a floor light (Trinity). These lamps include transparent OLEDs and are made from high-end, lightweight, stable and indestructible carbon fiber. Novaled will also show the Victory lamp in a wide range of colors.

Novaled also revealed a new lamp design called the PAD (named after the pad-like fingers of the red-eyed tree frog) - shown above. Here three transparent white OLED panels are used, but interestingly, when the panels are turned off, each will filter the ambient light to be in a different color (see on the right image above). The PAD was designed by Marcus Tremonto.

Sony's Smartwatch is now shipping. Sony says it costs $150, although amazon lists it for $183. The SmartWatch is Sony's 2nd-Gen Android accessory - with a 1.3" PMOLED (65K colors) display, an accelerometer and a vibrate option. You can use this device to control your phone, read messages, get weather updates and more.

Here's Sony's official video showing the Smartwatch:

Sony's new CEO, Kaz Hirai, is now in office, and he announced a new strategy that will hopefully turn around the company. The "One Sony" initiative, which includes a headcount reduction (of 10,000 employees), will cost almost a billion dollars in 2012. The company will focus on digital imaging, gaming and mobile.

Sony XEL-1

Regarding Sony's TV business, they will continue to streamline the product line and reduce costs in an attempt to return to profitability by 2014. Sony intends to "advance the development and commercialization of next-generation display technologies such as OLED and Crystal LED Display". This isn't news as Sony already announced they plan "major investments in OLED TVs' back in February 2012, but it's good to see Sony's OLED TVs are still on track.

iSupply says that AMOLED display shipments were up 14% in the first quarter of 2012 compared to Q4 2011 - even though this is a traditionally slow season. Shipments are up 80% compared to Q1 2011. iSupply sees AMOLEDs gaining further traction as they are being adopted by tablets.

AMOLED average panel price actually increased 0.9% to $54 - but this is due to the introduction of higher specification displays. AMOLED still carry a price premium of 15 to 25 percent compared to LTPS LCDs. A 4.3" qHD (960x54) Super-AMOLED costs $51. A comparable LCD costs $42.

Samsung is getting ready to release flexible OLEDs soon, and have announced that these displays will be branded as YOUM displays. Today the OLED association released some interesting information regarding Samsung's flexible OLED manufacturing program. According to this report, products that use these displays will be introduced in Q4 2012, while mass production will begin as early as next month.

Back in May 2011 Samsung announced a joint venture with Japan's Ube Kosan to develop and produce polyimide resin - to be used as substrates for their flexible displays in a $18 million investment. Now we hear that the curing equipment for the hardened polyimide will be provided by Korea's Tera Semicon.

Toshiba officially launched 3 new tablets today, including the Excite 7.7. This is their 7.7" 1280x800 Super AMOLED Plus tablet that was shown a few times before (it was called the AT270 before). This tablet (which features a strong quad-core Tegra 3 CPU) is very slim (7.6 mm) and light (380 grams).

The Excite 7.7 will launch in June 2012. The 16GB model will cost $500.

Deutsche Bank's Berlin office installed a huge OLED chandelier that has 384 Philips Lumiblade panels. It's quite beautiful:

The chandelier consists of 24 square frames (made from shiny chrome aluminum) that are suspended in a column around a pole of dichoric glass. Each frame holds 16 rectangular OLED panels, so in total the chandelier has 384 OLEDs (or 2.4 square meters of active area).

There are reports that Samsung will brand its flexible OLEDs as YOUM displays. Samsung plans to release these OLEDs in 2012, so it makes sense that they will prepare a marketing campaign soon.

The first products to use the new flexible OLEDs will probably be mobile phones, followed by tablets and other mobile devices. It may be that the Samsung S3 will be the first phone to sport such a display.

Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) say they have developed the world's lowest-color temperature OLED lighting panel. The researchers say that high color temperature lighting can lead to insomnia, biological clock disorder and even cancer according, and this new OLED can be safer.

The new OLED panels will go into trial mass production soon, in collaboration with ITRI. This research follows the team 2009 research that developed OLED lighting panels that can change color temperature to match sun-light throughout the day (2300K-8200K).