As we reported a couple of days ago, yesterday in Monte Carlo LG officially launched their OLED TV, the 55EM9600. The TV is pretty similar to the set unveiled at CES, although it's a bit thinner (4 mm) but heavier (10Kg). LG says that UK pre-orders will begin in July while shipments will begin "well in time for Christmas". The price isn't set yet, but it will be about €8,000 in Europe (which is about $10,000). LG is apparently quite proud of this TV, calling it the Ultimate display and saying that it represents the greatest leap forward in display technology ever:

LG's TV uses a WOLED (RGBW) design on an Oxide-TFT backplane. LG Display can currently make around 48,000 monthly 55" panels in their pilot 8.5-Gen production line.

Update: Here are all the details from LG's OLED TV launch

Back in March it was reported that LG plans to officially launch their 55" OLED TV during the Cannes film festival - and today there are new reports that they indeed intend to do so on Wednesday (May 23) - in Monte Carlo. According to Italian site DDay, invitations has been sent to reporters.

Hopefully during the launch LG will unveil the final mode number, price and actual shipping dates. Currently we know that the model is 55EM9600, and it uses a WOLED-CF design on an Oxide-TFT backplane. The panel is only 4mm thick, and the whole TV weighs just 7.5Kg. LG Display can currently make around 48,000 monthly 55" panels in their pilot 8.5-Gen production line. Estimates suggest that the TV will cost around $8,000.

Back in August 2011 we heard reports that BOE Display is considering a 5.5-Gen AMOLED fab in Ordos (Inner Mongolia) in a $3.44 billion investment. It was suggested that this is simply a gimmick to help the company get mining rights, but now we hear that BOE is actively constructing the new plant. The plan is to start with LTPS LCDs and later on move to AMOLED production (this will happen in 2014).

Regarding the rather unique location, it seems that the local government in Ordos is trying to attract the hi-tech industry - they want transform the city from a natural-resource center into a high tech zone.

Reports say that Samsung already got nine million pre-orders for the upcoming Galaxy S3, and that's before it was launched in the US. It seems that the S3 will surpass the company previous best-seller, the Galaxy S2 which in February 2012 passed the 20 million units mark.

The S3, Samsung's flagship smartphone, has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB of RAM and an 8 mp camera (1080p video). The phone includes several new software technologies: voice recognition, gesture control, smart sharing and intelligent camera features. Amazon are now offering the Galaxy S3 unlocked for $799.99, and will ship it on June 1st.

Back in June 2011 Universal Display announced that some of its patents have been invalidated in Japan by the Japanese Patent Office (JPO). The company gave an update today regarding two patents. On one patent (#3992929), the Japanese High Court acknowledged the validity of certain claimed inventions in the patent, but confirmed the JPO's conclusion to invalidate the broadest claims. UDC says it intends to appeal to the Japanese Supreme court. UDC's Shares are dropping around 10% now.

Regarding the second patent (#4511024), the JPO issued a decision upholding the validity of certain claimed inventions but invalidating the broadest claims. UDC believes this decision was erroneous and they intend to appeal to the Japanese High Court.

Amazon are now offering the Galaxy S3 unlocked for $799.99. The phone will ship in two weeks, on June 1st. This is the 16GB HSDPA model. The S3, Samsung's flagship smartphone, has a 4.8" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED (with Pentile), a quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB of RAM and an 8 mp camera (1080p video). The phone includes several new software technologies: voice recognition, gesture control, smart sharing and intelligent camera features.

Acuity Brands launched two new OLED luminaries, the Trilia and the Canvis. The Trilia is a modular lamp that uses either two kinds of models (the Tri and the Straight) to create unique network-like design. The Tri section model uses 24 OLED panels (1810 lumens) while the Straight section model uses 8 panels (603 lumens). All the panels feature an efficiency of 60 lm/W, 3500K color temperature, 15,000 hours of lifetime (LT70) and a CRI of over 80.

The Canvis is a flexible "sheet of pure luminance" that comes in 4 different configurations: twist, drape, screen and pose. The twist and the Drape use 66 OLED panels (up to 5020 lumens brightness) while the screen and the post configurations use 54 panels (up to 4100 lumens). The Canvis uses the same panels used in the Trilia. As far as we know Acuity is using LG Chem made panels.

Universal Display's management presented in an investor conference (Deutsche Bank's Clean Tech, Utilities and Power Conference). They gave an interesting introduction to the company and its business. In the Q&A, Sid Rosenblatt, the company's CFO says that currently their green PHOLED emitter is used in only two products: the Motorola Droid RAZR and the Sony Vita. This is set to change and they expect more products in the second half of 2012.

This explains why UDC's first quarter revenues were lower than expected - while red emitters sales were up 150% over last year, the green emitter sales have dropped, due to low Vita sales and high volume purchases in the previous quarter.

Yesterday we reported that Panasonic wants to find a partner for OLED TV development, and today Reuters reports that the company is already in talks with Sony. The two companies want to share their technologies, with an aim to start producing TVs by 2015.

Sony OLED TV prototype

In the last couple of months it was reported that Sony will buy OLED TV panels from LG Display, AUO and Samsung, or maybe develop its own OLED TV technology. So now a Panasonic collaboration joins the rumor mill. Hopefully we'll know soon who's Sony's real partner on OLED TVs... One possible explanation is that Sony will buy OLED panels in the short term but also seeks to make its own in the long term.

Update: new reports suggest that the partner is no other than Sony...

Panasonic posted heavy losses for 2011 ($9.7 billion!) and of the tasks of the new president Kazuhiro Tsuga is to turn around the loss-making TV division. Panasonic already confirmed OLED TV development, and today we hear that they are seeking a partner. Back in 2009, Panasonic teamed up with Sumitomo to jointly-develop OLED TVs, based on Sumitomo's PLED materials and technology, but we do not think this partnership is still in place.

There are reports that Panasonic decided to establish a Gen-6 OLED TV pilot production line in their Himeji LCD plant. The investment will total around ¥20-30 billion ($245-370 million).