OLiGHTEK (Chinese-based OLED microdisplay maker) says that they sold 15,000 Eye Book units in 2012. The Eye Book is an HMD that uses two OLiGHTEK made 0.5" SVGA (800x600) OLED microdisplays.
I don't have a lot of information about this HMD though, the best I could find was the image below, and the fact that you can use the Eye Book for web surfing, image viewing and videos.
Researchers from the Imperial College in London are researching the usage of Helicenes as emitter materials in OLED panels. Helicene based PLED emit circularly polarized light (they call these CP-OLEDs) and these may be useful for 3D OLEDs and other optical and photonics applications.
Helicenes are thermally-stable polycyclic aromatics with helically-shaped molecules. These molecules has unique structural, spectral, and optical features. The researchers found that when these molecules are used as emitter materials in OLED panels, they emit a light that is circularly polarized (not 100% though).
Two months ago we reported that Korea's Doosan wants to buy Novaled for $270-360 million. Later it was reported that Samsung's Cheil Industries is also interested in buying Novaled (or acquiring a part of it). Now Doosan announced that it decided not to acquire Novaled after all.
We do not know whether Cheil Industries is still on track to purchase the company or now. Samsung is already a shareholder in Novaled. A year ago Novaled announced plans for an IPO on the NASDAQ with an aim to raise $200 million, perhaps this will be Novaled's move after all.
eMagin reported their financial results for Q1 2013 - revenues rose 39% (compared to Q1 2012) to $8.5 million (the company reports record display sales). Net income was $205,000 (compared to a net loss of $452,000 in Q1 20122).
The company has around $14.4 in cash or equivalents (they paid a dividend on December 2012). eMagin affirmed their 2013 revenue guidance range of $34 million to $39 million. eMagin quotes insight media with their forecast of the microdisplay market - that is set to grow to almost 24 million units by 2017 (double the expected 12 million units in 2013).
Universal Display reported their financial results for Q1 2013. Revenues were $15 million (up 19% compared to Q1 2012) - with a 40% increase in commercial material sales, mostly due to the fact that Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) adopted UDC's green PHOLED (host and emitter) in the 5" Full-HD Super AMOLED dipslay used in the GS4 smartphone (shipments of these new materials started in March). UDC reported a net loss of $4.8 million in the quarter.
UDC did not change their revenue guidance for 2013 - it will be in the range of $110 - $125 million (32% to 50% increase over 2012). This includes a $40 million license free from SDC. They assume that the OLED market will grow to over $10 billion in 2013 (they use DisplaySearch estimates). UDC has around $220 million in cash and they used $10.9 million in the first quarter.
A few weeks ago we reported about Merck's new Taiwanese technology development center that is focused on OLEDs (but will also work on flexible displays, LED lighting and 3D displays). Merck held an official inauguration ceremony and they revealed some interesting details.
We already know that Merck OLED materials are "used commercially in many products on the market". But during the ceremony the company revealed that LG's 55" OLED TV, now on sale in Korea for $10,000, is using the company's materials.
A couple of months ago Konica Minolta unveiled new flexible OLED lighting prototypes, and today they sent me this beautiful video showing these new panels used in a motorized sample design called "luminous wing":
Unfortunately KM won't reveal any technical details yet, apart from the panel size (150x60 mm, but we knew that already) and the fact that the substrate is plastic. Back in 2010 KM (together with GE) unveiled flexible OLED panel prototypes that achieved 56 lm/W and "commercially viable lifetime" using soluble materials in a roll-to-roll process.
The Holst Centre released a few nice videos, and I think they're worth a watch. First up is the one about their flexible OLED display research. Last year Holst and imec announced a new program to develop high resolution flexible OLED displays, with a focus on a mechanically flexible encapsulation film and TFT backplane, printed high-efficiency OLED and new materials and processes. The video below shows their first display (which was already unveiled last month):
In this new video you can see that the display is monochrome (red) and contains several defects.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) announced four new OLED lighting research grants as part of its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
The first project, granted ($225,000) to Universal Display in collaboration with IDD Aerospace, aims to develop a low-energy shelf phosphorescent OLED light targeted at aircraft interiors. According to the DoE, IDD plans to commercialize this technology in 2015. Back in 2011, UDC showcased an all-phosphorescent, white OLED luminaire designed into an under-cabinet lighting system. This development was also funded by the DOE back in 2009. The warm-white OLED offer a power efficacy of 70 lm/W when operated at 190 lumens.
Digitimes reports that Samsung Electronics plans to launch their direct-emission 55" Full-HD OLED TV (the F9500) in Korea next month (June 2013). SDC still struggles with low yields, but they do plan to finally launch the TV in limited volume.
According to earlier reports, Samsung's OLED TV will cost about $18,000. That's a lot higher then LG's OLED, which costs $10,000 in Korea and $15,000 in the UK and in Israel (it will cost around $12,000 in the US, when it finally launches there).
