Back in 2011 the University of Florida announced a new organic-TFT backplane technology called CN-VOLET, which is especially suited for OLED panels. Earlier in 2010, the University spun-off a company called nVerPix to commercialize this technology, with funding from Nanoholdings. Now nVerPix sent us some information and updates regarding their technology and business as they are seeking to raise funds (Round A).

CN-VFET is a new carbon nanotube based transistor technology that can conduct electricity about a 1000 times faster than current silicon-based TFTs. The basic transistor design is called CN-VFET (which can be used for logic and memory applications). When they combine the CN-VFET with the OLED stack they call it a CN-VOLET (CN Vertical OLET).

Audi installed a new OLED installation in a high-level conference room (used for internal and external meetings) in their HQ at Ingolstadt. The installation includes 15 OLED luminaires, each containing 36 Philips Lumiblade GL350 OLED panels.

In total there are 540 OLED panels and the total lumens count is almost 58,000. There isn't any other functional lighting in that room, which (according to Philips) makes this the world's first usage of OLEDs as purely functional lighting.

Towards the end of April, LG launched their 55" curved OLED TV (the 55EA9800) in Korea (for KW 15 million, or about $13,500). Now reports from Korea suggest that they will start shipping the TV in a few days. LG released this photo showing one of the first TVs to come off production:

LG's 55EA9800 features an Oxide-TFT WRGB Full-HD OLED panel (like LG's 55EM9700 OLED TV). The TV features "infinite" contrast ratio, passive 3D, Smart Touch Controls and a "paper-slim" design (it's only 4.3 mm thick and weighs just 17Kg). It is made from Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (CFRP).

OLEDWorks has been contracted by the New York State Energy and Research and Development Authority on a $200,000 OLED lighting initiative. OLEDWorks will partner with WAC Lighting to develop lighting for office space, combining LED indirect ambient device with an OLED "task unit".

OLEDWorks recently completed its Series A funding round from private investors, and the company is building an OLED lighting fab in Rochester, NY. They plan to offer low-cost OLEDs through the use of equipment and process innovation, and they expect to ship their first OLED prototypes (12x12 cm, 45 lm/W on glass or on metal) in the second half of 2013. Just last week OLEDWorks was awarded a $1 million project from the US DoE to develop (and demonstrate) new spray printing equipment for OLED production.

Samsung sold 10 million GS4 phones in less than a month, and the GS4 was Samsung's fastest selling phone. But now analysts claim that orders are slowing down, and Samsung lowered its monthly supply orders to 7-8 million units down from 10 million. They say that demand in Korea and Europe is "weak".

Samsung recently launched new "mid-range" phones (such as the GS4 mini) and this may be cannibalizing flagship smartphone sales. Samsung originally hoped to sell over 100 million GS4 units, perhaps they were too optimistic. - or double the GS3 sales. The GS4 is currently available in more than 110 countries and will be rolled out to a total of 155 countries soon.

Verbatim sent us information about two new OLED lighting installations that use their 2nd-gen Velve color-tunable panels. The first one is in the Kaiteki Cafe in Tokyo:

Verbatim installed 28 OLED panels in the wall mounted mosaic, and there are also 12 units integrated into a table. Those table-integrated modules are controlled (dimming and color) by an iPad:

Last week we reported that Philips is looking for licensees for their OLED display IP portfolio. Today IPXI (Intellectual Property Exchange International, a financial exchange for licensing and trading of IP rights) gave some more information about the contract.

Philips has a portfolio of more than 600 patents (including 225 granted globally) that are all related to AMOLED displays, and represents nearly two decades of research. IPXI are offering Unit License Right (ULR) contracts - and each unit provides the right to manufacture, use, sell, offer to sell or import five square meters of an OLED display for application in any display screen device.

Panasonic's CTO, Yoshiyuki Miyabe, says that the company aims to launch their first OLED TV in fiscal-year 2015, which means by March 2016. This concurs with reports we heard earlier this year. Miyabe wouldn't reveal more information, and he said that the company is currently at "the technological development stage".

Panasonic is collaborating with Sony on OLED TV production technologies, and some reports suggest that the two companies will setup a production joint-venture as well. In January 2013 Panasonic unveiled a unveiled a 56" 4K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel prototype that was produced using an all-printing method using Sumitomo's P-OLED materials.

IHS says that flexible display shipments will grow quickly in the near future. They expect about 3.2 million such displays to ship in 2013, and this will grow to almost 800 million displays by 2020. In terms of revenue, the total market will reach $41.3 billion in 2020. The leading display technology for flexible displays will be OLEDs, which will account for 64% of the market in 2020.

IHS classifies flexible displays into four generations. The first one are plastic-based displays that are unbreakable, but are still flat. The second-gen ones are conformable and can be molded to curved surfaces. The third-gen panels are bendable/rollable - and can be manipulated by end users. The fourth generation are disposable displays- so cheap that they can replace regular paper and be thrown away after use.

Samsung announced the new Galaxy S4 Active phone - that is water and dust proof (it can be submerged in up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes). The display is a 5" Full-HD (443 ppi) panel - but it is an LCD and not an OLED like in the regular GS4.

The S4 Active has a 1.9Ghz quad-cre CPU, LTE, 8mp camera and Android 4.2.2. It will launch in the UK and the US during the summer.