Panasonic is reportedly going to withdraw from the OLED lighting market. The Japanese company cannot see earnings coming from this operation due to the high cost of production. Panasonic Idemitsu OLED lighting (PIOL, established in 2011 with Idemitsu Kosan) will be dissolved. Panasonic will turn all of its focus into LED lighting.
This is sad news and a bit of surprise as only a few weeks ago Panasonic demonstrated three new OLED lighting panels at a LED trade show in Tokyo, including the company's first flexible OLEDs. On the other hand, In December 2013 Panasonic also canceled their OLED TV joint development with Sony. So perhaps it makes sense for Panasonic to withdraw from OLEDs altogether.
PIOL started OLED lighting panel production in August 2011. The company currently offers OLED panels that are 97x90 mm in size (2 mm thick) with a luminance of 3,100 cd/m2, a lifetime of 10,000 hours (LT70) and an efficiency if 26-30 lm/W. PIOL panels have a high CRI (over 90) and they mostly target museums and exhibitions. Panasonic made panels have already been used in at least two museums: Kyoto's MOMAK museum and Panasonic's own Shiodome museum.
As I recall, Panasonics's agreement with UDC expires in July (2014).