Kodak

Idemitsu Kosan said they have signed an agreement to acquire a 32.73% stake in Global OLED Technology. Global OLED Technology is owned by LG, and this company has over 2,000 OLED patents (LG created this company when it bought Kodak's OLED business back in December 2009).

Update: Nikkei.com reports that the deal is estimated at "several billion yen" (a billion yen is about $11 million). This makes sense, as LG originally bought the whole patent portfolio for $100 million.

Technocorp Energy (formed by ex-Kodak employees) will license Kodak's OLED Lighting technology from LG. Technocorp plan is to produce efficient OLED panels (70lm/W) at $64/m². This will take time and a lot of effort of course, and the company is looking for funding, partners and joint-ventures to achieve this goal.

Via +PlasticElectronics

A group of ex-Kodak employees, who left the company following Kodak's OLED business acquisition by LG in December 2010 has formed a new company, called TechnoCorp Energy. The company (based in New York, US) will work on OLED Lighting, and has already given seed funding. It's not clear yet whether they will use Kodak's OLED Lighting IP, which was bought by LG as part of the acquisition.

In the company's web site, they do not actually mention OLEDs, but rather say they will work on a 'select set of renewable energy projects and working these projects in tandem'.

Via PlusPlasticElectronics

Back in December, LG announced it will buy Kodak's OLED unit. The price was not revealed, but now Kodak has released their quarterly report, in which they reveal that the price was $100 million. Kodak also entered into a licensing transaction with LG which gave them $414 million in revenue.

via cintelliq

Kodak announced today that it has completed the previously announced sale of its OLED business to an entity set up by a group of LG companies.

I guess we now wait to see how LG handles their new OLED IP and technologies. There are rumors that they will create a new entity called LG OLED to handle all OLED business within the group.

Kodak announced today that they have sold all their OLED related assets to a group of LG companies. Kodak will still have access to the technology to use in its own product.

Kodak is doing this to strengthen their financial situation. They also recognize that in order to realize the full value of the OLED business, it needs a significant investment.

This is a sad day for Kodak I think - they have invented OLEDs in 1970 and have been working on the technology for 40 years now (!). It'll be interesting to see what LG will do with Kodak's IP (which is mostly about Fluorescent OLEDs and manufacturing equipment). In any case, LG is showing that they are truly committed to OLEDs.

So the 2009 holiday season is almost here - and obviously you'd like a new gadget with an OLED display. So what are your options?

OLED TVs

Sadly, there aren't that many OLED TVs around as we'd hope for. Sony is still selling the XEL-1 (at around $2,200) - but you should hurry, as they have stopped the production line, and will soon stop offering this TV. Your other option is LG's 15" OLED TV - but this is currently available in Korea only, for around $2600. It's probably best to wait a few years before actually buying an OLED TV...

Mobile phones

There are many OLED phones you can choose from... it seems that every week Samsung releases yet another smartphone with a large touch OLED. Samsung currently offers dozens of models - including the Impression,  the Moment, the Behold II, the Omnia II and the Jet. Nokia is offering the N86 and even HP recently announced an OLED phone - the iPAQ Glisten. 

Samsung Moment

Digital Cameras

Compared to mobile phones, there are very little OLED digital cameras around... There's the Samsung TL320 and the NV24HD, and also Nikon's new S70 - with a large touch AMOLED, 12Mp sensor and 5X optical zoo.

Nikon S70