Sony

Sony says that they have stopped production of the XEL-1 OLED TV in Japan, and will stop selling it when they run out of inventory. They will continue to sell and produce the OLED TV for the US, EU and other markets though (which is a bit confusing, because they say they stopped producing it). Sony will also continue their OLED R&D. Still no news on any upcoming larger OLED TVs...

Sony XEL-1 OLED TV

Via Reuters

Tech-On has posted an interesting article about OLED TV status. They discuss the situation of the technology, why is it so difficult to make a large OLED panel, and how are the various TV makers trying to solve the issues.

I think the two most interesting points are: 

• They suggest that because LCDs have got so good in terms of efficiency,thinness and quality, it'll be hard for OLEDs to compete. Instead companies try to open new markets with transparent or flexible OLEDs, things that cannot be done with LCDs. Indeed we can see Samsung, Sony and LG all showing these kinds of displays. I think we may also add 3D OLED TVs to the mix here.
• They say that LG plans to volume produce 20" OLED panels in 2010. This is the first time we hear of such plans (beside a promise for 'larger panels' a few weeks ago). LG also plans 30" OLED TVs in 2011, and 40" in 2012.

Here's the link to Tech-On's article.

Sony has installed 20 XEL-1 OLED TVs in the press gallery of the Amsterdam ArenA stadium. It seems that the responses has been great, and people are very impressed with the performance of the OLED TV displays. .

Via HDTV Nieuws

So 2010 is here, and we're still waiting for a real commercial OLED TV. While OLEDs are advancing quickly in smart phones and digital cameras, it seems that no one is willing to commit to large panels - OLEDs are still very expensive to make. Another problem facing OLED TVs is LCDs - in the past few years LCDs have gotten thinner, cheaper, more efficient and they look better.

One area in which LCDs do not shine, though is 3D. This was the hot topic at CES - many companies (including Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba and more) have shown their 3D Displays, and announced future models. However it seems that LCDs are not so good for 3D viewing. In fact Plasma (and OLED) TVs are much better. LCDs has problems with fast switching of photos, and there's "crossover" between the left and right image (more information on 3D TVs here). OLEDs is even faster and better than Plasma, and is said to be the best way to view 3D. Both Sony and Samsung have unveiled new OLED 3D TV prototypes in CES. 

Sony 24.5-inch 3D OLED prototype

If consumers will actually be interested in 3D TVs at home (nobody is sure about that yet...) than this might be great chance for OLED TVs. OLEDs will look better and have a real advantage over LCDs, and consumers might be willing to pay more for a high-end 3D TV.

There's a very interesting discussion over at ArsTechnica about OLEDs and Apple's upcoming new device. They are talking to Barry Young from the OLED-Assocation, and he says that no one is making any 10" OLED panels, so it's not possible that Apple are 'hoarding' up all the available panels....

Barry says that Samsung, the most advanced OLED manufacturer, can produce about fourteen 10.1-inch panels per substrate. That means that they could produce around 150,000 10.1" panels a month, but they currently cannot meet their small-panel demand, so it's not likely they are producing any larg displays. 

LG is even less likely, as they have 10%-15% of Samsung's capacity. LG has a new plant that's coming online later in 2010, but Barry says that it'll be mostly dedicated to their own 15" TV panels. LG would have to hurt their own TV business in order to supply panels to Apple.

"The best case is that if Apple announces an AMOLED with a 10.1-inch display, it would have much higher price and have very low volumes," Young concluded. Maybe Apple will announce an OLED device that will only be available much alter in 2010.

Barry says that the future for OLEDs look bright. Samsung are preparing a new 8G fab that can produce both LCDs and AMOLEDs. This can be used to 42" OLEDs. Samsung has doubled their capacity in 2009 and will do so again in 2010. The only bad news come from Sony - who has gone back to an R&D phase.

SonyInsider has interviewed Stan Glasgow, Sony Electronics' USA president and COO. He said that while Sony are working on all sorts of OLED TV prototypes (for example the 24.5" 3D OLED TV shown at CES), he doesn't think there's gonna be a new product in 2010. Because the prices will be too high. Here's the relevant interview bit:

Can we expect any new OLED televisions from Sony in 2010?

We’re working on all sorts of prototypes, but I don’t see production of product in 2010. There’s a wonderful 3D OLED prototype here at CES; that’s the real way to do 3D and TV – because you’ve got direct transmission, rather than back lighting and all the other reflective ways of doing it. But getting it to be commercially reasonable in price, we’ve got a long way to go. That’s the whole problem in OLED, great technology, great feature set, but it’s really hard to get the costs down. Smaller form-factors are easy to do.

Intel is showing a new home-automation system concept, that is based on their Atom processor, and has a large (11") touch OLED display. The whole system is designed to be efficient, hence the Atom processor and OLED display. Intel's site is not consistent about the display size, in one place they say it's 11.25", and in another 11.56". In any case we're not sure who's making the actual OLED but it's probably based on a Sony panel as used in the XEL-1 OLED TV.

In any case, the concept is very nice, and looks great. It uses Zigbee wireless connection to connect to appliances around the home and provide "intelligent home energy management". Each appliance needs to be connected to a low-cost Zigbee transmitted socket in order for this to work. The OLED-based display provides a central control panel with information such as temperature, utility cost, personal messages, home security, a clock, weather, internet access, etc.

More information over at Intel's site.