Pioneer Announces Business Results for 3Q Fiscal 2007. In the Others segment, sales rose 1.6% year on year to Y15,868 million (US$133.3 million), reflecting higher sales of OLED displays.
Vitex Systems today announced a strategic relationship with Samsung America. Under the agreement, Samsung America will gain exclusive rights to distribute to Samsung-affiliated companies licenses for Vitex's proprietary Flexible Glass and thin-film encapsulation technologies.
Vitex continues to conduct research and development in the ultra-barrier film and thin-film encapsulation fields to enhance its technology and strengthen its IP portfolio while it pursues its new business model.
Kim Sak-Su, CEO at Samsung SDI, announced that the company will launch mobile phones incorporating Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (AMOLED) in Japan around as early as the end of February or as late as early March.
MED, the AIM listed designer and manufacturer of low-power light emitting polymer displays, announces that it has signed a stocking and distribution agreement with Cytech Technology, one of the leading distributors of electronic components in Hong Kong and China.
In conjunction with the distribution agreement Cytech has placed a significant stocking order for the product. This order takes the cumulative value of the supply contracts signed to date to in excess of $10 million.
OSRAM and Philips have signed a patent crosslicense agreement covering optoelectronic semiconductors. The agreement involves the mutual licensing of patents for all inorganic and organic LED.
The agreement relates to patents held by Philips, including the US subsidiary Lumileds, and by OSRAM including its subsidiary OSRAM Opto Semiconductors.
eMagin's founder, Gary Jones, is leaving his roles of CEO and president, which he has held with the Company for over 15 years, but will continue to serve the Company as a consultant focused on current strategic partnerships and M&A opportunities. Dr. K.C. Park, executive vice president, has been appointed as interim CEO and president.
"We believe that the timing for this transition is good," Jones commented. "We've just delivered our highest revenue quarter and year. Preliminary results for the fourth quarter of 2006 show revenues of $2.6 million, up over 100% from $1.3 million in 2005. Preliminary full-year revenue for 2006 of $8.2 million reflects growth of 118% from $3.7 million in 2005. In addition, we anticipate this growth to continue through the first quarter of 2007 with early projections calling for over $3.5 million in revenue." He went on to note that eMagin's cash position has improved during the past quarter owing to customer prepayments, increased sales and short-term investments with $1.7 million in cash on December 31, 2006, but cash remains a significant risk factor for the company and shareholders.
LG Electronics will start mass production of AMOLEDs as early as the first half of this year. This came after Samsung SDI and LG.Philips LCD (LPL) have decided to commence volume production of AMOLEDs in the first quarter of this year, and raises the possibility that the AMOLED will gain ground at a rapid pace.
The AMOLED is a 2.2-inch full color QVGA(320x240) model, and is slated to be employed in mobile main-display applications.
KDDI Corp. will shortly launch a mobile phone featuring an active matrix organic EL panel as its primary display. The display is a 2.4-inch, 260,000-color panel with 320 x 240 (QVGA) resolution. The main reason that commercial release of a handset incorporating an organic EL panel became a reality is that "the panel has finally secured the reliability required for commercial application".
The KDDI spokesperson said the organic EL panel's thickness is "around 1 mm." Compared to 1.3- to 1.4-mm thickness of most LCD panels mounted on current mobile phones, "The organic EL panel made a great contribution to the thin and smart design of the handset as well".
This handset is manufactured by Kyocera Corp. The supplier of the organic EL panel has not been specified. However, some experts suggested the possibility that Kyocera, who develops active matrix panels in house, developed it by their own.
Read more here (TechOn, including photos of the phone)
MicroEmissive Displays plc is about to start commissioning and qualification of its plant for making small, low-power displays using organic light emitting polymers in the Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden, Germany.
The company also announced it had received £2 million worth of orders from an un-named consumer electronics maker in the Far East, the first for products to come out of the Dresden fab, which will make MED's second generation of its microdisplays. These 6mm color p-OLED QVGA displays, which will be capable of 10,000 hours of use at 80cd/m2, can be combined with magnifying optics to make a large virtual image.
OTB Display today announces that it is able to produce thin film encapsulated OLED devices that meet the shelf-life requirements for commercial use. Not only are these displays manufactured on OTB's in-line mass manufacturing equipment, but also the deposition of the thin film encapsulation has been proven to render the same optical performance as the conventional, more expensive glass-can encapsulated devices.
Barry Young, senior vice president at DisplaySearch, states: "Compared to conventional glass can encapsulation methods, thin film encapsulation substantially reduces costs by eliminating expensive parts such as glass cans, getters and epoxies. Furthermore, thin film encapsulated devices are much thinner, lighter and make more efficient use of the glass substrate, providing the most viable route towards flexible OLED displays."
Bas van Rens, CEO of OTB Display, explains: "Our integrated in-line mass manufacturing equipment now routinely produces displays which pass the accelerated shelf life of 504 hrs at 60oC / 90% humidity. In our development program we observe rapid progress and we expect to be able to announce shelf lifes exceeding 1000 hours at 85 oC/ 85% this year"
