Will OLED lighting save the world? LG Chem seems to think so, or at least they do according to this promotional OLED video they released last month:

Besides being funny (weird?), this video sends out the current marketing message that is being used by several OLED lighting companies - of how OLED lighting provides the most natural light.

IVAAIU, a Korean architectural design firm has applied OLED lighting panels (made by LG Chem) to a traditional Korean Hanok house. OLEDs were chosen because they offer excellent light quality (no UV, high CRI, no glare) and can be installed while maintaining the buildings as is.

LG Chem tells us that they are currently seeking additional partnerships to further demonstrate the benefits that OLED lighting can bring to traditional architecture and heritage projects. It is great to see that OLED lighting can be used in such traditional settings - as it's actually the most natural light source currently in use.

LG announced their first-gen Android Wear smartwatch (the G Watch, which uses an LCD display) in March 2014, and the company is already reportedly getting ready to release the 2nd gen smartwatch next month during the IFA 2014 trade-show.

LG G Watch

According to Korea Times, the new G Watch 2 will adopt an OLED display, produced by LG Display. If this is true, it's highly likely that this is a flexible OLED. After all, LG Display does not produce non-flexible small OLED panels.

Korea's Ministry Of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) is launching a new OLED lighting industry support fund, with plans to invest 22 billion Won ($21.5 million) over the next five years. The project will kick start at the end of September 2014.

The new initiative is called OLED Lighting Industry Cluster Construction Business, and the MOTIE aims to help local companies kick start manufacturing processes, prototype production, standard and measurement systems, help with a comprehensive information network and marketing support, and more.

Three weeks ago, Seeking Alpha published my first article on Universal Display, titled "Universal Display: 20X Jackpot In 2018?" - in which I presented my best-case scenario for the OLED market (and UDC) in 2018.

I think the article was received well, and today SA published my second article - "Universal Display's Second Key Customer Is On Its Way". In this new article I explain why Samsung Display is such an important customer for UDC - and how I expect in that in the coming years UDC will diversity its key customer base as I expect LG Display, Konica Minolta, Everdisplay, BOE, Philips and LG Chem to start mass producing OLEDs soon.

LG Chem just published a nice video showcasing the company's OLED booth at the LightFair 2014 tradeshow. The video showcases LG Chem's latest OLED panels, including the world's largest panel (320x320 mm) and their flexible and upcoming bendable panels, too:

The May Design Series furnishing fair chose London-based design house AB Rogers Design to design the exhibit hall. As part of that exhibition, AB Rogers installed a beautiful OLED setup called the OLED Tree Bar. AB Rogers used dozens of LG Chem circular OLED panels in a very simple installation to show how OLEDs enhance the design freedom and can be used to integrate light into any design.

The OLED panels were attached to piano wire rods by standard adhesive tapes, the cables were connected to a power driver, then the driver was plugged in. That was the whole setup. The bar design was based on the notion of sustainability, especially considering that the installations were to be torn down after the exhibition. The basic bar structure was comprised of recyclable cardboard tubes.

According to UBI Research, the AMOLED market reach $2.3 billion in Q1 2014, up 42% from Q4 2013 (which was a soft quarter, 36% lower than Q3 2013). Samsung Display is still of course the major AMOLED producer.

LGD's market share was only 2% - producing flexible OLEDs and 55" OLED TV panels. But UBI expects LGD's market share to expand gradually. UBI says that LGD sold 50% more OLED TVs in the quarter compared to Q4 2013 (this is by revenue, which means that shipments almost doubled as the price keeps dropping). UBI expects LGD's OLED TV sales to grow by more than 60% in Q2 2014 as Chinese TV start marketing TVs with LGD's OLED panels, and LG Electronics expand OLED TV sales to more countries.

Alkilu was established in 2013 with an aim to develop innovative consumer OLED lighting products, and the company unveiled their low cost OLED products at CES 2014, promising to release the first panels in April or May 2014. Those OLEDs aren't shipping yet, the company announced that they now accept pre-orders for some of the devices.

Alkilu also announced several new products, including the Trio OLED Light, shown above. This $59.95 lamp use a single 4x4 inch OLED panel made by LG Chem that features a color temperature of 3000K and a lifetime (LT70) of 20,000 hours. The company stated before that they are in talks with several OLED producers, and now we know that LG Chem is one of them. LG will co-market the Trio OLED Light with Alkilu.

A couple of weeks ago Acuity Brands launched new editions of their OLED luminaries with the latest LG Chem panels. A day later the company published a video showcasing those luminaires and explaining how perfect those OLED panels are.

Following this launch, I asked Jeannine Wang, Acuity's OLED business group Director of Business Development & Marketing to participate in a short Q&A. She was kind enough to answer my question and share the company's OLED vision. So first of all - thanks Jeannine for your time...