Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry is showing off a concept computer that is both an XP netbook and a Android OS tablet - the display can be 'pulled' off for the tablet mode. TIII are using a 7.6" OLED (the one made by CMEL, most likely) in their concept computer.

DisplaySearch has released a new report (small/medium TFT LCD and AMOLED product roadmap). They give an interesting chart showing AMOLED roadmap from all players:

There is a lot of interesting information in there:

• It seems that LG are working on 13.3" wide panels for laptops, to be released at the end of 2009. LG Display themselves say they are working on 15" panels.


• The next Sony OLED TV (XEL-2?) will have a 30" panel, and not 27" or 21" as previously assumed. We already know that Sony are delaying their new TV, and DisplaySearch think they will launch it at the second half of 2010.


• In the second half of 2010, DisplaySearch sees LG Display shipping a 17" wide panel for laptops, Sony with a 30" LTPS OLED TV, and CMEL with a 11" notebook panel and 20"-30" OLED TVs. 


• According to this table, Samsung will not launch a large OLED panel - not until 2012 at least. This is strange as they claim they have production-ready 14.1" and 32" OLED TVs. 


• In 2010 we'll see several new companies working on OLED for mobile devices - TPO, TM Display, AUO. This is great news and will probably lower prices and create a bigger demand for OLEDs.

TCZ today announced that they recieved their first purchase order for the TCZ-900A, a production tool for flat panel display (FPD) fabrication. The TCZ-900A is designed to manufacture both advanced LCDs and OLEDs (small mobile panels, and larger OLED TV panels), and the shipment is scheduled for 3Q 2009.

TCZ says that the order came from a 'market leader in OLED manufacturing in Korea' - probably Samsung or LG, but can also be CMEL.

TCZ, using Cymer's industry-leading light source technology and the innovative optics expertise of Carl Zeiss SMT, has developed a patented laser crystallization technology which improves uniformity, while increasing throughput and reducing the cost of crystallization by up to 50 percent compared to current industry standards. The TCZ Crystallization System uses a 600W laser, twice the power of current systems, to form a very narrow line focus that is 730 mm long, allowing a gen 4 size glass plate (730mm x 920mm) to be processed in a single pass.

TechOn reports that OLED displays are being tested in Japan train stations, for advertisements. They are using CMEL's 7.6 OLED panels (like the ones used in Kodak's photo frame). 

OLED Digital signage

Previously they have tested ads using e-Paper displays, but the OLEDs are cheaper than the custom-fit ePapers.

Marshall electronics announces the world's first OLED camera top / field monitor,  the V-OL761. There are actually 3 models, depending on connection type - HDA, HDMI or 3GSDI (which supports 3Gb/s).

Marshall OLED V-OL761 camera top

The OLED is 7.6", which means it's the same one used in Kodak's wireless OLED frame - and made by CMEL -  16:9 aspect ratio, 800x480 resolution, white to black contrast ratio of 30,000:1.

UDC has announced today that CMEL has renewed their 'commercial supply' agreement. UDC are providing CMEL with materials to use in their AMOLED displays. The new agreement will run through 31th of December 2009.

CMEL 7.6 AMOLED

CMEL ae making AMOLED displays, and are currently shipping the largest display available (beside Sony's XEL-1 11" TV) - a 7.6" OLED panel, as used in Kodak's digital photo frame. 

Update: The picture frame costed 795$ over at Amazon.com, but they are now out of stock.

The price of the Kodak 7.6" OLED photo frame keeps falling... it started out at 999$ (back in December 2008), then at January it was 856$, and then you could get it for 776$ at TheNerds. They even offered 9$ by using the FEB09 coupon (till end of February, just follow the previous link and claim your coupon). The price is lower now at Amazon.com as well - 795$.

Kodak wireless OLED picture frame

Why is the price falling so faster? It might be that Kodak is finding it very difficult to actually sell those frames at such a high price. Or perhaps CMEL are pricing the 7.6" OLED panels lower now.

A few months ago OSD released the 4.3" AMOLED by CMEL. now we got a short video clip showing this display:

The resolution is 480x272 and the contrast ratio is 10,000:1. The panel is now available, contact us for details.

OSD, an OLED reseller says that they had a good year in 2008, and they hope to see a nice growth in sales for 2009.

OSD is not selling just OLEDs, but they do say that they won many new color OLED design wins - so we're expecting new devices soon.

They will also get new, larger AMOLED displays in 2009. The largest one they carry currently is the 7.6" one from CMEL.

Kodak has reduced the price of their Wireless 7.6" OLED Photo Frame to 856$ (From 999.95$). This is still expensive, but a bit less so. Here's the product page at Amazon (currently only 5 units in stock...)

Hopefully this means that CMEL has lowered the price for the OLED panel - which might enable more applications for it.