JAPAN: Ultra-thin 'organic' Television unveiled at Japan high-tech expo

Sony unveils the world's first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) ultra-thin TV. Sony on Tuesday (October 2) unveiled at a high-tech expo in Japan an ultra-thin flat TV, the world's first television based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology. "This TV needs no backlight, so it consumes less energy compared to other flat screen TVs. In that sense, it's environmentally friendly," said Sony President Ryoji Chubachi. OLED panels are energy efficient, make thin and light displays. They offer crisp pictures and have strength in showing fast-moving images, suitable for watching sports events and action movies, but size is still proving a limitation. Sony, the world's No.2 liquid crystal display TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co, expects the 11-inch OLED TV with a thickness of 3 mm to sell for 200,000 yen ($1,740), almost as high as retail prices of some of its own 40-inch LCD models. And while some of the public at the high-tech expo where the OLED TV was unveiled were impressed by the monitor's thinness, many were concerned by its price tag. "It's so thin. I had never seen any TV this thin," Tatsuo Namiki, 27 year old software engineer said. "I would like to get one for myself when their price goes down to a level I can afford," added Kasumi Suzuki, a 23-year-old design office worker. Sony expects to launch this product in December into an 82 billion U.S. dollars market dominated by LCD and plasma models. While Sony goes thin, rival Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd is going big. At the same expo, Panasonic unveiled the world's largest 103-inch plasma TV monitor, who's price tag is nearly as big as the screen at 6 million yen (52,000 U.S.D). And if that can't bring a smile to your face, try Omron Corp's 'smile check' television screens which can scan your facial features and rate your smile on a percentage scale. Some Japanese digital cameras already have this feature incorporated to assure people take each other with their most photogenic smile.

ITN Source | October 8, 2007