Sony will launch an ultra-thin flat TV based on the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology on December 1 in Japan, bringing a new contender to a $82 billion market dominated by LCD and plasma TVs. It will be the world's first OLED TV, the company said on Monday. Sony, the world's No.2 liquid crystal display (LCD) TV maker behind Samsung Electronics, expects an 11-inch OLED TV with a thickness of 3 millimeters to sell for $1,740. OLED panels are energy efficient, make thin and light displays, offer crisp pictures and have strength in showing fast-moving images, suitable for watching sports events. But it is technologically difficult at the moment to make larger panels, a factor that limits the appeal of the otherwise promising next-generation television. Sony OLED prototypes "I don't think OLED TVs will replace LCD TVs overnight. But I do believe this is a type of technology with very high potential, something that will come after LCD TVs," Sony Executive Deputy President Katsumi Ihara told a news conference. Ihara said he set the $1,740 price tag without taking profitability into consideration, suggesting Sony will make a loss for each set it sells at least in the initial stage. Monthly production will come to 2,000 units. In comparison, Sony plans to sell 10 million units of LCD TVs in the year to next March. My prediction that it was close was based on the falling price of plazma TV's .. just as the falling price of rear projections heralded the release of Plasma. but I think Sony doth protest too much given essentially OLED's can be manufactured by a process not too dissimilar from inkjet printing the things Anyway, with the inevitable price drops, some very nice sizes, colour fidelity, speed and contrast, one way or another we should have OLED monitors pretty soon k
