Sony And Toshiba To Merge OLED And LCD Businesses
The consolidation process in Japan’s electronics industry continues: Toshiba and Sony are in talks to combine their OLED and small LCD businesses, various Japanese news sources are reporting. The plan is to find synergies in the production for small LCD panels for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in order to catch up with Sharp, which currently holds the biggest share in the world market in this segment.
What’s interesting is that neither one of the companies but a government-backed investment fund will take a major stake in the new entity, which is expected to be established by the end of this year. That fund, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, will likely control 70-80% of the entity, according to Japanese business daily The Nikkei (the rest will be shared between Sony and Toshiba).
Toshiba Mobile Display and Sony Mobile Display will cease to exist, and the yet to be named entity will compete with Sharp, the Hitachi-Foxconn alliance, and others in the global small LCD panel market.
Another interesting point is that the Sony-Toshiba move is aimed at getting both companies ready for a post-LCD future: the new entity is supposed to streamline all future R&D in OLED technology by the Sony and Toshiba. So far, big S and big T have been developing OLEDs separately, but they are far behind Samsung, the current global leader in that market.
Limited-Run Solar OLED Lamp From Toshiba Distributed In Japan’s Quake Zone
Toshiba is distributing a little OLED lamp they designed to quake-stricken areas of Japan. The device is powered by either four AAA batteries or a rechargeable battery pack that can be powered up with solar or USB power. It produces 53 lumens of light at 100% and will last two hours on AAA batteries, twenty if you take the brightness down, and several times that if you use the battery pack. A perfect disaster light, right?
Unfortunately, Toshiba is only making 100 of them, and they’re already reserved for disaster victims. They don’t expect to sell them to consumers, I’m guessing because they’d actually be quite expensive. Bright OLED panel, high-capacity battery pack, solar charging? This ain’t your daddy’s desk lamp.
Too bad, but good for Toshiba. By the way, if you want to donate, you still can.
[via CNET]
Toshiba Decides To Give Up OLED Production
Just when everyone thought OLED screens would constitute the third of innovation for flat panel TVs (following LED backlit TVs and 3D capability), Toshiba just made a surprise decision. According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Toshiba has entirely given up previous plans to mass-produce OLED screens.
Toshiba’s subsidiary, Toshiba Mobile Display Corp., together with Panasonic, has invested $190 million in 2008 to set up an OLED production line at a factory in Ishikawa prefecture. The plan was to produce 1.5 million OLED screens for smartphones per year. But that won’t happen (on the picture, you can see a bigger OLED Toshiba showed two years ago).
Toshiba says its decision to scrap OLED was triggered by a surge in demand for LCD this year. Apparently, another important factor was the blow the recent financial crisis dealt to the earnings of the company.
All staff involved in the production and R&D of OLED will be transferred to the LCD panel division. The company will now focus on doing OLED-related R&D for lighting equipment only.
Samsung’s Hybrid Desktop Notebook Concept: 14-inch AMOLED Screen, 2.7mm Thin [Oled]
I’m not sure how practical this design would be on the road, but it sure looks sweet. The stunning screen supports a resolution of 1366 x 768, and because it’s AMOLED, has a 1000000:1 contrast ratio, and 300cd/m2 brightness.
We don’t know much more at this point, but it’s just one of many concepts Samsung has on show at the FPD exhibition in Japan. Follow the link to check them out, including a netbook with 7-inch AMOLED screen. [Akihabara News]
LG’s transparent 15-inch AMOLED display is amazing, possibly useless
Look a that, just look at it will you. It’s another in a latest trend that’s bringing transparent displays to the latest in consumer electronics. However, this pup is in color and livin’ large at 15-inches unlike those tiny transparent displays we’ve seen in handsets. Unfortunately, all we can do is look for the moment because the concept on show at FPD 2009 in Japan is accompanied by very little in the way of detail.
LG’s transparent 15-inch AMOLED display is amazing, possibly useless originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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