Sony, others pitted in a Japan vs. S.Korea OLED showdown

Several Japanese tech giants are teaming together today in a quest to make 40-inch and larger OLED panels for televisions. Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp and others will participate under a joint development project initiated by the Japanese government. All of this is of course meant to help the Japanese companies compete with South Korea's chaebols, particularly Samsung and LG, as the industry giants maneuver for an advantage over the next, next-generation flat panel technology to dominate the living room.

[Via OLED-info]

[gad get @ Jul 10th 2008 3:10AM]

And now things get interesting.

[Neophytos @ Jul 10th 2008 3:11AM]

I'd sell my soul for a 40 inch OLED

[white_ultras @ Jul 10th 2008 8:30AM]

Don't get too excited. Current OLEDs lose about 10% of their color gamut over about 3 month expecialy the blue-led portion. That is what they are concerned about and trying to solve -- the longevity. Light self-emiting devices tend to burn-in and I do not think they will be able to solve that issue properly in the near future.

[todd @ Jul 10th 2008 3:12AM]

So communist North Korea makes OLED's TV's now?

[andres @ Jul 10th 2008 3:20AM]

they only get one channel

[andres @ Jul 10th 2008 3:49AM]

the tv's that is...

[Ethan @ Jul 10th 2008 4:04AM]

Kim just sits outside his palace while hundreds of thousands of his citizens recreate big brother using coloured cards on the street below.

[gad get @ Jul 10th 2008 4:49AM]

What are you talking about? Did it use to say North Korea? Because it certainly doesn't now.

[todd @ Jul 10th 2008 4:53AM]

Yes.

[TRLK @ Jul 10th 2008 3:12AM]

Er... N.Korea??? Just how stupid do you have to be?

[Big Al @ Jul 10th 2008 5:43AM]

You'd be surprised. The most common question I get when I tell people I'm "Korean-American." is "North or South?" (Nearly the entire Korean-American population is from S. Korea.)

My favorite question is when a friend asked me whether I'm working in S.Korea or N.Korea.

삼성 엘지, 화이팅! (Go Samsung and LG!)

[Jerry W @ Jul 10th 2008 3:12AM]

Kim Jong-il ruvs his TV since he's so ronery...

[diulei @ Jul 10th 2008 3:12AM]

Am I missing something... what does this have to do with N. Korea?

[diulei @ Jul 10th 2008 3:13AM]

Eh, I guess they fixed it.

[apeguero @ Jul 10th 2008 3:13AM]

N. as in North Korea? Come on Thomas Ricker. N. Korea isn't in this OLED race.

[A.C.E.R. @ Jul 10th 2008 3:23AM]

Maybe they're rocket launching, fire spitting, death dealing OLEDs of destruction?

[go seki @ Jul 10th 2008 3:14AM]

N as in NORTH KOREA ?? wtf !! major technical leap forware from the stone-age .. or did I miss something or maybe .. just mabe thats a typo

[Hellios @ Jul 10th 2008 3:21AM]

I for one, welcome our new OLED overlords.

[sexycommando @ Jul 10th 2008 3:26AM]

N.Korea? I hardly think they can make OLEDs.

[ddub @ Jul 10th 2008 3:39AM]

I hope Sony and Toshiba can get along.

[Thomas @ Jul 10th 2008 4:04AM]

Mhh Japan vs. N.Korea I repeat NORTH KOREA is it just me or do you mean SOUTH Korea. Just guessing.
But it would be nice to see a n. korean OLED. ;)

[collegekid13 @ Jul 10th 2008 4:23AM]

the pudding thickens,

actually i guess it gets thinner

[bongo123 @ Jul 10th 2008 5:09AM]

man some of you guys are dumb... the NK references are erm, how do i put this sarcasm

[Ferfinand @ Jul 10th 2008 8:22AM]

Can't care less for TV. LaserTV > OLED.

But please give me a 1600 X 1200 OLED monitor.

[Sharone @ Jul 10th 2008 8:23AM]

Password.

[nathan.wong @ Jul 10th 2008 10:28AM]

YAY!

[nathan.wong @ Jul 10th 2008 10:30AM]

LCD televisions/monitors, if you remember, had similar longivity problems when they first came out.

[Data @ Jul 10th 2008 10:54AM]

Don't forget this teaming up will also make it a lot easier to make price arangments, to make sure, that we, the consumers pay as much as possible ;-).

[Jason @ Jul 10th 2008 10:52AM]

South Korea will win. Almost all other TV manufacturers either buy panels off Samsung or share production facilities with them.

[Doooo @ Jul 10th 2008 12:09PM]

Considering S. Korea is on the verge of currency meltdown thanks to President Lee Myung-bak's grotesque mismanagement of foreign currency reserves, I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese manufacturers won the OLED race big time.

[Hung @ Jul 10th 2008 6:55PM]

I agree that the iPhone 3G should be dominating the interwebs right now, but come on. An OLED race!? How can there be only one article about this ground-breaking revelation regarding this government-fueled marathon to mass produce a technological innovation that will unquestionably change the TV, display, and PMP/cell phone markets as we know them?

Also, how is the overall call quality on the iPhone 3G? Have you compared it directly to the first iPhone? My experience with 3G voice has been poor compared to Edge (Samsung i617, tried both and 3G seemed to fade in and out, as well as repeat the speaker).

[Snootpelt @ Jul 15th 2008 7:52AM]

Not a US manufacturer to be seen. Another market totally abandoned(years ago of course) either because we're too expensive to build itcompetitively or too stupid to know how to build it at all. It won'tbe long before we can't even look down at Africa and Latin America.I'm going for a slurpie so my fat lazy loser American ass will geteven fatter.