Researchers developing OLEDs as cheap as newspapers?
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Aug 31st 2009 1:26PM
posted Aug 31st 2009 1:26PM
Sure, it'll probably be a good while before you get your hands on an OLED TV, but don't lose heart, young gadget-head! Techno-wizards at the RIKEN center in Japan have concocted a new way to fashion OLEDs that eschews the standard spin-coated films for something called electrospray-deposited polymer films, incorporating "a novel dual-solvent concept" that makes the 'em "smoother than before, thereby enabling [...] superior devices." We'll skip a few details that don't mean anything to those of us who aren't Advanced Materials subscribers (hit the read link for more info) and get to the good stuff: Yutaka Yamagata, the guy who developed this technique, says it will lead to displays "manufactured as inexpensively as printing newspapers." Is that a promise, Yutaka? If so, we're holding you to it.
[Via OLED-Info]
[Via OLED-Info]
This is something they have been promising for 5 years now. Being able to print oled displays with an inkjet was one of the promises of the technology when I first heard of it, wake me when they actually print one.
If that happens, watch playboy be the most powerful company that will ever be
Huh, I might actually buy an OLED newspaper, if only for the novelty of it...
Get them when you can, because we all know the newspaper industry is going down in flames.
Would that be the weekday paper or the Sunday paper?
As long as they are sold for the same price as newspapers. But not likely to happen.
Is it just me or does the screen look likes it has a paper drawing place in front of it? Photoshoped?
Photoshop looks better...
I'm old enough to remember the "printable transistor" articles that appeared in magazines throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s -- you get the idea.
Like life in a test tube, flying cars, and weight loss pills, I'm sure this cheap OLED crapgadget is "just around the corner" too.
so your saying, we should give up? You would have been happy with vacuum tubes and punch cards? All the R&D should say, ok, everything is good enough, Just be happy with the tech we have and not announce when we are trying to work for new, bigger and better things?
While printable transistors aren't a reality..yet...they are coming closer and closer to the horizon (look up carbon nanotubes). Flying cars do exist (google terrafugia), and as we continue to study are genome I have no doubt one day we will have a pill that can alter our genetics to induce weight reduction.
With such a pessimistic attitude why the hell do you even read a gadget blog? Go and play with your TRS-80 or something.
+1 to both of you.
I think he's saying this claim falls into the "hyperbole" department, which it obviously does.
It's pretty amazing that they've been trying to make OLED screens since at least 2006, and still aren't there really, so yeah I'm not holding my breath either.
I wanna believe in stuff like this too, but every time we go to kick the ball, Lucie pulls it away. And still we go back to kick again. So its more of an pessimistic optimism. CB
Just because itcost them 50 cents doesn't mean they won't charge 50 bucks for it.
10,000% markup? You betcha.
Hahaha 50 bucks hahaha
More like $5,000.
Quite possibly over 9000.
Matt, I just crushed my netbook in my bare hands when you said that. Thanks for upsetting me in such an expensive way.
Matt, LMFAO! Good one.
Dunno, even if they develop it...will they actually SELL it for cheap? They could make it for pennies and still sell high for profit gain.
Simple economics. If it is relatively cheap to produce and there isn't some major barrier to entry, making a huge profit margin only insures that more competitors will enter the market (driving price down as supply increases.)
They will need to recoup their R&D costs first though, so expect OLED products to be expensive for the first few years, just like any new technology.
Cost to produce 40" screen - $10.
Does not include: PR - $1000, R&D costs - $2000, manager salary - $1000 per unit.
Even if its cheap as dirt to produce, the thing that makes them might still be as expensive as trip to the moon. Per unit.
Making them cheap is a nice thing but I want to see them sold for a relatively low price first before I believe it.
i'd say cheap enough for us, if they say " as cheap as printing newspapers"
just like netbooks, the specs don't cost them much, so the price isn't that high
let's just hope
Just like newspapers you don't actually have OLED screens in your house but can read (about) them online.
Who cares about news paper.. I'd use this stuff as wall paper if it were that cheap. Even on the ceiling in the bedroom for watching my favorite "shows" in bed.
Next year, please?
More like 2020 or later
Muggles are not ready for for this. We have to introduce them to magic SLOWLY!
For a second I thought I was the only one who was thinking that. Good comment my good sir!
Can you imagine that though... and what they could do with it... even if it takes 50 years it will still be kind of awesome.
You could wallpaper your house with it and have the colors or even complex patterns change instantly.
You could change them season to season or hour to hour or even have them flickering like a damn disco...
They would also probably greatly replace light fixtures.
You could put them on the side of your house too with a little protective coating ... and then turn on big signs for the pizza delivery guy to tell him where to bring your triple pepperoni dinner.
911 systems would be tied in to flash emergency location beacon info on the outside of dwellings for emergency response.
Honestly... the possibilities are incredible.... and a little frightening...
...because every possible public surface would be covered and fighting to get you to look at the adds... flashing and crap...
It might be nauseating...
It would certainly be information overload.
I can't even fully wrap my little mind around it and imagine it....
... it is marbles in a swimming pool.
Wow.... that would be a beautiful and yet damning at the same time.
Disturbing the peace could take it to a whole new level. Hackers would have a field day as well.
But at the same time, having your room change colors would be awesome. Or even cooler it would change colors depending on the tone of voice goin on in the room. Yelling make it red, Sad blue...ect
put the bong down, dude
crawdad689 FTW!!
It would be pretty funny to drive by and "goatse" people's houses.
I can just see the reports of epileptic seizures skyrocketing with that disco thing
You do realise screens need to be powered and driven right? I'm sure a room of OLED wallpapers means industrial grade power and a $100,000 set of large display drivers.
And hen there's the cabling.
Although for even color I guess you could do away with the hassle of driving each individual pixel, but having wallpaper that gives off an even light (in any color) would make one creepy unpleasant shadowless room I fear.
Read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury.
Or see The Illustrated Man.
I´ll believe it when they finally market a color ebook reader with displays like that.
if any of you guys don't know what OLED is and what it stands for, here's a link that will be very informative =]
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/37735_oled-review.html
This is true only because when cheap OLEDs are finally developed newspapers will cost $20,000 each.
Now if you could make an OLED newspaper that I pay a fee to have 'refreshed' every week (plus Sunday ads of course!) then count me in. =) Of course I don't see that happening until.. well 20 years?
Just make sure your parents don't get ahold of it... you will have rectangular holes cut in your shiny new OLED newspaper where those sunday ads used to be!
Yeah it's the 1950's after all.
How much you wanna bet some big corporation buys the rights to this production method of OLED's and makes it as "expensive as buying a Bentley" when it only costs them cents to manufacture
So which is it? Bad cropping, or did that guy's head eat a triangle?
Ok let me put this in perspective for yeah as of now. OLED tvs can be printed for about 1$. The problem is the machines to make em cost about an extremely large amount of money. In which the cost of the tv arises + the profit margin. This isnt really news, but if they have a machine that can only cost like 1-2mill to make em then the cost willl go down by so much.
My cousin was 1 on the research team at university of michigan working on oled tvs last twice as long since they would last about 20k hours before the color starts to offset.
20k hours is 11 years viewing @ 5 hours a day, every day. Doesn't sound too bad to me. I've had my old CRT TV for about 13 years, and I doubt it's up to 20k hours, but it's beginning to give out.
I sure hope within 5 years, we can get OLED HDTV's for the price of LCD's now.