Hasta La Gadget!

LG is all set to invest $655 million into mass producing organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels that’s can be used in Televisions. Production will commence in an existing plant in South Korea and mass production is expected by 2014.

LG has already invested money in the OLED technology and has created prototype units, like this LG EA9800 curved OLED TV.  Unfortunately the cost of creating OLED screens did not make a viable project, but now, LG is all set to create cheaper screens. The biggest hurdle in LG’s way of investment was a hefty lawsuit from rival Samsung, which had accused LG of stealing OLED technology. LG had counter sued Samsung as well.  The lawsuit had been going for 18 months and was just dropped last week. Now that the company no longer has legal worries, its plan of pumping money can get underway.

OLED technology is a successor to liquid crystal display (LCD) technology and is known to deliver better brightness and image quality. They are also quite energy efficient, but have been quite expensive, which should change. LG plans on creating 55-inch OLED HDTV, in the low power range. We will have to wait for 2014 to see if the promise of cheaper OLED televisions becomes a reality

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Sure, LG’s current 55-inch OLED HDTV is pretty pricey with a US MSRP of $12K, but that may start to change next year when panel supplier LG Display kicks its new 8G production line into full gear. LG Electronics holds a 38 percent stake in the company and although it supplies screens to many others as well, the next generation of 55EM9700s will likely be a large segment of the displays produced. Although LCD manufacturers ramped up 8G facilities capable of producing six 55-inch displays from one piece of glass in the late 2000s, oversupply caused prices to drop and manufacturing to slow down, including at LG Display.

Now, new display technology is ramping up investment again, which will see this new line installed at its P9 plant in Paju, South Korea at a cost of 706 billion won ($655 million). Based on LG’s WRGB OLED evaporation process, it should be capable of working with as many as 26,000 input sheets per month once it’s up to full speed in the first half of 2014. Chief competitor Samsung showed off “production” OLED HDTVs last year and plenty of demo units at CES with a mid-year release planned, we’ll see if it manages to keep up before / if the tech goes mainstream.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD, LG

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Someone needs to clue Apple CEO Tim Cook in on their new hires as just last week, they hired an OLED expert from LG, and today, Cook has spoken out against OLED displays.

During an investor conference hosted by Goldman Sachs, Cook called the color saturation on OLED displays “awful.” He continued his OLED rant by saying, “If you ever buy anything online and really want to know what the color is, as many people do, you should really think twice before you depend on the color from an OLED display.”

Of course, on the other side of the spectrum, Cook praised Apple’s Retina Display as he says it offers “superior quality” as the screen is twice as bright when compared to OLED screens.

OLED displays wasn’t the only topic within Cook’s crosshairs today as he also addressed rumors of Apple possibly creating an iPhone with a larger display, similar to the recent trend of phablet devices. Cook said he wouldn’t comment on the company’s plans, but criticized its competition as companies who focus on size and specifications can’t “create an amazing experience.”

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In what seems like an effort to make the transition to OLED displays, Apple has hired OLED expert Dr. Lee Jeung-Jil from LG. Lee was a senior researcher of OLED screen technology at LG Display, and also worked with Samsung in the past. It seems that Apple will use Lee’s expertise to develop and manufacturer OLED displays for future products.

It seems that Apple is keeping mum about the news, but OLED-Info is reporting that the Cupertino-based company ended up snatching the OLED expert in hopes to develop higher-quality displays for future iPhone, iPads, and maybe even televisions one day. Of course, OLED displays were abundant in televisions at CES last month, so it could mean that Apple will use Lee to help the company build a television set sometime in the future.

OLED (organic light-emitting diode) has a number of advantages over regular LCD screens. For starters, OLED features brighter colors with deeper blacks, and it also offers wider viewing angles and faster response times. Plus, the technology can be used to create thinner displays that are very battery efficient, and it has been used to created flexible displays that could be in our future.

Of course, Apple hasn’t confirmed the hire of Lee at this point, and we’re not sure if or when they’ll officially announce it, but it certainly makes sense that Apple is moving further and further into the OLED kingdom, where we could soon see their mobile devices utilizing the new lighting technology.

[via AppleInsider]

Apple hires former LG OLED expert is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Apple television has been rumored for years now. And every chance a media person gets, they ask Apple CEO Tim Cook what his plans are for that device. Will Apple launch a television? When will the television launch? What sort of features will the television boast? These are all questions he has been posed – and dodged in one form or another.

And yet, the rumor persists that Apple – either later this year or sometime in 2014 – will launch the long-speculated set. That device, its supporters say, will be the product that television buyers have been waiting for, complete with access to apps and high-quality specs. Apple will find a way, the company’s supporters insist, to revolutionize the television industry.

But perhaps those supporters are wrong.

If Apple is indeed working on a television, the company finds itself in No Man’s Land. In the television market right now, plasmas, while still delivering great picture quality, are seeing their sales dwindle. LCDs and LED-backlit screens are performing relatively well, but also seem to be waning. If CES 2013 taught us anything, it’s that vendors believe the future of television relies in OLED and 4K (Ultra HD).

The problem with OLED and 4K is that televisions featuring those technologies are wildly expensive. Currently, some Ultra HD sets are on sale for tens of thousands of dollars. And although OLED delivers an incredible visual experience, models using that technology are similarly cost-prohibitive to the average consumers.

However, most of the folks in the television industry believe that there’s a good chance that by the end of 2014, those prices will be down to levels that some consumers would find acceptable. Interestingly, it’s possible that the Ultra HD sets will be cheaper than OLEDs at first, simply because of the issues vendors are having producing OLED panels.

“A standard 1080p Apple TV would quickly become obsolete”

Still, it identifies a potential issue for Apple: if the company launches a standard 1080p, LED-backlit screen this year or next, it might get some traction in the marketplace for a time, but it’ll quickly become obsolete. If Apple waits until 2015 to launch an OLED or 4K television to capitalize on that new trend, all of the hype the company has been taking advantage of over the last few years will be lost.

Realizing that, I can’t help but wonder if Apple’s television efforts are in trouble. Granted, the company will deliver a software experience in the television that will likely top anything in the marketplace, and Apple has the ability to succeed in spots where others might not, but the television industry is highly competitive and notorious for its low margins. If Apple can’t find a way to deliver the right product at the right price for the right value to consumers, it’ll lose.

Tim Cook and his executive team must know that. They must also realize that the ideal time to launch an Apple television was not 2013 or 2014, but 2012, when the new technologies were still years off.

Like it or not, Apple might have missed its best opportunity to succeed in the television market.

Will 4K and OLED Scuttle the Apple TV’s Chance of Success? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.