 $2000 for an 11″ TV set! |
Sony Corp has pulled the plug in Japan on sales of a next-generation flat TV due to sluggish demand, a setback for a product the company had trumpeted as a sign of its revival as an innovator.
Sony said it had stopped production of ultra-thin TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology for Japan, just a little over 2 years since it launched its first set. It plans to keep selling the TVs in overseas markets, a spokesman said…
Apparently, Sony thinks everyone else in the world is too dumb to notice the price vs. utility.
Sony has aimed to become a leader in the technology and positioned the product as crucial in its drive to regain its reputation as an innovator after losing out to Apple Inc in portable music and Nintendo in video games.
“I want this world’s first OLED TV to be the symbol of the revival of Sony’s technological prowess. I want this to be the flag under which we charge forwards to turn the fortunes around,” then president Ryoji Chubachi told a briefing in October 2007…
Sony did not disclose how many OLED TV sets it has sold. DisplaySearch said it estimates worldwide shipments of about 2,000 Sony OLED TVs in 2009.
Agree with Eidard.
OLED’s are definitely coming and are the future but right now too soon to be found in TV’s.
An 11″ TV for $2k. Wonder what brianiac did the market research for that? They might have sold more if they let Bang & Olufsen slap their nameplate on it.
Nothing to watch for that 2K might have something to do with it.
There are four TVs in my home, none plugged in.
But.. but, it is the next greatest thing! How could they give up on it! \sarcmark
What is the surprise? In my lifetime Sony went from being a quality maker of justifiably expensive products to a joke. Slowly they started pushing the ‘brand’ over quality which was ever diminishing. Further to that ridiculous ventures into niche products that never took off and ridiculously expensive proprietary technologies that indicated they were now chasing, rather than leading. Those four monolith letters of the logo became a warning.
I long ago swore off Sony products, and while I actually no longer remember what the straw that broke my back was, I haven’t touched them since.
They diversified too much, so as their debt obligations with studios, music, and land holdings ballooned, they had to sacrifice quality.
I love OLED but LG and Samsung LED back-lit TVs are almost as nice.
Plasma, baby! Cheap and pretty. Mmmmmm.
comping soon polymer displays, hard to beat a display that you can bend wrap around , or just like the old days of slide projectors, unroll your screen… 🙂
You can be sure that Wall Street brokers and the Exchance itself, will be snapping these up. They can charge the expense to their clients, the state, taxpayers, etc. Various government offices and major hospitals, same story. Bernie Madoff will probably have one in his jail cell. I’m sure Sony will find buyers for it, who don’t care that they’re wasting someone else’s money.
Sony can shove it. I am quit paying the Sony premium years ago when they came out with the stupid Memory Stick while everyone else was using a cheap SD. Sony used to be a great brand and they ruined it.
Does anyone know why these OLED displays are so expensive compared to LED? Is it because of low volume and cost of new tooling, high materials cost, does fabrication take a long time or does one company hold all the patents and is screwing people??… any ideas?
#11 I think Sony, MS, Apple and Oracle are all the same. They will overcharge you, eat their competition, and sue everyone if possible.
Well, no big surprise here. When my neighbor looked at the XEL-1 I played with for a week he called it the “concept car” of TVs.
After trying to watch a hockey game on it I came to the conclusion that the XEL-1 was obviously a desktop device for early adopters only.
With no other Sony OLEDs on the horizon we’ll have to leave it to LG and Samsung to take the lead now.
They should market the shit out of ’em here in the States. We go gaga for anything that has the word “organic” in the name. 😛
2005: Blue Ray = $2K. 2010: Blue Ray = $128.
Sony. You are dead to me.
Sony’s 24.5-inch 3D Amoled at CES 2010 means nothing. These are not the OLED’s you are looking for. Move on.
#6 – if you think that LED lit LCDs are as good as OLEDs, you need to see an eye doctor, stat!
OLEDs are insanely pricey, but they have, hands down the best picture. Contrast levels that a LCD TV could only dream of.
Engadget:
“It’s worth pointing out that a Japanese report from AV Watch notes that the discontinuation is going down for another reason. Reportedly, Japan is forcing TV makers to integrate a “youth control filter” into their wares, presumably in an effort to shield those precious eyes from the evils of the content world.”
…and that update is old.
DU: The Fox News of blogs.
I’ve said this many times before, OLED will dominate handheld and portable apps. OLED tech has serious lifetime issues related to oxygen and moisture absorbtion that increase with package size (harder to seal). 5-7 inches or less will be OLED’s realm.
Frankly, LCD (especially LED-driven) tech is so mature that no alternate tech has a chance, as it must not only outperform LCD but also be cost-effective while doing so with a well-functioning supply and distribution chain.
OLED can and will find its niche, but large-screen TV ain’t it. Not for now, that’s for sure. Handheld displays (and visors – I think emagine still makes theirs) are the best place for OLEDs as performance does still count over price for many in that arena.
Seriously, I’m confused. Why am I supposed to want an ultra-thin screen when the footprint of the whole apparatus is the same as a regular TV?
5, LaxDude, Sony’s consumer electronics division started going “downhill” when Sony became a Music and Movie studio. When that happened, Sony’s priorities changed.
6, Sargasso, in terms of picture quality local dimming comes close to plasma, but plasma still has the better picture quality. With all else being equal you will tend to pay a $1k premium for a local-dimming LED LCD HDTV over that of a comparable Plasma HDTV. OLED when it does come out is supposed to be the “Plasma Killer” that local-dimming LED hoped to be.
12, InterglacialMan, OLED for the most part is still very much an experimental tech which has only had limited widespread use. It’s lifetime is also in question.
16, Buzz, You can buy a Vizio Blu-ray player for $99 at Costco. 🙂
17, And every production OLED made so far has been small and SD resolution. When they make them bigger and in HD, it is expected they will be the “Plasma Killer”.
19, SmartAlix, Plasma has a superior picture to a comparable LCD and is substantially cheaper. You don’t have to wait for OLED. 😉
20, Wretched Gnu, Sony hopes you’re willing to pay top dollar for cutting edge tech.
21,
True, but plasma is a massive power hog. A decent screen can pull over 600 watts. Not to mention significant phosphor burn-in issues. Don’t watch the news too much with one, or you’ll have a dark bar permanently emblazoned on the screen. Other than that, Plasma is a great tech. (At SID one year I saw a Corning guy who made a plasma display with hand-drawn (he had a tower in his backyard) tubes.)
I’m a big fan of DLP, myself. I have a 6-color 56-inch Mitsubishi with user-replaceable lamp. Even when I get an LED-driven LCD eventually I’ll probably never get rid of it.