News out of Japan hit the wires Monday that Sony will soon be introducing what it claims is the world’s first television set that uses organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology in its screen. The new TV, dubbed XEL-1, will be available December 1 in Japan (overseas launch details not yet announced).

 

In its announcement, Sony noted that BRAVIA LCD TVs represent the flagship product family for the company’s TV offerings; XEL-1 is a newcomer being positioned alongside BRAVIA to help expand Sony’s influence in this market.

 

OLED, the company explained, is a technology based on electroluminescent organic materials that makes it possible to build displays that are thinner and lighter than other products on the market today. OLED also provides better contrast and brightness, Sony said, along with wider range of colors and more rapid response time. Plus, because OLED displays don’t need to be backlit, they use less power—saving money and having a lighter impact on the environment.

 

In other words, Sony is positioning OLED technology as a way to produce TV sets that are superior in every way to products now available. The company said it began to experiment with organic materials way back in 1994, and launched mass production of small OLED panels ten years later. Research into the technology continued, and the result is the “Organic Panel” the company is using with its upcoming XEL-1 TVs.

 

Reuters reported that the OLED TV from Sony will be 11 inches wide and 3mm thick, and will sell for about $1,740. That’s almost twice the price of certain 40-inch LCD TVs from Sony.

 

Electroluminescence using organic materials was first achieved in the 1950s and was subsequently researched by a variety of companies and individuals, leading up to the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry being awarded to a group of three scientists (Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa) for their work in the 1970s resulting in “the discovery and development of conductive polymers.”

 

OLED technology has applications for a variety of displays and screens, including those on mobile phones, portable media players, and digital cameras. Although the technology has some drawbacks (namely, limited lifecycle of materials used and susceptibility to damage by water), it is now being touted by some as the next big thing in displays—opening the door for products like roll-up computer monitors and wearable screens.

 

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