Sony plans thinner, more efficient flat-panel TVs

Sonyplans to start selling small televisions this year with a screen technology that is a contender for the next-generation screen of flat-screen TVs, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

The company plans to begin selling an 11-inch television using an organic electroluminescent screen by the year's end, spokeswoman Mami Imada said.

OEL screens are already used in smaller applications such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants and camcorders. Sony believes their product would be the first such television to come to market, Imada added.

The screens make use of the self-luminescent properties of organic materials. They use less power than comparable liquid crystal display screens because they don't use a backlight, and are also much thinner— the screen in Sony's planned 11-inch OEL TV will bethree millimetresthick.

Beating rivals to market

The quick move into OEL TVs suggests Sony has learned a lesson from its bitter experience several years ago, when it was caught flat-footed by rivals that took the lead in the LCD TV market. The company fought back. Last year, it overtook Sharp and Samsung to become the world's biggest LCD TV maker by revenue, according to market researcher DisplaySearch.

Sony may now be hoping "to steal a march on rivals in terms of technology and make the new technology its own," said Deutsche Securities analyst Yasuo Nakane.

Toshiba president Atsutoshi Nishida said Thursday his company would begin selling large TVs using OEL screens by 2009, offering both high- and low-resolution models based on the technology.

Sony has not disclosed details on its production plans or pricing for the 11-inch OEL TVs. The company said it will make the OEL panels at a plant operated by ST Liquid Crystal Display Corp., a joint venture it has with Toyota. Larger models are also being developed, it said.