Oragnic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) may still be a new and upcoming technology, but the future appears to be bright as more manufacturers show off new OLED screens. But the lack of OLEDs in the desert just a few days ago left me disappointed, and left some analysts pessimistic.
I wrote about OLEDs a few times prior to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and as I toured the expo halls at CES, it was apparent that there was more hype than actual products available.
Even though the technology is still developing, OLEDs for TVs simply just isn't there quite yet. Both Samsung and Sony plan to mass market OLED TVs sometime in 2009, but the news from CES wasn't as big as analysts thought it would be leading up to the event. Sony gave props to its flexible OLED technology during a press conference, and Samsung didn't discuss OLEDs at all.
It's likely Samsung will patiently wait for one more generation of LCD TVs before putting stronger efforts into OLEDs, and it's likely other companies will wait until the LCD market dwindles down further. For example, Pioneer and Panasonic are expected to wait until 2011 before talking about OLEDs.
When asked about the lack of OLED technology, a Samsung spokesperson said the company will not rush OLEDs to market, and wants to make sure consumers can purchase quality OLED products.
The global economy crunch and the fact that companies are still releasing new generations of LCD TVs means OLEDs will have to wait a couple more years, but it's obvious the technology is in the pipeline.
