July 5, 2008

Sony: 27-Inch OLED TV's "Awfully Close" To Release

428678315_c023482bf1(2).jpg A couple days back at a dinner with reporters and industry analysts in San Francisco, Sony Electronics president and COO Stan Glasgow spilled all kinds of juicy details regarding the goings-on inside the company's home theater business. Perhaps most interesting was Glasgow's comment that Sony's 27-inch OLED TV is "awfully close" to becoming available commercially. First unveiled at CES back in January, the 27-inch OLED TV will be the successor to the 11-inch XEL-1, the world's first commercially available OLED television. The 27-incher is expected to be followed by a 40-inch model which will be impressive, but first Sony has to find ways to better automate OLED panel production, currently very labor intensive. With their recent $210 million investment into OLED production, we're sure this won't be an issue for too much longer.

OLED TV's weren't the only topics of interest discussed though. Here's a few more tidbits from Glasgow:

90% of Sony's products will be wired or wireless by 2010

Expect more video services for Bravia LCD TV's by 2010

In the standalone Blu-ray player market, Sony has a 46% market share in units and 44% market share in dollars without the PS3. With the PS3 included, the company's Blu-ray market share sits somewhere between 95%-98%

Will Smith's Hancock will be offered up on Bravia TV's via the new Bravia Internet Video Link before it is released on DVD

Sony says they are increasing production of Blu-ray players to meet demand and are having no problems acquiring parts

To really see the difference between a Blu-ray disc and upconverted DVD you need a screen size of at least 40 inches, only improving as the screen size increases

Via Barrons