Poor performance in Sony's TV division is forcing the company to shelve development of OLED televisions, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The news comes from inside sources who say Sony's top priority is returning to profitability. The TV division, which shed $1.34 billion last year, accounted for more than half of all Sony operating losses. Investing in future technology would only worsen the company's financial situation.
OLED TVs are generally lighter and more energy efficient than existing LCD or Plasma televisions, and they look better to boot, but they've yet to hit the market in any meaningful way. Small models sell for a pretty penny, such as Sony's 11-inch OLED TV that costs $2,500. We've seen prototypes of larger screens, but their high failure rate and tendency to degrade over time keeps them from becoming actual products. Manufacturers have run into trouble expanding OLED screens to acceptable sizes, though recent innovations may change that.
It's not clear for how long Sony plans to put off development of OLED TVs, but there's nothing to suggest other manufacturers will also slow down. As CNet points out, Samsung and LG are also working on the technology, though they both say it won't be ready for several years.
Interestingly enough, those two companies are Korean. Last year, Sony joined with Toshiba and other Japanese companies to speed the development of LED, funded in part with $32 million in government funding. I don't know what will become of that effort, or of the money allocated to it, but perhaps Samsung and LG can exploit Sony's weakness and push even harder for OLED. Either way, I think we'll be looking at LCD TV domination for at least a few more years.
