Sony are already leading the way with OLED TVs, which have been out in Japan since last year and reached North America in January. But so far there has been no release on the European market. That may change, however, if news reports this week are to be believed.
The Japanese business news outlet Nikkei business daily is reporting that OLED TVs are now being considered for the release schedule in early 2009 across Europe. They received their information froma Sony spokesperson who declined to comment further on any firm plans.
Both Japan and North America have an 11-inch OLED TV Model XEL-1 available at a cost of around US$1,800, but no further detail is available on the potential European models. Will it be the same 11″ display, or part of a new line-up carrying more features or a bigger screen size?
Claims by research company DisplaySearch that the market for OLED displays is set to increase by a staggering 14 times by 2012, coupled with Europe being one of Sony’s largest markets surely points to a European release happening soon.
Read more at Reuters.com
Matthew’s Opinion
Although I’m sure many consumers across Europe would love an OLED display, myself included, I think an 11-inch TV is too small and far too expensive. I’m hoping that either Sony have found it possible to increase the display size while keeping prices down, or at least significantly cut costs for the 11-inch model before release.
Whatever happens, OLED TVs are going to carry a premium price for quite a while and especially when they are released in Europe due to the fact they are new. LCD and Plasma screens will continue to dominate for the foreseeable future and until Sony can get the OLED screen sizes up while retaining a sane pricing level.
Tags: high definition TV, gear, pvr, consumer electronics
