Canon: Dag SED, hallo OLED !!!!

[koffieleut]

After Stuffing Up SED Canon Now Tries OLED

12 months after its SED flat panel debacle Canon has re-entered the flat panel market with the announcement that it plans to take a majority stake in Tokki, a supplier of flat panel-making equipment, for $69 million. It claims the investment is being made to speed up development of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.
Initally the company plans to develop OLED panels in a bid to replace liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, which it now procures from outside suppliers for digital camera, camcorder and printer displays. Hower it has not ruled out entering the TV and monitor market with an OLED offering.

Late last year Canon was forced to back down from the flat panel market after a licensing dispute with Nano-Proprietary over key SED TV technology. At the time Canon said it needed time to develop production technology which would bring the manufacturing costs of SED panels low enough to make the systems commercially viable.

Canon originally licensed key technologies for SED televisions from Nano-Proprietary; the company then teamed with Toshiba to form a joint venture (SED, Inc.) to develop and manufacture the televisions. Canon transferred its patent licenses to SED, Inc. and Nano-Proprietary sued, claiming the license couldn't be transferred because Toshiba held decision-making authority in the joint venture.

Canon fought the lawsuit—and eventually bought out Toshiba's share of SED, Inc.—Canon was eventually found to have breached the license agrreement, although a jury found Nano-Proprietary had sustained no damages, although the original license agreement was terminated. This left Canon in the awkward position of needing to re-negotiate a licensing agreement for key SED technology. Presumably, one source of Canon's just-announced delay in its SED launch is the difficult in re-licensing the technology from Nano-Proprietary...or finding a way to work around it.

SED technology Canon said at the time had the potential to offer flat panel screens which were brighter and delivered higher contrast ratios, and consumed less power than LCD flat-panel displays.

Canon is the world's largest digital camera maker competing with Sony  and Olympus , while Tokki is the world's No.1 maker of tools used to make OLED displays.

Canon will offer 556 yen per share in a tender offer planned for 20 working days between Nov. 14 and Dec. 12, aiming to buy at least 3.07 million shares. The offer price is at a 22 percent premium over Tokki's closing price on Tuesday.

The Tokyo-based company also plans to buy 14.2 million new Tokki shares in a third-party allocation, paying 417 yen per share

In total, Canon aims to take at least a 51% stake in Tokki for 7.6 billion yen ($69 million) or more.

OLED displays use organic, or carbon-containing, compounds that emit light when electricity is applied. Unlike LCD panels, they do not need backlighting, making OLED panels slimmer and more energy-efficient.

OLED panels also offer bright colours and images that are easy to see outdoors, an ideal trait for camera displays. Canon said it may offer small-sized flat TVs using OLED displays in the future.

For the large-sized TV market, Canon has been developing another type of flat panel TVs based on surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) technology.

Ahead of the announcement, shares in Canon closed down 1.3 percent at 5,360 yen, while Tokki was down 1.5 percent at 456 yen, underperforming the Nikkei average.

http://www.smarthouse.com.au/TVs_And_Large_Display/Industry/M5T4F7S9?page=1

[Randal]

@koffieleut: Heb je het verhaal wel goed gelezen?!

Ik vind het namelijk nogal vaag, vooral het laatste stuk:
=> Voor kleine schermpjes, waaronder camera's en kleine televisies, wordt OLED gebruikt.
=> Voor de grotere schermen/televisies blijft SED dus de gebruikte techniek?! 

Dus goodbye SED, hello NOTHING!

.....

OLED panels also offer bright colours and images that are easy to see outdoors, an ideal trait for camera displays. Canon said it may offer small-sized flat TVs using OLED displays in the future.

For the large-sized TV market, Canon has been developing another type of flat panel TVs based on surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) technology.

[Shorty]

a majority stake in Tokki

VrGr,

Bart J