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TOKYO -
Sony Corp. has discontinued production of TV sets with
organic electroluminescence (EL) display panels, widely
seen as the mainstream panel to be used in
next-generation flat-screen TVs, it was learned
Saturday.
Though
Sony will continue selling organic EL monitors for its
corporate clients, it will concentrate its home-use TV
production business on liquid-crystal display models.
The move
comes as South Korean makers are aiming to strengthen
sales of their large-screen organic EL TV sets, and
underlines the difficulties domestic manufacturers are
facing in the TV production market.
Sony
released the world's first organic EL TV model in 2007.
With some organic panels as thin as 3 millimeters, the
TVs were said to be a symbol of Sony's revival as an
advanced-technology developer.
The
display panels of organic EL TVs are composed of
electroluminescent organic materials that emit light
when activated.
Organic
EL TV sets do not require a backlight behind the screen,
unlike LCD panels. As a result, organic EL panels are
thinner and consume less electricity.
Since
organic EL screens can reproduce colors more precisely
than previous models, users can enjoy a picture with a
higher resolution than that of LCD and plasma-screen
TVs.
Though
Sony's organic EL TVs were relatively expensive — with
a small unit priced at 200,000 yen (US$2,596.72) —
Sony received numerous orders for the products when they
were first released.
Sony had
been the nation's only manufacturer of organic EL TVs.
But the company had minimized capital investment in the
area partly because of its poor business performance.
As a
result, the company lagged behind South Korean rivals in
terms of price competitiveness and enlarging sizes of
organic TV products.
Sony
discontinued domestic sales of the organic-screen TVs in
2010, but continued to export them to the United States
and Europe.
The
company said it would continue its sales, research and
development of organic EL panels for monitors used by
broadcasting companies and other corporate clients, but
will withdraw from the market for home-use models of
organic TVs.
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