News Item Dated: 14 December 2002
From: Investor's Business Daily  (12/13/02) P. A7; Angell, Mike

Display screens composed of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are expected to one day replace liquid crystal displays (LCDs), once certain technical and financial issues are resolved. Unlike LCDs, OLED screens do not require backlighting, they offer better contrast, motion capture, and multiangle viewing, and they can run on less power. Eighty-five companies--IBM, Sanyo, DuPont, and Philips Electronics among them--are developing OLED screens, and iSuppli/Stanford Resources' Kimberly Allen thinks the OLED panel market could jump from about $112 million to $2.3 billion in the next six years.

However, LCD users are waiting for OLED screens to become less expensive, longer-lasting, and more energy-efficient before they embrace the technology. Nokia's John Barry says that OLEDs must prove that they can last at least two years, which is how long users usually keep cell phones. Meanwhile, OLED screens typically cost twice as much as LCDs. Barry anticipates that the OLED industry could hit its stride by 2004 or 2005, while Kodak's Leslie Pulgar believes that OLED-equipped handheld computers could be ready for public consumption by late 2003, with OLED laptop and desktop screens debuting two years later. In 2000, Motorola tried out a cell phone with a color OLED screen, but discontinued its production, while some high-end phones in Japan include an OLED screen that displays callers' phone numbers.