In this May 10, 2012 photo, a model poses with a 55-inch Samsung OLED, organic light-emitting diode, TV during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. South Korean TV manufacturers are making billion dollar bets on a new display technology that promises an even thinner screen and imagery of eye-popping clarity. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)YOUKYUNG LEE
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korean TV manufacturers are making billion dollar bets on a new display technology that promises an even thinner screen and imagery of eye-popping clarity. It might prove to be a costly last gasp of innovation from an industry finding it ever harder to excite consumers who’ve been wowed by smartphones and tablets.
Undeterred by the 3-D TV flop and failure of Internet connected TVs to boost sales, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are hoping “OLED” technology will keep them ahead in an intensely competitive business that has caused losses in the TV division of Japan’s Sony for the past eight years.
The arrival of flat screen televisions 15 years ago was an advance in TV technology that tantalized consumers nearly as much as color televisions in the late 1960s. The first generation of flat screens now look positively obese next to the most recent ultra thin TVs. Picture quality has also made giant strides.
But for most consumers, such incremental changes matter less and less. Why pay for great picture clarity when good quality will do. And why pay a premium for a TV when smartphones and tablet computers can offer a similar function and much more.