st Friday, shares of Konica Minolta Holdings went up by almost 6% after a report in Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted the company as saying it had developed an organic light-emitting-diode (OLED) lighting device, and that it viewed the new device as a potentially significant contributor to future earnings. But, the rush of enthusiasm over the stated goal of OLED product (general lighting) may be a bit misplaced, as the specs of the device don’t appear to support this application very well - at least not at this time.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor
of HDTV Retailer &
Mobile Display Report

The device is an OLED lamp with a luminance of 1,000 cd/m2, an expected time to half brightness of 10,000 hours, and a luminous efficiency of 64 lumens/W, according to the company. The company said the color temperature of the device can be adjusted to resemble the light from tungsten or fluorescent lamps.

Konica Minolta called the device the world’s most efficient electric light source, according to DigiTimes. That would be an exaggeration, but such a luminous efficiency is certainly high, rivaling that of standard fluorescent lamps and even the efficient UHP projection arc lamp. An obvious application for such a device would be as a backlight for cell-phone displays, but the company’s statement focused on its use for general lighting applications.

Reuters reports that Konica Minolta plans to launch the product in the business year beginning in April 2007, and intends to generate sell $175M worth of the devices in the business year ending in March 2011. That would be 2% of the company’s sales this year.

A lifetime of 10,000 hours would be more than enough for a cell-phone backlight, and it would be suitable for lighting applications in which the lamp is replaceable. (Traditional incandescent lamps have lifetimes in the vicinity of1000 hours, and compact fluorescent lamps last about 6,000 hours.) But the real appeal of a flat lamp is to use it for covering walls and ceilings.

A 2- to 3-year lifetime for permanently installed domestic or commercial lighting is clearly not adequate. Either Konica Minolta has a major lifetime boost in the works or the company needs to adjust its thinking.

For cell-phone backlighting, the form factor of the OLED lamp is inviting. Cost of the lamp and its power supply, as well as the ability to tolerate shock, sunlight and moisture, are critical (and unknown), and it will be interesting to see if the Konica Minolta OLED lamp can compete with the current crop of LEDs overall in this application - if they decide to compete.