Ostendo Shows Impressive Microdisplays
We reported on Ostendo last year when it was in the iZone. They came back this year and we interviewed them about their emissive LED microdisplays.
LC Materials Are Still Improving, Says Merck (BC16)
The first session in the afternoon was on emerging technologies and applications to increase profit. There were 9 panelists and speakers overall. Roman Maisch is a Senior VP at Merck and he looked at developments in liquid crystal materials in the main, first in displays and then in other applications. There are trends in LCDs … Read more
Why Do VCs Invest in Displays, Intel Asks? (BC13)
The final speaker of the morning session was Ron D Reich of Intel Capital where he is Managing Director of the Strategic Transactions Group. He said, after hearing Barnes’ talk, that he wondered why any VC would ever invest in the display industry! Reich’s team works on mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for Intel Capital. … Read more
Can Ignis Enable the OLED TV Market?
As is often the case, one of the most interesting things that I saw at the SID was not on the show floor, but in a dimly-lit suite in a hotel near the event, where Ignis Innovations was showing its wares. Ignis is a Canadian developer of backplane and compensation technologies that we have been … Read more
The LCD Industry is Like a “Slinky” – really! (BC14)
David Barnes always has a good angle in his talks. This year, his swansong as he has gone into retirement, he talked about the “Slinky business” and had a “slinky” metal toy moving from hand to hand as he spoke! He sees the industry going through cycles – as IGZO has done, for example – … Read more
Gagnon Identifies Profit Opportunities (BC12)
The next session was on the financial Implications of the display industry and the first speaker was Paul Gagnon of IHS, again.The display market has grown to around 4 billion units, the revenues are around $130 billion and the total display area production is around 200 million square metres. Average price has been going up, … Read more
Profitable TV Panel Session – Sharp to launch Android TV (BC8)
In a panel session, Gagnon asked what the display industry had done that didn’t work. Bhowmik immediately identified 3D as a technology that just didn’t happen. Sanduski said that the reaction to Avatar was great and that drove hope. However, watching in a theatre, you’re in a very focused experience and so wearing glasses is … Read more
Huawei Explains Phone Size Dynamics (BC9)
Gang Xu is from Huawei’s Consumer Business Group and he talked about consumer experiences for mobile devices. There are a lot of trends in image quality and form factor innovation, but with limits imposed by power consumption issues. The display also has to work in a wide variety of conditions, especially in developing regions such … Read more
US Consumers Want More Resolution (BC8)
Apparently the answer is “a lot”Jim Sanduski is President of Sharp Electronics in the US and he talked about the issues of profitability for the industry. He said that high resolution is a big driver of the market – even reality shows are wanted in HD – consumers like to see more detail. It has … Read more
Dell Also Looks at the User Experience (BC10)
The next speaker was Erin K Walline who is Director of Engineering – User Experience and Design at Dell. She said that you have to look at the whole experience if you want to understand the consumer. Dell has all of its design group in one organisation, covering surface design, industrial design, packaging design, user … Read more
Bhowmik Said Focus on the User Experience
Dr Achin Bhowmik of Intel made himself popular with delegates by saying how fantastic today’s displays are. Customers want to buy products just because of the great displays. However, human interfaces are still largely “archaic”. For example, the TVs are wonderful, but the remote control is awful. How do you make it intuitive, he asked? … Read more
BC Panel Session Asks “Is Good Enough, Good Enough”?
The first panel session addressed the question “Is Good Enough, Good Enough: Can LCD Persevere?” Jason Hartlove, CEO of Nanosys was the first to speak and he showed a slide that looked at efficiency (brightness/power) over time of LCD vs OLED. In 2006, a TV with 250 cd/m² used 185W and cost $4800, now Samsung … Read more
