Dave Horvath
3 Oct 2006 6:07
Long time photography pioneer Canon met with electronics giant Toshiba in Chiba, Japan to announce that they will partner in producing a new type of flat panel television.
Dubbed as surface-conduction electron-emitter display or SED, these new flat panels are said to be thinner and use less power than current LCD and plasma solutions. Production is expected to start at the end of 2007 and ramp up to full production into 2008. The new head of this joint venture, Kazunori Fukuma set up a 55" prototype for display at a recent Japanese trade show which was met by rather curious responses.
Some analysts believe that although Canon and Toshiba are looking to break into the saturated high-definition market, might be a bit behind the times with the recent price slashing of current displays. Skeptics are hard pressed to believe that the quality of the new SED will be enough to sway consumers from the increasingly lower priced LCD and plasma displays in favor if inevitable ballooned prices of new technology in the SED displays. Canon has said that they have moved production of their new televisions to the end of 2007 from March of this year in an attempt to keep costs competitive.
Source:
Reuters