Samsung SDI Develops 31-inch OEL Panel
Sony Withdraws from Rear-Projection TV Market
Matsushita, Hitachi, and Canon Cooperate in LCD Operations
Flash Memories Take Over Compact HDD
HTC Likely to Subcontract NTT DoCoMo’s Google Phone
Hutchison Whampoa to Establish 3G Joint Venture in England
iTunes Goes to China
NXP Semiconductors Acquires GloNav

Samsung SDI of South Korea announced on December 27, 2007, that the company had developed a 31-inch OEL (Organic Electroluminescent) panel for TVs. The new panel is 4.3mm thick, which according to Samsung is about 1/10^th that of a similar-sized LCD panel and consumes about half as much power.

Sony recently commercialized an 11-inch OEL TV that is 3mm thick. As a result, the race to develop the next generation of flat panel TVs is expected to heat up among South Korean and Japanese manufacturers.

OEL displays do not need backlight and can be made thin. They also require less power than LCDs. However, life span remains a challenge for OEL displays. The product life of Samsung SDI’s 31-inch OEL panel is 35,000 hours, while that of a similar-sized LCD is over 50,000 hours. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Sony of Japan announced on December 27, 2007, that the company would stop manufacturing rear-projection TVs at the end of February 2008. Coincidentally, Fujitsu General announced that it would stop selling plasma TVs on the same day. Competition among flat panel TVs has been intensifying, and Japanese manufacturers of these systems are facing “selection and concentration” decisions.

Rear-projection TVs were expected to form a significant market as an alternative approach to flat panel TVs. In recent years, though, pricing and size of LCD TVs and plasma TVs improved dramatically. Rear-projection TVs began to lose market share to flat panel models.

Sony is the world’s largest producer of rear-projection TVs. However, it is going to concentrate its resources on LCD and OEL TVs and will halt production of rear-projection TV at its three plants in Japan.

Fujitsu General plans to withdraw from consumer visual display products at the end of March 2008. The company has been selling plasma TVs under the Plasmavision brand outside of Japan. The division has been losing money for a couple of years. The company plans to focus instead on its core operations, such as heating and ventilation equipment. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Matsushita, Hitachi, and Canon, all of Japan, reached an agreement to cooperate in the development of LCDs. Also Canon and Matsushita will acquire 24.9 percent each of Hitachi Displays, a wholly owned LCD production subsidiary of Hitachi, by March 31, 2008. Hitachi Displays manufactures small to medium sized LCDs. In the future, Canon is expected to acquire a majority stake in Hitachi Displays. Also, Matsushita plans to acquire a majority stake in IPS Alpha Technology, a joint venture between Hitachi Displays (50 percent), Matsushita (30 percent), Toshiba (15 percent), and Canon (2 percent).

Canon will take charge of Hitachi Display’s small to medium sized LCD operation, and Matsushita will take charge of Hitachi’s large-sized LCD display operation. By transferring majority stakes in its money-losing LCD manufacturing operations, Hitachi will reduce its involvement in LCDs and achieve constitutional improvement.

On December 21, 2007, Toshiba and Sharp announced plans to collaborate in the development of LCDs and LCD-related semiconductors beginning in 2008. In 2010, Sharp will purchase about 50 percent of Toshiba’s system ICs for LCD TVs. Toshiba plans to purchase about 40 percent of Sharp’s 32-inch and larger-sized LCD TV modules.

Demand for LCD panels is soaring globally. At the same time, competition is intensifying among manufacturers, with LCD suppliers expected to provide high-quality products at low prices. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST), a subsidiary of Hitachi, plans to close its compact hard-disk drive (HDD) operation by summer 2008. Fujitsu decided not to get into small HDD production, which the company originally planned. Compact HDDs were commonly used in portable audio players and camcorders until recently. They have been replaced by flash memories, which are more advantageous in terms of capacity and pricing. Hitachi and Fujitsu plan to concentrate their resources instead on medium to large sized products, Japan’s largest financial daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on December 30, 2007.

HGST will halt production of 1-inch diameter HDDs. The company will also stop producing 1.8-inch HDDs, which are used in camcorders, by summer 2008. HGST is currently producing around 200,000 1.8-inch HDD units a month, which is half of what it was producing at peak demand. HGST has already ceased R&D for 1.8-inch HDD and will gradually reduce output until production ceases in summer 2008. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NTT DoCoMo’s phone equipped with the Google search engine will be available to the Japanese market in the second half 2008. HTC of Taiwan is not only a member of the Android development group but also a close partner of the Japanese wireless carrier.

It is likely HTC will manufacture DoCoMo’s Google-compatible handset. HTC plans to roll out two or three models of Android OS-based handsets in the second half of 2008. At the announcement of the Android OS, Google used HTC’s concept model, code-named the Dream, which is believed to be the first Android handset.

The new Dream handset is rumored to be 3-inch x 5-inch in size, with a large touchscreen, navigation button, and swivel-screen design. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong plans to establish a joint venture with wireless carrier T-Mobile UK. The new joint venture will be named Mobile Broadband Network and engage in 3G network business.

The joint venture is contracted to last until 2031. It will be a 50-50 joint venture. By sharing a network, the two companies will be able to cover the entire country of England and reduce installation of base stations by 5000. This will enable the company to save $4.03 billion over a 10-year period.

T-Mobile UK is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telecom, the largest European wireless carrier. Hutchison Whampoa is also involved in retailing, energy, and real estate development. However, its 3G operation in Europe has lagged recently. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Apple’s iTunes will be introduced to China in 2008, Chinese media reported on December 25, 2007. Foreign music service is expected to positively influence the digital music industry in China.

The free downloading and pirating of copyrighted material has become a big problem in China. It is hoped that the introduction of iTunes there will improve the situation. Using the iTunes operation model, the online download industry plans to grow the industry as a whole while cultivating and growing the number of high-end users willing to pay for music. This is expected to positively affect the digital music industry in China.

The industry is hoping that Apple will increase its operations using advertisement and partnering with other companies. It is further hoped that introduction of the new business model will refresh China’s music industry as a whole, where pirated copies of copyrighted material are rampant. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NXP Semiconductors of the Netherlands announced on December 21, 2007, that it will acquire GloNav Inc. of the U.S. GloNav is a fab-less company specializing in the development of chips for GPS navigation systems. NXP will initially pay $85 million in cash. However, it will pay an additional $25 million to GloNav if the company achieves certain sales and product-development goals in the next two years. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Through the acquisition, NXP is going to source GPS chips and related technologies directly from GloNav. By combining GloNav technologies with its own FM radio, Bluetooth, USB, and NFC technologies, NXP aims to enhance connection technology to cellular phones and PNDs (personal navigation devices). Upon acquisition, GloNav will be absorbed into NXP Semiconductor’s Mobile and Personal Business Department. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]