Bye, bye, OLED, we barely knew thee!

Toshiba has announced that it is shelving their plans to put out ultra-thin TVs that feature organic light-emitting diode technology. The displays were scheduled to be released in 2009/10 according to Reuters. We were afraid of something like this as OLED has been in "coming soon" mode for years as LCD and Plasma technologies have matured and continued to drop in prices. Apparently, the OLED panels just cost too much to produce. You will start to have increased access to this technology in cell phones starting as soon as next year. Or you could pick up one of the rare Sony 11 inch TVs that just started shipping this month.

At nearly $1800 US, the 11" Sony XEL-1 is mighty pricey (you can find a 12-inch screen attached to a laptop for less) but at 3mm thick, it has an undeniable cool factor. This technology may never make it into your living room (we can still hope for a 3mm thick 50" screen though, can't we?), but it has amazing potential for camera displays, laptops, and other smaller consumer electronics. The high cost will have to be overcome before it hits the market in any significant size, but the low power consumption, bright images, and thin form factor may be well worth it.