Whither SED?

December 21, 2006

In a blow to the SED faithful, Toshiba revealed that the holy-grail TV technology it is developing with Canon will not put in a presence at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (January 8 - 11).

That's Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display for the uninitiated. It is a flat-panel display technology that does everything better than LCD and plasma flat-panels.

It's arrival on the market has been delayed several times due mostly to production efficiency hurdles, but those problems were supposed to have been solved, and high-volume sales of a 55" set were to have started in 2008.

There is no evidence that target roll-out is now in jeopardy, but Toshiba would not reveal the reason for the no-show. It did, however, explain what reasons were not to blame:

"The reason is neither a technical nor business issue, but we are not allowed to disclose details due to confidentiality obligation. . . Toshiba further believes that the issue will be resolved soon, and then we will be able to come back to the U.S. for a 55-inch SED demo."

There are some legal issues at play, however, relating to intellectual property rights.

Sigh.