Canon Postpones SED… Again

As reported on our sister news and information Website, Canon and Toshiba have postponed the launch of flat-panel SED TVs…again. This is, to my knowledge, the third delay thus far.

I’m starting to wonder if this technology really exists, or if it's just a figment of my imagination. Had it not been for the fact that the editors of our two publications both got a sneak peek at SED during the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show, I’d have stuck to my guns on the latter. For what it’s worth, they both described it as being “flat-out beautiful, with blacker blacks, great shadow detail, and more brilliant whites.” (Take into consideration, of course, that both plasma and LCD technology have improved tremendously over the past two years, so the differences might not be so pronounced today as they were back then).

Why the holdup? Canon cites prolonged litigation as one of the reasons. In January 2007, the firm that licensed SED technology to Canon (Nano-Proprietary Inc.) filed suit against the company, crying breach of contract, stating that Canon’s partnership with Toshiba was not part of the original agreement. As a result, Canon set forth to purchase all the outstanding share of SED Inc., and shifted around some employees to accommodate the change.

A second reason cited for the delay is “efforts to establish mass-production technology aimed at realizing further cost reductions.” Translation: the prices of flat-panel TVs are dropping so much, so fast, that now the company has to find a better, cheaper way to mass produce the sets.

Will we ever see this technology come to fruition? Who knows. But we’ve been on the edge of our seats for SED for so long, it would be nice to see something come of it.

Kodak To Leave Entry-Level Digicam Market

Rumour has it that Kodak will leave the entry-level digital camera market: an odd decision given that this is the market for which the firm is probably most popular. This leads to the question: where will they go from here? The high-end digital SLR market is dominated by some very strong players like Canon and Olympus; while the mid-end is chocked-full of competition: everyone and their uncle is making a digital camera these days.

According to engadget, Kodak is developing its own five-megapixel CMOS sensor for use in a new digital camera model (of its own brand), as well as in upcoming Motorola mobile phones. Huh?! 5MP in phones??

This actually isn’t as surprising as it sounds. I discussed a few weeks back how cell phones are on their way to becoming the new entry-level digital cameras. This happening is likely far off in the horizon: there are still people who would rather use a phone as a phone, and a camera as a camera. Not to mention that built-in cell phone cameras are just beginning to scratch the surface of acceptable picture quality. But it looks like Kodak sees the writing on the wall, and is jumping out while it still can. It’s not a bad idea to start partnering with the cell phone guys now in an effort to be ahead of the game.