Panasonic, in one-upmanship

Panasonic Corp, in a display of technological one-upmanship with its South Korean rivals, unveiled a prototype of the world's largest OLED screen on Tuesday.

The half-inch thick, 56-inch television, based on organic light-emitting diode technology, is a mere inch bigger than ones offered up by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics a year ago in Las Vegas. The technology in theory allows for thinner screens that consume less power.

Japan's Sony Corp, which is cooperating with Panasonic in OLED technology, on Monday unwrapped its own 56-inch ultra high-definition model. Sony on Monday also said it will widen its range of ultra high-definition LCD sets to three this year, as it stakes out its territory in next-generation TVs.

LG, which has started to take orders for its thin OLED screens, plans sales in the United States of a $12,000, 55-inch model beginning in March, making it the first company to commercialize the new technology.

Nonetheless, Kazuhiro Tsuga, the president of Panasonic, told industry executives and reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that "Many people think of Panasonic as a television manufacturing company. In fact, for nearly 100 years we have been making a vast range of products."

Tsuga said that Panasonic will focus on selling products like batteries for cars, in-flight entertainment systems, hydrogen cells, solar panels and LED lighting to businesses, while boosting its appliance unit and reducing its exposure to the hyper-competitive consumer electronics arena.

"Panasonic's future is being built on far more than a single product category," Tsuga said. Panasonic and Japan's two other big TV makers, Sony and Sharp Corp, have been hammered in conventional LCD screens by competition from Korean rivals led by Samsung.

Japan's share of the world's flat panel TV market this year likely contracted to 31 percent from 41 percent in 2010, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association.

Tsuga has also vowed to deliver the details of a revival plan by the end of March. So far, he has said that businesses that fail to achieve a 5 percent operating margin within two years will be shuttered or sold. Sales of its weakest units may start next business year.

AFP meanwhile reported tha TV makers showing off their new wares at a huge trade fair will seek to dazzle consumers with bigger, bolder displays, and smarter technologies for consumers who want television to be a "multiscreen" experience.

Companies like Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp and Panasonic showing at the International CES in Las Vegas this week are making a new push for so-called "ultra HD" high definition of 4K, which can provide stunning, lifelike images at a steep price.

Size is on the rise, with many consumers looking at screen measuring 60 inches (152 centimeters or bigger), especially in the United States, according to the industry.

"For US consumers, bigger is absolutely better," said John Herrington of the US division of Japan's Sharp, one of biggest sellers of jumbo TVs in the American market.

Sharp is selling TVs with displays up to 84 inches (213 cm) using its high-definition display technology called IGZO, using indium gallium zinc oxide. South Korea's Samsung meanwhile unveiled a new television that lets two people watch two different shows at the same time.

The F9500 television is the first in the world to offer this feature, dubbed "multi-view," using screen technology called "organic light-emitting diode" or OLED.

Viewers must wear special 3D glasses, which come with personal speakers built in to deliver the audio, in stereo, directly to them.

But "ultra HD" and other new televisions remain slow to capture the market because of their prices upwards of $10,000, according to a forecast released by the Consumer Electronic Association which showed the segment capturing just five percent of the US market by 2016.