Sony plans to launch sales of a television employing organic light emitting diode technology next year in the United States, Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said Tuesday. "Next year, we'll begin limited sales (of the TV) in the United States," Stringer said during an interview with the press at the company's headquarters in Tokyo.

Sony's 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV is currently sold in Japan for about 200,000 yen (US $1850).

OLED is a light-emitting display technology based on electroluminescent organic materials. OLED panels are energy efficient, make thin and light displays, offer crisp pictures and have strength in showing fast-moving images, suitable for watching sports events.



In related news, Toshiba and Matsushita?s plans to join Sony in the OLED TV market have been shelved after problems moving from the research lab to mass production, according to Japanese business paper the Nikkei.

After finding trouble getting production efficiency to a level that could be commercialized, the Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology joint venture has decided to postpone its promised 30-inch OLED television set that was planned for 2009.

Instead, it will concentrate on smaller OLED screens for mobile phones and portable media players, according to the report.