Samsung wants to dominate the transparent display market, and plans to introduce a range of new products with such displays within the next year. They will even consider products not normally produced at Samsung such as a transparent automobile navigation system that can be placed on a windscreen.
Transparent AMOLED displays provide the user with a screen behind which objects are still visible. Samsung has been showing prototypes of these displays at shows such as SID, but recently unveiled footage of an actual product that would exploit clear AMOLED displays.
The first device being introduced by the company using the technology is the IceTouch (YP-H1) MP3 player. The product functions as a hybrid music player, radio, DVD player, picture viewer and portable storage unit.
'The AMOLED display not only visually set our product apart from our competitors but we believe it well will set the bar for the next generation of portable MP3 players,' says Reid Sullivan, VP of audio/video and digital imaging marketing at Samsung Electronics America.
They also reveal that the IceTouch MP3 player will sell for around $330 and will be released in the US in the first half of 2010.
Samsung also plans to release a laptop featuring a 14-inch see-through color OLED screen. Trials suggest that the company will have the product ready for launch within 12 months.
'We have a lab in Korea that is currently working on developing a laptop with partially-transparent screen,' explains Sullivan. 'Soon, I imagine that all Samsung's audio-visual products will feature this technology. We want to be the first in this market.'
Competitors in the consumer electronics market include Sony Ericsson, which recently released its Xperia Pureness Smartphone, featuring a clear display, in Europe. However, Samsung is keen to dominate this market from early on.
'We are looking at devices that could use transparent AMOLED technology, even if it is a product we are not usually associated with,' states Reid. 'Systems such as transparent Sat-Nav's that can be placed on a windscreen but also operate as a navigational unit when required, are all possibilities.'
Samsung set the bar high when it came to commercializing AMOLED displays in large volumes a few years ago. Over 70% of AMOLED displays in mobile phones come from a Samsung lab. Yet competition is intensifying as the company and its rivals such as LG explore new applications for AMOLED technology. Smartphones and devices that use 3-inch displays and above are earmarked as the next market of consumer electronics fit for AMOLED technology, where premium products can benefit from more advanced but costly display technologies.
Transparent AMOLED displays could be used to enhance new products too.
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