Digital Trends

Research firm NanoMarkets forecasts the global market for OLED and Paper-like displays will reach $10.2 billion by 2011.

Virginia-based research firm NanoMarkets is forecasting that the market for Organic LED (OLED) and paper-like displays will grow to some $10.2 billion worldwide by the year 2011, and grow to $14.7 billion by the year 2013.

Organic LED, or OLED, displays are not made of semi-conductors like traditional LEDs, but from much smaller carbon-based molecules which can be printed on media and substrates. OLED displays do not require a backlight and, thus, consume far less power than traditional LCD displays. A number of technologies exist for paper-like displays, with the most common to-date tiny colored spheres suspended between layers of film: electrical charges sent through the film cause the spheres to rotate, showing a light side or dark side (or, in some cases, a "grey" made up of half-dark, half-light).

NanoMarkets foresees that decreasing cost to manufacture OLED and paper displays combined with increased production capacity will transform the signage and advertising industries, enabling retailers to constantly update things like shelf-edge displays. OLED technology will also soon have the resolution and color capability to enter the television and video market; NanoMarkets believes OLED televisions will account for $2.2 billion in revenue in 2011 and begin seriously cutting into the LCD television market. Other key markets for OLED and paper-like displays include mobile computing and consumer electronics devices.