Sony may offer OLED TVs in Europe in 2009: Nikkei

A visitor looks at Sony Corp's 11-inch OLED TV ''XEL-1'', which is 3mm thick, displayed at the International Flat Panel Display Expo in Tokyo April 16, 2008.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) plans to sell ultra-thin television based on organic light-emitting diode technology as early as in 2009 in Europe, the world's largest flat TV market, the Nikkei business daily said on Wednesday.

OLED TVs, which are thinner and more energy efficient, offer brighter colors than liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma sets, are expected to be a promising next-generation flat TV.

Sony started selling the world's first OLED TVs in Japan late last year, and in the United States early this year. The 11-inch model, which is just 3 mm thick, sells for 200,000 yen ($1,830) in Japan.

Europe and North America are the two largest markets for Sony's LCD TV operations.

A Sony spokesman said the company was considering launching OLED TVs in Europe but declined to comment on the specific timing.

Research firm DisplaySearch expects global OLED TV demand to grow 14-fold to 2.8 million units by 2012 from an estimated 200,000 units in 2009.

That compares with 40 percent growth for LCD TVs during the same period, although projected LCD TV demand in unit terms of 178.9 million for 2012 dwarfs that of OLED models. Shares in Sony, the world's No.2 LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), were down 3.2 percent at 4,200 yen by midday, underperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index .IELEC.T, which fell 2.2 percent.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Hugh Lawson)