Canon-Toshiba Venture Set for '08 SED Production

Canon and Toshiba announced today that they will enter the flat-panel display market by jointly manufacturing surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) TVs starting late next year and into 2008. The companies are touting SED's thinner profile and energy saving characteristics as competitive advantages over plasma and LCD. However, it would seem that with flat panel display prices falling as dramatically as they have in the last two years -- and with continued price pressures from lower-cost manufacturers in Korea and China -- SED will face a significant challenge in dethroning plasma and LCD from their current positions. To wit, I have never heard anyone say of their new flat panel display, "it's nice, but how great would it be if it were even thinner..."