Bad news for SED-TV!

reuters reportet that Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp. have decided to postpone the launch of SED TVs from their latest target of late 2007, the Japanese companies said on Friday, raising doubt over the commercial viability of the new flat televisions.

Canon cited a prolonged patent lawsuit with Nano-Proprietary Inc. as a reason for the delay. It is also delaying the launch to develop the technology to cut production costs, a step necessary to compete with LCD and plasma TVs, the company said.

Toshiba, which plans to procure SED panels from Canon, is postponing the TV launch as Canon is unable to start supplying the panels on time.

ORIGINAL CANON PRESS RELEASE:
TOKYO, May 25, 2007—Canon Inc. today announced that it has decided to postpone for the time being the launch of next-generation flat-panel SED* televisions, which the company had intended to release in the fourth quarter (Oct.-Dec.) of calendar year 2007.

Reasons for the postponement include prolonged litigation currently underway in the United States and efforts to establish mass-production technology aimed at realizing further cost reductions.
Canon will announce a new launch schedule for SED televisions at a future date.