The company has come up with some manufacturing breakthroughs on its surface conduction electron emitter or SED televisions that will allow it to come out with televisions that will be more competitive in price to large liquid crystal displays, Naoaki Umezu, the chief specialist on SED for Toshiba, said during a hallway conversation with reporters at CEATEC, a high-tech tradeshow taking place in the Tokyo area this week.
Umezu would not reveal what Toshiba and its partner Canon have changed in the manufacturing process. He also said SED televisions will sell at a premium over LCDs because they will provide a better viewing experience. Nonetheless, "it will be competitive with LCD", he said.
Price has been the sticking point for SED. Toshiba and Canon formed a joint venture around a concept a few years ago when plasma and LCD television prices were much higher. Since then, LCD prices have been dropping about 40 percent per year, and plasmas have been declining in price, too. Analysts and competitors have claimed the price declines were pushing SED to the margins. Toshiba and Canon delayed the launch of SED in March 2006 to July 2007. Originally, they were due to come out last year.