Ceatec 2009 sees Sony Vaio, Walkman, Reader get OLED treatment

Erica Ogg | Oct 07, 2009

Vaio with flexible OLED screen. (Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

CHIBA, JAPAN--Perhaps to distract from the fact that it has no organic light-emitting diode TV on display here at Ceatec 2009, Sony is instead showing off conceptual uses for its flexible OLED technology.

Mind you, these are just prototypes, nothing even close to a real product, like the XEL-1 TV that Sony actually sells but is notably absent from its booth here. But the ways the company is thinking of perhaps using its flexible display tech are certainly cool.

Take the dual OLED screen Vaio notebook. It features the 0.2mm OLED on both the screen and keyboard area. It's not a functioning prototype, though, so it doesn't do much besides sit in a plexiglass case and look pretty.

Also showcased here is the company's e-book Reader with an OLED screen and a futuristic update of the time-worn Walkman brand, in which the audio player takes the form of a wearable wrist device.

Sony's flexible OLED-based Vaio notebook--not coming to a store near you. (Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

As cool as those are, they're just concepts. And none of them can make us forget that Sony was once the leader in commercializing OLED TVs and now seems content to let LG and Samsung take charge.