By James Wells in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS: Sharp Corporation today unveiled the world’s largest LCD television at 108 inches at a press conference staged in conjunction with the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, which starts tomorrow.
The 108-inch (275cm) panel is larger than the 100-inch (255cm) panel created by LG.Philips LCD and larger than the largest previous flat panel – Panasonic’s 103-inch (262cm) plasma television.
For Sharp, the company that created LCD technology, this is the first product to exceed 100 inches and is a deliberate move to demonstrate the capabilities of the second stage of the company’s Kameyama plant which was opened in the third quarter of 2006.
In late 2004, Sharp unveiled the 65-inch (165cm) LCD television, which was the largest commercially available LCD television at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2005.
According to Sharp Electronics chairman and chief executive officer, Toshihiko Fujimoto, the company will continue to focus on large screen sizes and is looking forward to being a leader in the LCD category in 2007.
Sharp Electronics senior vice president and group manager – product and marketing group, Bob Scaglione, said the 108-inch panel will be mass produced from the middle of this year for commercial and domestic markets.
“We will influence the influencers first,” Scaglione said.
Sharp believes there are also numerous commercial applications including for signage and conference facilities.
A price on for the Sharp 108-inch LCD television has not been confirmed at this stage, but the price is expected to be more expensive than a plasma of a similar size, such as the Panasonic 103-inch plasma television or the Samsung 102-inch television.
Sharp announced that the 65-inch LCD television has been repositioned to $US10,999.