11-inch screen prototype

At a display forum in Tokyo this week, Sony showed off a prototype of an 11-inch screen that uses OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. The electronics giant plans to begin selling ultrathin TVs using the screens sometime this year, the Reuters news agency reported from this week's event. That would be ahead of the tentative timetable described by Sony CEO Howard Stringer earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The company declined to give unit targets or pricing, but said the OLED TV would be built by ST Liquid Crystal Display, a joint venture between Sony and Toyota Industries.

April 12, 2007 8:26 AM PDT

Photo by: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images