All the signs are that we are going to have to put up with far from satisfactory liquid crystal diode displays if we want portability, and recognising that the things are far from ideal, Japanese manufacturers are pulling out all the stops to improve the things. NEC Corp has announced a full-colour analogue 13 thin-film transistor liquid crystal diode display that uses an analogue red, green and blue interface to achieve natural colour. Graphics and television pictures dispalyed at the launch were excellent. NEC believes its totally analogue interface beats the analog-digital to-analogue conversion of many of its competitors such as Sharp Corp and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co’s Panasonic. The 13 module will be available for shipment from this summer, and NEC is looking to the development of larger screen modules, between 15 and 21. Initially 90% of the production will go for use in NEC products; to date demand is highest for the 9.4 screens used in laptops, although NEC expects the market to grow to a $8,900m market by 2000, when it hopes to have a 25% market share.
