Canon says no intention of giving up on SED TVs

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) Japan's Canon Inc. said on Friday it plans to press ahead with the development and production of a new type of flat TVs despite a delay of more than one year in the commercial launch, believing that there will still be room for the product in the fast-growing market.

Canon and Toshiba Corp. said on Wednesday they would delay the launch of surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) TVs to the fourth quarter of 2007 to improve cost competitiveness, casting a shadow over the product's commercial feasibility.

''We will never give up on SED TVs,'' a Canon spokesman quoted President Fujio Mitarai as saying. Mitarai made the comments at an analyst meeting that was closed to media.

Toshiba and Canon formed a joint venture in 2004 to develop and make SED panels, which are thinner and consume less energy than liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma display panels, currently the main technologies used for flat panel TVs.

Analysts are concerned that incessant price erosion in existing flat TVs and ballooning output capacity for LCD and plasma panels, which helps TV makers cut per-unit costs, may dim the chances of SED TVs' commercial success.

The global market for LCD and plasma TVs grew 73 percent to .5 billion in 2005, according research firm DisplaySearch, as people trade in bulky cathode-ray tube models for sleek flat TVs.

Shares in Canon, the world's top maker of digital cameras, closed down 1.2 percent at 7,230 yen, underperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index IELEC, which dipped 0.16 percent.

REUTERS SY DS1601