At an exhibition at Makuhari Messe in Chiba in 2002, a crowd at the Sanyo Electric booth gawked as they were treated to a demonstration of a trial version of an organic electroluminescent (EL) display, the first time such a panel had ever been shown to the public.
The panel, the size of a TV set, was only 2-mm thick (half as thick as a liquid crystal display) and could be viewed clearly from the side.
Known as an "organic EL display panel," the next-generation viewing screen has electronics makers locked in a fierce development war that threatens to stop LCD displays in their tracks.