Sharper than past models the Company has admitted that they are set to benefit from the merging of the Pioneer R&D team into the Panasonic global operation.
Masaaki Fujita the Senior Vice President and Director of Panasonics global plasma and TV business unit said in an interview with ChannelNews "We are working on a lot of new technology aimed at delivering more eco friendly TV display systems. We will cut power consumption by half and the Pioneer research and development team are now working at Panasonic on this task however we have not made a decision yet as to whether their KURO technology will be incorporated into Panasonic models. We are still talking about that. We have our own display technology and this has to be considered".
When asked about the current state of the display market and the move by vendors to OEM manufacturing he said "We aim to increase our OEM business from its current position of 10% to 30% we are investing panel production to achieve this".
He believes that Panasonic has an advantage across several fronts in the flat panel TV market. Sitting alongside several other Panasonic Japan executives he said that the investment that Panasonic was making in Plasma production and new screen technology was significant. He also said that a key factor going forward is energy efficient TV's that don't compromise on display quality.
The senior executives from Panasonic said that the double-efficiency technology forms the base for next-generation PDPs, enabling even thinner profiles, larger screens, brighter images and higher definition and above all lower power consumption.