New Brand Follows Launch of First Consumer Product with Active Matrix Display

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2003--Eastman Kodak Company today said that it has branded its award-winning organic light-emitting diode (OLED) products, which will be known as Kodak NuVue displays.

The new brand will be used for both the company's active- and passive-matrix OLED products.

The introduction of the branded product line, made at the opening of the Society for Information Display conference here, is the latest development in Kodak's industry-leading work - and commitment - to further enhance and commercialize OLED display technology. Most recently, the company unveiled the Kodak EasyShare LS633 zoom digital camera, the world's first product with a full-color, active-matrix (AM) OLED display. The LS633 camera features Kodak's innovative, award-winning AM OLED technology to display bright, sharp images for better on-camera viewing and sharing from virtually any angle.

"We continue to advance the commercialization of our OLED technology, opening new opportunities in new markets - for Kodak and for the display industry," said Bernard Masson, senior vice president, Eastman Kodak Company, and president, Display Group. "These NuVue displays enable manufacturers truly to change the way people work with electronic devices, and they complement our strategy to license other manufacturers to help drive OLED in the market."

Research firms such as DisplaySearch and Stanford Resources predict the OLED display market could reach up to $3 billion by 2007. Consumer electronics devices expected to incorporate OLED technology in the next five years include mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs and DVD players.

Kodak scientists discovered the light-emitting properties of organic substances more than 20 years ago and patented advances in designs and materials. Through a joint development program, Kodak and SANYO Electric Co., Ltd., produced the first full-color 2.4-inch AM OLED display in 1999 and less than a year later, a 5.5-inch AM OLED, and in 2002 demonstrated a 15-inch display. Their joint manufacturing venture, SK Display Corp., produced the world's first AM OLED displays for Kodak's evaluation kit and is manufacturing displays for the LS633 camera.

OLED Technology

OLED displays comprise self-luminous pixels, requiring no backlights used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). So they offer design and performance advantages, including clearer images, crisper video, and thinner designs in digital cameras, mobile phones, PDAs and other devices. Additional benefits over conventional technologies include higher contrast for superb readability in most lighting conditions, faster response time to support streaming video, and industry-leading (165 degree) viewing angle for superior ergonomics. In addition to the joint manufacturing venture for AM OLED panels with SANYO, Kodak licenses OLED technology to more than one dozen display and device manufacturers worldwide. For further information on Kodak displays and licensees, go to http://www.kodak.com/go/display/.

Eastman Kodak Company and Infoimaging

Kodak is the leader in helping people take, share, enhance, preserve, print and enjoy pictures -- for memories, for information, for entertainment. The company is a major participant in "infoimaging" a $385 billion industry composed of devices (digital cameras, printer docks and PDAs), infrastructure (online networks and delivery systems for images) and services & media (EasyShare software, film and paper enabling people to access, analyze and print images). Kodak harnesses its technology, market reach and a host of industry partnerships to provide innovative products and services for customers who need the information-rich content that images contain. The company, with sales in 2002 of $12.8 billion, is organized into four major businesses: Photography, providing consumers, professionals and cinematographers with digital and traditional products and services; Commercial Imaging, offering image capture, output and storage products and services to businesses and government; Components, delivering flat-panel displays, optics and sensors to original equipment manufacturers; and Health, supplying the healthcare industry with traditional and digital image capture and output products and services.

(Note: Kodak and EasyShare are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.)
Editor's Note: For additional information about Kodak, visit our web site on the Internet at: http://www.kodak.com.