Chapter 215
I gave a web talk at a MicroLED event. In Japan, the term MicroLED is almost obsolete. If I say that AR glasses will be the next-generation interface to replace smartphones, I will be beaten up. I am certain that Japan will never again innovate in the field of cutting-edge electronics equipment. It is truly unfortunate, but the reason for the defeat is the decline in competitiveness of the manufacturing industry, especially the display industry, which neglected to develop new displays due to a sense of crisis. SHARP, which boasted of its prosperity in LCD TVs, eliminated the CRT TVs that were mainstream at the time by turning LCDs, which were simply number displays on calculators, into large color screens, and even defeated the world's SONY. Plasma displays, developed by FUJITSU and expanded by PANASONIC, were at a disadvantage in terms of cost, so LCDs won the battle. However, the situation changed dramatically with the arrival of organic EL displays, which South Korea developed in a desperate attempt to catch up with and surpass Japan. It is common in cutting-edge fields that you cannot win by investing late but following behind, and this only deepened the wounds. In the first place, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology originated in Japan, so Japan's decline began when it was unable to master OLED. I remember clearly that when I gave a talk at Seattle SID in 2010, someone from PANASONIC gave a talk after me and attracted a lot of attention, and at that time, Japan still seemed to be at the forefront. However, shortly after, SAMSUNG and LG released LED-backlit LCD TVs and then OLED TVs, and the situation turned around. In Japan, there were strong voices that criticized the lifespan and poor color reproduction of OLED, and few people paid attention to its advantages such as the brightness of the screen due to its self-luminescence. (It may be better to say that they did not want to see it.) At the same time, smartphone screens were expanding, and young people who enjoy not only beautiful still images on Instagram but also videos on YouTube became fascinated with the clear displays of OLED. In this way, those who are ahead of the curve justify themselves by listing only the disadvantages of new technology, but new technology has always replaced old technology. I was a flip phone user until two years ago, because I did not want to carry a heavy mobile phone. In fact, since I started using an iPhone two years ago, I leave it in my bag, so no one calls my mobile phone except in emergencies. There is no way that something so half-baked will continue to be an interface, and that's what innovation is. After my lecture, I received emails from complete strangers about my lecture, and not only positive comments such as ``I completely agree'' or ``It was convincing,'' but also negative comments. That's what technology is. There is no such thing as “perfect.” If you win, you are the government and you are right, but history has proven that the winning technology is not necessarily the best technology. I heard that NHK(Nippon Housou)'s master TV still uses CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs. The reason is high color reproduction. The latest displays still cannot surpass CRT. As expected, they will switch to LCD because they can no longer buy CRTs, but that does not mean that the new one is the best. If you no longer think that the AR glasses worn by actor Tom Cruise in the movie ``Mission: Impossible'' are the coolest, you should consider retiring early.
March 10, 2025
What is innovation?
