Samsung's MV800 MultiView camera comes with a swiveling display perfect for self-portraits

If you have spent any time on the Internet, then you are no doubt familiar with the tendency among camera-owning people to photograph themselves from strange and often awkward angles. You might have been in that very same situation yourself. Is there any cure for this unfortunate trend?

The Samsung MultiView MV800 may be solution. While most cameras have their LCDs on the opposite side of the lens, the one on the MV800 is hinged, allowing it to be flipped to the other side of the device. That’s not a new feature as far as cameras go, but it is a rare sight in a camera so small. Which is why the MV800 is a big deal.

The device features a 16-megapixel sensor and 5x f3.3-5.9 26-130mm lens. Samsung has also furnished the device with a variety of filters as well as support for taking panorama photos.

Samsung hasn’t announced a price for the camera, but its a fair bit it will retail for around $300 when its released at the end of September.

Android-powered Kyocera Milano to be available from Sprint on September 9 for $49.99

Kyocera is planning on releasing a new device to join the Echo in Sprint’s smartphone lineup. The Kyocera Milano, however, unlike the Echo, will forego the unique form factor for a more generic look and feel. The Kyocera Milano will be a midrange Android-powered offering, that will have its price as one of its main features.

Alongside that, though, will also be a side-sliding full physical QWERTY keyboard. So the Milano is clearly aimed at the texting-addicted youngsters, perhaps even to those older who like to shoot an email off their phone now and again.

But other than that, it’s a no frills phone really. Nothing high-end or bragworthy about it, so the early adopter crowd will surely steer clear of it. The Milano will have an 800 MHz processor, a 3-inch touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 512 MB of ROM, 512 MB of RAM, microSD card support (with a 2 GB unit included in the sales package), stereo Bluetooth, 3G (no 4G WiMax here), and a 1340 mAh battery. The Kyocera Milano runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

According to the leaked flyer you can see above, the Kyocera Milano will become available at Sprint on September 9 for $49.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) with a new two-year contract. So it’s anything but expensive.

Skype From Your Home Phone

Skype has finally built a standalone analog telephony adapter (ATA) (via their FREETALK brand) that you can hook up with your home phone line. Called the FREETALK Connect•Me Home Phone Adapter it is a PC-less standalone Skype device. It's a relatively small device that can be plugged directly into a wall outlet. It's sort of an oversized AC adapter with connectors on the bottom, as seen here:


In the picture above you can see the two-prong electric plug and then a white phone wire (to landline), black phone wire (to phone), and a blue network wire. I'm not sure I like the idea of this device requiring that I hang it against the wall in one of my wall electric outlets. It would have to use the bottom of a two outlet configuration due to the size of this and the wires coming out. I know in my house there are various AC adapters, surge protectors, etc. using up the wall outlets. I suppose you could connect this to the end of a surge protector, but that too is a prime spot and might look ugly/messy with 3 wires coming out of it.



I suppose in theory if you wanted to go 100% Skype you could skip the landline connection and connect the phone port directly up to your home wiring - after disconnecting your traditional phone line of course - you don't want voltage coming from the CO frying your brand new Skype ATA.

I'm not sure the REN (ringer equivalence number) on the FREETALK Connect•Me. I've written about this before, but I'll mention again that most telcos provide enough current to ring five telephones, also known as the standard 5 REN, however VoIP analog telephony adaptors (ATAs) often limit it to just 3 REN. If you connect more than 3 phone devices your phones ringing will be very weak or it won't ring at all. Interestingly, Skype's FAQ says, "A landline is not required to use the home phone adapter for Skype. However Skype should not be considered as a replacement landline service." Doesn't spark confidence, does it? Could be 911-related along with the inherent liabilities. Hence the disclaimer here.

Of course, Skype isn't the first or only one to offer a standalone Skype device that also works with your existing home phone line. There is the Philips VoIP841 or even the ActionTec Internet Phone Wizard which I reviewed in 2005, six years ahead of this product.

Specs:

• Dimensions:
  • Measurements: 95 (height) x 62 (width) x 32 (depth) mm.
  • Weight: 100 gram.
• Connectivity:
  • 1 FXO.
  • 1 FXS.
  • 1 x LAN (DHCP).
• Codecs:
  • G.722.
  • G.729.
  • Skype NWC.

Sony Begins Bid for Tablet Market

First tablet will be available next month, starting at $499.


Sony is launching its first two Android tablets, the first of which is now available for pre-sale and will be in stores beginning next month.

The debut Sony Tablet S starts at $499. With a unique tablet design, it features a 9.4-inch touchscreen display and weighs roughly 1.33 lbs.

Available later this year, the Sony Tablet P has two 5.5-inch displays with a folding design, and weighs just under one pound.

Among the entertainment features, Sony’s Tablets include Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited, as well as “PlayStation certified” gaming including Crash Bandicoot and Pinball Heroes.

According to ABI Research, worldwide annual media tablet shipments are expected reach more than 120 million units in 2015. The firm found that Android media tablets have collectively taken 20% market share away from the iPad in the last 12 months, though no single vendor using Android has been a significant challenge to the Apple technology.

Apple searching for another missing iPhone prototype left in SF bar

Apple is urgently working with police to recover another missing iPhone prototype, this time left in a bar in San Francisco's Mission District.

The new prototype went missing at the end of July, according to a report by CNET.

Apple's security team scrambled to find and recover the missing device to avoid a replay of the embarrassing incident that occured shortly before the launch of iPhone 4, when a similarly misplaced advanced prototype was found and ended up in the hands of Gizmodo, which paid the finders $5,000 and subsequently published photos of the device just prior to its official unveiling.

Two of the individuals allegedly involved with finding and fencing the stolen iPhone 4 prototype last year, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, have been charged with misappropriation of lost property and possession of stolen property, but the San Mateo County district attorney's office decided that arguing a case against Gizmodo would be too much work.

Searching for the missing iPhone 5

Apple tracked the location of the missing prototype from the Cava22 bar on 22nd Street in the Mission (pictured below) to a house in San Francisco's nearby Bernal Heights neighborhood. Company representatives contacted police asking for help in recovering the device, which Apple reportedly described as "priceless."

Police questioned a man in his early twenties at the location, and while admitting he had been at the bar said he did not have the prototype or know anything about it. He allowed police to search the house for the device, but nothing was found.

Apple's representatives reportedly offered the man a cash reward for its recovery with "no questions asked," but the man continued to report no knowledge of the device.

Apple never filed a police report detailing the loss (which would have made any reported details of the device public), and has apparently still not recovered the phone. The report noted that the prototype may have been sold on Craigslist for $200, but neither Apple nor Craigslist would comment on the matter.

HDTVs soon to cost less than an iPad

As big-screen high-definition television sets become more and more commonplace in homes across the country, the prices of these sets continues to drop to record lows. 

A recent report from Bloomberg suggests that during this quarter, the price of a standard 42-inch LCD HDTV will average $599 in the U.S. That's a 10 percent drop from this quarter of 2010. By the end of the year that average price is expected to drop to $578. 

In comparison, a 32-gigabyte, WiFi iPad currently sells for $599 and hasn't changed since the first iPad was released in January of 2010. 

Interestingly, all five of the largest TV manufacturers have not earned a profit from their TV businesses over the past year due primarily because of this steep decline in price.

Samsung offered the first 40" LCD TVs in 2002 for prices of roughly $8,000. Sharp's first LCD offerings (45") sold for $13,000.

Former Google China chief raises $180M for startup incubator

Kai-Fu Lee, the former head of Google China, has just finished a $180 million fund-raise for Innovation Works, a startup incubator for he founded two years ago.

Innovation Works is an accelerator for early-stage web and tech companies in China. The firm provides advisement, funding and support services to would-be entrepreneurs trying to get their own startups off the ground.

“Our unique ‘incubation-plus-investment’ model has not only produced a pipeline of high-quality projects but also enabled local early-stage startup teams to grow quickly with the help of our 360-degree mentoring services, in effect creating the entrepreneurial academy for Chinese startups,” said Lee in a release.

In mid-2009, Lee announced he was leaving Google after 4 years with the company. The brilliant computer scientist had been involved with Google.cn since its inception and had previously worked at Microsoft and Apple.

At the time Lee exited Google.cn, China’s struggles with the web were gaining prominence in Western media. The country’s censorship and surveillance program, called the Golden Shield Project drew the rancor of outsiders, while citizens did their best to circumvent censorship software and website bans.

Lee chose this tumultuous time to focus on one of China’s greatest strengths: its human capital. He soon announced he would be heading up Innovation Works, a new incubator just for Chinese startups.

Lee has a much deeper understanding of the Chinese entrepreneurial ecosystem than almost anyone else, and he knew the Western incubator model wouldn’t work in China for a number of reasons, which Lee highlighted in a 2009 interview with VentureBeat.

“Y Combinator would have a very hard time making it in China,” Lee said. “It would have a hard time finding the startups and qualified people to fund. It could interview hundreds and find only two.”

However, Innovation Works has seen definite success in its two years of operation. So far, the organization has incubated 34 companies. Nine of those companies have secured additional rounds of funding from third-party venture capital firms.

Investors in the Innovation Works fund run the gamut from multinational corporations to Silicon Valley elites. These entities include Sequoia Capital, Foxconn, SAP, Motorola, Silicon Valley Bank, Ron Conway and former executives from well-known web properties including Google, YouTube and Facebook.

The Innovation Works fund has been co-founded and co-managed by Innovation Works and investor WI Harper Group.

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Kai-Fu Lee on his experiences so far and how he sees entrepreneurship playing a role in the future of China’s Internet.

Keep Stuff Safe on Mac OS X

Whether you’re looking for a way of keeping things safe from potential intruders, family members or housemates, there are various ways that you can do this with your Mac, from installing third party software to making use of the native Mac OS X tools.

Better still, these tips can be used to protect your Mac from use by unauthorized users, and even those that have permission but might be planning on using your computer for some inappropriate moments of solitude.

There is a fine line between spying and controlling your computer, however, but this selection of clever tips and tricks should allow you to keep your Mac under control.

Firmware Password Utility

You don’t want to lock your computer down so tightly that no one else can use it, just like you don’t really want to spend too much time spying on other users (such as children if you’re using Parental Controls [LINK]), so you might like to know that there are plenty of ways to outsmart other users. One way is using the Apple Firmware Password Utility, a great way of preventing unauthorized users from bypassing parental controls. You could combine this with a new DNS fromwww.opendns.com, which can be used for filtering web content by replacing the DNS used by your ISP.

FileVault and Disk Encryption

Another way to keep a check on the data on your computer is to hide it from view. There are different ways of doing this but the best is with the FileVault, a native tool included in Mac OS X.

To set this up, go to System Preferences > Security > File Vault and click theTurn on FileVault option to activate password protected encryption of your Mac’s Home folder. Note that with FileVault activated you will be unable to recover individual files backed up in Time Machine.

For a less universal encryption option, meanwhile, you might instead opt to create a new encrypted disk image on your Mac, an external device or even a USB flash disk thanks to the Mac OS X Disk Utility, also available in System Preferences.

Keep Stuff Safe with Time Machine

Last of all, you might take advantage of the OS X Time Machine backup utility to keep your files and folders safe from unauthorized viewing. Time Machine can be configured via System Preferences > Time Machine. With this open, select the hard disk or network volume where you plan to backup to and use Options… to select the folders that don’t need backing up.

Using Time Machine allows you to restore a backup of any file or folder that has been accidentally deleted or damaged, simply by opening the folder where the file was once found and selecting Applications > Time Machine to wind the clock back. The resulting view will list all previous backups; when you find the file you want, click the Restore button to bring it back.

Sony's Reader Wi-Fi offers multi-touch display, is super light

Similar to what’s happening with tablets, it’s becoming increasingly hard to tell eReaders apart. Sony probably knows this better than most, considering that its own eReaders have fallen by the wayside as the Kindle and Nook have taken over. But can Sony turn the tide?

Enter the Sony Reader Wi-Fi. The latest Reader’s “enhanced” multi-touch display works with both finger and stylus input, the latter of which also allows users to both take notes and highlight text.

At 8.9mm thick and 168g in weight, the latest Reader is far lighter than the Nook, Kobo, and Kindle. That’s a big deal for a portable device — assuming, of course, that its build quality isn’t sacrificed.

With the latest update, the Sony Reader adds Wi-Fi, allowing users to buy books from Sony’s Reader Store or borrow them wirelessly from participating libraries in the U.S. and Canada.

Strangely, the device still offers a series of navigation buttons, few of which seem entirely necessary in light of the eReader’s touch screen. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Available in black, red, and white, the Sony Reader Wi-Fi will sell for $149 when it becomes available this October.

New site design fuels Amazon tablet launch speculation

In yet another example of how tablet computing is drastically changing the consumer landscape, online retail store giant Amazon is testing a new website design geared toward tablet users, reports The Next Web.

The new design could be in response to rumors that Amazon is working on an Android-based tablet that could be serious competition with the Apple iPad, which was first reported in July.

Based on the images in the report, the new design features much larger menu navigation buttons as well as a more eye-catching search bar, which is common in sites optimized for tablets. There is also a greater emphasis on its Instant Video, MP3s, Cloud Player, Kindle, Cloud Drive, Android apps and audio books.

Overall the design is much more polished than the current version of the site.

It’s possible that the new site design will roll out to everyone by October, which is when Amazon is reported to launch its new tablet.

Amazon was unavailable for immediate comment about the design.

Yahoo launches original series

Embattled Internet giant Yahoo plans to launch a series of original programs this fall as it seeks to better capitalize on its sizable audience.

Yahoo will debut eight short-form series, starting Oct. 3, which feature such actresses as Judy Greer ("Love & Other Drugs") and Niecy Nash ("Reno 911") and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me"). 

Forthcoming programs include Spurlock's "The Failure Club," a documentary series about conquering the fear of failure; "Let's Talk About Love," a weekly relationship show hosted by Nash, and "Ultimate Proposal," which depicts unusual marriage proposals -- including a prospective groom arriving via parachute -- hosted by "All My Children's" Cameron Mathison.

These new Web series are an extension of Yahoo Executive Vice President Ross Levinsohn's strategy to  bring more premium entertainment to the Internet portal, which is already among the top online destinations in the U.S., attracting about 178 million monthly visitors, according to measurement firm comScore.  

Yahoo has already gained traction with original programming. The company claims its "Prime Time in No Time," a daily video recap of the previous night's prime-time network shows, is among the Web's most viewed original series.

Yahoo also has expressed interest in acquiring Internet television service Hulu, which is owned by News Corp., Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, the Walt Disney Co. and Providence Equity Partners. Preliminary bids for Hulu were submitted earlier this month.

Yahoo's original content play was first reported by the industry trade publication Variety.

Mozilla showcases Firefox for Honeycomb tablets

Mozilla has shown off its upcoming tablet browser for Android Honeycomb tablets, with a series of screenshots highlighting its clean new design.

Although it's largely the same as its existing Android browser for smartphone handsets, the upgraded Firefox has some nifty new enhancements for larger screen sizes.

For example, the bigger screens mean that Firefox tabs can make a comeback, having been hidden away on the smartphone browser.

In landscape mode the tabs will be permanently displayed in thumbnail form on the left of the screen, while portrait tidies them away into a menu bar at the top.

Design line

The browser's look and feel has also been designed to fit with Honeycomb's own UI; Mozilla describes it as "minimalist design language" tempered with "familiar visual elements".

These elements include the big back button and curved tab shapes that you may remember from such browsers as Firefox for Android and Firefox 5.

And let's not forget the Awesomebar, which keeps your bookmarks and history nice and safe as well as syncing with your desktop browser activity.

Mozilla still isn't giving away a release date for Firefox for Tablets, but with work on the software obviously going at some pace, we're wagering it shouldn't be too much longer before it hits our Honeycombs.

The 10 hottest tablets of 2011

Tablets are the technology’s industry’s latest gold rush. With Apple selling 15 million iPads in 2010 and projected to sell as many as 45 million in 2011, everyone wants a piece of the public’s sudden infatuation with multitouch slabs of silicon.  From the world’s biggest computer companies to obscure little parts makers, there have been an obscene number of companies releasing tablets this year and the number will only increase next year.

Which ones are safe to ignore and which ones are worth your attention? In February, I wrote a piece called The 10 hottest tablets to watch in 2011. Most of these tablets have finally come to market, a lot of them flopped, and other new tablets have popped up. In May, after reviewing many of these tablets, I wrote the first version of my leaderboard, with a lot of tablets moving up or down in the rankings.

Heading into the fall buying season, here is my updated assessment of the top tablets of 2011.

10. Motorola Xoom

In the past, when Google was ready to make a leap forward with Android, it anointed a hardware partner to produce a device that would be something of a concept vehicle for Google’s vision. For the Android 3.0 tablet OS, Motorola was the chosen one and the Xoom was that device. This 10-inch widescreen tablet launched with drool-inducing tech specs but the Android tablet software was incomplete and desperately needed more apps. The other big drawback was the price. It launched at $799 without a contract ($599 for Wi-Fi version). Today, you can get the Xoom for as low as $439 for the Wi-Fi version through Amazon. It’s still the most industrial-strength Android tablet on the market, but it’s also a little heavy and bulky compared to newer hardware. Read my full review.

9. BlackBerry PlayBook

I was at the event last fall where RIM announced the BlackBerry PlayBook and my first impressions were not very good — mostly because RIM kept it behind glass. However, after getting my hands on the final product, I was a lot more impressed. There are things to like about the PlayBook, especially for businesses that are already invested and committed to BlackBerry smartphones and the BES backend infrastructure. This is a 7-inch tablet, so that limits its appeal a bit — except for the vocal minority who like the smaller form factor. Still, the hardware feels great, the tablet OS is easy to figure out, and the performance is staggeringly good. It’s also one of the best tablets for Web browsing because of its excellent implementation of Flash, although the 7-inch screen is a drawback for trying to read text from most web pages. Also, if you don’t have a BlackBerry smartphone to tether to this one, then it’s difficult to recommend it over other tablets. Read my full review.

8. HTC Flyer

Over half of the tablets on this list are powered by Android and HTC is one of the powerhouses of the Android ecosystem. Unlike rivals Motorola, Samsung, and LG, who all unveiled high-end tablets at CES 2011 in January, HTC was remarkably silent on the tablet question. However, this spring, HTC announced the Flyer, a 7-incher with a 1.5 GHz CPU, 1.0 GB RAM, 32GB of Flash storage, and a special version of the HTC Sense UI designed for tablets. The Sense UI is by far the best Android skin on the market and it doesn’t disappoint on the Flyer, even though it’s running on top of Android 2.2 and not Android 3.0. Also, unlike most of the other Android tablets, the Flyer includes digital ink technology and a stylus — and it’s an excellent implementation. Unfortunately, the Flyer hardware leaves a lot to be desired. It is thick, awkward to hold, and feels like an oversized smartphone.

7. Acer Iconia Tab A500

Acer isn’t known for its innovative designs, and it doesn’t deliver one with this tablet, but the company does a decent job of delivering a lot of technology at a reasonable price. That’s what you get with the Acer Iconia Tab A500 — a 10-inch Android Honeycomb tablet with a dual-core Tegra2 processor, 1GB of RAM, dual cameras on front and back, and a price tag starting at $449. There’s nothing spectacular about this tablet, but it gives you plenty of hardware and features for the money.

6. HP TouchPad

A lot of people will think I’m being extremely generous by putting the TouchPad as high as number six sinceHP has officially killed product. But, if HP hadn’t killed it, I would have ranked the TouchPad No. 3 on the list (although keep in mind that my primary audience is people who use technology for business). Since HP is clearing out the TouchPad for $100 (16GB) and $150 (32GB) and you can still get them on eBay for $200-$300, this one still belongs on the list, for now. As I wrote in my review, the TouchPad actually trumps the iPad in productivity (especially messaging) and web browsing, but it lacks the entertainment and media options that most consumers want and the hardware feels cheap and clunky. Read my full review.

5. B&N Nook Color

When the Barnes & Noble Nook Color e-reader got an update to Android 2.2 and its own app store earlier this year, it turned into a viable low-cost tablet. Some will argue against it, since it has a heavy-handed UI forced on top of Android and doesn’t run the full Android Market app store. But, I couldn’t leave this little 7-inch tablet off the list. It has a great form factor — thin and easy in the hands — and you can’t beat the price at $249. Plus, if you’re highly technical, you can hack it into a full Android tablet.

4. ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

ASUS believes that the iPad has two weaknesses — lack of choice and limited content creation ability — so that’s where the company has focused its attention in tablets. The Eee Pad Transformer is a 10-inch tablet with a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU that runs Android 3.0. The most innovative thing about this one is that it has an optional keyboard dock that also functions as an extended battery, giving the device up to 16 hours of life. With the Transformer’s dock mode, ASUS has pulled off an Android tablet that also doubles as a laptop. Plus, the price is right. At $399, this tablet is one of the best values on the market, so it’s no surprise that it it sold out in the US on its first day of online sales.

3. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

The original Samsung Galaxy Tab was a 7-inch tablet that jumped the gun on Android tablets before Google was ready, but it offered the first legitimate challenge to the original iPad. If it wasn’t so expensive ($600), it might have faired even better than the respectable sales numbers it posted. Samsung’s second try at the tablet market is a lot more potent. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a gorgeous piece of hardware. I usually don’t like Samsung’s plastic mobile hardware (it always feels cheap to me), but the Galaxy Tab 10.1 looks and feels great. It is razor-thin, light, and still feels sturdy. It has all the specs you’d expect for a high-end tablet — great screen, dual cameras, solid battery life, and a dual-core NVIDIA processor. The only drawback is the software. It runs Android Honeycomb with the Samsung Touchwiz UX, which adds very little, doesn’t have a very appealing UI, and doesn’t have all of the experimental features (like browser thumb controls) as stock Android. But, Samsung is making these tablets very friendly for enterprise buyers and it can run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

2. The Amazon tablet

Okay, I realize that this tablet isn’t even out yet (or officially announced, for that matter), but a lot of what makes a tablet useful is not just the tablet itself but all of the services behind the scenes and Amazon is putting all the pieces in place to build its own Android tablet. In fact, it may be better positioned to compete with Apple than any of the other tablet makers because of its strengths in content and cloud computing. Amazon already had the Kindle e-book library and Web-based music and video stores, but in 2011 it has added the Amazon Appstore for Androidand Amazon Cloud Drive. Since Amazon hasn’t made any official announcements yet, this tablet benefits from lots of positive speculation, but the stars are aligning for a formidable tablet product from the world’s e-commerce king. An Amazon tablet that draws on their design experience of the latest Kindle and is priced at under $300 would draw a lot of buyers away from the iPad. Again, although this is speculative, I think the Amazon tablet is destined to be No. 2 in the market by the end of 2011. If you’re thinking about buying a tablet this fall, you may want to wait until you see what Amazon announces.

1. Apple iPad 2

The iPad remains the king of the category and, even with the invasion of an army of challengers, the iPad will retain a commanding market share lead when we get to the end of 2011. It still has too many factors in its favor: dead-simple usability, long battery life, a massive catalog of apps, and a respectable price. The last factor might be the most important. The iPad’s rivals have had a very hard time beating the iPad’s price tag while offering a comparable experience. The iPad 2 doesn’t offer any revolutionary changes over the original iPad. It’s thinner and lighter, has an upgraded processor and display, and adds front and rear cameras. It’s a nice refinement, and with its big advantages in apps and entertainment, it easily has enough value to keep it at the top of this list — even for business users, who want the apps for business tasks and the games and entertainment for plane rides (and to distract the kids once in a while)

Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi to merge LCD operations

The merger will create the world's largest maker of small panels used in smartphones and tablet PCs, leapfrogging global leaders Sharp Corp ofJapan and Samsung Electronics of South Korea.

The move would help the firms focus on their main operations. However, the 90-percent government-owned fund could come under fire for using public money to prop up a volatile business in its biggest investment to date.

The Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ) will invest about 200 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in the merged unit, taking a 70 percent stake. Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi will each take a 10 percent stake, the three firms said on Wednesday.

They aim to complete the merger by the spring of 2012. A shakeup has been long overdue because falling panel prices and advances in technology have placed ever increasing demands on producers.

The three firms together controlled 21.5 percent of the market for small and medium-sized displays last year, larger than Sharp with 14.8 percent or Samsung Mobile with 11.9 percent, research firm DisplaySearch estimates.

All three had hesitated about investing in a new line to compete against Sharp, which is due to receive a $1 billion investment from Apple Inc, or South Korean rivals LG Display and Samsung Mobile Display, which have supply agreements with key clients.

Sony has been weighed down by chronic losses in its TVs, Toshiba is speeding up plans to shrink its chip business, while Hitachi has been looking to distance itself from the volatile panel business to focus on infrastructure operations.

"Sharp is especially aggressive, and those who don't have a strong customer base may struggle, given that only a handful of smartphone and tablet makers are doing well," said Nam Dae-jong, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.

With more panel makers shifting focus to small-sized markets to meet demand from smartphone and tablet PC makers, he and other analysts predicted the industry would be oversupplied next year.

"It's not a business that will likely provide stable profits in the mid- to long term," said Shigeo Sugawara, a senior investment manager at Sompo Japan NipponKoa Asset Management.

The INCJ is supervised by Japan's trade ministry, which had been criticized for not supporting Japan's chip and display industries in the early 1990s, a failure critics say allowed U.S. and South Korean firms to take the lead.

"The decision reflects a growing sense of crisis in Japan in light of its falling market share in the global chip and display markets," said a South Korean government official, who declined to be named.

How the three firms, which use two different types of display technology, will merge operations is unclear. The announcement did not include details of how they intended to deal with business overlaps either.

"The parent companies have found a most convenient buyer for their factories and staff," said Yoshihisa Toyosaki, head of Japanese research firm and consultancy Architect Grand Design.

"The assets of the merged entity will be huge. Without restructuring, there is no way that this company will win against Sharp, or rivals from South Korea, Taiwan, and eventually China."

Past investments by the INCJ, which can invest up to 900 billion yen with mostly government-guaranteed funds, includes a 40 percent stake in Swiss meter maker Landis+Gyr to support Toshiba's $2.3 billion acquisition.

The new display company will focus on developing next-generation displays, including thinner organic light-emitting diode displays with higher resolution, the three firms said.

Hitachi has been in separate talks with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn Electronics Inc, about a joint venture in LCD panels, sources have said.

Talks with the parent of Chimei Innolux Corp broke down when Hitachi failed to grab a key contract with Apple, an industry source said.

Ahead of the announcement, well-flagged by media, shares in Sony closed down 1.8 percent, Toshiba fell 2.4 percent and Hitachi rose 0.5 percent. The market benchmark Nikkei average ended flat.

($1 = 76.735 Japanese Yen)