Samsung uneviled a laptop at CES 2010 with a 14 inch transparent OLED display; while fascinating to look at, a transparent display serves no useful purpose in a laptop today.  Outside of the laptop world transparent displays could make their way into a number of real world applications.  The movie Avatar provided a glimpse into the future of transparent display technology and their applications as did Minority Report in 2002. 

Samsung has not released a lot of details about the laptop and its display, but they might actually produce the laptop for sale within the next 12 months.  The OLED display is up to 40 percent transparent and consumes 20 to 40 percent less power than an equivalent size LCD display.  The display's resolution is a mere 960 x 540 but has a 100,000:1 static contrast ratio.  Samsung should look to increase the resolution for production versions as the Nexus One (Google Mobile Phone with Android 2.1) already has a 800 x 480 OLED in a much smaller 3.7 inch display.

Some possible real world applications include:

Goggles that display vital information/statistics for things like skiing

Military goggles similar to the commercials for the US Air Force, and possibly something like Iron Man's helmet with an interactive heads up display (HUD).

Automobile HUD with GPS maps, car information such as velocity, MPG, etc.  This type of technology would prevent people from having to take their eyes off the road to look at things like their GPS device.

There are a lot of other HUD type applications.

Holograms or possibly better 3D effects with polarizing glasses.

Post your ideas for transparent displays.

Sony has decided to delay the release of their second generation organic light emitting diode (OLED) television originally scheduled for release by the end of 2009.  There are no confirmations on a new release date.  The decision to delay stems from Sony's lack of profitability in the current LCD market.  Sony was the first to market with an OLED called the XEL-1 which was a mere 11 inches and carried a price tag of $2500 USD. 

The primary marketing pitch for OLED is their depth, which currently can be as thin as 3mm (as is the case with the Sony XEL-1) though in theory they can be almost as thin as a piece of paper.  The other less realized benefits of OLED are many.  Production costs could be significantly less than LCD as OLEDs can be "printed" onto a suitable substrate similar to how an inkjet printer works.  Black levels in LCDs have always been an issue because of the backlight required and even with LCDs moving to LED technology for their backlight they can't come close to the black levels and contrast ratios OLED can produce.  Each pixel on an OLED display produces its own light which lends to the ability to have true blacks and over a 1 million to 1 static contrast ratio (not to be confused with dynamic range which is often used by LCD manufacturers to represent their contrast ratio).  Better color reproduction and viewing angles are also direct benefits from the way each pixel controls its own light output.  Most importantly for gaming is the response time which is less than .01ms whereas the best LCD is around 2ms.  Input lag has yet to be tested on these types of displays but if they don't require any extra processing like LCDs typically do, then the input lag could be non-existent.  With the possibility of zero input lag and a less than .01ms response time; people using these displays will have a clear advantage over somebody using an LCD as the person on the LCD will be several frames behind at best with what they see on their screen.  OLED also uses 20-40% less power than similarly sized LCD displays.  In short, OLED is the best of all the current display technologies and then some.

With Sony delaying their OLED release they have opened the door for their competitors into this emerging market.  OLED with its low power consumption and other clear benefits could see a lot of interest in the mobile market.  From cell phones to laptops, all of these devices could benefit from a display with vastly superior viewing angles and the lower power consumption directly correlates to increased battery life.  Samsung is aiming for 2010 to see their OLED laptop displays being released while their 40 inch OLED television could still be a few years away.  LG plans to release a 15 inch OLED television later this year for the Korean and overseas market.  OLED is the technology of the future for all types of displays and the first company to get a good handle on it should benefit greatly.