At a press conference on Tuesday, Panasonic revealed major changes in its telecommunications and high definition television divisions. New low-voltage plasma technology, partly sourced from AbleComm, is uniting the two divisions in new product initiatives, including plasma video displays for cell phones to use with AT&T’s recently announced Mobile TV service.

According to Mark Balsama, a Group Manager of the Communications Systems Division, “For nearly a decade, Panasonic’s engineers have been secretly working on a thin, lightweight low-voltage compact plasma display. We have recently reached a licensing agreement for some key technology with product developer AbleComm. We will be able to incorporate miniature plasma displays into both consumer and business telephone products starting this fall. They will rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast and thinness, and can be manufactured for much less money.”

“Many of our new phones will have vibrant color plasma screens that can run on just 1.5 volts and won’t require any additional wiring or special power supplies. We’ll be able to put plasma in cell phones, business phones, consumer phones, corded phones, cordless phones, and even door intercom monitors and fax machines. We will revolutionize the consumer electronics business, as Panasonic has done many times before.”

Update:

According to another release, they now claims that the story is a completely false

“We are advised by AbleComm, Inc. that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, Panasonic To Put Plasma Video Displays in Cell Phones, issued earlier today over PR Newswire, as the entire news release is completely false” Updated press release