Looks like someone let the plasma cat out of the proverbial bag too soon, and is now desperately backtracking to try to salvage a business relationship: the press release issued yesterday for Panasonic and AbleComm’s venture putting tiny plasma screens into cellphones has been thoroughly denounced as “completely false”.  The release, which described the compact plasma screens as a “pre-emptive” strike against OLED gaining the next-gen portable display upper-hand, suggested Panasonic had been working on the technology for a decade, and that AT&T had expressed interest in handsets using such screens as part of their mobile TV service.

“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

It’s unclear whether this was a deliberate or accidental occurrence, though the release was sizable and contained multiple quotes from all the parties involved which lends weight to the idea that it was an authentic document prematurely distributed.

[via I4U]