In the regular world, plasma TVs are large and cellphones are small; in Panasonic’s world, however, a cellphone is just another opportunity to squeeze in a tiny, plasma-based display.  The new, low-voltage screens – developed with AbleComm, Inc. – have apparently been a decade in the making, and rival OLED displays for brightness, contrast, thinness and, most importantly of all, cost less to produce.  They’ve already found interest from AT&T, using the screens with the carrier’s new Mobile TV service.

Cellphones aren’t the only devices Panasonic envisages getting a tiny plasma injection:

“Our plasma expertise and our large-scale, efficient manufacturing will allow these new small Panasonic plasma screens to replace LCDs in many applications — gasoline pumps, automated teller machines, camera viewfinders, MP3 players, vending machines, automotive displays, digital photo frames, appliance touch screens and even the little pop-up screens on printers. In fact, I am pleased to announce that we will be supplying mini plasma screens to HP for an exclusive two-year period for use in their printers. We view our thin low-voltage PDP technology as a pre-emptive strike against OLED technology” Robert A. Perry, Senior Vice President of Panasonic Consumer Electronics

The dinky plasmas sip just 1.5v and don’t require any additional wiring or special power supplies.

[via SlashPhone]