Two weeks ago, yes just before SID, I asked, which technology will have a more significant impact: Electronic Book Reader (EBR) or 3D. I received quite a few answers from you and here is the result.

Norbert Hildebrand
Insight Media Analyst

100% of the respondents believe that the EBR will have a larger impact in the future.

And as expected, during SID and now Computex, the announcements of new display technologies and devices increased significantly. Keeping abreast of them can keep you busy for a few hours a day. While this is really normal for a developing technology, there seems to be no stopping once the floodgates opened. When we look back to the electronic book reading development of the past years we see a pretty straight forward development that took off with the support of e-paper (E-Ink as the main driver) displays allowing very low power devices that are still the basis for this product group today.

Normally, with economical success comes fame and competitors, but not always in this order. It seems that this year the EBR device is transforming into a full size tree, with many spin-offs. Don’t think only of the tablets, but also of the many other possible devices driven by new and exciting display technologies.

With re-launch of tablets the viability of LCD displays has been brought back into discussion for this high mobility space. The one-time clear winner (electrophoretic display) has a new competitor in the form of the established TFT-LCD. While reflective LCD displays are not really new, Pixel Qi has certainly created a version that seems not only competitive but may even be ahead of the gang. As transflective displays always have to make compromises, recent buzz has given them some serious consideration as a contender in this field. Ultimately the consumer will vote for the best solution with his wallet.

Here are some of the short notes from the last two day’s news publications:

• Hanwang has teamed up with Marvell to create a new low cost line of EBRs based on a Marvell chip with integrated display driver for the E-Ink display.
• E-Ink has announced a partnership with Chilin Technology Corporation to bring the electrophoretic displays to industrial applications.
• Asus announced the EeeTablet as a 8" reader / tablet device with a black and white TFT-LCD without a backlight. This display has XGA resolution and fast refresh rate.
• It looks like Amazon is preparing for a new, slimmer Kindle later this year that will still be using the black and white electrophoretic display.
• Fujitsu announced the development of an enhanced color e-paper display with a contrast ratio of 7:1 with commercialization later in 2010. As a license of Kent Display this display is based on cholesteric LCD technology.
• Delta is showing a 13.1" color EBR based on Bridgestone’s e-paper technology. Availability was announced for end of 2010.
• Pixel Qi is announcing a 10" touch capable display with a 30% power reduction over the first generation displays.
• Sony has been showing a ‘rollable’ OLED display with an organic TFT backplane
• Acer is entering the EBR world with the LumiRead a 6" device based on an E-Ink display.
• Pandigital has announced the Novel, a 7" color TFT-LCD based EBR with touchscreen and WiFi powered by Android and $200 price tag.

This amount of news makes it very hard to stay on top of the developments in the EBR world. Especially while we are putting the final touches on our new EBR report due in June. Changes are good, development is great — but could they just do it a little slower? My typing can’t keep up.

Reply to the author