Is eInk Sinking?

Apart from basic Amazon Kindles what other eink devices are selling today. It could be said that even the Kindle could soon be on Fire. The fact is that the ‘loookie likie’ devices that once littered the market are today being usurped by AMOLED smartphones and tablets. The best measure for this decline came today as E Ink Holdings Inc. shares slumped some 6.9% (the lowest close since July 1, 2009) on the news of the company’s December sales which had slid 84% from a year earlier!

Fourth quarter sales were only down 4% from the third quarter and overall annual sales were up 53% However, E Ink alarmingly reported that its December consolidated sales were down 55% from November and also down 57% from a year earlier...

Investors may see this as a temporary sales issue, but some will see eink has had its day as we know it today and is unlikely to bounce back and that far from a seasonal dip it could be a sudden decline. We have seen yet another supplier BeBook bite the dust and its hard to see any real action other than basic Kindles..

Does the Kyobo Reader Pass the 'So What' Test?

If we had a colour ‘eink’ ereader device some 18 months ago we world may have been different today. If we had a colour ‘eink’ ereader device even 12 months ago it would have had a significant impact on the market. But today we have to ask whether it even passes the ‘so what’ test?



Kyobo Book Centre in South Korean has launched a Kyobo eReader, with a full-color display using Qualcomm mirasol technology which is even fast enough for video.The Kyobo eReader uses a 5.7-inch XGA mirasol display from Qualcomm with resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels and runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The device also features a 1 GHz Qualcomm SnapDragon processor, multitouch touchscreen, Wi-Fi connectivity also has English-language text-to-speech capabilities.


The display combines the long battery possibilities of E Ink displays with a full colour output. The Mirasol display controls the distance between a membrane and a reflective glass surface, and this either blocks light or amplifies particular frequencies. The result is that the membrane can appear transparent, black, or a particular colour. Qualcomm’s mirasol display layers three of these together to create a full colour red, green, and blue display. The displays then only consume power then they’re moving the membranes around, and only have to move a few hundred nanometers to change colour, The display gets brighter in direct light, and uses a front-light LED system to simulate sunlight in the dark.


The Kyobo eReader is available in South Korea for a relatively high ticket of around US$300.
So does it pass the ‘so what’ test?


It would appear to be halfway between a smartphone and a tablet. It reads ebooks but is that its main draw and in our opinion it fails on some basic counts. It is not a smartphone. Size wise it falls uncomfortably between the new smartphones and today's tablets. The screen technology may now offer colour but anyone who has a Amoled screen will know this game has already been decided and the winner is here today. Finally the price is sitting on the high side of unattractive.


Interestingly we wonder whether those UK booksellers that have a somewhat daunting ebook challenge may go for it just to be different? As the market moves progressively away from devices to platforms these devices will still create interest but will not become mainstream just expensive gadgets with a limited life expectancy and novelty usage.

EIink resolution to Increase

Just as we write about the narrowing of the ereader device choices we have E Ink and Epson announcing a new 300 dpi high-resolution electronic paper device. They plan to increase screens from today’s 160dpi displays to 300dpi in displays, which measure 9.6” and will have a resolution of 2,400 by 1,650 pixels. Like existing eInk displays they will feature ultra-low power consumption and Epson will manufacturer and support a high-speed controller platform for the displays, using some of the high-speed image processing technology the company has developed for its photo-quality printers. As a result they claim that users will be able to turn pages on the new displays faster than existing ereaders.

The question is very much about whether eInk will expand past the ebook market? Although Amazon, B&N and Kobo have successfully used eInk technology as the cornerstone of their platforms it is questionable whether ebooks are now dependant on eInk or are becoming more widely accepted on other devices and especially tablets? If Amazon as rumoured were to introduce a Kindle Tablet what would that do to eInk readers?

Your Flexible Friendly Smartphone?

A group of researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen's University, Canada and Arizona State University's Motivational Environments Research group have created an interesting flexible smartphone prototype made of electronic paper and in doing so have made their five year prophesy . The PaperPhone can do all the things expected from smartphones, make and take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books but also has the ability to triggers functions and features when bent, folded and flexed.

The prototype is millimetres thick and built on e-ink technology bonded to flex sensors and a touchscreen that interprets drawings and text written on it.
The PaperPhone prototype will be displayed at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Vancouver next week alongside a ‘chunkier’ looking device they called the Snaplet which changes its usage according to how it is flexed.



The team says they think flexible displays of this type could replace traditional smartphones within five to ten years.

Roel Vertegaal, the director of the human media Lab at Queen’s and one of the phone's creators, rather boldly claimed: 'This is the future. Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years.’ You hope that they can deliver it, the technology is sound and the market demand is real.

eInk Goes To War!

We had to remind ourselves it wasn't April's Fool Day when we read a rector in The Telegraph that UK defence contractor BAE Systems plans to cover British Army tanks with, not camouflage as we know it, but an E-Ink panel and believe that in doing so their surface may become practically invisible to the enemy on the battlefield.

We don’t envisage a tank covered with Sony and Kindle devices but one big sheet of eInk which is refreshed constantly. Cameras will constantly take pictures of the surroundings and project them onto the eink surface of the vehicle.

They promise a prototype by 2015 and obviously envisage full colour and not a greyscale tank in their coloured battlefield.

We can see all sorts of implications and questions such as:

If the enemy can’t detect them how can it own ground troops?
What happens if part of the screen starts to malfunction or is hit by a bullet?
Tanks aren’t exactly quiet and do tend to make heavy tracks and even kick up dust so would they seriously be invisible?
What happens if someone is standing up (like Margaret Thatcher once did)?
What about that long cannon?
eInk may be visible in bright sunshine but it's image is unlikely to be techo colour let alone HD or 3D and very static.


We believe that either someone has been sold a technology pup at the ministry, or they have forgotten we are in a credit squeeze.

Its Raining More eReaders

Just when you though it was safe to go out and the number of ebook readers was reducing we face a new bombardment by an array of new devises all hoping to catch the eye and sales.

Pocketbook

Pocketbook International announce not one but five new eReaders manufactured by Foxconn. The new pretenders are; PocketBook Pro 602, Pro 902, Pro 603, Pro 903 and the IQ. They already have a 301, 302 and 360 models! The devices will be released at IFA in September in Berlin.

The Pro 602 is a 6” screen, the Pro 902 a 10” screen with the Pro 603 and Pro 903 being premium versions with touchscreen, 3G connectivity and run Linux. The PocketBook IQ has a TFT colour 7” touchscreen display and is aimed at multimedia consumption with wifi and Bluetooth and runs on Android 2.0.

Pandigital

Pandigital’s has a new Android eReader with a 7-inch TFT LCD touch screen, a display resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, ARM processor, 2GB memory with SD slot, built-in Wi-Fi, web browser, a mini-USB port and has a stylus and virtual keyboard. The eReader supports PDF & EPUB e-book formats and is integrated Barnes & Noble eBookstore, but has a $175 high ticket.

Qualcomm

The new Mirasol display is being widely shown at the trade shows but now has to be adopted by the manufacturers and step up in volume production. The interesting aspect is that Qualcomm could offer the display, the app processor, and connectivity on one chip. Certainly one to watch.

Aluratek



News that Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro has dropped in price below the magic $100 shows that these 'lookie likie' eink readers are in for a tough time as they go to commodity pricing.The 5"reader which is widely available in the US dropped in price from its previous $169 to $99 at the Newegg retail store. This one looks clunky and needs to be priced even lower to attract any attention.

New Sony Reader and other EInk Runners

Sony
It appears to be the worst kept secret that Sony is about to launch next month a new ereader, some say two. We have seen the signs coming with they lowering of the price of their existing readers through ‘special deals’ and the fact that their current offer looks as exciting as an old desktop PC in the tablet mobile world.

So what do we expect and will it make a difference and reverse what is clearly an also ran offer? Lighter, improved page turns and contrast, increase memory and maybe free 3G! We think its too early to see what their Android position is following their recent recruitment campaign.

The challenge for Sony is breaking into the big league and getting wide adoption as a viable alternative to Amazon, Apple and Google. BBeb is certainly past its sell by date and the Sony store is bereft of content and looks unappealing. Price could be a trump card given they have the corporate backing but tin alone isn’t the answer and they have failed so far to build a real content base and attraction. The devices as they stand aren’t going to hack it in the educational market. Some would suggest that Sony’s biggest problem is that it has an inbuilt corporate aversion to risk.

Expect it next month.

Notion Ink
On the other hand we wait with some interest for Notion Ink’s Adam tablet with its dual eInk-and-LCD display. The latest news is not good on the price which is reported to be $498 but its dual-mode display, with Wi-Fi, GPS, optional 3G, a camera that rotates 185 degrees, and its own app store sound interesting. It is expected to ship later this year, but will that be too late, or just right and will it have the mass appeal to make its mark in a crowded market.

Qualcomm
There is still much interest in the technology promised by mirsol which uses display technology that provides colour e-ink outside the WINK Corporation. The technology is called interferometric modulator display and similar to LCD uses RGB subpixels to generate colours. However it requires far less energy and is reflective, allowing for superior sunlight visibility whilst giving long availability and with refresh rates that are fast enough for video.

Kogan
Meanwhile down under Kogan Technologies has launched a 6-inch eBook ‘lookie likie’ reader into the Australian market at a price of just AUD$189. It has all the usual eInk features and wedge of give away public domain books that sit on the virtual unread shelf and is compatible with Adobe ACS4 DRM. We struggled to remember which reader it looked like but that hardly surprising with logos transferring faster than premiership footballers swop shirts and clubs!

Huawei
China looks to the West with the release of its first eReader, the Huawei T62W. Yet another lookie like eInk reader with a 6″ touch screen, WiFi, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, and a microSDHC slot.

The $100 eBook Reader is Coming

We have been saying for a long time that the eInk reader price had to drop to a point where it becomes a throw away commodity. We have seen recent skirmish with Nook and Amazon but today we saw the first real push into that price point space.

eBookNewser has reported that Books-A-Million has been selling one version of the Sony eReader which was originally $299 for $99 and $89 to members. Guess what - within hours the members-only special offer had sold out. Ok we offer was limited to just one version, restricted to members and was a time window offer, but it clearly proves that people will buy at the right price and we will continue to suggest that $100 is it.

If a real price war were to start today it will be interesting to watch. With the recent demise of iRex and Cooler readers and many others probably looking shaky it is easy to see the opportunity for many to dump their inventory onto the market and cut their losses. This has to drive down the high end machines and it is a brave man who stick at the old price. The likely winners are those who like Amazon can cross subsidise any loss, those with a sizeable repository on offer and the brave.

We predict that the price of many readers will fall to $100 before the Christmas buying season. However consumers beware that the first to be on offer will be the old models, refurbished ones and generally those that are sitting on shelves waiting to be written off in the ebooks. Also consumers must ensure that the readers, especially the less know ones, are capable of doing what they says on the box.

eInk Just Lost its Cool, While eBook Issues Just Got Hotter

Cooler reader looks to be another casualty of the squeeze that is inevitable in the ‘lookie likie’ eink reader market. They follow iRex in what may be a growing queue of dead technology failures. The one consistent thing we have said is that this technology made little sense and had a very limited life and now the writing may be clearly on the wall.We doubt we will see eink readers as we know them today in 2012.

The cooler reader entered the market in a full colour with a spectrum of cases, but forgot to make the screen colour too. They also misjudged their launch with a stand and presentation more geared to a car show than a book show and their one trick pony was just a colour case. According to various sources they are no more.

Cooler will not be the last and there will be a lot more casualties before some sense prevails and we haven’t yet seen the inevitable price drop to minus $100 which will sort out many that are merely hanging around on death row today. As we said earlier this week the ones with strong content revenues and offer are the only ones with a survival chance today.

The Amazon Kindle however continues to push forward and now has a fancy graphite case. Surprisingly they have just discovered that a dark contrast makes a ‘white’ screen look like paper! Hello did they not realise this when Adobe created Digital Editions some four years ago. A graphite case and better eink resolution isn’t going to save what is basically inferior technology. You don’t see people going out to buy black and white TVs today so why expect them to buy black and white readers? The only stay of execution will be a drop to $99 a unit.

However the demise of black and white eInk has another interesting twist as it starts to potentially fracture Adobe’s DRM platform ACS4 which today was more or less the universal DRM across the eink devices. It also starts to highlight the differences between the adoption rules being applied to epub standards and formats in general.
There are a number of interesting issues now emerging on epub, hard DRM, soft DRM (watermarking) and readers. It will be interesting to watch as these unfold and what is certain is that there will not be one universal solution to these issues for some time yet.

Sony: Anything You Can Do We Can Do Too

We saw Amazon drop their price of the Kindle to align to the Nook and now Sony has dropped the prices on its Pocket Edition from $169 to $149, the Touch Edition from $199 to $169 and the 3G Daily Edition is now $299 from $349.

Our take is that this, is too little too late and they have to break the $99 price point to be attractive. Will anyone be prepared to cut to the bone, or run a loss leader to capture the market? The problem with so many ‘lookie likies’ is that they don’t make money on the sales of books, only on the devices and as the price wars heat up then some will go to the wall. It is hard to see anyone but Kobo, Amazon and B&N surviving these wars if they get as hot as they must do soon. Forget the social networking, forget they fancy add ons and split screens, for eInk readers to make it through winter, they have to make money out of content sales.

How long before one starts to give them away to schools, institutions etc. Remember they also will soon face OLPC tablet offer at the low end and more Android tablets at the top end and after all said and done, they are still one channel black and white TVs, in a multi channel, Technicolor and HD world.

Plastic Logic to become an Urban Myth?

We all waited and waited and waited. Everyone said it would change the face of eInk and take it into the corporate space and bring newsprint to the net. We started to doubt it and some said that it had a longer reticulation period than an elephant. Now we hear that our favourite urban myth Plastic Logic’s Que-e reader isn’t shipping yet again with an official rating of a “delay.” They have gone as far as to cancel all pre-orders and new ones and that they are no longer offering a date for its launch.

Plastic Logic’s email to customers simply said, “We need to let you know that since your unit will not ship on June 24 as planned, our automated ordering system has automatically cancelled your order,”

The iPad has effectively wiped the Que off the market and although it claimed to be able to do much more in handling Microsoft Word files, Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, digital books, PDFs, magazines and newspapers, the price was high and it was still the same black and white tv.

Plastic Logic have made the fatal mistake of promising too much and taking too long to deliver in a rapidly changing world. They would have been far wiser to get out there a year ago with some shortfalls and get it right on version two than strive for perfection and never deliver or arrive to the party as all the guests are leaving.

News Corp Buys Skiff

News Corporation continues on its somewhat unclear digital strategy and the company has announced the acquisition of the digital Skiff platform from Hearst. Skiff delivers digital newspaper and magazine content to tablets and e-readers, with the capability to deliver high-resolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates. News Corp has also taken a stake in Journalism Online which is designed to help online press establish pricing and payment structures and set up the “metered mode” to enable a certain amount of content to be given away free.

So what is Skiff? When Hearst first showed it off it was certainly a big format eInk reader but with the emergence of the iPad and the queue of ‘wantabes’ its hardly a smart reader anymore. Like the Plastic Logic reader it simply took too long to get off the launch pad and by the time it got close it was in danger of looking tired and old. A black and white TV, in a HDTV Technicolour world.

It’s unclear whether News Corp. will develop Skiff as a mere platform or continue to develop it as a device. However it is clear that they are serious about making content pay.

News Corp has struggled with its digital strategy, most notably their acquisition of MySpace and their ability to tie together the disparate parts of their digital empire. The other aspect that is interesting is News Corps ability to go in what appears the opposite direction to the market and their competitors.

Irex The First of Many eReader Casualties?

IREX Technologies BV developed the first eInk way back in 2004 and spun itself from Royal Philips Electronics a year later. It has championed eInk ereaders and ebooks but over the last three years has been overshadowed and out manoeuvred by all the new ‘lookie likies’. The biggest issue was that they made even eInk look dull and their pricing was always at the top end of the market. We now read of their demise into administration in the Netherlands. It never ceases to amaze us what the folk at Philips invent and fail to deliver themselves.

We predicted that there would be eInk casualties as the market was saturated, with too many identical or near identical readers and supply clearly greater than the demand. The price was clearly too high and when colour arrived it wasn’t eInk but Apple that supplied the obvious.

Meanwhile Seth Godin predicts a “paperback” e-reader, a cheap Kindle which would could make e-books affordable for all. Godin suggest $50 is the right price, or as any retailer will tell you $49,99. At that price we would agree Amazon would be on a winner and if the can subsidise it correctly provide a price point that many of its competitors could not live with. We even may buy one! It is a position we believe that eInk readers have to adopt to survive. Unfortunately many are just manufacturers and only supply the reader, they don’t get ebook sales revenues, are not locked as value added suppliers into sectors such as education. So once the device is sold that’s it no more money!

Perhaps this cheap Kindle reader is the position Amazon aims to adopt to fight Apple. It certainly makes more sense than trying to compete with eInk colour in a battle that will not be won on poor substitute technology.

As for iRex and the iliad readers they will not be alone for long.

Epson To Enable Colour eInk

We have long said that eInk today is ‘black and white TV in a coloured world’. The reality is that consumers want colour and a media convergence device, not a black and white TV. Recently we have witnessed a number of colour ereaders with LCD screens and have seen the ridiculous Alex and Nook with their ‘can't make our minds up’ offer of two screens.We all recognise that for all its limitations, the iPad has delivered colour and its not going back into the old 16 shades of grey.

There have long been rumours of eInk colour, but no real delivery dates.Now Epson have announced a display controller that includes a high-performance colour engine. It has a built-in dither function to minimize host overhead, and can be connected to any host processor through a 16-bit parallel or TFT LCD bus. The S1D13524 allows multiregional and concurrent display updates. The advanced sequencer engine, power management, I2C thermal sensor and serial flash support a variety of popular functions.Epsom are working in partnership with eInk Corporation who obviously already have customers waiting for the new controller.

The Epson S1D13524 will be available in June with production quantities available to the market in December 2010.EInk plans to offer an S1D13524 kit to enable developers to build prototype and develop next-generation color ePaper devices.

For documentation and details about the S1D13524

Korea Blossoms

Korean shopping heavyweight Interpark hope to take the Biscuit in their market with their eink ’lookie likie’ called Biscuit. Normally this would only just touch our radar and be ignored as yet another short life expectancy story but we have been invited to speak at the forthcoming Korean Book Fair in May so everything Japanese and Korean is attracting our attention.

The Korea Electronic Publishing Association have announced a series of free education programs aimed at teaching publishers and writers how to create e-books and give an overview of the e-book market. It is interesting that an increasing number of Korean publishers are finding it difficult to publish print books. The Korean Publishers Association claim that the shrinking book market has resulted in more than 90% of the country’s 31,700 registered publishing companies not publishing paper books last year. The association will also help participants sign contracts with distributors and have a goal of helping Korean publishers create some 100,000 e-books every year.

As with everyone else they believe the e-book business is a different and estimate, Korea’s e-book market will be worth around 1.06 trillion won ($935 million) by the end of this year, and more than 2.4 trillion won in 2012.

As always it will be a case of two ears and one mouth on our visit and learning and exchanging ideas and insights in May. We hope that it may be more than the cherry tree that is starting to blossom in the East.

EBook device Price Wars?

Has anyone got a clue who is going to dominate the ebook market? Will publishers master the art of direct marketing and go direct? Will Amazon offer the appeal of a one stop shop for all digital content on a myriad of platforms? Will the iPad create the iTunes moment? Or will others come to the for?

One of the pretenders is Indigo’s Kobo who until now have played the content store and reader application game. However they now have launched a cheap e-reader, eink ‘lookie likie’ which is just that except is lands at just $150! So for a lot less than a Kindle you get the same experience and access to the same books but ones that can be read on other devices and other platforms. Forget the clunky connection via USB, the somewhat awkward keys, the childish looking big blue control pad and the reduced storage, this is a cheap and worthy competitor. It even comes pre-loaded with 100 public-domain titles.

But there are others waiting to pitch for your money and even Sony must be feeling the heat as they have cut the price of their Pocket Edition device by $30 to $170 through to April 3. Prices on Sony's more advanced e-readers, including the $300 Touch Edition and the $400 Daily Edition remain the same.

Perhaps Coloured eInk is a Dog?

Has colour come to late to the eInk reader world? Will consumers who are yet to buy a eBook reader opt for an eInk device, or a tablet, or a mobile? We may not be that concerned and merely follow the latest and best hype gadgets in this consumable and disposable world, but where will the reader put their money tomorrow?

Taiwan-based Prime View International, who acquired E-Ink last year has displayed 6” and 9.7” colour e-reader screens at the Shenzhen trade show. However before we get too excited the display does not match the 30 frames per second required to support and is achieved by adding an extra layer of colour-filtering glass on top of a standard e-reader display from E-Ink.

Meanwhile in today’s world, Spring Design has announced that their Android-powered Alex e-reader is now available for pre order. The Alex tackles colour by combines a 6" Electronic Paper Display (EPD) with a 3.5" colour LCD screen. So you can watch two screens at once!


We were amused to see yet another Alex and Barnes and Noble’s Nook ‘lookie likie’ from Teclast. What made us smile, was not the two screen approach, but that their market department had chosen to brand it ‘K9’. Perhaps calling the device a ‘dog’ is more apt that Alex or Nook. If these multi screen devices are seen as the answer to monochrome reading and a way to offer media support then we wonder how many consumers will hold onto their cash or simply buy a tablet or netbook.

Something Useful for eInk?

TokyoFlash have created an E-ink display watch which can be set to tell the time by either normal numbers, or cryptic patterns of dashes and lines. The device can connect via Bluetooth to your phone and a vibration alert or a blinking indicator alert you to incoming calls and text messages.


The band is made from flexible stainless steel with an incorporated epaper display.

You have to vote at their site and if enough votes are registered then they will take it to production.

Survey: EReaders In The Wake of iPad

So what is the consumer reaction to constant change? How do they feel being at the bleeding edge of technology, where last week’s announcement is superseded by this week’s launch?

We have seen an explosion of eInk ‘lookie likies’ in the past 18 months. Such was the level of new devices that we even stopped reporting on them. Some manufacturers have not only upgraded their offer but have multiple offers running in parallel in the same market. We seen resellers flip suppliers like changing socks. In these dynamic and chaotic times consumers usually seek sanity and to narrow the range. The fittest doesn’t always win, nor does the biggest marketing spend and sometimes it can be down to being on the right shelf at the right time.

Now a survey of 3,171 consumers by ChangeWave which was conducted after the Apple iPad announcement, not only shows the iPad demand, but also the potential consumer backlash to uncertainty and constant change. Some may say that they yearn for a safe pair of hands and consistency of offer.

The interesting insights came in looking at the responses of consumers who already own an eBook Reader. Some 68% had a Amazon Kindle with only some 10% having a Sony Reader

When asked if the iPad had been available would they have still bought their current reader, some 45% of eBook Reader owners responded said yes. However just over one in four 4 (27%) said they would have bought the iPad and around the same number (30%) were undecided. Some would say that this shows either a high dissatisfaction level with the current reader and even potentially a high dissatisfaction with their return on investment.

When asked about their planned eBook Reader purchases over the next 90 days the survey shows the Apple iPad is now poised to capture an astonishing 40% of the e-Reader market.

The Kindle still holds a reasonable position but if these figures were reproduced in the market serious questions would be asked of Sony’s staying power at 1% and the wisdom of geographically restricted branded offers from Barnes and Noble and its Nook.

The survey also suggests that consumers are likely to be buying the iPad over a period and not simply rushing out to buy on the first day. This may give some comfort for the rest but given that there is likely to be a strong second wave of tablets from HP,Dell and Google has to play its card we think this is the best they are going to get.

The clear message came in the preference of features offered by the iPad. Single device ereaders must look hard and realise that they just aren’t what is required and although they offer eInk clarity OLED and technology is going to negate monochrome. Consumers want what we have all said – a multi media device linked to the Internet. Over two in three (68%) want to surfing the Internet and that itself should make Mr Jobs even more anti Flash as it poses its biggest threat and opportunity to the other tablets. The tablet obviously must be a social device with email at 44%. But the really interesting demands where in reading with eBooks (37%) scoring over magazines, newspapers and periodicals (28%), and surprisingly video (24%).

To read the report: A ChangeWave survey of new iPad owners is set for early spring.

Another Day and Still Eink Keeps Trying

We have seen so many eInk 'lookie likie' ebook readers we are somewhat punch-drunk and find ourselves asking how many will survive, what differentiates one from another, and if eInk is a mere digression and limited life technology when it comes to ebooks?

E Ink claim that they will have a colour e-paper reading panel by the 1st quarter of 2011. The claim by Sriram Peruvemba, VP of marketing at EInk in PC World is that they will introduce colour e-paper displays shortly. Although prototypes are working in E Ink’s labs, it will take up to 3 years to actually reach the market. Is it too little too late? Will black and white readers survive long enough under the threat of full media and colour tablets, mobiles and netbooks?

Then there is Qualcomm’s mirasol technology which is planned with touchscreens later this year. You can see Mirasol technology at their web site www.mirasoldisplays.com/reader.

Then there is the likes of new ereader entrants such as Asus and their DR-900. The DR-9000 has a 9”, monochrome touch-screen display with a 1,024x768 resolution and is no thicker than a pencil. Asus has already proved themselves in the laptop world, so is this an natural extension? The DR-900 is WiFi and has a built in Web browser and can access RSS feeds but appears to be very limited in the formats it supports and today can’t support DRM files.