eInk

It’s been quite some time since eBookNewser posted a video of an E-inks screen, so I’m pleased to show you this one today. It was posted by Next Papyrus, a Korean eReader developer. You’re looking at their newest project the PageOne HD, which is based on the HD E-ink screen used by iriver on the Story HD.

I know the image quality is lacking, but that’s really just a drivers issue. I’m interested by this because I want to see more developers putting time into getting better animation on E-ink. We’ll probably never like touse this screen for video, but with faster animation it will be useful for other things – web browsing, for example.

via Mike Cane

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Your favorite screen tech company released their end of year financial statements today, and the news is mixed.E-ink continues to dominate the ereader market, reporting net profits of NT$6.53 billion (US$220.85 million) in 2011.

The company also noted that their gross margin dropped to 28.7% in Q4, largely due to an increase in shipments of screens from Hydis, an LCD sub. The FFS screen developed by Hydis and used on the NookColor, Galaxy Tab, and other high end tablets is quite popular but not as profitable as E-ink EPD screen. The drop in gross margin in Q4 is likely due to the launch of the Kindle Fire, and it means E-ink is a victim of their own  success.

E-ink predicted only modest growth for the coming quarter, and they also expect to launch their  next-gen color ePaper products in the last quarter of 2012.  E-ink chairman Scott Liu also denied the recent rumors concerning a Kindle with a color E-ink screen; E-ink does not yet have that screen in production, so there is no way for them to ship it to Amazon.

 

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If you think of E-ink as being just a company that makes eReader screens, think again. E-ink announced yesterday that one of their lesser known products, a music stand using an E-ink screen, won a 2011 Good Design award.

Rosie is a concept design. It’s based on a pair of 9.7″ E-ink screens sitting side by side. E-ink came with the idea for the obvious reasons, and they made Rosie in the hopes that it would spark interest.

And it has. Several companies are reported to be working on designs similar to Rosie, but none have announced a launch date or price.

E-ink Holdings, the parent company of the screen manufacturer, announced today that they say a dip in revenues last month.

Total revenue for Novelber was NT$3.57 billion (US$118.11 million), which is up 9% over last November but down 33% from October. Lukcily, revenue for the year is up 71% over 2010, to NT$36.84 billion.

I wouldn’t read too much into this; E-ink dominates the market for eReader screens and owns the rights to one of the lest LCD screens on the tablet market (FFS, from the E-ink sub Hydis). The company is bound to stay highly profitable when its revenue growth picks up again next month.

The FFS screen is used on a number of premium tablets as well as the Kobo Vox, NookColor, and the original 7″ Samsung Galaxy Tab.  It’s only real competition among screen tech is the IPS screen, which uses different technology but offers similar high quality, high resolution screens.

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E-ink announced on Friday that they will soon be ending the partnership with the screen maker LG Display.

LG Display had been one of the main manufacturing partners for the FFS screen developed by Hydis. This screen, which is used on gadgets including the NookColor and the Kobo Vox, is one of the 2 new and better screen technologies used on tablets.

E-ink is cutting ties with LG Display in part becuase they are shifting manufacturing to their new partner, Chunghwa Picture Tubes. E-ink has been working with CPT for some months now to get the new proudciton lines up and running.

This changeover is not expected to affect the supply of screens for tablets, so there’s no need to start hoarding.

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I was just emailed a link this afternoon with this video, so you’re among the first to see it. You’re looking at an E-ink screen on a Freescale development board. I’m told that this is their latest and fastest running demo. It’s running video at full speed.

Yes, it’s a 6″ grayscale screen, but it’s also faster than it was only a few months ago.

Demand for eReaders is predicted to be high this year. At least in terms of how many eReader screens will be needed to make the eReaders.

Speaking at the Emerging Display Technologies conference in San Jose yesterday, E Ink Holdings chief marketing officer Sriram Peruvemba said that overall demand for eInk displays could hit 25 million to 30 million units this year. VentureBeat.com has more: “Display Search, a market research firm that is putting on the conference, estimates that e-book display demand could hit around 27 million units this year. That’s about three times the number sold in 2010.”

Peruvemba’s confidence was echoed by the company’s CEO Scott Liu last month, when he said that he expects screen shipments to increase every month from July to October.

E Ink Holdings is going through a corporate rebranding right now, today it announced its new logo.

The corporate signature is a stylized design of the E Ink name and incorporates duality as its theme. The drop of ink on the top right of the “E” represents what writing means to cultural heritage. The connection of the ink drop to the “E” represents the merging of traditional printed text with electronic media.

The new E Ink logo design emphasizes the cultural legacy passed on by technology. E Ink embraces technological advances while respecting human life, human culture and human nature.

Is it just my screen, or do the colors look weaker than they could be? The red seems to be fairly pink, and the black is somewhat gray. The colors should be vibrant. A weak color in this logo symbolizes a weak resolve.

E-ink Holdings has announced that its revenues for April 2011 were only around 3 quarters that of March 2011. April consolidated revenues were NT$2.465 billion (US$84 million), which is also an increase of 45.41% over April 2010.  Combined revenues for the first 4 months of 2011 were up 87% over 2010, according to the company.

The drop in revenue is attributed to  shipment delays. Hydis Technologies, E-ink’s LCD subsidiary, has delayed some shipments of FFS panels to the third quarter of 2011.

I wonder who is not getting the screens? Amazon, B&N (NookColor), who?

via Digitimes

 

Sriram  Peruvemba, the VP of Marketing at E-ink, stopped by the CNet offices yesterday . He showed off how thin and flexible the E-ink screen can be and give a few updates on the state of E-ink’s next generation screen. it won’t be coming out until 2012.

Oh, well. I guess we’ll have to content ourselves with E-ink’s other screen tech. Have you seen the NookColor? Its screen is based on FFS technology that was developed by Hydis, an E-ink subsidiary. Now, the actual screen was made by LG Display, but it licensed the  tech from E-ink.

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