E-readers - Page 4

E Ink Holdings reported its financial results for 2016, with the first operating profit in five years. The company was still profitable, due to royalty earnings, but now its operations are profitable too - in 2016 operating income was NT$61 million ($2 million USD).

The company's chairman says that the improvement stems from a better product mix, enhanced productivity - and the company's new asset-light policy and divestment from unprofitable business. E Ink quite the LCD market to focus on its e-paper technologies. New sales drivers are e-paper displays, electronic shelf labels and electronic signages. Demand from e-reader remains stable and E Ink actually expects annual growth in that market.

In March 2015 Bookeen announced it is developing a solar-powered e-reader cover in collaboration with Sun Partner. The Solar Leaf Cover is now available exclusively for Bookeen's Cybook Ocean, for $67.

The cover has a 19 inch² (125 cm²) patterned solar panel that can charge the e-reader. A one-hour exposure to a brightness of 25,000 lux is enough to charge the reader for about 30 minutes of reading.

Canada-based Rakuten Kobo says that demand for its new 7.8" E Ink Aura One e-reader is very strong in Canada. The e-reader is "selling at a blistering pace in Canada" - and some locations have run out of stock.

The Kobo Aura One is a large e-reader that sports a 7.8" 300 PPI E Ink display and is water resistant (IPX8, which means it can be submerged in 2 meters of water). Other features include a 1Ghz CPU and 512Mb of RAM. The Aura One weighs 230 grams and is only 6.9mm thick. The Aura One costs $229.

E Ink Holdings reported its financial results for Q1 2016 - revenues were  NT$2.5 billion ($76.6 million USD) and the net loss was NT$272 million ($3.84 USD) - down from a net profit of NT$766 in Q4 2015 (but up from a loss of $1.23 billion in Q1 2015).

EIH says that its licensing revenues from Hydis FFS LCD technology is lower than it used to be because the display industry is shifting from LCD to OLED technologies.

According to a new report, e-reader ownership in the US is falling. 19% of adults in the US own a dedicated e-reader - down from 32% two years ago.

But people are still reading e-books - in fact a different report says that 27% of Americans have read an e-book in the past year up from 17% in 2011. This means that people are reading e-books, but not on dedicated e-readers but rather on other platforms (mostly tablets and smartphones, I guess).

The GoodEReader web site launched a $220,000 crowd funding campaign to develop the "ultimate e-reader". If successful, they will develop a 6" touch front-lit 1430x1080 E Ink Carta e-reader that features a 1Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM and 8GB of storage (plus a microSD slot). The e-reader will be based on an open Android 6 operation system. 

The Ultimate E-reader will cost $189.99. Together with the e-reader device, the project will also launch the first App Store designed specifically for E Ink devices. 

Kobo announced a new e-reader, the Aura H20 which is the world's first E Ink waterproof e-reader, as far as I know. This e-reader sports a 6.8" E Ink Carta display (265 PPI), and it will survive up to 30 minutes in water up to one meter deep.

The Aura H20 will cost $179 when it launches next month in the US, Canada and Europe.

E Ink announced a new thin and lightweight EPD technology branded E Ink Fina. The Fina uses a very thin glass substrate that enables it to be lighter and thinner than previous E Ink displays. They weigh less than 50% compared to glass-based LCDs and are less than 50% thick. A 13.3" Fina display weighs about 60 grams.

E Ink also announced the first e-reader to use the Fina, the PocketBook CAD reader. This 13.3" device sports a 1Ghz dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, a large 8000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, 3G and it runs Android 4.0.4. It includes a Wacom digitizer for both touch and stylus input.

E Ink reports that their (unaudited) January 2013 revenues totaled NT$2.57 billion (almost $87 million) - a 82% increase compared to January 2012. The company says that the e-reader market segment remains strong and LCD sales "met expectations". The company's chairman says that their diversification efforts are showing traction in the areas of Mobile Phones, Wrist Watches, Electronic Shelf Labels and others.

We're happy and proud to announce that after over a year in development, our second Kindle software title has been released. Utility Kit is a collection of must-have applications for your Kindle, which can enhance your reading experience and make your life easier. It includes seven different applications:

• Calculator
• Stopwatch
• Countdown timer
• World clocks
• Calendar
• Units conversion
• Notepad