September 2012

SATA Airlines is set to launch a new ad campaign that was designed by Ynvisible, and uses their "interactive paper" solutions (based on their electrochromics transparent flexible display technology). The campaign includes a printed ad (placed in the September issue of Marketeer magazine) that has a boarding-pass like insert that can show a promotion flight price with the touch of a button.

The inserts were produced at the Guide printing house. This is Ynvisible's largest volume project to date. Last month I posted a review of Ynvisible's interactive gift card, and was quite impressed.

E-Ink-Info is a leading e-paper focused site - targeting both consumers and industry professionals. Our site is read by over 5,000 monthly readers - people who want to learn more about e-paper technologies, the market and the industry.

Our site represents a great opportunity to expose your product to potential e-paper customers, exactly when they look for more information and options before they decide on which projector to buy. If you want to expose your solution or technology for this fast-paced industry, our site is also an excellent choice - not many publications are focused on e-paper technologies! We offer several ad options, and we'll be happy to extend a special discount till the end of 2012 - if you order a thee-months campaign, we'll give you one month free. When ordering a six month campaign we'll give you two :-)

When Amazon announced their new Kindle Paperwhite, they wouldn't say what kind of E Ink panel is used - just that it's got a higher resolution (XGA), better contrast, better touch capabilities and a faster refresh rate. Our friend Sriram Peruvemba, E Ink's marketing chief explains that the major advances in this new display is a better TFT and improved software.

The new TFT backplane allows them to achieve a higher resolution - 212 dpi (XGA), compared to the older generation TFT which allowed only 167 dpi (SVGA). The new software design also allows for faster refresh. Now grey-to-grey speed is 450 mSecs, compared to 600 mSecs using the older software (i.e. 25% faster).

Amazon announced a new Kindle e-reader today, the Kindle Paperwhite. This is pretty much the same e-reader as the Kindle Touch (which is no longer available), but it's got a new E Ink panel with built-in light, 25% improved contrast and a higher resolution (1024x768). This is quite an improvement over Pearl E Ink panels, we do not know yet what's the name of the E Ink panel itself yet.

The new Kindle will ship on October 1st 2012. The Wi-Fi model costs $139 (or $119 with ads) and the 3G model costs $199 (or $179 with ads). Amazon also reduced the price of the non-touch Kindle 2011 to $69 with ads (and $89 without).

There are reports that Amazon are going to announce new Kindle devices soon, and some rumors suggest that the new E Ink Kindle will sport a next generation E Ink panel. The new display will sport higher contrast and resolution compared to Pearl panels (used in current Kindles).

In fact, the new contrast is so good that Amazon refers to the new Kindle as "Paperwhite". Of course none of this is still official, we'll have to wait till September 6 for Amazon's press conference.

E Ink is showing an interesting prototype at IFA 2012 - a smartphone that has two displays, an LCD and an E Ink - one on each side. The E Ink will be used for reading and showing "persistant" data such as network status, battery level and information that the user needs for a long time (such as boarding pass information). This will not only conserve the battery but also free up space on the main (LCD or OLED) display.

The most interesting thing is that E Ink says that several vendors are considering this idea, with at least one vendor that plans to release such a phone in 2013. We can't wait!