November 2014

A month ago we reported about a new crowdfunding campaign by FES that aims to develop a smartwatch covered with E Ink panels. It turns out that Sony is behind this campaign - they created the fake FES company just to experiment with this idea and see whether it could become viral.

Sony did not confirm a release date for this watch. The campaign wasn't a great success, with 150 orders totaling 3.5 million yet (almost $30,000).

Kent displays, a leading Reflex LCD company launched several models of eWriters since 2010, which are now sold in around 30 countries around the world.

About the Sync 9.7 Boogie Board

The Sync 9.7 is a 9.7 inch electronic notebook launched in 2003, sporting the company's eWriting technology. It also has a microSD card slot (in addition to a built-in 2BG of on-board SD memory), USB and Bluetooth. It comes with its own stylus, micro USB charge cable and a 1-cell lithium-ion battery.

E Ink Holdings report good results for Q3 2014, with revenues reaching $132 million up 6.4% from last quarter (but down 14% from Q3 2013). The company says that EPD orders remained steady, with new orders coming in from Amazon, Kobo and Sony.

The company is still dependent on the e-reader market, but it is trying to enter new markets such as wearables, retail and more.

China-based GEAK launched a new watch called the GEAK Watch II, that uses two round displays - an LCD and an E Ink panel, on on top of the other. The transparent LCD sits on top of the E Ink. This enables a very efficient battery life - and GEAK says the battery will last for a week with light use or 3-4 days with "moderate" use.

Both displays are 1.36" in diameter (320x320 resolution, 254 PPI, apparently on both the E Ink and the LCD). The watch connects to your phone via Bluetooth and also includes several trackers (heart rate, air quality, step counter and more).

In January 2014, a company called Twelve24 (established by a former product manager at E Ink) launched their first product, a meter wide E Ink watch. Twelve24 is now launching a kickstarter campaign trying to raise $200,000. They already raised almost $50,000.

The Twelve24 ClockONE will cost $600, but for early backers on Kickstarter it starts at $400. The watch has a small Li-Ion button battery that will last for a year, and comes in five different colors. It will ship in May 2015.