PVI's Chairman Scott Liu says that products that use color E Ink displays are expected by the end of 2010. This is earlier than previous PVI estimates. The color panels are currently sampling to customers, but no definitive partnerships have been made public.Â
PVI says that they have no plans to make their own e-reader. This makes sense as PVI are supplying E Ink displays to a lot of companies, and they do not want to upset their own customers by competing with them.
There are reports that Amazon plans to introduce the next-generation Kindle in August. The new device will be slimmer, and have a better display - more responsive and with a sharper picture. It won't have a color display, nor a touch one.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, says that a color E Ink is simply "not ready for prime time production" - and it's a "long way out". The Kindle will remain a "dedicated e-reader" moving forward.
Seiko Epson and E-Ink have developed a new display controller IC for color EPD, the S1D13524. While the color E Ink displays themselves aren't ready yet, it's great to hear that at least a controller will be available soon.
Epson E Ink S1D13524 photo
The S1D13524 is a high-performance EPD controller with a built-in color processor for E Ink's VizplexM-enabled electronic color paper displays. The controller 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, they said.
Samples of the Epson S1D13524 will be available in June at US$24. Production quantities will be available in December 2010.
E Ink is showing their next-generation e-paper technology. It will have better contrast, and will be able to show "animation" clips. It will be in production in the second half of 2010 (and obviously it'll take some time before real products start shipping with it, but they might start to appear towards the end of 2010). They still haven't got a name for that display...
Digitimes reports that PVI is planning to invest $500 million to expand its E Ink production business in China. PVI will also collaborate with Fnashu.com and Phoenix publishing for content development.
PVI's plan is to turn Yangzhou into a E Ink production hub, and the investment will cover all sectors: from material supply to device development. PVI hopes that other companies will follow suit and invest in e-paper production in the area.
HP has developed a new wearable E Ink display for the army that is flexible and solar-powered. It can be wrapped around a soldier's wrist, and could show maps or directions. The whole display is just 200 microns thick. HP plans to offer first prototypes in early 2011.
The E Ink displays will be manufactured using a roll-to-roll process. HP says it will work with a company called Phicot that it spun out recently to produce these displays.
Seiko has announced a new EPD Watch that has an Active-Matrix E Ink display. It's the world's first phone with such a display (there are already some with segmented E Ink "Surf" displays). The display has 80,000 pixels (300dpi) and 4 gray levels. The watch can display the time, date and a world-clock option with a nice photo of the earth.
Update: we've got a video of the new prototype displays, see below
PVI is now showing 6" and 9.7" color E Ink displays for e-readers at a trade show in Shenzhen, China. The displays are demoing animated color clips, although the refresh rate is not fast enough for video. PVI has shown those screens to Amazon and Barnes & Noble, although they won't say whether there are any plans to use them in future e-readers.
PVI predicts mass-production to start 4Q 2010. The new PVI screens add an extra layer of color-filtering glass on top of a standard E Ink panel. The color screens consume more energy than monochrome ones. PVI also displayed new flexible displays, made from plastic which could make readers lighter and harder to break.