Although electronic paper was first developed by Xerox at its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), it is another company, E Ink Corp, that immediately comes to mind in any current discussion of electronic paper. In fact, E Ink has almost become synonymous with e-paper. Since its founding in 1997 introducing electrophoretic technology, which was originally developed at the MIT Media lab, E Ink has been a leader in the electronic paper industry. However, it is not only its technology that has enabled its success, for many excellent technologies never make it to commercialization. E Ink has worked to improve that original technology continuously over the last decade, and it has developed complementary relationships with numerous partners to bring multiple products to commercialization. Recently, Epapercentral had the opportunity to talk with E Ink’s Vice President of Marketing, Sriram Peruvemba, about the company’s past successes, its continuing work in the electronic paper area and its plans for the future.
Q. E Ink has become a leader in the e-paper arena; its name is almost synonymous with electronic paper. What factors have contributed to the company’s success?
Peruvemba: E Ink’s success can be attributed to the following key factors.
- Creating a display that gives the user the best reading experience.
- Continuous innovation-literally every 18 months during the past 10 years, E Ink has developed a better performing display
- Collaboration-E Ink’s partners such as Prime View International, Epson and many others have helped E Ink build a solid eco-system which its customers can leverage
- Scalability-E Ink has built and deployed over 15 million displays in various applications demonstrating that its technology can be scaled to mass production successfully
Q. E Ink has dominated the e-reader sector. Do you think that this will be the “killer” application for electronic paper? When do you expect mass market penetration of the product?
Peruvemba: In my personal opinion, Electronic Textbooks will be the killer application. Unlike newspapers, magazines etc, textbooks are not optional for a student. This is true worldwide. Electronic Textbooks offer tremendous benefits to students; more content is constantly available (students can bring their entire library with them anywhere), electronic books can teach better via animation and audio; and such textbooks enable the use of references from multiple sources.
(Editor’s note: The Amazon Kindle DX would be a good example to illustrate this point).
Q. Are there challenges that still need to be overcome before e-readers (eBook, eNewspaper, eDocument etc.) reach the mass market stage? What are those challenges and when might they be overcome?
Peruvemba: eBooks are already a success. There are well over a dozen different models of eBooks in the market and this market segment is growing at a rapid pace. Many of the hurdles including content availability, ease of use, affordability etc have been overcome by E Ink’s customers, thereby generating tremendous growth. Improvements in all of the above - performance, availability of content, affordability - will continue to occur as the market matures
2009 is the year of eNewspapers. We expect customers including Plastic Logic, Brother, iRex, Amazon and others to show growth in this segment, using large format displays from E Ink. Greater content availability, the ability to tailor content and the ease of use will drive this market. Availability of flexible displays like Prime View International’s flexible ePaper modules, will allow customers to launch more rugged products. These non-glass displays will be able to withstand the wear and tear of daily use on the train or bus, outdoors on the porch or the beach, making e Newspapers very attractive.
Q. Is color e-paper a critical component of e-readers before they will be universally adopted? When does E Ink expect to have a commercially viable color e-reader?
Peruvemba: Color e-paper is desired for applications such as electronic textbooks, tablet PCs and to attract more advertisement dollars in eNewspapers . However, color is not a must in the eBook application as demonstrated by several successful launches of monochrome eBook products. E Ink is targeting the end of 2010 for commercial launch of our color displays. We will demonstrate color displays in the meanwhile at the SID (Society for Information Display) show in San Antonio, Texas from June 2-5.
Q. Do you think that e-readers will always be a niche market or will they eventually penetrate the multi-functional mobile device market? When might that occur and what has to happen for it to occur?
Peruvemba: There will be multiple types of devices using E Ink displays. The serious readers will probably purchase dedicated eBooks or eReaders, whereas the more casual reader might purchase a multifunctional device that has other features as well. Irrespective of that choice, all of these market subsegments have substantial growth potential.
Q. Do you believe that e-newspapers will soon become widespread? What market factors will spur that growth? What challenges need to be overcome for it to happen?
Peruvemba: Yes, we believe that eNewspapers will become widespread in the coming years. Several market factors are pushing that expansion. These include the availability of devices tailored to give the best newspaper reading experience; availability of devices in multiple geographies with vast content; and flexible display-based devices.
Conversely, there are challenges that need to be met. These include creating, administering and sustaining a good business model to make eNewspapers a better alternative to an ordinary newspaper. This challenge is being met by many of our customers and we will see several devices deployed in the near future. The availability of flexible displays is another challenge that will be overcome soon.
Q. Is it already too late for development of a specialized e-reader for newspapers? What I mean is: since newspapers are in such dire straits, will many of them just close before a viable solution can be realized?
Peruvemba: eNewspaper device will cater to not only traditional newspaper publishers but will also allow others that are currently creating news stories to take advantage of this medium. For example, a TV station that does not own a printing press or distribution could offer its content via this new medium. You are right in that, it may be too late for some that are already shut down. I believe that we are not consuming less news today than we did yesterday. Rather, we are actually consuming more, but we are consuming it via non-traditional mediums like the internet, TV, electronic signs etc. eNewspapers are aimed at providing the best reading experience in the most convenient form with a better ROI to the publisher than traditional (pulp based paper) means.
Q. What about the magazine market? Tell us about the Esquire magazine?
Peruvemba: Color E Ink displays will allow us to penetrate the magazine market. The Esquire magazine cover was a great way to convey a profound message on the 75th anniversary of the Esquire magazine. Esquire gets credit for the idea. E Ink’s Ink-In-Motion display was integrated into the front cover of the magazine. There was a second display on the inside cover that advertised Ford Motor Company’s Flex automobile. Esquire’s message “The 21st Century Begins Now” was looking at the future rather than the past. Over 100,000 copies were sold. Esquire just won the “2009 Publishing Innovator Of The Year” award from the Publishing Executive magazine.
Q. How will the recent developments in flexible screens and touch screens affect the growth of e-readers? Why?
Peruvemba: E Ink has been building flexible displays from day one. All of our segmented displays are flexible, and we have shipped over 10 million flexible displays into applications such as mobile phones, wrist watches, smart cards, electronic shelf labels, battery and memory indicators etc. The matrix displays have been awaiting the backplane technology to catch up and the recent developments in this area will allow for very rugged devices to be built. Imagine an eNewspaper that you can drop to the ground and not have to worry, as you would if you dropped your laptop computer.
Similarly, pen and touch input will greatly enhance the user experience and will help further grow the market. We offer pen input via a Wacom digitizer and that allows customers to take notes, highlight on the display.
Q. In reference to point of purchase displays, why is E Ink not offering Ink in Motion directly? Although Ink in Motion has been used for several displays, the market has not really seemed to expand? Why is that?
Active display integrated with static print and mounted on the shelf. By Motion Display.
Peruvemba: The customers for IIM displays are typically looking for a full solution including design of the graphic overlay, assembly of the electronics circuitry, battery etc along with the E Ink display. Our partners Neolux, Midori Mark and Motion Display are able to deliver these solutions to the end customers. The market for IIM products is indeed expanding, and I see a decent future in this market segment.
E Ink Vizplex Imaging Film with the protective release layer being peeled.
Q. Are there other applications for e-paper that E Ink is pursuing? What are those applications and when might commercial viable products be available?
Peruvemba: There are many applications for E Ink Vizplex displays, beyond eBooks and eNewspapers. They include: eTextbooks, Tablet PC, Laptop Lids, electronic signage, mobile phones (secondary displays), battery and memory indicators, smart cards, electronic shelf labels, other industrial and medical market applications.
Continued Success on Many Fronts
It is apparent that E Ink has worked hard to become a leader in the electronic paper arena. Beginning with a solid technology, it has garnered investment capital and complementary partnerships with many companies to bring its products successfully to commercialization. Not content to rest on its laurels, it has continued research and development to improve both the technology and the product offerings that it delivers to its customers. It has been on the forefront of many of the breakthroughs that has enabled electronic paper to move forward towards mass market penetration.
Its electrophoretic technology is used for the majority of eReaders that are currently available. In recent months, it has been a partner, along with Arizona State University’s Flexible Display Center, Hewlett Packard (HP) and DuPont Teijin Films, in developing first an affordable flexible display, then a touchscreen for those flexible displays. It will demonstrate color displays at upcoming shows later this year, with commercialization planned for 2010 as a means to expand its success in the eReader field into the newspaper and magazine market.
Moreover, its success has not been limited to that sub-segment of the electronic paper market. Its Ink-In-Motion film is used successfully to create flashing electronic displays for the retail environment. Most recently, Motion Display AB, a major developer and manufacturer of advertising and promotional display technology launched a retail signage product for the Point of Purchase (POP) market, which uses E ink’s In-in-Motion technology. Timepieces using E Ink’s display technology are already marketed, including the Phospor watch manufactured by Art Technology Ltd and Seiko’s ladies electronic watches; and Citizen’s bendable clock. It is used as in the sub display for Motorola’s Motophone and Samsung’s new Alias 2. The list goes on. It seems clear that as electronic paper technology evolves and expands into additional market sub-segments, that E Ink will remain an industry leader moving the technology forward.
By Linda M. Casatelli
