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Philips to launch E Ink displays in 2003
Tuesday, March 12 2002
by Matthew Clark


US company E Ink, along with Dutch Electronics giant Philips, said on Tuesday
that E Ink-based screens for mobile devices should start appearing next year.

E Ink, based in Massachusetts, is a developer of so-called paper-like electronic
displays. 



E Ink products are plastic "next generation" displays that are reusable,
physically flexible and require very little power. An E Ink display can be
connected to a computing device that sends signals to the paper-like material,
telling it which portions of its surface to light up and with what colour, not
unlike a monitor, a plasma screen or an LCD. 



What's more, the E Ink display will maintain its image even after the power is
disconnected. 



For example, in theory, a user could download a document to an E Ink display,
unplug the display, roll it up and read it later. E Ink displays use glass
substrates, which are 50 percent thinner than LCD screens, but the company hopes
to replace the glass with other materials in the future.



Other important aspects of E Ink include its sharp contrast and readability in
sunlight and at any angle.



There are tremendous possibilities for such devices in publishing and in
advertising, although Philips plans to use E Ink displays in mobile handsets that
it expects to launch by mid-2003, a spokesperson for the company told
ElectricNews.Net.  



"Our two companies have worked together extensively over the past year to
demonstrate the feasibility and appeal of active-matrix electronic ink displays,"
explained Jim Iuliano, president and chief executive officer of E Ink. "We
completed the first phase, and are now ready to move into manufacturing and
toward commercial launch."





Philips is an investor in E Ink along with a string of other investors and
partners including VST, Toppan Printing Company, Motorola, Inc., Lucent
Technologies, Creavis GmbH, Havas, The Hearst Corporation and Atlas Venture. 





Recently E Ink displays were used in an advertising campaign by Coca-Cola at the
Winter Olympics on Coke machines which displayed various messages promoting Coke
and encouraging readers to recycle their cans, explained the spokesperson. 



Other uses of the technology that are set to be launched in the coming weeks
include a deal with Vossloh System-Technik in Germany to develop electronic
ink-based signage for the European railroad and transportation industry. The
company will also deploy Ink-In-Motion, its commercial advertising product, at 24
promotions with Jancor Cos, US window retailer. 



Another US company, Gyricon Media, also makes paper-like electronic displays and
is labelled as one of the only serious competitors to E Ink. 



The two firms can be found at HREF="http://www.eink.com">http://www.eink.com and HREF="http://www.gyriconmedia.com">http://www.gyriconmedia.com