|
E-readers haven't progressed because display technology hasn't progressed. Screen technology has enormous plant costs (in the Billions of $US, per plant), and extreme competition and razor thin margins. So nobody is willing to invest in the plant to make new technologies. That's all I ever heard at SID in 2009.
E-ink exists today only because the VC's who bought the rights from Xerox were willing to build a pilot plant to make screens. Once screen were available on the market, then the e-ink readers could hit the market.
When was e-ink invented? The early 1980's... But nobody was willing to invest in the plant to make it.
So the Qualcomm announcement of 2 Billion $US for a Mirasol plant, tells me that the Mirasol tech will eventually hit the marketplace. Whether it's Amazon or Apple or Chinese clones, is immaterial to me. (I like Chinese ebook readers, I use ASTAK/BeBook readers exclusively)
|