Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
First patent (when at MIT) in 1996 on the basic technology (white particles in microcapsules with dark fluid). E-Ink incorporated in mid 1997. First commercial display was in 2007, with the improved Pearl in 2010, Carta in 2013 and Carta HD in 2014.
So ten years from incorporating to first commercial product for E-Ink.
In comparison, LiquaVista started in 2006, and appears to have now been shut down (after 12 years) without ever releasing a commercial product.
So from incorporation in 2012, ClearInk has a few years yet before they should be written off.
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I would suggest that E-Ink were facing very different market forces that both forced them and allowed them to develop slower -- the former being the lack of a market, until they themselves created one, the latter being the lack of competing technologies. This does not mean that ClearInk
cannot succeed, but does mean that 'threading the needle' will be difficult, and likely to become more so with each passing year.
Does a viable niche exist between E-Ink and LCD?
Maybe. But each improvement on cost, clarity and power consumption on either side shrinks that potential niche just a little bit more.