Quote:
|
Originally Posted by bingle
The eink readers are frustratingly slow in coming out, I agree, but I don't think that's E-Ink, Inc's fault.
|
I can see several reasons why E Ink technology hasn't picked up yet:
- E-books is still an emerging market and needs more time to develop
- Signage business is a mature market with many competitors and substitute products
- Display manufacturers are not willing to set up special assembly lines to convert ink sheets into individual display cells
- Chicken-and-egg problem: E Ink needs revenues to fund R&D process, but customers are not inclined to sign contracts until the technology is fully proven
- Inability to handle high-volume production as demand surges
- Internal R&D problems - high cash drain, no short-term income - led to staff reductions in the past
- 2004 E Ink CEO left the company and half the board resigned
- Technical problems (some in the past): Ink too slow and not bright enough, bad performance under high temperatures and humidity, unstable yields from batch to batch, inconsistent coatings, laminations had bubbles
- Licensing and ink-manufacturing business with only limited amount of revenue - downstream customers like Sony generate the lion's share of revenue
- E Ink focused purely on Sony for some time and turned away other inquiries