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NYTImes reports today Amazon picks up Touchco that makes flexible and touch screens, might put them in future Kindles: and then what happens to E Ink? are E Ink's days numbered?
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Donald Norman, a professor at Northwestern University and an expert on
design and engineering, said that while E Ink’s technology was well
suited for reading long books, “it is too slow and ponderous” for
reference works, multimedia and any tablet device that seeks to
connect to a wide range of entertainment. He said that to respond to
the iPad, Amazon could either drop the price of the current Kindle or
“compete and switch to some other type of display.”
The acquisition “would suggest Amazon is looking to expand its
platform perhaps beyond e-readers to encompass more functionality and
more content,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital. “It
also could help them address some of the form-factor issues with the
Kindle,” allowing it, for example, to replace the physical keyboard
with a virtual one, he said.
“If touch screens were added to the Kindle or other Amazon devices, it
would bring them up to date with the plethora of other screens
consumers are becoming used to,” Mr. Sebastian said. “Any device is at
a disadvantage if it doesn’t offer it.”
The technology could allow Amazon to
introduce a full-color touch-screen Kindle, raising the question of
whether the device’s current displays, which are made by a company
called E Ink, will play a role in the next round of reading devices.
nytimes.com
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