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Originally Posted by fjtorres
Nice drill.
Of course, you realize that you are assuming that the video-capable device would be fitted with the same dirt-cheap tiny battery now used in the text-only readers, right?
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A less powerful battery in most cell phones will stream video for quite a while.
However the intent was to show that eInk is not and almost certainly will never be suitable for anything but a dedicated reader.
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When it comes to ebook readers, we're approaching a fork in the road that will make things clearer; ...
One size does not fit all; there is room in the market for both gold-plated sporks and plastic spoons....
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In the short term I agree with what you say, but the long term may find not enough demand for an e-ink based reader.
While it is true that you can find cell phones that only work as a telephone and have B&W screens, they are very rare and getting harder to find.
In the not to distant past the dedicated word processors (Displaywrite et all), essentially disappeared long before most PC based systems caught up with their power. They were not versatile enough. Some people may indeed want to carry two or three devices when one will do but that will be a small minority and may not support the industry.
E-ink as it exists today will never show video and the power requirements will always be high.
LCD displays as they exist today can show considerable reduction in power requirements according to Jepson. Her method of using existing infrastructure points to the idea that the pixel qi screen costs less than an existing eInk screen even at this stage of the game.
I think that the price difference between the gold plated sporks and the plastic spoons will be small and people will go for the gold.