First loss for eInk in 2 years

[afv011]

E Ink Holdings made a loss of over $25 million last quarter, despite supplying its backlight-free panels to popular e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook.

Source

[AlexGrama]

That's interesting. I wonder what's the cause and how it will affect Amazon and B&N.

[Namekuseijin]

the cause is Kindle Fire, obviously.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

the cause is Kindle Fire, obviously.

Not necessarily. They could have lost factories in last year's heavy asian flooding.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

the cause is Kindle Fire, obviously.

Sure. When you take into account that the Fire is sold in as many as 0,5 % of all the countries in the world that must be a very likely cause.

They could have lost factories in last year's heavy asian flooding.

Sure. Asia is so small that a flood in one part automatically affects factories almost on the other side of the continent.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Sure. Asia is so small that a flood in one part automatically affects factories almost on the other side of the continent.

It certainly affected Hard Drive manufacturers.

[HarryT]

I rather suspect that the loss is due to investment in new manufacturing plant, etc.

[Kali Yuga]

If eInk isn't saying, we aren't knowing.

[Dulin's Books]

Eink Holding also produces regular LCD panels and also Hydis FFS LCD panels. as i pointed out some time ago it could just as easily be losses in those segments or a combination of all 3. There were stories about drop offs in FFS orders last year/early this year

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Sure. When you take into account that the Fire is sold in as many as 0,5 % of all the countries in the world that must be a very likely cause.



Sure. Asia is so small that a flood in one part automatically affects factories almost on the other side of the continent.

So you didn't notice that Thailand manufactured nearly a third of the world's hard disks and a substantial amount of other electronics... all covered in the news on TV, the net and even in newspapers... so, yes, a flood that was several months in length and overwhelmed the countries flood defences, can seriously affect the supply of many components... there isn't a huge oversupply of manufacturing capabilities and much of the output is pre-ordered so any shortage has a major knock-on effect...

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by elcreative

So you didn't notice that Thailand manufactured nearly a third of the world's hard disks and a substantial amount of other electronics... all covered in the news on TV, the net and even in newspapers... so, yes, a flood that was several months in length and overwhelmed the countries flood defences, can seriously affect the supply of many components... there isn't a huge oversupply of manufacturing capabilities and much of the output is pre-ordered so any shortage has a major knock-on effect...

There's not a single e-reader that contains a hard drive, let alone a hard drive manufactured in Thailand. And as to other components, well, if there was a shortage that affected makers of readers we should have seen a shortage of readers in our stores and/or increasing prices. None of that happened.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by afv011

It certainly affected Hard Drive manufacturers.

Ah, so that is why they decided to manufacture e-readers without hard drives

[afv011]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Ah, so that is why they decided to manufacture e-readers without hard drives

I don't know if you're trying to be sarcastic, or simply naive. You indicated something along the lines that "Asia is large so a flood in one region can't affect production of something". My point was to prove that indeed it can, with a known example of the recent shortage of hard drives and the spike in prices that followed.

[Zetmolm]

Originally Posted by afv011

I don't know if you're trying to be sarcastic, or simply naive. You indicated something along the lines that "Asia is large so a flood in one region can't affect production of something". My point was to prove that indeed it can, with a known example of the recent shortage of hard drives and the spike in prices that followed.

Yes, indeed it can, but as I explained in my response before the one you quoted, in this case it didn't.

Originally Posted by afv011

Source

I wonder if Amazon has been pressuring eInk holdings to reduce the cost of their displays. After all, there has been a huge downwards shift in the cost of ereaders over the past year.