Tomorrow at the FPD International 2010 trade show in Japan, the Chinese company Hanvon will unveil the first e-reader to include a color e-ink display, giving it a distinct advantage over rivals like the Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook.
Black-and-white e-ink displays are currently used in 90 percent of the world’s e-readers, says the NYTimes.
The Apple iPad and the recently launched Nook Color both use LCD color screens.
Jennifer K. Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch, described the moment: “This is a very important development. It will bring e-readers to a higher level.”
While it is simple to make e-readers with LCD screens, the LCDs tend to take away many advantages of the devices. E-ink screens consume much less battery power and energy and are also readable no matter how bad glare is from sunlight.
Color e-ink screens do have their downsides, however, compared to LCDs. LCD screens will be much sharper, more colorful, and able to handle video. Color e-ink screens have “muted” colors and can only handle “simple animations,” notes the NYTimes.
Havon’s reader will begin sales this March in China at the equivalent of $440 USD. It will have a 9.68-inch screen and will include both Wi-Fi and 3G support.
The iPad sells for $600 in China.
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The Amazon Kindle, the most popular e-reader by market share will eventually have a color version, says CEO Jeff Bezos, but that day is not soon.
Speaking at the e-tailer’s shareholder meeting this week, Bezos says that while not impossible, adding color to the Kindle’s e-ink display is “a difficult technical challenge” and that the device is “still a long way out.”
Bezos adds that he has seen some prototypes “in the lab” but none of them are “ready for prime-time production.”
The e-reader market continues to get more and more crowded, especially with Apple’s introduction of the iPad tablet in April. The iPad has e-reading capabilities on a full color screen and a connection to the growing Apple iBookStore.
While Bezos refuses to disclose the amount of Kindle devices sold since launch, DisplaySearch reported last month that the number is somewhere in the 3.3 million unit range.
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According to new figures from Display Search, the Amazon Kindle has sold 3.3 million units to date.
So far Amazon has kept sales figures under wraps, normally changing the topic to promoting their e-book business.
The data figures say e-paper displays increased to five million units in 2009, up over 400 percent from the 950,000 units in 2008. E-paper displays are used primarily in e-readers.
“Seeing this growth for a new application, especially in the second half of last year, is a vote of confidence from consumers who seem to have embraced e-books,” notes Hiroshi Hayase, DisplaySearch director of small- to medium-size displays. “Momentum from e-book popularity last year combined with new, larger-size products hitting the market right now means that this trend will continue, so we will see large shipment volume increases in the first half of 2010.”
The Kindle had 66 percent of the e-paper market in 2009, and DisplaySearch says it expects the Amazon device to continue to dominate.
“Boosted by success from e-books thus far, Amazon is expanding its service offering to help customers access more timely books at low cost. We expect to see other service providers increase their presence in the US and expand e-book adoption in Europe and Asia as well,” Hayase continued.
