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By Chris Meadows

e_ink_logo-180x47 On Xconomy.com, Wade Roush has a comprehensive and lengthy interview with Russ Wilcox from E Ink. In its three pages, the interview covers a great deal of ground. It looks at the eleven-year history electronic ink technology, how the Kindle 2’s E Ink screen differs from the Kindle 1’s, and what is on the horizon for e-ink.

Apart from E-Ink’s upcoming products—different-sized screens, better contrast by the end of 2010, color displays in 2011—and the way that the new Kindle’s screen is advanced over the older, there are quite a few potentially interesting tidbits in the article.

What most interested me was the explanation of why the first e-ink reader, the Librié, was slow to take off in Japan. There were relatively few books available for it at the time, used paper books are available considerably more cheaply and easily in Japan than in America (because of the premium on living space), and the Japanese e-book form factor of choice is rapidly becoming the cell phone. But the Librié was the inspiration for both Sony and Amazon to bring out new e-ink devices in America, so it was not a total failure.

E-paper prices may be fairly high in the short term, but Wilcox sees the prices soon coming down to the same range as LCD displays—and in the long term (five to ten years), get even cheaper. Unlike LCDs, e-ink can potentially be manufactured using a roll-to-roll printing process, making it available in much greater bulk (and at much lower prices) than LCD could ever be.

This is definitely something to look forward to. Who knows? Perhaps in a few years there could even be e-paper iPhones and iPod Touches.

 
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