Qualcomm pares down Mirasol screen production, will license
updated 02:50 pm EDT, Mon July 23, 2012
Qualcomm will focus on licensing out Mirasol screen tech, but ship some devices
During an earnings conference call last week, Qualcomm CEO Paul E. Jacobs revealed that the company will not focus on building many portable devices equipped with Mirasol touchscreens. The company, known better for its mobile chipsets, will instead focus on licensing the next generation of its technology. It will, however, continue to develop and sell some of its own Mirasol products.
"With respect to QMT, we’re now focusing on licensing our next-generation mirasol display technology and will directly commercialize only certain mirasol products," Jacobs said. "We believe that this strategy will better align our updated roadmap with the addressable opportunities."
The Mirasol displays promise legibility in direct sunlight, although the colors are somewhat faded, at least compared to LCDs, in our experience. The technology does seem well suited to e-readers, however.
The screens were also reported to be hard to manufacture, with low yields and thus high production costs. Mirasol screens have already showed up in reference devices from Chinese device makers Kyobo and Shanda. [via The Digital Reader]
