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China's Hanvon today had the distinction of becoming the first company to support a color E Ink screen. The company said it would launch a 9.7-inch touchscreen device. The design has few details but should behave slightly more like a tablet, with a website in view in the initial NYT render and both 3G and Wi-Fi support. It reaches the Chinese market in March for an equivalent price of $440.
Rumors of the new iPhone getting a 960x640 screen were supported today by claims from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Apple's new device will reportedly not only get the higher resolution but a much higher quality IPS (in-plane switching) panel with a relatively new technology to ease reading outdoors. Fringe-field switching, or FFS, would improve the viewing angles and readability in sunlight and is allegedly being used to improve the viability of iBooks on the iPhone, Kuo said.
Prime View International, by way of Korean subsidiary Hydis, could become yet another panel supplier for the iPad, anonymous market sources say. Hydis has claimed responsibility for developing the IPS technology in the iPad's screen, which while not unique to the tablet is essential to its image quality. A contract to actually manufacture iPad panels could prove lucrative, given demand for Apple products.
The same company that makes the E Ink displays is also involved in making the iPad's screen, according to a statement made Wednesday (subscription required). Prime View International (PVI), whose E Ink division makes screens for the Kindle and Nook, said its sub-label Hydis was responsible for developing the in-plane switching (IPS) panel technology crucial to the wide viewing angles with Apple's tablet. LG Display is believed responsible for actually manufacturing the finished screen and signed a deal with PVI in December.
The iPad should actually be beneficial for E Ink, Prime View International executive VP TH Peng claimed in a new interview. He notes that the sheer run-up in publicity ahead of Apple's e-reader launch will draw attention to e-books as a whole. It could not only spark sales but lure in publishers that might not have otherwise published digital copies.
LG Display today landed deals that will give it the ability to produce e-paper screens. The company now has a display supply deal with E Ink and has an agreement with Hydis Technology both to develop e-paper modules as well as to cross-purchase technology between the two. LG is also investing about $30.5 million into Hydis and already has a half-percent, $10.5 million stake in Prime View International, the parent company of both E Ink and Hydis.
AU Optronics (AUO) said on Friday that it hopes to slash the price of e-book readers in half within two years. The Taiwan area company explained to FT that it hopes to use its experience in making LCDs, as well as the sheer scale of its production, to make the e-paper displays affordable enough that they can lead to much less expensive hardware. A $150 reader could be available in 2010, while a $100 reader will ideally ship in 2011.
Taiwan-based Prime View International (PVI), one of the larger suppliers of e-paper displays, today set out plans to acquire e-paper display maker E Ink for $215 million. E Ink's displays are used in the relatively successful 6-inch Amazon Kindle 2 e-book reader as well as its rival, the Sony Reader. The company also makes a 9.7-inch display for the Kindle DX, which it similarly sells as a prototype kit to hardware developers.
