e-Book/e-Newspaper Supply Chain Expanding

By Jennifer Colegrove – Director, Display Technologies, DisplaySearch

There is good news and bad news in the ebook/enewspaper market. On the upside, Plastic Logic and Barnes & Noble just announced a partnership on an e‑book device, and AT&T announced that it will be the wireless provider for Plastic Logic’s e‑book devices in 2010.

The unique feature of Plastic Logic’s device is that it is made with organic TFTs built on plastic substrates, rather than the glass substrates used on almost all e‑book devices currently in the market. The flexible substrate will bring the benefit of being thin, lightweight and rugged.

Meanwhile, Plastic Logic’s competitor, Polymer Vision, has been demonstrating a rollable e‑book/mobile phone for a few years. Although Polymer Vision hasn’t announced it formally, the industry rumor is that Polymer Vision will file for bankruptcy.

In addition to Sony and Amazon, the leading users of E Ink material, there are several other companies already offering ebooks, including iRex Technologies, Jinke, STAReBOOK and iRiver.

Not only are there are more display technologies entering the e‑book/e‑newspaper market, but there are also more companies entering the supply chain. The following is a list of companies in the market:

• E Ink’s manufacturing partners include PVI, LG Display, NEC, Plastic Logic and Polymer Vision.
• SiPix’s partners include AUO, CMO, CPT and Wintek.
• Bridgestone’s partner is Delta.
• Fujitsu has developed its own branded e‑book.

Several publishers, booksellers and wireless providers have announced that they are (or are rumored to be) working on their own e‑book/e‑newspaper devices:

• Hearst is planning to launch a large size e‑reader this year.
• Detroit Media Partnership, a joint venture of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, is planning to launch an e‑newspaper device in 2010.
• News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch has told media that his group is looking for a large, color screen for a planned e‑reader device.
• Brother in Japan is planning an e‑document device for 2010.
• Verizon is rumored to have been approached to be a wireless provider for e‑book devices.
• It is possible that Apple’s upcoming product would serve as an e‑reader (see the DisplaySearch blog post “A Few Theories on Design, Features and Price of an Apple Mini-Note”).

The DisplaySearch e‑Paper Display Report will be published in August, so stay tuned.