A leading developer of electronic-paper displays is betting that the e-book market is ready for a color technology that enhances the e-paper viewing experience with thousands of colors on the same high-contrast, sunlight-readable screen now on monochrome e-readers. E Ink is showcasing the new color Triton Imaging Film technology this week at an international flat-panel display exhibition in Makuhari Messe, Japan.
“The introduction of our Triton Imaging Film further closes the digital divide between paper and electronic displays,” said E Ink Holdings Vice President Sriram Peruvemba. “It represents an important step that will bring e-publishing products, including e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines and e-textbooks, more mainstream.”
A Robust Market Without Color
E Ink’s monochrome displays are used in the latest e-readers from Amazon.com and Sony. Earlier this week, China-based Hanvon Technology became the first e-reader maker to unveil a device featuring a color screen enabled by E Ink’s Triton Imaging Film.
With last month’s release of Barnes & Noble’s nookcolor, which has a color LCD screen, Amazon and Sony could ratchet up the competition with a color technology that reportedly creates less eyestrain than conventional LCDs. On the other hand, the monochrome e-book market has been doing very well on its own without color.
Forrester Research estimates that revenue from e-book sales will approach $1 billion this year. What’s more, the firm’s analysts expect the e-book industry to nearly triple to almost $3 billion in 2015.
“Even if we never get color E Ink screens, if publishers never experiment with e-book subscriptions, and interactive e-book formats never succeed, we will still see digital get close to $3 billion in size by the middle of the decade,” Forrester Vice President James McQuivey wrote in a blog.
Coloring Over Other Problems
Though just seven percent of online adults read e-books, these are the readers most coveted by publishers…