PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have published today a study in which they have examined the outlook for consumers magazine publishers and media buyers, as they adept to the digital revolution. You can download it here.

According to the study the publishers are facing a dilemma.

With the current ‘cash cow’-strategy, they are getting as much profit as possible from print, but in the long run this strategy is not feasible, as more and more consumers turn to the internet to search for information and entertainment and are less willing to pay for a digital version of a magazine.

This means that publishers are at a crucial point in their existents to actually take advantage of the new digital media, however the majority still have conservative idea’s about how to make money with digital content. To enter the digital era with success, the time is now to acquire knowledge and invest in technology, to be able to adept and survive in the digital environment of tomorrow.

Yesterday we had the pleasure to welcome, Thomas van der Zijden, Marketing and Sales responsible for Polymer Vision, over at our office, for a demonstration of the Readius. Polymer Vision and iRex are virtually neighbours; both companies are located on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. So we used this opportunity to have a closer look at the device and to fire off some questions at Thomas.

The first thing I noticed about the Readius is that it is smaller than I imagined from the pictures and video’s which I had seen so far. The Readius is about the size of an iPhone, and it gives an overall compact and light impression when holding it.

Clicking open the wrap to roll out the display works nicely, and it is quite impressive to see an electronic paper display roll out off this compact device. The display is about 5 inch, with a resolution of 320 x 240 and 85 dpi.

The reading quality is as good as you can expect from an electronic paper display, although the resolution is a bit lower compared to other electronic paper displays and there were also some slight bends in the display around the axis points where the display bends, but this could be due to the fact that this was just a production sample.

Navigation through the user interface and content is possible via the 5 capacitive buttons and two tactile buttons for options and back. There is no touch screen or on-screen keyboard, so adding a contact and writing an e-mail or text message is not (yet) possible.

The Readius runs on Windows CE and is currently supporting the PDF, HTML and TXT file formats. Polymer Vision is working with third party developers to add applications, and format support (DRM?).

Via a USB connection it possible to place your own documents onto the device, Additional content like newspapers, magazines, RSS feeds and ebooks will become available via network operators and content partners. Polymer Vision is also planning to make content available on the Readius.com portal.

In regard to connectivity, the Readius supports the latest technologies like UMTS and HDSPA, allowing the user to use the Readius as a phone and network operators to push content to the device. In order to make or receive a call you need to connect an earplug or Bluetooth headset to the Readius.

Battery life depends mainly on the usage pattern, so if you use the device mostly as a phone you can expect 30-50% longer battery life than your regular phone, and if used as a reading device you can expect a battery life similar to that of other e-Readers.

The Readius will be commercially available in Q3 this year and the price will be in the range of other high-end phones. On the question if this means we should expect a price in the range of €,.600 to 700,- , we receive an affirmative although not confirming response.

As with the iPhone, Polymer Vision strives to make deals with network operators like Telecom Italia, who will offer the phone in combination with a subscription and content service at a subsidized price. This will probably mean that the Readius will only be available in the countries were Polymer Vision has a partnership with a network operator, although Thomas did mentioned that the Readius will also be available for sale online.

Here at iRex we are definitely excited about the development of this highly mobile reading solution from Polymer Vision and wish them the best of luck with the market introduction of the Readius later this year.

Earlier last week, I picked up a few interesting discussions on mobileread.com in regard to the iLiad display and how it is different from other electronic paper displays. But what makes our electronic paper display so different?

To get my facts straight, I had a chat with Dr. Alex Henzen, one of the founders and VP Research and Development and Patrick Janssen, Senior Optical Engineer.

To understand the difference we first need to take a closer look at the different components of an EPD and for simplicity sake we will separate the following components:

The Electronic Ink
The electronic ink is a transparent liquid with microscopic charged pigment particles captures inside micro-capsules. This electronic ink is processed into a sheet of plastic film for integration into electronic paper displays. The electronic ink used in the different e-readers on the market today is produced by the E Ink Corporation.

The Display
The FPL (Front Plane Laminate) is composed of a sheet of plastic film with the electronic ink material which is laminated to the active matrix back-plane, a layer of circuitry, much like the ones used in a TFT LCD display. The circuitry forms a pattern of pixels that can be controlled by a display driver. The manufacturer of the EPD for the different e-readers, including the iLiad is Prive View International. In case of iLiad, the TFT array is a proprietary design.

The Waveform
The electronic ink in the display needs to be driven. This driving algorithm is called a waveform. It is a wave or sequence of different voltages that repel or attract the white or black particles in order to pull either the white or black particles to the top. If the waveform only pulls the particles shortly white and black get mixed, which we perceive as grey.

The E-paper controller
The waveform is software that needs to be controlled by a chip or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). This ASIC controls all the switches of the matrix and in simple terms tells the pixel when it is activated. This together with the waveform tells the electronic ink when and how it has to make black, grey or white. This is the beating heart of the electronic paper display. For the iLiad, iRex Technologies has developed the Delta ASIC which in contrary to the industries standard E-paper controller is able to handle 4 bits gray scales (16 gray scales).

Eye-Print
In order to optimize the performance of the EPD, iRex Technologies have developed the Eye-Print™ technology. The Eye-Print™ technology makes use of an advanced driving algorithm or waveform controlled by a custom build E-paper controller (ASIC), the Delta Chip, and the result is a seamless integration of the different components like the TFT panel, the electronic ink layer, the display controller and the user interface.

One of the main advantages of the E-Print technology is the ability to make an advanced and custom waveform that allows iRex Technologies to increase the number of grey levels that the display can handle but also the integration of other technologies like the WACOM Penabled™ technology that enables the writing functionality on the iRex electronic paper displays.

Another advantage is the ability to optimize the performance of the electronic ink material. Due to the complex creation process of the electronic material, which is a fusion of chemistry, physics and electronics, each batch is unique and can be slightly different in performance. Therefor each batch of electronic ink is analyzed by our optical engineers, who in turn develop a custom waveform for each batch that optimizes the performance of the material, resulting in a brighter display with better contrast and less ghosting.

Vizplex™

Earlier this year the E Ink Corporation has introduced the Vizplex™ Imaging Film. The key improvement of the Vizplex™ imaging film is a slightly faster response time. Currently iRex is in the process of testing the Vizplex™ material and developing a custom Eye-Print™ waveform for it.

In the coming weeks we will compare the display performance of the current iLiad with a Vizplex™ prototype and analyze the differences. So stay tuned.

illustrations - (c) 2007 www.kennisinbeeld.nl