Comments on: E-Books Are Hot, So Why Did E-Ink Sell for So Little?

By: Chip Firms Want to Know: When It Comes to e-Readers, Will Brains or Beauty Win? – GigaOM

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:10:34 +0000

[...] component that I think of as beautiful. Dedicated e-readers have overall higher costs thanks to the proprietary nature of e-ink displays, and those costs are unlikely to come down as fast as the price for LCD screens. Using the brains [...]

By: fearless_fool

fearless_fool — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:57:55 +0000

My guess about the low valuation: it may be less about the market potential of the e-ink technology and more about investor fatigue. E-ink has been slogging away for 12 years, perhaps the investors’ LPs want to see a return in their lifetime. (I personally think the technology and future potential is great.)

By: WarLord

WarLord — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:15:40 +0000

E-books software (the books) are too expensive as compared to dead tree editions. E-books will make head way when they are priced at a multiple something less than trade paperback until then they’re an amusing curiosity

The hardware is too pricey the e-editions are too pricey and too much free stuff on the web tnat i can read on my netbook…

By: Could PixelQi competition be partly why E Ink sold out to PixelQi at a bargain price? | TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:29:30 +0000

[...] an e-book feature chart distributed by Forrester Research and found via Gigaom (click image for more detailed view), you’ll see that color is two years off—eons in e-book [...]

By: Breakfast briefing: E3 wowed by Microsoft, E-Ink leaves them puzzled @ Technology News

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:15:59 +0000

[...] · Electronic books are big news at the moment, with Amazon’s Kindle trying to change the market. Intriguing, then, that the E-Ink – the company that makes the crucial display technology for many ebooks was sold yesterday to Taiwan’s Prime View International for just 5m. Stacy Higginbotham at GigaOm asks why, if ebooks are the next wonder market, it sold for so little. [...]

By: DailyWireless » Blog Archive » Wednesday Links: E-Books, Netbooks, Android

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:13:02 +0000

[...] Gigaom wonders why E-Ink sold for so little when E-books are so HOT. [...]

By: Yoo-hoo! Questo sarà l’anno dell’e-book e dell’e-reader! « Alphakappa

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:00:28 +0000

[...] (Via) Tag: ebook, eink, ereader [...]

By: me

me — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:58:49 +0000

why do people want color and multimedia? e-Ink is a replacement for paper. does the same crowd complain about the lack of color in a typical paperback?

furthermore, it’s not that they don’t deliver it, it’s that the technology DOESN’T exist (or isn’t ready for prime time yet). see the infographic above? they guesstimate that color will available in 2011.

one of the biggest problems is that people don’t realize that eink is a totally different technology than LED/LCD. one of the key differences is that e-ink is bistatic – it “remembers” the image on the screen and uses little to no electricity to keep the image on screen, it only draws power when you’re changing the image (flipping pages). each cell (pixel?) on the screen has pigments that rise to the top when a charge is applied and it keeps them there – until another charge is applied (pulling the pigment back down so it can’t be seen).

By: Edward O'Meara

Edward O'Meara — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:36:38 +0000

People don’t simply want e-Ink; we want color and multi-media and this company doesn’t deliver that.

By: Newton

Newton — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:48:50 +0000

“E-Books Are Hot, So Why Did E-Ink Sell for So Little?”

And we know E-Books are so hot, because Amazon tells us they are…

By: Shastri

Shastri — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:03:14 +0000

Stacey,
an interesting article. Thanks.
Just to point out a factual error:
“Plastic Logic last week showed off its own e-reader built using different technology”
Plastic Logic actually uses e-ink technology for the display. They use a different technology for making the transistors that go behind the actual display. That new technology enables flexible screens.
So Plastic Logic is dependent on e-ink technology.
This however underscores your concerns that in spite of being a monopoly in e-reader display technology, e-ink still sold for a very small amount.
-Shastri

By: E-Books Are Hot, So Why Did E-Ink Sell for So Little? [Voices] | UpOff.com

E-Books Are Hot, So Why Did E-Ink Sell for So Little? [Voices] | UpOff.com — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:41:27 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this post on the original site Article Share and Enjoy: [...]

By: E-Books Are Hot, So Why Did E-Ink Sell for So Little? | Stacey Higginbotham | Voices | AllThingsD

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:23:29 +0000

[...] Read the rest of this post on the original site Tagged: Voices, digital, hardware, media, Amazon, digital ink, E Ink, e-books, e-readers, GigaOm, Kindle, Prime View International, PVI, Sony, Sony Reader, Stacey Higginbotham | permalink Sphere.Inline.search("", "http://voices.allthingsd.com/20090602/e-books-are-hot-so-why-did-e-ink-sell-for-so-little/"); « Previous Post [...]

By: Ian Kemmish

Ian Kemmish — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:06:09 +0000

Well, it’s several years since E-Ink’s technology made its debut, and all they’ve done is increase the display size, and not really by very much. There haven’t been any striking improvements in the technology as far as I’m aware. If competing technologies are now starting to appear, the race is about to start; it would be a good time for the founders to exit if they don’t feel comfortable about their continuing ability to innovate. And since we’re not in a bubble any more, a technology firm might be expected, for once, to sell for about the same price as any other, in which case the earnings multiple seems reasonable.

By: Gadget Sleuth

Gadget Sleuth — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:17:19 +0000

Mainly because it isn’t a market (right now, or maybe ever) that will generate big profits. Most stuff you can get for e-book readers for free or very little; people barely want to buy real books anymore.