Partner LG.Philips LCD recently announced the world's highest resolution 14.3-inch flexible color display at the January 2008 CES show. This display utilizes E Ink's Vizplex Imaging Film with LG.Philip's metal foil and plastic substrate backplane. The resulting display is less than 300 micrometers thick with a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels and is both rollable and bendable, with no image distortion. Partner Plastic Logic announced that it had raised $100 Million in funding and was building the first factory to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale.
"The potential applications for this display are incredible and will allow our customers to create new products that are not only convenient to use but also save natural resources. This represents the next generation in display technology," stated Mr. In-Jae Chung, the company's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President. "Our revolutionary flexible displays using E Ink's Vizplex technology will radically change the way the world receives information," commented Dr. John Mills, COO of Plastic Logic.
Last week, partner Polymer Vision announced plans to mass produce a rollable display device, Readius aimed at cell phone applications. E Ink has worked with these, and other industry leaders including Prime View International, Samsung and Epson, in developing flexible displays for the market and has pioneered a number of "world's firsts" in the display industry.
The rollable display in the Readius also contains E Ink's Vizplex Imaging Film. "People are demanding greater choice and flexibility in having overall instant access to personal content and information" said Karl McGoldrick, CEO of Polymer Vision. "They do not want to be concerned with small screens, not being able to read in sunlight, a dead battery or a device being too bulky to carry in their pocket."
Displays using E Ink Vizplex Imaging Film are ideally suited for flexible display applications due to their thin form factor and inherent flexibility. E Ink's electronic ink is an image stable reflective display technology that uses ultra-low power but is easily read under any lighting condition including direct sunlight. Unlike liquid crystal displays, the image on E Ink displays looks the same from all viewing angles and will not distort when touched or flexed, making electronic ink the ideal display medium for flexible displays and portable devices.
"We believe the flexible display market will grow at the CAGR of over 120% in the next three years and be over $600 Million in 2010, and electrophoretic display will continue to be the lead among all the display technologies for flexible display." said Dr. Jennifer Colegrove, senior analyst of iSuppli Corporation who is the author of iSuppli's Flexible Display report.
An Electronic Paper Display is a display that possess a paper-like high contrast appearance, ultra-low power consumption, and a thin, light form. It gives the viewer the experience of reading from paper, while having the power of updatable information. EPDs are a technology enabled by electronic ink - ink that carries a charge enabling it to be updated through electronics. Electronic ink is ideally suited for EPDs as it is a reflective technology which requires no front or backlight, is viewable under a wide range of lighting conditions, including direct sunlight, and requires no power to maintain an image.