E Ink Holdings announced that it developed e-paper displays driven by OTFT backplanes - aimed for wearable and smart clothing applications. EIH is developing the OFTF backplanes in collaboration with AU Optronics.
EIH says that OTFT can reduce production costs as it can be produced at low temperatures and perhaps even using printing technologies. OTFT can also enable highly flexible displays. EIH will demonstrate OTFT EPD displays late this week at Touch Taiwan 2019.
In July 2019, Dasung started shipping its third-generation E Ink secondary monitor, the Paperlike HD-FT. This e-paper monitor is based on a 13.3" 2200x1650 touch display with a front light. Dasung was kind enough to send us a unit for this review.
The Paperlike HD-FT is a surprisingly slick and lightweight monitor. It's like a large tablet or a large e-reader, but one that connects to your computer via a single cable that requires two connectors - USB for power and HDMI for data. The monitor than acts like a regular 2nd monitor.
E Ink Holdings Inc has lowered its 2019 revenue forecast, saying that revenues are expected to be 10% lower than in 2018 EIH says that the US-China trade ware has lowered demand for e-readers and e-notebooks in the US.
E-readers and e-notebooks amount to around 70% of EIH's revenues. The company is still optimistic about the electronic shelf label (ELS) market, and its shipments to that market are expected to grow 20-30% from 2018.
In 2017 HP announced its IonTouch system which enables cheap and easy "paperless" printing on small E Ink Cards. Fast forward to 2019, and now E Ink announced a new technology called JustPrintIt, which is based (and licensed) on HP's IoNTouch.
The JustPrintIt system is a "rewritable, digital, electronics-free display medium" that E Ink hopes to get adopted in smart office, transportation, retail, healthcare and IoT applications. Possible usage cases include ID badges, gift cards, loyalty cards, packaging, healthcare and public transportation cards.
E Ink announced that Landmark Hospitals of Florida has launched e-paper based patient and room information displays.
The patient information display (PID) and the room information display (RID) was developed by DCI, a Foxconn Health Technology Business Group Company. The E Ink displays will replace handwritten whiteboards with low-power and highly-readable displays that pull essential information from the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to clinical staff and patients areas, ensuring accurate communication and information exchange.
CLEARink demonstrated their latest color e-paper displays at SID Displayweek 2019, and following is an interesting interview with the company's CEO Frank Christiaens and CMO (our good friend Sri Peruvemba):
CLEARink latest displays are 9.7" (227 PPI) and supports 4,096 colors. Frank says that CLEARink has over $300 million in confirmed commitments, mainly from the educational market. The company hopes to bring its first displays to the market by 2020.
Ynvisible was established in Portugal in 2010 to develop flexible transparent electrochromic displays produced using a simple printing method. In 2011 the company started producing sample products (we tested one in August 2012).In September 2018, the company has gone through a reverse take-over, and the now Canadian headquartered Ynvisible Interactive Inc. has inaugurated its new production line near Lisbon.
Ynvisible now announced that it is set to acquire Sweden-based Consensum Production AB, a contract manufacturer of printed electronics and hybrid systems. The Consensum team has accumulated over a decade of experience in roll-to-roll printing of different electronic components, including displays. The company operates a full-scale roll-to-roll production line and processes required for manufacture, converting and testing of printed electronics components and systems.