Polymer Vision yields to bankruptcy, we bid Readius adieu

Ugh. Another one bites the gently gnashed rock particles, as they say. Polymer Vision, which was already having some pretty significant cash flow issues back in April, has reportedly caved under pressure and sought shelter under Chapter 11. According to the Hampshire Chronicle, the company famous for developing a bendable e-paper display has fittingly folded, leaving its 50 employees searching for new lines of work and millions of fans grasping for answers. The report continues to say that the promising (but oft delayed) Readius display isn't likely to ship in its current form, and now it seems that the future is quite murky for the company and its flagship product. Call us crazy, but if you're looking for an easy way into the e-paper market, you might be able to pick up whatever's left here for a song. Just sayin'.

[Thanks, Charlie]

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 18th 2009 2:09PM]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Nikesh @ Jul 19th 2009 12:19AM]

Another victim of Big Paper. When will their reign of tyranny end??!!

[ZoretMan @ Jul 19th 2009 3:16AM]

indeed! i'm sad

[GeekyDave @ Jul 18th 2009 2:17PM]

Jeff Bezos should snatch this up for a "new" Kindle form factor.

[Lexy @ Jul 18th 2009 2:15PM]

If someone has any idea how to get one of their prototypes or any of their current stock, please let me know.

[dsteve303 @ Jul 18th 2009 2:23PM]

Man, who cares?

[Scarhawk @ Jul 19th 2009 7:53PM]

Yeah. These guys talked high concept but did not deliver. It's not really a "roll up display" if all you do is fold a small piece of eInk around a huge, ugly piece of plastic that you'd never want to have in your pocket. I'd take any smartphone or netbook, even a Kindle, over that thing.

[Kodykak @ Jul 18th 2009 2:42PM]

Gently gnashed rock particles... that was a great line! Woo! I'm glad to be a geek.

[bigcow05 @ Jul 18th 2009 3:26PM]

From Wikipedia:

Dust is a general name for minute solid particles with diameters less than 20 thou (500 micrometers). Particles in the atmosphere arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind, volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes, offices, and other human environments consist primarily of human skin cells, but also contain small amounts of plant pollen, human and animal hairs, textile fibers, paper fibers, minerals from outdoor soil, and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.

[Richard @ Jul 18th 2009 3:26PM]

This is very dissapointing to me... I was really looking forward to getting my hands on the Readius. I feel that my emotions can best by expressed through a dramatic line from a famous feature film:

"KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

[T.W.G @ Jul 19th 2009 6:41AM]

I'm sad about this!

The first interesting device with a foldable display and now it will never see the light ... :-(

[Chris Ziegler @ Jul 18th 2009 4:37PM]

Not sure how just yet, but I will still eventually own one of these. You can count on it.

[Look_Around_You @ Jul 18th 2009 5:04PM]

Maybe they should have spent more time getting the product to market rather than burn through their cash producing promotional photos of their prototype.

[macserv @ Jul 18th 2009 6:01PM]

The thing just isn't small enough folded up. The folding display is truly awesome, but if you have to wrap it 'round a brick, it becomes less impressive overall. Hopefully someone can pick this up and run with it, miniaturizing the chunky part.

[Scarhawk @ Jul 19th 2009 7:56PM]

eInk displays can't be rolled up tightly. They only have so much bend radius, which this design enforces by adding something thick to wrap it around. The display technology needs to improve before the product design can change.

[sam @ Jul 18th 2009 6:31PM]

Not that I'm calling you crazy, but probably the reason they went bankrupt had something to do with difficulties in producing their product (like, it lasted about a week, or had other critical design flaws, or something).

I still want flexible e-paper to work sometime though, so a company can make a clamshell ebook reader that opens just like a paperback and gives you a full double-page spread view (with no margin in the middle) so that (a) comic books which sometimes have pictures running across both pages work, (b) you have to turn pages half as often, (c) you can turn it sideways to view larger content that was originally designed for A4 or whatever. Something the size of a Sony Reader, and ideally not toooo much thicker, that opens out to give a nice big display - that would rock.

[charlie @ Jul 18th 2009 9:29PM]

No the products works and is stable. This is a result of a larger securities fraud ongoing in the UK/Europe

http://www.moneymarketing.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=190007&d=340&h=341&f=342

Keydata founder Stewart Ford personally loaned millions of pounds to David Elias months before the firm was placed into administration.
According to court documents, Ford injected £500,000 into Netherlands based PolymerVision Limited and entered into a facility agreement in February this year in order to purchase all its assets and undertakings.

PVL was established in November 2006 as a joint venture for the development of technology relating to rollable displays.

It became a joint venture vehicle as a result of a subscription and shareholders agreement in December 2006 made between Technology Capital SA (TCSA), PVL and Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV.

TCSA, which is a Luxembourg company, was - and is - the wholly owned subsidiary of Malaysian-based BWT Holdings Limited which was controlled by David Elias. (Elias reportedly died in Singapore in May after being a fugitve from the UK since 2001)

According to the court documents, Ford had advanced £2m and the value of a bond expressed to be worth £1.2m to Elias in October 2008.

The documents show that by December 2008, Elias was in need of further money which resulted in a further advance by Ford of £0.6m.

They say Ford advanced a further £200,000 in February and £400,000 in March with these advances totalling in excess of £1m.

A High Court case was held in March this year, with litigation actioned as a result of the "perilous financial state of PVL" and Ford’s concern, having advanced “substantial monies” to the firm.

In the document Ford is quoted saying he had known Mr Elias for many years and that he had been the victim of huge financial losses as a result of what he described as his “misdealings”........

[iCurmudgeon @ Jul 18th 2009 8:44PM]

Thank god! :Earth Final Conflict has been put off for a few more years, I was worried those sneaky alien bastards were close by.

[Craig @ Jul 19th 2009 2:41AM]

But I wanted my GLOBAL!!!

[CH3BURASHKA @ Jul 18th 2009 8:55PM]

God damn it. I still have the Popular Science mag in which it's featured. Here's to you, Polymer Vision.

*raise wineglass*

[charlie @ Jul 18th 2009 9:30PM]

hey the comment system worked correctly :-)

[AT7 @ Jul 19th 2009 5:14AM]

that's a shame. Hopefully the idea will be picked up by someone with more financial clout.

[Snesgirl @ Jul 22nd 2009 9:02AM]

Does this automatically win vapourwear of the year award now?

Does having a working prototype disqualify it from being true vapourwear?

I think it was a great idea but not economically viable at a price that the current consumer is willing to shell out. Ahead of it's time perhaps?