Kindle display maker PVI promises touchscreens, color and flexibility in 2010 models
By Thomas Ricker 
posted February 5th 2010 5:58AM
posted February 5th 2010 5:58AM
Love your Kindle? How about your Sony Reader? Good then lean in close because your electrophoretic display (EPD) maker wants to have a word. Prime View International (PVI) chairman Scott Liu says that his company (the owners of E Ink) will be introducing a wide variety of new e-reader displays this year including color, flexible, and touchscreen EPDs. PVI also says that response times have been improved enough to allow for animation support on products in 2010. Of course, flip books provide animation as well but we wouldn't want to use one for any considerable amount of time -- but let's wait and see what they have before coming to a conclusion. Interestingly enough, PVI says that it's developing pressure touch sensors that sit behind the display rather than using conventional touch-panels that can obscure the display's brightness. Funny, that sounds a lot like the Touchco technology just purchased by Amazon two days ago. Kindle 3, we're waiting... unfortunately for Amazon, the rest of the industry isn't.
Sounds great but will a prototype be available before I buy an iPad. I love the Kindle but want to be able to read magazines as well.
@xenon73 I know, if I were one of these companies, I would be so tempted to show off any prototypes to try and eat into sales of products that are going to beat mine to market. Of course the downside is they will also cannibalize their existing sales. Apple doesn't have to worry about the Osborne effect by announcing the iPad 2 months early, however Amazon might get pissed if it's supplier came out and showed the awesome inner workings that would be in the Kindle3, 6 months before it goes on sale.
@xenon73
leave out the touch screen, just give me color e-ink and faster refresh rate and am a happy man.
Cool! Flexible, color displays, please!
Color isn't that necessary, since most of my books are in black and white, but that will definitely help for the textbook readers.
(Or just color. Or just flexible. I really don't care at this point. Anything would be an upgrade to my Kindle 1.0.)
I don't know about color e-ink screen. Compared to color LCD screens, it might look like the color Gameboy screen... when was it? 10 years ago?
Also, lower the prices to $199 and $99. You won't compete with the $499 iPad with current Kindle prices.
@tycoon11
iPad in 51 days... I hate when Apple announces something and I have to wait- time moves by so slowly...
@tycoon11 You will if you have a reader base that cares about their eye sight and battery life.
@Eal
I agree. I'm waiting for the next Kindle. I have a K1 and love it. I skipped over the limited iPad and went with a HP TM2 for my magazines. Plus I didn't like how Apples book prices have given the publishers room to tell Amazon what they can and can't do for their customers.
I have a Mac and a iPhone but this really turned me off.
PRICE!
If it's not half the price of an iPad or similarly designed devices that can do a variety of tasks beyond reading e-books, it's just not going to be within my budget.
Personally I'm just waiting for the Notion Ink Adam. It's already rockin a multi-touch capable Pixel Qi display which imho really does have the strengths of both traditional screens and E-ink screens, and it's running android on a Tegra 2. Yeah, I'm down with that.
"allow for animation support" - they mean flash right?? ;)
@AstroSeven I would guess not. This company makes displays not Operating systems. I am sure the display on an iPad is perfectly capable of flash, it is the iPhone OS that drive it that is not.
So if a company makes some sort of eReader that can handle flash, then I suppose this screen could display it. However, I don't see any eReader companies giving flash serious consideration. It would require a much beefier CPU and kill battery life. In the end, I suppose it will be used for simple video, animated menu interfaces and such.
I think that the E-ink technology stayed behind , and it's very difficult to compete with the new generation tablets and ofcourse iPad . I'm going to buy an iPad , because i have many PDF scanned by me ,and it is very difficult to view with current Ebook devices , because they can't handle very well pdf consistent of images. Further more i want to view also comics on it. So ipad is oneway for me till now!
I really love my Kindle and am really interested to see what the next version will be. All I'd want is a slightly larger screen maybe 7 or 8 inches - I thought the DX was way to big and bulky, color, touchscreen, and a nice web browser with the whispernet. I don't need or want it junked up by turning it into a half baked "tablet."
I would get an iPad but $800 plus monthly internet charges is way too much to spend for an eBook. And no one has said if it's truly unlimited or the 5 Gig cap crap is in play. Especially when Apple wants to charge $15+ per eBooks. I say $800 because I always purchase whatever the "best" version of a product is at the time. So no way would I get the 16 or 32 gig versions.
The other thing I'd like to see is the Kindle start using real Page Numbers. It's nearly impossible to skip around in a Kindle book because of that weird location thing they use. As it is I just constantly bookmark pages.
I love my kindle 2 and plan to get an iPad, but I hope this means we can have big screen super thin ebook readers, maybe even one that folds in half and displays too pages!
I have the flip case from amazon and wish I had a screen on both sides! I would buy that device, make it happen amazon!
love or hate the iPad, you have to admit that competition is a good thing! without even being available the iPad has spurred the beginnings of some innovation in the e-reader industry.
@(Unverified) - While normally I agree that competition is a good thing, it worries me in this instance. I read a lot of books (novels, histories, biographies, etc.). They don't need color. At most, they need the ability to adjust contrast a bit (Kindle 2's contrast isn't quite there). While the iPad might be cool for some things, I have no desire to read a book on it. Nor will most people who genuinely love reading books. That big bright white light in your face changes the entire experience, and not in a good way. If I had wishes for an e-reader, it would be a bit faster, adjustable contrast, and maybe a notepad app with which to write. Touch screen would be nice, but the only one I've seen is the Sony Reader version and it blurs the text and makes you feel like you're reading a book through a window.
Flashy apps and notifications are great, but I don't want them while I'm reading. I spend all day on a computer, with a phone within arm's reach, I don't need my book to serve the same purpose.
Of course, I understand I'm not necessarily normal.
@(Unverified)
If you've read the other company's responses to the iPad, you'll find that they want to get in on the eReader/Tablet love, too. So, the DSi will probably get a crappy eReader. I need to sell my DSi, waste of 179 dollars. -.-"
@(Unverified) Yep, I am sure this company didn't bother figuring out how to make color e-ink screens until they saw the iPad.
On the other hand they may have actually been planning and investing and researching for years trying to develop color screens, but I am sure it was entirely due to rumors of the mythical Apple tablet, and not due to potential customers consistently saying they were waiting for a faster refresh or color screen before buying a reader.
Eh, I prefer the Iceberg reader on my iPod Touch. Looks nice, though, but it'll probably be really expensive. >_
If we saw a Kindle with a 10" color e-ink touch screen display, compatible stylus, 4GB-8GB of storage, stereo speakers, headphone out, text to speech, animation support, music, photos, a web browser, an SD slot, and a price point of about $350, it'd take real bite out of the iPad's potential holiday sales and make it a pointless sell for someone who just wanted a good E-book.
@kenny goo Or they could release a color version with animation support for $350, and keep selling the B&W version (maybe drop it to $200), and they would satisfy both markets. There is no reason that Amazon can only sell a color version once they start. In fact most electronics manufacturers like to have some premium features to upsell. Hook you on buying one with the limited feature set inexpensive model, and then coax them to buy the more expensive version.
Just like the low end iPad that is significantly constrained by not having much memory, and no 3G, exists merely to get people thinking the iPad is cheap, when in reality everyone wants the $800 model.
I wonder what the refresh rates are going to be like. If they are anything like Mirasol, then I will be impressed.
Love my Kindle but lack of color is a problem. I read a lot of history, which means many maps. Most are illegible in black and white. Color would be a big help to me.