MirasolE-reader
Latest
Qualcomm buys Pixtronix to make for better Mirasol displays?
Qualcomm's whipped out some flipping great wadges of cash in order to snap up Pixtronix for its PerfectLight MEMS-based display tech. It reportedly cost between $175 - $200 million and is expected to be merged into the company's super-low power Mirasol-based displays. Compared to the Kyobo eReader we played with at CES, PerfectLight has a wider viewing angle (170 degree), supports full speed video playback and much better RGB modulation. Depending on how successful the marriage is, it could spell the end of the final hurdles that have hampered the widespread adoption of the technology.
Qualcomm CEO confirms death of 5.7-inch Mirasol e-reader display, looks forward to 'next version'
Remember that Mirasol e-reader display Qualcomm was hoping to release this year? Yeah, it's not happening. Speaking at a press briefing in San Diego yesterday, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs confirmed that the 5.7-inch panel has been abandoned after failing to meet expectations. Instead, the company will devote its attention to the "next version" of the technology, which has Jacobs feeling optimistic: "We have a really interesting roadmap -- we're starting out on e-readers because we figured having E Ink as a competing technology was a good way to get started. But if you think about the power consumption of the screens that are out now [on tablets], they're very bright OLED screens that use up a lot of the power of the battery. We don't today have as vibrant color as an OLED display - but we have a roadmap that gets us to a much brighter color." Presumably, this roadmap would include that low-power "converged e-reader" we heard about a few weeks ago, slated for release by the end of the year. Jacobs also mentioned that Qualcomm is planning to invest a billion dollars in its Taiwan Mirasol plant, which might help produce the kind of volume that, say, Amazon would demand for its Kindle displays. It's all speculation, of course, but Qualcomm certainly seems to have some big plans in store for the rest of the year.
