Now that Polymer Vision’s new owner – Wistron – has been confirmed, it’s time for some speculation about what they might have up their sleeve with the folding e-paper technology. Wistron’s Brian Chong, chief of product planning, has confirmed that the company intends to release a 5- to 6-inch device using Polymer Vision tech in 2010. From the sound of it, it’s very much alike the prototype device Polymer Vision themselves were showing round before their sale.
The unnamed Asian company which acquired ailing foldable e-paper startup Polymer Vision has been outed as Wistron. Polymer Vision declared bankruptcy back in July, and were acquired in early September; the deal is now known to have been worth €12m ($17.75m). Integration of the two companies actually began taking place last month, but right now it’s still unclear whether the Polymer Vision brand will be maintained.
Polymer Vision has reportedly been sold to an unnamed Asian company, who will restart the firms development of foldable e-ink displays. Having declared bankruptcy back in July, Polymer Vision – whose first device, the Readius, was to be a cellphone with a large fold-out e-ink display – will now retain around 80-percent of its staff after new contracts were signed this week.
Polymer Vision, the company responsible for the Readius e-paper device first promised for the fall of 2008, has folded. The company had most recently announced that it required further funding in order to begin production; however it could not secure that in sufficient time, and called in receivers on July 7th.
From a concept unlikely to ever launch, to a product we should’ve seen on the market already: Polymer Vision’s Readius was promised for fall of 2008, but months later there’s no sign of the innovative folding e-paper device. According to CEO Karl McGoldrick, that’s because the company needs more money; he’s currently in talks with investors to refinance both the first Readius device and the in-development Readius 2.
Polymer Vision have confirmed that they’re on schedule to launch their Readius cellular-connected ebook reader in the Fall. In a post to their new company blog, CEO Karl McGoldrick also announced the launch of www.readius.com, the media and content portal that Readius users will be able to access free and subscription-based information.
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