Flexible e-paper mass production imminent; color version soon after?

We could soon be seeing broad commercial availability of both flexible e-paper and color e-paper displays, if rumors regarding manufacturer Prime View International (PVI) pan out.  Industry sources are suggesting that PVI are preparing to mass produce flexible electrophoretic displays (EPDs), which use a TFT backplane with an electrophoretic frontplane based on E Ink technology, and will follow that up with color displays using the same processes.

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PVI themselves have declined to comment on the rumor, but it's believed that the recent surge in mainstream e-book reader awareness – fueled no doubt by the Amazon Kindle and Kindle 2 - has prompted the company to accelerate their manufacturing plans.  PVI holds the exclusive license to manufacturing technology developed by Philips Research, and promise 7,000 page turns per charge in a more robust and compact casing.

Mass production of non-flexible 6-inch e-paper PVI displays is already underway.  It's expected that this new range of flexible displays could also include PVI's Touch EPD technology, which uses force sensors underneath the e-paper layer to recognize touch from a finger or stylus.  It's roughly as accurate as a resistive touchscreen, but as the layer is beneath rather than above the display panel there's no reduction in light output.

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[via MobileRead]

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