A New ePaper Revolution.

News sites have been buzzing the past couple days about Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader selling out shortly after its release.

Michael Santo at Real Tech News makes the observation that since Amazon isn’t saying exactly how many Kindle units have moved, it’s hard to say if the device is, in fact, a runaway success — it could be that the online retailer simply hedged its bets against initial skepticism and didn’t make a ton of the things.

However, the BBC says that many buyer reviews at Amazon have been positive, and the New York Times ran a love letter to Kindle earlier in the week that includes perhaps the most lucid point we’ve seen about the $400 device’s potential appeal — it comes with “free” 3G conectivity:

The Kindle goes online using Sprint’s 3G cellular data network — the same service that costs $60 a month for corporate laptop luggers. The Kindle’s price tag stings less when you realize that Amazon is going to pay your entire wireless tab.

Our own Rob Enderle suggests that the Kindle is a little behind the curve in terms of usability — it doesn’t have a reading light, for example — but its inclusion of media player support, coupled with tight integration with content services (a la the iPod), may signal a new boom in the ePaper market. Printing king HP is already planning an entry. Endrle writes:

Kindle is very close to there, and in one generation it could become an iPod-like product. Others will likely see that and work to ensure Amazon doesn’t own this market and make a push in 12 to 18 months.


E Paper
Electronic paper, also called e-paper, is a display technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, electronic paper reflects light like ordinary paper and is capable of holding text and images indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed later. Unlike traditional displays, e-paper can be crumpled or bent like traditional paper. One important feature needed is that the pixels be image stable, or bistable, so that the state of each pixel can be maintained without a constant supply of power.