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Kindle

Star Trek crew member accessing data on his PADD.
(Courtesy CBS Studios)

In December, in one of the best-executed PR programs since the iPhone, Amazon announced and then released the Kindle. It was the Ebook only better: a larger display, and always on-line for almost instant down loading of books, and Web surfing.

Kindle had all the things Sony's Ebook didn't; granted, Amazon had two plus years to figure it out. Nonetheless it was sold out the day it went on sale (300k units we were told) and was in such demand (mind you this was just before the holidays) that they were being bid up to $1,500 on eBay (The retail price from Amazon was $399.)

The display uses reflected light—just like a book. That's right, lights out—no more reading. But the display is so sharp and has such a high contrast ratio similar to that of a newspaper, and a very large viewing angle unlike many LCDs, that when people first encounter it they don't believe it's not backlit. It also has another interesting feature, albeit its use is not clear, and that is that the display leaves a ghost-like reanimate of the book on the screen when turned off. I kind of like that, it makes me feel like it's ready to leap into action and bring the latest thriller to me.

And when it's on, it looks like newspaper.

The display, it's always readable, and best of all, in bright sunlight the text pops off the screen—perfect for poolside.

The kindle is a white package with a liquid paper display.
(Source: Jon Peddie Research)

Another Kindle, fan Andy Fischer observers, “the wireless connectivity is marvelous for instant on-demand content delivery or for push delivery” (e.g. the NY Times delivered before breakfast). However, it's not a device for web surfing. Even the iPhone is better suited for that. That the Kindle is capable of extending a search off the content stored on the device and over to Wikipedia is quite handy, or in reading Slashdot, to follow the embedded links. These activities feel natural on the Kindle, but I couldn't imagine doing my online banking or accessing Web e-mail on the thing. A Web “browser” it ain't.”

Like so many things, the Kindle may owe its creation to science fiction, Star Trek to be specific. In The Next Generation series (September 28, 1987 1st Episode, Encounter at Farpoint) there was a device shown called a PADD: Acronym for Personal Access Display Device. It was basically a portable handheld information access device used by Starfleet crew members.

There were several variations of the PADD made up for the show, and you have to admire the inventiveness and forward thinking, this was shown in 1987, so it probably was conceived in 1986 or earlier.

The display technology used in the Kindle is known as electronic ink or electronic paper (e-paper) that was developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center and called Gyricon. Its technical name is electrophoretic and it's a display that forms visible images by rearranging charged pigment particles (i.e., powder like substances) using an applied electric field.

In the early 2000s, the technology began to gain some traction and looked like it could be mass produced, albeit in small sizes. It found its first (or maybe I should say one of its first) commercial applications on mobile phones for the second display, and in 2001 E Ink and Philips Components announced plans to jointly develop high-resolution electronic ink displays for handheld devices, such as PDAs and electronic books.

And then it all went quiet.

But at last year's 3GSM conference (for mobile phones, in Barcelona) I found the first early production rollup displays from the Philips spin-off, Polymer Vision.

VARIOUS PADD designs circa 1987.
(Courtesy CBS Studios)

The kindle is a white package with a liquid paper display.
(Source: Jon Peddie Research)

Needless to say, this long-anticipated and -wanted technology got lots attention from both the fans and the curious. The product itself is called Readius and is based on the organic/polymer TFT technology Philips invented.

And, prior to that, Sony released an e-book reader in 2004, when it introduced its first e-paper device, the Librié, in Japan. It didn't hit the US or Europe until 2006, dutifully called the Ebook. And it's been the darling of commuters and technophiles ever since. That is, until December 2007.

There's no doubt in anyone's mind that this is the wave of the future. By 2014 e-paper made with electrophoretic materials will reach almost $2.0 billion in sales, with liquid crystal based e-paper at $1.5 billion and electrochromic e-paper at just under a $1.0 billion.

What do we think?

We love it, a definite thumbs up. However, Amazon is a wimp when it comes to manufacturing. I guess they had no idea they'd have a hit on their hands right away. And they didn't have a retail channel to manage, it was all them. It makes Nintendo's Wii supply-chain management look good.

The next challenge for the liquid ink folks is to produce color. They've got red and some green working, but blue is a challenge still. And the color, as of now, seems to have slowed the response time of the display down a little. I haven't heard about the contrast ratios. There have also been some interesting experiments using two-color powders and RGBW color filters combined with the powder.

For electronic books, I don't see the immediate need, although one can envision color illustrations and from there how about my entire Batman comic book library on my Kindle?

Also for the future, and we're not sure if it's possible with the e-ink display, perhaps it could be done with another overlay, but one of our colleague's big wish for a next-generation Kindle is for a touch-screen interface, and an end to the chicklet keyboard and funny scroll wheel.—JP

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