Are coloured e-Books here to stay

It used to be very text-heavy publications, such as fiction, that were falling prey to e-books. But, now, publications rich in images and graphics are soon likely to appear as e-books too. At Display Week in mid-May, the company E Ink Holdings introduced a colour E Ink display with a resolution of 150 ppi. This was not just a small laboratory prototype, no, it was the real thing – a 20-inch version packed with 2,500 x 1,600 pixels. This means that it is now possible to display non-fiction, textbooks and periodicals in the all-important A4 format. Like standard black/white readers, the ACeP display from E Ink is a reflective display that only consumes power when it turns the page. And also like its achromatic relatives, it is easy to read in direct sunlight. This makes e-readers attractive for use in schools and universities, because free licences would yield even greater money savings. Developing and emerging economies such as South Africa, especially, already have a very active open source non-fiction scene that will further benefit from this technology. E Ink Holdings is not the first manufacturer to try its luck with colour e-paper displays, but it does seem to have made good progress on costs. For the first time, all the coloured pigments are contained in a single layer, instead of being arranged in stack. That makes production much cheaper. As soon as affordable coloured e-readers come onto the market, I’ll be one of the first to forsake printed material.