E-paper to go colour in 2008

According to a Reuters interview with Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-out E Ink, products based on the firm's technology have gone “from tens of thousands of parts to millions of parts” in the last nine months alone.

Reuters also notes that E Ink's chairman is an executive of the Hearst Corp. Hearst, of course, is an old-media empire that inspired the film Citizen Kane so the idea of the company endorsing electronic media over dead trees is wonderfully emblematic and symbolic. You can almost imagine Orson Welles as an ancient Hearst whispering “paper” instead of “Rosebud” on his or her deathbed.

However, let's not carried away here. Although e-paper is renowned as a potential replacement for newspapers, magazines and books, part of the reason for the technology gaining acceptance is for use on mobile phones because it sips power compared to orthodox LCDs, or in reader devices that can hold tons of dull, technical information.

Here in London's red and tranquil labyrinth, many newspapers are now distributed gratis while classic novels can be had for a quid. These are prices that electronic ink will find tough to beat. Also, paper is very underrated medium with built-in environmental credentials, cut-and-paste capabilities and ultra-portability integrated into the feature set. µ