Gartner Says Electronic Paper’s Green Credentials Will Boost Adoption
The use of electronic paper, also known as ‘e-paper’, is increasing as a
result of its ultra low power consumption, a similar user experience to real
paper and ‘green’ benefits, according to a new report from Gartner Inc.
E-paper is a display medium intended to mimic the appearance or ordinary
ink on paper while being rewritable. Gartner
said that despite disadvantages of poor colour and refresh rate
characteristics, e-paper will have significant benefits over other display
media and will positively impact the traditional paper market, the retail
display sector, a number of consumer markets and the office environment in
years to come.
“E-paper does have has some barriers to overcome before gaining
credibility with the mainstream market,” said SJ Chae, senior research director
at Gartner. “However, it is generating a
great deal of interest and we expect adoption to increase steadily over the
next few years as the technology improves.”
Mr. Chae said that one of the key drivers for e-paper adoption is the
way it is continuously evolving to include new technologies. Recent additions include touchscreen,
wireless connection and rewritable colour support capability into devices using
e-paper. Multiple e-book readers have
also been introduced and applications of the technology are now expanding
beyond e-book readers to include device displays for phones, clocks and
watches.
E-paper also has the advantage of providing a similar user experience to
real paper display. Its thinness gives
users the benefits of a portable, paper-thin rewritable display while its
readability in bright sunlight gives a similar user experience to that of
reading a paper display.
According to Gartner, low power consumption is the main driver for
e-paper adoption in most cases and this is enabling initial applications in
signage (for retail and roadside applications), static displays (e-books) and
small information-centric screens. Low
power consumption also boosts e-paper’s green credentials. Its potential environmental benefits are
significant, resulting in the saving of trees, preventing the generation of
waste water and reducing the emissions of green house gases.
Despite these benefits, there are a number of disadvantages to e-paper
that must be overcome in order for it to gain more widespread adoption. Overall, e-paper content is limited and the current
colour capabilities of e-paper displays are poor. E-paper is also typically weak in its
handling of moving images and a compromise must be found between the
requirements for full-motion video and low power consumption.
Gartner believes that the cost of e-paper displays will need to fall
further if it is to act as a viable mainstream alternative to print media,
especially as the falling costs and increasing quality of alternative
technologies – such as OLED and LCD – could moderate the growth potential of
e-paper.
Some examples of e-paper
technologies include:
·
Electrophoretic e-paper, where the
image is generated by an array of electrically charged particles suspended in
fluid. When current is applied, the particles are moved to the opposite
electrode side. Switch the field, and the particles will move to the other
side, and this will change the colour and finally change the images. Electrophoretic
technology from E Ink is currently used in commercial devices such as the
Amazon Kindle, Sony Librie reader and Plastic Logic's e-newspaper
·
Electronic Liquid Powder (ELP) from
Bridgestone, which uses a similar electrophoretic approach to E Ink's e-paper,
but with the ELP particles suspended in air instead of fluid.
·
Cholesteric LCD, an LCD variant,
such as the technology from Kent Displays that is used in Fujitsu’s new e-book
reader FLEPia, using multiple layers of different colour LCD crystals to
generate the image.
Additional information is
available in the report “Emerging Technology Analysis: Electronic Paper”,
available to Gartner clients at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=1041512
About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology
research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight
necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and
senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders
in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to
technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in
10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research,
Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with
every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the
context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford , Connecticut ,
U.S.A.
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