Deal to Cut e-Book Costs
Chip maker Marvell Technology Group teamed with E Ink to develop lower cost e-Book readers. The firms will develop chips that combine functions requiring separate chips into one, thus cutting e-Book hardware costs in half.
-- Graphic Arts Online, November 10, 2009
Chip maker Marvell Technology
Group teamed with E Ink to develop lower cost e-Book readers. Marvell's
technology-communications, storage, and wireless chips--is used in many
cellphones and E Ink's e-Paper displays are
Entourage Edge, powered by the Armada 166E, has both a 9.7
used in a number of digital
readers. Marvell and E Ink will develop chips that combine functions requiring separate chips, thus cutting e-book hardware costs in half and moving the devices closer to a mass market adopting price. Advances will also target periodicals as the next frontier.
The first System-on-a-Chip (SoC) solution to come from the Marvell and E Ink partnership is the Armada 166E application processor with integrated e-Paper display controller. The Amrada 166E is designed to deliver ultra fast renderings of high-resolution PDF documents and support for the latest e-Paper technologies in smaller, slimmer form factors with lower system cost than the competition, Marvell says.
Jack Kang, Marvell's director of technical marketing, said in interview with the Wall Street Journal that packing more functions in on a single chip can cut in half the typical component costs of an e-Book reader, now $40 to $50. Forrester Research estimates the sweet spot to move e-Books mainstrain is $50. The entry level prices for a Kindle is $259 and $199 for a Sony Reader.
One of the first products to use the Marvell chip is the Entourage Edge (left), which claims to be the first "dualbook"--combining an E Ink electronic paper display with an LCD and Netbook, notepad, and audio/video player functions.
The Armada will also power the dual-screen Alex e-reader from Spring Design. Like the Edge, Alex's dual-screen display design combines a monochrome electronic paper display with a color LCD screen.
Marvell and E Ink have also joined forces with FirstPaper to integrate technology into the Armada 166E. This collaboration will enable a range of display sizes and resolutions, including support for larger screens that will deliver layouts, graphics, and content choices that people normally associate with periodicals, larger-format books, and documents.
"Periodicals are the next big frontier in eReading," Gil Fuchsberg, president of FirstPaper, says; FirstPaper will bring a new eReading system to market next year. "To enable great newspaper and magazine reading experiences, eReading devices need the right tools to make richer layouts and complex content come to life.
Deal to Cut e-Book Costs
02/09/2010Marvell, E Ink Join to Deliver New eReaders
02/09/2010Publishers Set e-Read Format
12/08/2009
