TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

E Ink rival Nemoptic to subcontract mass production of e-paper display modules to Seiko Instruments

By David Rothman

“Nemoptic, an e-paper display company for consumer and professional handheld devices, today announced that it has agreed to subcontract manufacturing to Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII). According to the terms of the agreement, Nemoptic will grant SII access to its BiNem(R) technology, enabling SII to produce high volumes of Nemoptic’s bistable LCD display modules. The e-paper displays are available in black and white, gray scale or full-color rendering.” - Press release.

The TeleRead take: Let’s hope that Nemoptic—and E Ink—can give us affordable displays with higher contrast than the current Sony Reader offers. The contrast issue is one of my main problems with the Reader, which uses E Ink. Encouragingly, the news release about Nemoptic says: “Unlike other e-paper LCDs in the market, Nemoptic offers a white screen, giving users the best image contrast and a remarkable screen reading experience, comparable to ink on paper.”

Major advance for e-books if promises pan out

If Nemoptic, whose technology has been mentioned by companies such as Bookeen for use in e-readers, can live up to the above claims, this could be a major advance for e-books. Meanwhile, ahead, I’ll reproduce the main text of the news release for the benefit of people reading this via RSS.

A recent statement from a Nemoptic spokesperson to the TeleBlog—not in the release: “Except for some prototypes made by Picvue Electronics (Taiwan) 2-3 years ago, there is no commercially available e-book that has a Nemoptic screen yet. Still, Nemoptic remains committed to e-books. The project that relates to this is the Sylen e-Reader, which has a timeline of 18 months to two years before being made commercial. It should be noted that Nemoptic will produce a display only, and not the finished product.

“The main problems Nemoptic sees with existing e-books and that it is working to overcome are:

* Usability - one of the main objectives of the Sylen project
* Price - an real advantage of Nemoptic displays, which are significantly lower priced than competitors. They are comparable to the price range of standard LCDs.
* Quality - Nemoptic displays have a better contrast ratio and brightness than competitors, a viewpoint shared by a major consumer electronics manfacturer (who wishes to remain anonymous).”

Toward these goals, says the company, “Nemoptic is working on a new generation Sylen e-Reader, along with several partners including Le Monde (newspaper), TES electronics, and Bookeen (a technology innovator specializing in e-book devices and that launched the first multi-format ebook reading device: The Cybook). The partners expect that the new generation Sylen e-Reader will be ready within two years…”

Elsewhere in the statement, Nemoptic says: “BiNem® displays have cost structure and Bill Of Materials (BOM) similar to the ones of STN-LCDs. However benchmarking BiNem® cost versus STN is not meaningful given the large difference in performance.

“Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) is significantly lower than for TFTs, and manufacturing costs is significantly less expensive than comparable electrophoretic displays.

“Costs are comparable to cholesterics, but with much superior performance: optical quality and speed. For instance, that means a EUR 100 e-book is possible.

“In fact, from our point of view, a EUR 100 e-book is already possible. However, the usability/ergonomics are not there yet, neither is the major task of integrating all the electronics and software etc. These are some of the reasons why we have placed other e-paper products, such as Electronic Shelf Labels, as manufacturing priorities. We are optimistic that the educational sector will drive the e-book market, and we are positioning ourselves there.”

Update, 11:58: I’ve fixed the original headline, which said that Nemoptic would be doing mass-production. Instead the company is farming out the production to Seiko.

The Euro e-paper scene

Related: Cafebabel.com’s article in e-paper and Europeans’ role in developing it. Excerpt: “Even the first electronic ink is European! ‘Of course, E-ink comes from American MIT, but the patent for it was given to Philips, a European, so that it’s integrated with the paper,’ explains Rives. European companies are blossoming: Nemoptic (France) is developing electronic ink, Plastic Logic (UK) is working on the paper whilst Ganaxa (France) is thinking about the software.” Also see earlier TeleBlog items mentioning Nemoptic.

And now for the Nemoptic news release…

Nemoptic and Seiko Instruments Inc. Sign Agreement to Mass Produce BiNem(R) E-Paper Display Modules

By securing access to Seiko Instruments Inc.’s manufacturing and technology strengths, Nemoptic becomes the first bistable LCD display supplier to offer immediate availability of high volume, competitively priced e-paper displays

Magny les Hameaux, France and Akita, Japan - April 18, 2007 - Nemoptic, an e-paper display company for consumer and professional handheld devices, today announced that it has agreed to subcontract manufacturing to Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII). According to the terms of the agreement, Nemoptic will grant SII access to its BiNem(R) technology, enabling SII to produce high volumes of Nemoptic’s bistable LCD display modules. The e-paper displays are available in black and white, gray scale or full-color rendering.

The deal marks a significant step forward for Nemoptic an as industry player that can now secure the immediate availability of large industrial volumes of zero-power e-paper displays offering high optical performance at a competitive cost. Nemoptic and SII have signed an agreement for three years, with an option for annual renewal for subsequent years.

“The availability of a reliable high volume source will bring about a radical change in the marketplace for e-paper displays,” said Jacques Noels, CEO of Nemoptic. “SII is the world leading producer of CSTN-LCD displays and it combines excellent technological expertise with a cost-competitive capability. We and our customers will benefit greatly from this partnership with SII.”

The high volume manufacturing of Nemoptic’s bistable LCD displays will take place at SII’s Microtechno plant, located in Akita, Japan. SII’s Microtechno plant has a worldwide reputation as one of the most modern sites for high volume production of color super-twist nematic liquid crystal displays (CSTN-LCD displays). Customers can expect to see the first units appear from the plant at end Q2 2007.

“We are very satisfied to add Nemoptic to our list of innovative customers,” said Kokichi Ito, Division Manager for the SII STN Display Division. “We believe that Nemoptic’s BiNem technology is the best in the industry for e-paper applications, a market that we foresee will enjoy considerable growth in the short term.”

Recent reports indicate that the e-paper market is rapidly developing for a number of applications. Nemoptic has already entered the electronic shelf labels (ESL) marketplace, estimated at 6 - 10 billion units in the grocery sector alone. Nemoptic is currently exploring other market sectors including e-newspapers that can be updated electronically several times per day, e-books for educational and leisure applications, industrial applications in factory automation, logistics and remote metering systems, and a whole range of new consumer products.

Nemoptic will continue to maintain independent production facilities at the plant in Sweden that produces BiNem display modules in small series. BiNem display modules are available to customers worldwide.

About Nemoptic
Nemoptic is an e-paper display company that designs and manufactures superior-quality bistable liquid crystal displays (LCD) highly suitable for consumer and professional mobile devices. Unlike other e-paper LCDs in the market, Nemoptic offers a white screen, giving users the best image contrast and a remarkable screen reading experience, comparable to ink on paper. The company’s cutting-edge technology, BiNem® (Bistable Nematic), has application in electronic shelf labels as well as in a range of handheld devices, including educational e-books, point of sale terminals, industrial and metering sensors, e-dictionaries, e-newspapers, ultra mobile PCs and toys. Nemoptic e-paper displays are recognized for their high resolution, zero-power consumption when holding images, fast-refreshing screens, and low-cost. They come in pure black and white and offer a large number of colors. Nemoptic leads in the development of bendable, full-color rendering e-paper displays.

Created in 1999, Nemoptic, headquartered near Paris, has raised more than 35 million Euros and operates a pilot production unit in Sweden.

About Seiko Instruments Inc.
Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) was established in 1937 as a key watch manufacturing company for the Seiko Group. Based on its sophisticated micromechatronics and nanotechnology techniques developed through decades of experience in precision machinery manufacturing and low-power consumption technologies, the company provides micromechatronic products and services including watch and HDD components; semiconductors, FPD and electronic devices; network solutions systems; nanotechnology equipment; scientific instruments; and large-format inkjet printers.