Selling point of e-paper

Dan Rogers - 05 Sep 2011

Exclusive article from the latest issue of +Plastic Electronics: to read in full click here

A series of announcements in 2011 indicate that applications like electronic shelf labels (ESLs) and advertising are growing. Portuguese start-up Ynvisible has plans to scale up its electrochromic displays in 2011-12, which will be used in brochures, store windows and point-of-sale (PoS) advertising.

E-paper supplier ZBD Solutions announced deals earlier in 2011 for the supply of ESLs to a range of retailers in Europe. Customers include grocer Dagrofa in Denmark, and mobile phone retailers Tele2 in Estonia and T-Mobile Austria.

Healthcare

A recent application of Fujitsu's e-paper in digital patient record devices in Japanese hospitals highlights that innovative uses of e-paper in applications beyond e-readers will increase.

'Sapporo Shirakaba-dai Hospital has recently begun using Fujitsu's Outpatient Guidance System, which consists of a portable device with an e-paper display, into which the patient slots their registration card, which includes an integrated circuit. The card holder reads the patient's ID and sources related information wirelessly from the central patient guidance server.

The card holder then displays information to help guide the patient through the treatment process. This includes information such as their place in line to see a doctor, for instance.

Commercial

Meanwhile, Ynvisible is focusing on applications where consumers can engage with a brand or product through the interactivity of its electrochromic displays. Early applications are likely to be in areas like magazine advertising, as well as PoS.

This article appears in full in Volume 4, issue 1 of +Plastic Electronics magazine, a displays special. We speak to Inês Henrique about Ynvisible's plans for e-paper, and look at how the market is adapting to digital displays in a paper environment.
To subscribe to +Plastic Electronics and get immediate access to this article, as well as online access to archive articles and a postal copy of the next six issues, visit our subscriptions page.