Recently I came across another exciting new development related to futuristic display technologies, which was the topic of another recent blog post, being offered by a company called Plastic Logic. Plastic Logic is developing some exciting new technologies involving plastic displays and plastic electronics which may turn out to be a “game changer” in the way humankind acquire, organize and consume information. Information leads to power and knowledge is power.
The first thing that pops into my mind when I think of plastic displays is the Nook® e-reader (similar to Amazon’s Kindle) that my parents rely on religiously to fulfill their voracious appetite for reading books. They even purchased Kindle’s for my nieces and nephews who are also avid little readers themselves. I must have overlooked putting an e-reader on my Xmas list since I never got one.
Michael Palmer, himself a best-selling author and friend of my parents, recently told me at brunch the other day that electronics books have now surpassed paper books and that paperbacks will likely be going the way of the Dodo bird in the coming years. I can only imagine that we are talking about unit volumes in the billions of readers globally and likely growing at a healthy clip as the share of literate human beings only grows over time, especially in the developing countries. The below graphic provides eBook sale shipments over last 10 years by quarter; it is important to note that price of a typical paper book is probably 3-4 times greater than an eBook so unit shipments are much greater.
Another application in which the use of plastic displays and electronics might be beneficial include those in the military special operations units for whom the ability to read a map, review airstrike coordinates and/or get real-time actionable intelligence without having to worry about the information getting wet, the display being scratched and any other number of problems would literally mean the difference between life and death and mission success or failure.
There are a plethora of other consumer and commercial related applications for which the use of plastic displays and/or plastic electronics could benefit greatly from; however those will have to wait for another blog on another day. But the possible viable market opportunities for employing plastic displays and electronics are almost, figuratively, infinite.
Plastic Logic is an investor back company which boasts some pretty impressive backers including Intel, Dow Venture Capital, BASF and RUSNANO (Russian Corporation on Nanotechnologies), among others. I figure that these guys at Plastic Logic may actually be onto something and that the way we interact with the world around us may just get that more interesting and exciting in the years to come.
Below are some additional links in the event you want to learn more about Plastic Logic:
http://www.redferret.net/?p=29734
Best wishes for Happy Holidays to all.
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