As you said, this is from 2007. It is useful to see the impact of volume on price. See below the remark about a 2" E Ink display costing 2 grand.
"At this stage, some of the products based on E Ink’s technology are little more than expensive gimmicks, such as Seiko’s limited-edition e-paper watch (priced at over $2,000)."
Compare that with today and a 6" Kindle display costing under $100. A 20x reduction in cost.
It reinforces his next point about the complex relationship between price and volume. If I had to guess what moved the needle on price of E Ink displays, I'd have to say it was Jeff Bezos for being willing to put down a commitment to buying a large amount of panels which then allowed the manufacturer to scale up their production lines in order to reach that level of cost reduction.
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Q: What are the current obstacles facing mass adoption of e-paper technology?
A: The main obstacle is price. Our research shows that the cost of an e-paper-based reader has to fall to under $100 before a significant percentage of the population will buy one. Even then, they will only buy if suitable content is available at a reasonable cost. The second obstacle is availability of content.
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The price of the Seiko watch was because it was a "luxury" product, not because of the screen. The first gen Kindle went on sale for $399 in November 2007 and had a 6-inch e-ink screen. I don't think the price has come down that much, certainly not as much as other display tech (you can buy a gorgeous 4K TV for that kind of money now).
As I understand it, the main obstacle to cheap e-ink screens is actually licensing.
"At this stage, some of the products based on E Ink’s technology are little more than expensive gimmicks, such as Seiko’s limited-edition e-paper watch (priced at over $2,000)."
Compare that with today and a 6" Kindle display costing under $100. A 20x reduction in cost.
It reinforces his next point about the complex relationship between price and volume. If I had to guess what moved the needle on price of E Ink displays, I'd have to say it was Jeff Bezos for being willing to put down a commitment to buying a large amount of panels which then allowed the manufacturer to scale up their production lines in order to reach that level of cost reduction.
" Q: What are the current obstacles facing mass adoption of e-paper technology?
A: The main obstacle is price. Our research shows that the cost of an e-paper-based reader has to fall to under $100 before a significant percentage of the population will buy one. Even then, they will only buy if suitable content is available at a reasonable cost. The second obstacle is availability of content. "